Isle of Harris 10K & Fun-Run
Saturday 31 March 2007

This years Isle of Harris 10K took place in glorious sunshine last Saturday as 56 athletes set off from Scalpay and embarked upon the 6.2 mile race back to the finish line in Tarbert. As the lead group of runners made their way over the Scalpay bridge, race leader Iain “Paco” Macdonald (North Uist AAC) had set a very quick pace as he ran through the 1st kilometer in just over 3 ½ minutes with Andrew “Kegs” MacKenzie (SRAC) electing to go with the race leader. Following a fairly conservative start from veteran Forres Harrier runner Graeme Jervis he soon began to challenge the two lead runners at the 3k mark as he quickened the pace in order to close the gap on the two youngsters.

Meanwhile Eilidh MacKenzie had built up a substantial lead in the women’s race as she passed through the 5K mark along with fellow SRAC teammate Howard MacIver. However it was at the 5K mark that Harris runner Alyson Campbell began to really attack the race as she utilized the long downhill towards the Lacasdale Lochs in order to significantly reduce the gap between herself and the race leader.

By this point Graeme Jarvis had moved into 2nd place ahead of Kegs but he was finding it hard to reel-in the race leader Paco who was still setting an average split time of 3:40 for each kilometer. By the time the runners completed the climb out of Urgha they immediately caught sight of East Tarbert, knowing that the finish line is only 2km away which meant the race for 1st place female was now well & truly on as Alyson Campbell had now drawn alongside Eilidh MacKenzie. A substantial crowd had gathered at Tarbert School to see “Paco” take 1st place in a brilliant time of 37:16 to ensure that the trophy would again be returning to North Uist. Behind “Paco”, Graeme Jervis crossed the line in 38:24 with “Kegs” finishing in 3rd place in a time of 39:11. Both athletes doing well do break the 40 minute barrier.

Next across the line was Howard MacIver (SRAC) who had an absolutely fantastic race to take the 1st veteran prize in a time of 39:24. By now SRAC youngster Eilidh MacKenzie had edged away from Alyson Campbell and she crossed the line with a superb p.b. (personal best) of 39:43. Alyson finished only 21 seconds behind Eilidh to take 2nd place but she should be absolutely delighted that she gave Scottish Internationalist, Eilidh such a good race.

By now the runners were finishing in abundance & it wasn’t long before Alyson Campbell was joined by her boyfriend David Grant who took the 1st local-male prize when he finished in a time of 44:22. Not far behind David, Shona Morrison (North Uist AAC) finished in a time of 44.43 to regain the trophy for third place female which she’d won the year previous. Adrienne Stewart won the 1st female veteran prize in a time of 53.09 while Rebecca Passmore took almost 4 minutes off her time from last year to take the 1st local-female prize in a time of 55.28

This year the race organizers also introduced male & female team trophies into the prize list and the winners of this years team contest were Harris FC who were represented by David Grant, Jedd MacCuish & Andrew Morrison. The South Harris Jogging Group won the fastest female team when Becca Passmore, Erica Macrae, Joan Macleod & Fiona Maclean all successfully completed the course. This was the first attempt at running a 10K for all but one the South Harris ladies and they should be very proud of having completed what is without doubt one of the hardest 10K courses in the country.

The race organizers “Sport Harris” were absolutely delighted with the amount of local runners who chose to take part in this event with 12 Harris runners completing the distance. A total of 51 of the runners were native to the Western Isles with some traveling from as far a field as Ness, North Uist & Benbecula in order to take part in the run. Special mention should also be made of the three runners from Forres Harriers who disembarked from the Uig ferry only 45 minutes before the start of the race. Having completed the race, they then cycled to Leverburgh to catch the Ferry to Berneray before camping overnight in North Uist and returning Uig via Lochmaddy the following day. Forres Harriers have always provided great support to the Hebridean racing circuit and it was great to see them back in Harris once again.

The fun-run also proved to be an exceptionally well contested race as Robbie Gregg & Jane MacIver took 1st place in the boys & girls race respectively.  There was an exceptionally large contingent of runners who traveled down from Lewis to take part in this event, most of whom made the journey courtesy of SRAC and the event organizers  would like to thank them very much indeed for supporting both races. Sport Harris would also like to thank all the time keepers, local police force, marshals and all the other helpers who made this event possible. We would also like to thank the Royal Bank and The Harris Hotel for their kind donations which helped fund this event.