Albeit the shortest distance, the beach run on Day 3 has the reputation of being the most difficult of all. The course is run on soft sand. If you’ve ever tried running in soft sand for any distance, you’ll get an idea of how gruelling a challenge this is when contemplating doing it for the full 5k Park Run distance.
The course followed a loop along the wet sand nearest the sea water and then up the beach and back along the dry sand for 2 laps.
Winner in an incredible time of 16:57 was James Stockings of England. First in for the club once again was Steven Campbell (20:04) who finished 10th in the M45-49 category. Next in was Danny McLaughlin (22:39) who secured 4th in the M60-64 category. Jim Cuffe (24:13) had a great run finishing in 10th place and managing to get the better of Robin McAuslan (24:32) who finished in 11th. Both placed higher than in the previous day’s race. Kenny Scott (29:28) held the same position as before; 17th from the 28 entered.
Alan O’Rourke (23:24) finished less than a minute behind Danny, securing 10th position in the M50-54 category. Graham McGrattan (25:14) was 9th in the M65-69 category.
Campbell Cromar dropped out after two races with a touch of sunstroke.