Crowds flock to see Livingston milestone
Huge field tackles 5km course in 150th running
A huge field of 433 runners helped Livingston Parkrun celebrate their 150th running on a chilly Saturday morning.
That was the second largest figure in the event’s history - being only bettered by the 507 who crossed the line in the 100th parkrun last year.
Since the inaugural run on January 8, 2016, a total of 5647 runners have pounded the 5km course within Almondvale Park with 274 different clubs being represented - none more so than the local Lothian Running Club with 126 runners across the races.
The blue vests hold a number of the highest statistics in the event, including the top three first-place finishers.
Lana Turnbull leads the list with 35 wins, followed by Jo Williams (28) and Josh Dack (25).
The club’s Sarah Inglis holds the women’s course record with a time of 17.06 set in February 2017 while Alistair Hay (Central AC) tops the men’s list with a time of 15.23 set in July this year.
It was Dack who took the win on Saturday as he crossed the finish line in 17.35, while LRC boasted three of the top-10 as Alan Knowles (18.00) came home in third spot with Stewart Laing (19.12) finishing in 10th.
The first four female finishers were all LRC members with Yvonne Crilly ( 20.18) taking the female category win as she finished in 17th place overall.
Next up were Hannah Steel (20.38), Lana Turnbull (20.48) and Christine Mulholland (21.07).
Elsewhere, LRC duo Max McNeil and Malcolm Lang enjoyed a successful weekend picking up medals in prestigious team events outside of Scotland.
Over the pond in the United States, Max put the icing on what so far has been an excellent cross country season by leading his Oklahoma City University Stars squad to their fourth N. A. I. A. National Championship in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
He was the leading finisher for OCU, completing the 8km course within Seminole Park in 24.43, and with his Stars team-mates packing closely behind, the title was theirs.
In Swansea, Malcolm pulled on the Scotland vest to represent his country in the British and Irish Masters Cross Country Championships in Singleton Park.
He finished fifth Scot, which helped his country to bronze medals in the M40 category behind England and Wales. The Lothian runner completed the 8km course in 27.56.
The Lothian club had runners in both the senior and junior races at the Livingston AAC Open Cross Country meeting at Dechmont Law.
In the senior men’s 3.7km open race, Colin Partridge was the leading LRC runner in sixth place in 14.02. He was closely followed by Kyle Williamson and Ross Williamson.
In the girls’ under-11 1.3km race, Megan Lang finished 13th of 25 finishers in 6.08 while in the boys’ equivalent, Danny Fletcher was eighth of 13 finishers in 6.14.
Lorna Eades was also in cross country action finishing in 46th place and 10th F50 in the second match of the Borders XC Series at Dunbar.
The second match in the East District Cross Country League takes place at Broxburn on Saturday.