Lesley storms to marathon win
HISTORY was made last weekend as an Inveraray woman became the first female winner of the new Scottish Stirling Marathon.
Lesley Pirie was the fastest female finisher at the Stirling Marathon on Sunday May 21 with a staggering time of 02:47:48, 10 minutes quicker than second-placed Jill Smylie.
Mum-of-two Lesley can add this Stirling victory to her impressive list of achievements after crossing the line as the second placed female Scots runner overall at the London marathon last year.
Lesley said: ‘I have been injured and missed a few races earlier this year so I set off just hoping to finish in one piece. Therefore I’m delighted with the result.’
A total of 6,500 people signed up to the 26.2-mile event, winding along a route from Blair Drummond Safari Park, through Doune, Dunblane, Bridge of Allan and the University of Stirling and into the city centre, finishing at Stirling Castle.
The new Stirling course, although challenging, proved popular with the runners.
Although competing for her club, Victoria Park City of Glasgow, Lesley was running as part of a team from her work at BEAR Scotland, raising funds for the Antenatal Results and Choices charity.
Celebrate
As part of a sizeable Inveraray contingent that travelled to Stirling, David and Rona MacPherson also completed the marathon and were able to celebrate Lesley’s victory alongside her.
Jay Semple, who featured on last week’s front page of the Argyllshire Advertiser, also ran the marathon, finishing the race in a time of 04:54:08 after completing a re-run of the Inveraray Jail Break the day before.