BIGGER AND BETTER

Huge plaudits for popular event

Months of preparation paved the road to success for last weekend’s Auchterarder Running Festival.

Two days of 10 kilometre and half-marathon action welcomed more than 1000 enthusiastic participants to Perthshire.

Race director Fiona Watt is reflecting on a special and memorable event where community spirit proved to be the real winner.

Smiling faces aplenty navigated around the picturesque region on Saturday and Sunday, with both races starting and finishing at Gleneagles Hotel.

Fiona was full of appreciation for the dedicated and friendly volunteers who gave up their time to make the weekend a success story.

“Last year, we just had the half-marathon with 500 runners,” Fiona said. “But this year we increased it to 650 runners.

“And we also added in a 10k on the Saturday with 500 runners. Both events sold out within 48 hours, so the demand was massive.

“That put a lot of pressure on myself and the team to deliver an event that met expectations. I hope we have done that.

“I’ve not had much time to embrace the social media messages. My phone has been going a bit crazy.

“I’m going to sit down soon and really look at them. But, scanning over them, everything seems to have gone like clockwork.

“The main thing that everyone has said was how great a marshalled event it was.

“We had 50 marshals at each race. There were over 100 volunteers giving up their time to make sure the runners were safe.

“But they were also there to show their support and encouragement. My big thanks has to go out to them.

“Without them, and people giving up their time to help, the event wouldn’t go ahead.

“Once the event is over, that is not the end. I was very strong in that we wanted to be a no-trace race.

“We picked up all the water bottles and litter so that, afterwards, nobody could trace that the race even happened.”

Coupled with the volunteers, Fiona was taken aback by the support shown to the event by local residents and businesses.

Extra touches, including local school pupil Callum Walker piping runners off from the start line, added to the feel-good factor.

And Perthshire Brass also displayed their talent on the Sunday, keeping spirits high throughout