Sunday 6 September saw the 24th running of the Stirling 10k, presented for the fifth successive year with title sponsors Podfather, a technology company led by club member Colin McCreadie. Every finisher had the chance of a high five from the Podfather duck at the finish and got a Podfather duck stress ball in their goody bag! A crack team of club volunteers assembled the day before to prepare a mountain of goody bags and begin the site preparations which continued early on the Sunday morning as participants were still snoozing or contemplating their choices of race diet and footwear. The weather was autumn showers, but the flat and fast course from Active Stirling’s Peak sports centre past Stirling railway station and through Riverside and Cambuskenneth to the turning point below the Wallace Monument provided the same challenge as ever with club members acting as pacers for those aspiring to finish in 40, 45, 50, 55 and 60 minutes. Race director Lewis Millar had put together the usual panoply of support and entertainment with a piper, cheerleaders, competitor massage and warm ups – although most of the senior competitors forewent the bouncy castle and face painting.
The day starts with 2km and 3.5km fun runs for junior runners. In the 2km, Millie Craw recorded 9:02, closely followed by her sister Grace in 9:26. In the 3.5km, it was a Central 1-2-3 with Sam White leading it home in 12:18 and both Brody Scanlon and Harris Robertson clocking a chip time of 12:22 with Brody crossing the line a second ahead. Alexander Robertson worked hard for 13:43 with Lila Robertson chasing him down at the end for 13:48 and Luca Pizey not much further back in 14:14. Brooke McCreadie ran well for 17:02, pursued by Olivia Weir who clocked 17:11 and Niamh Hastie finishing in 18:10. Tell us if we’ve missed someone in the fun runs - there seemed to be more Central vests than people we’ve spotted in the results.
The 10k event saw over 1000 finishers for the first time in the event’s history with garlands for our best runners and personal bests for many more. Jamie Crowe was a runaway winner, just 8 seconds outside the course record and setting a personal best for this course of 29:01. Alex Dunlop came home at the head of a tight group in 32:12 picking up second prize among the Under 20 Men and Jack Honeyman was timed at 33:05, setting his third personal best this year. Andrew Irvine ran well for 35:06 heading two personal bests by Findlay Smith in 35:43 and Kevin Amos in 36:09. Jennifer Wetton recorded 36:56 as fifth Senior Woman, followed by Chris Watson in 37:34, John MacKinnon back from his Edinburgh base in 37:38 and Colin McCreadie scoring 39:01. The first of the pacers was Andrew Mawer who led his followers home in a well-paced 39:57 with Neil Ferrier in that group for 40:02, his fastest time for a couple of years. Donald Shaw was timed at 41:10, Kenneth Hislop lowered his personal best to 41:15 and Emily Watkin recorded 42:49 and picked up second prize in the Under 20 Women, a prize category she will be in for a few more years. Mark Carberry ran a steady 43:27, Gordon Luke a sharp 44:54 and Laurie Douglas chased hard for 45:17. Eve Watson just missed out on a pb as she ran well for 47:10, Hannah Hislop will be delighted with her 48:51 and Nicole Taylor ran well for 48:59. Charles Graham-Marr set the pace for 50 minutes and those keeping an eye on his lead were Mel Bowie in 49:55 and Fia Watkin in 50:17 keeping company with Niamh McKinlay in a departure from their usual track environment. Sally Andrews will be pleased with her 51:47, Chloe Boyle was not far behind in 52:09 and Robyn McKerracher recorded a solid 53:55. Gordon Appelbe showed immaculate pace setting skills as he led his group home in 55:00 with Jill Scott setting a big pb of 55:39 and Olivia Carroll recording 56:21. Kerry Watkin enjoyed her 57:25 run while Ros Organ set a big pb with 57:42, Claire Bradley had a great run in 61:29 and Ella and Matt Tanner came home in 63:41 and 63:42.
There are lots of photos from the day at https://georgevekicphotography.pixieset.com/stirling10k2026/.
Congratulations to everyone taking part and many thanks to everyone who helped to make the event another great success for the club. Full results at https://results.perfecttimingscotland.co.uk/results.aspx?CId=20065&RId=9130&EId=1 .