Singlehurst 2025

Kingarth, Bute Saturday 5th July 2025

It was touch and go with the weather as Greenock Glenpark Harriers made their way over the Clyde to the annual trip to Kingarth, Isle of Bute for the race that has a bit of everything, the Singlehurst. Clocking in at around 5k, the route starts along the road at Kingarth and heads down to the village of Kilchattan. The runners turn on to the West Island Way trail, before reaching the sting in the tail –  a 400 feet steep climb up Suidhe Chatain, before looping back down to the road to the finish.

After the usual excitement of being collected in the tractor trailer by host Shaun Lyon, it was down to business. Rain threatened for most of the day but surprisingly held off despite the forecast, leading to some great conditions for one of the toughest races of the season. The race was slightly held up by the arrival of the Bute Tractor Rally which trundled past the runners waiting on the start line, but once the road cleared the runners set off at a challenging pace.

In the men’s race it was clear from the outset there was going to be a battle between the two favourites – Andrew McCall, still with an outside chance of levelling Dylan Crawford’s championship tally to share the season’s grand prize, and local U20 Lewis McCrae, a young man with a strong season behind him running on his home turf. McCall’s form on the hills might have just made him the bookies favourite, but he had never run this particular course and McCrae has had some excellent performances this year, even shading McCall by one place on the Trails at Coves Reservoir earlier in the season.

Both men went out hard, shoulder to shoulder heading into the forest trail, but as they hit the challenging incline it was McCrae who began to pull ahead. At the turn into the descent, the younger man had built up about 30 seconds on McCall. Despite pulling the gap back with McCall’s experience on the downhill really showing, McCrae held on to the lead, going over in a brilliant time of 18:06, twenty seconds ahead of second place.

Another local runner who excels on the hills, Shaun Lyon put in a great effort for third place in 19:30, despite not having a lot of recent training to fall back on, and he was followed over by Neil Lafferty – who had been taking the early stages of the run as an easy effort, but obviously decided to push a little harder as the race played out. Veteran Paul Monaghan had a great run in 5th place, notching up full points in the V50 category, followed by another strong performance from Steven Campbell – Steven has been training hard to get back to full fitness and had a fine run today.

It was all to play for in the ladies race, training form suggesting U20 runner Evie Harrison might have a slight edge over the field, on paper at least, but she has struggled with senior racing at times and the due of Jennifer Rooney and Ashleigh Anderson will have started the race putting a target on the younger runner.

There would be no mistakes from Harrison, however, as she set a comfortable, strong pace in the early sections on the road, before settling into a steady climb up the hill, continuing to pull away from the chasing pack as the course turned and finishing a minute ahead of Rooney with a course personal best time of 24:10 in first place. Rooney was agonisingly close to the 25 minute goal in 25:04, with Anderson following over the line in third place in a strong 26:37. Ladies captain Lynne Harrison is starting to show some form again, running injury free and heading back to full fitness, and she clocked a time of 27:11 for fourth, with Heather Lafferty completing the top five ladies finishers in 29:39.

As an aside, it’s fantastic to see both winners of the Singlehurst were both in the U20 category – things looking good for the future of the club!

A huge thank you once again to Shaun Lyon and his family for their hospitality once again.

Next up – the final race of the GGH Season 24/25 – The Bill Elder.
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