Benbecula 2008 Half Marathon and Fun Runs
Report and Results

Photo Gallery

At 6.30am last Saturday, a CalMax minibus (huge thanks to them for their continued support – it is much appreciated) containing 6 adult and 8 junior members left for a day trip to Benbecula to take part in the Half Marathon and associated Fun Runs. The good weather meant that the journey was as pleasant as it can be with a fine ferry crossing (no thanks to CalMac who tried to charge us £267 to take the minibus across – needless to say it was left behind!). We then boarded a Grenitote Travel coach (free of charge as part of their sponsorship of the half – huge thanks again) which took us to the start at Sgoil Lionacleit.

At registration, it became clear that several SRAC members had travelled down early and that others had come over from the mainland – making for a healthy SRAC turnout.

Stornoway winner Benjamin Kemp made his intentions clear by quickly breaking away for a long and ultimately successful solo effort. SRAC’s Andy McMahon settled in the group behind and a strong run saw him finish in third place in a time of 1:24:35. Next SRAC man in was Alan Inglis in an excellent 1:31:41 – over 15 minutes faster than his Stornoway time (based on Jim’s “half of the Marathon time minus 10 minutes” formula!).

Neil McRury, Jim Bruce, Shona Morrison and Gavin Earons covered the first few miles together but a stitch saw Gavin fall off the pace and for a while he considered dropping out. Jim pulled ahead but Marathon Man Neil dug in, pulled him back and, in the end, finished just 11 seconds clear in 1:39:21. By this time Shona had already shown them both a clean pair of heels! Gavin hung on in there and was rewarded with a time of 1:43:01 (15 minutes faster than his halfway time in Harris). Davey Hearn was the final SRAC finisher in a time of  2:21:49.

As for the ladies, they came up trumps with two age group winners. Adrienne Stewart was first SRAC lady to finish – her time of 1:52:59 was a 6 minute improvement over Stornoway and was good enough to earn her second in her age group. Mandy Macdonald finished a minute behind to take first place in her category just ahead of Rachel MacNeil. Jayne Miller also broke the 2 hour barrier to win her category in a time of 1:57:44. Kathleen Macleod showed that there is more than one way to train for a half marathon – don’t run just go for 20 mile walks instead! Her run walk technique got her to the finish in 2:14:46 which was good enough to leave many “runners” in her wake!

SRAC juniors also had a successful time. In the 2 mile Fun Run Stuart Macdonald won in just under 15 minutes with his younger brother taking a fine 4th place. The 4.5 mile version was won by Martin Stewart who held off SRAC’s Sean Macleod who finished in second place with Campbell Macdonald rounding off a fine day for Clan Macdonald by coming in in 5th place.

Our four junior ladies showed the rest of us how it should be done by taking the first four places in their race! Ailis Murray continued her fine form to hold off Jane and Holly Maciver with Ceit Stewart coming in just behind. These girls running at sub 7 minute mile pace for the 4.5 mile distance – very impressive given there complete lack of experience over the distance!

All this added up to another a highly successful trip – making the long journey well worth while.

Congratulations to the race organisers and their associated helpers – job well done!

Benbecula 2008 Half Marathon Results

Benbecula 2008 Fastrack 2 Mile Fun Run Results

Benbecula 2008 4.5 Mile Fun Run Results