Athletes compete in the Beach and Bark Trail in North Highland Harriers event in Castletown and Dunnet
North Highland Harriers athletes were put through their paces as they competed at the annual Beach and Bark Trail.
The course saw runners leave from Castletown Heritage Centre, running along Dunnet Beach, through Dunnet Forest, then back to the start point returning along the beach.
The distance of the route was seven miles with a shorter run at five miles on offer that omitted the forest leg.
The weather for the event was dry and breezy however there was a substantial challenge for runners to overcome in that there was a rather impressive high tide.
Large waves were being blown on shore from the strong winds, forcing runners to run up the soft sand towards the dunes, up some pretty steep slopes.
An additional obstacle was the many rivers that had to be crossed on the beach. Some runners ended up waist deep, having timed their crossing of the rivers as the waves were breaking on the beach.
The forest course had been marked out in advance. After the tough run on the beach this should have been the easiest part of the run, but some runners missed the markers and ended up doing 2 laps (or 3 for one runner) of the forest.
Despite the challenging conditions everyone completed the run safely, with many saying the waves and tide made the run a lot more ‘interesting’ than other trails.
First runner home was Stuart Crichton followed closely by Mark Taylor then Stuart Morrison the only runners to do the route in sub 1 hour. First female was Jayne Klimas.
After the run the Annual Club Awards were presented. Winner of the Male Achievement of the Year went to Darren Oag with Jennifer Bremner being awarded with the Female Achievement Award. The most improved male runner was David Malcolm and female most improved runner was Emma Malcolm. The Spirit of NHH Award was given to Simon Harrison.
The following week a charity fun run/walk was arranged on Keiss Beach. This was a 5K run and once again the tide was higher than expected which made for challenging conditions once again. Unfortunately, numbers of runners was less than usual due to it being the school long weekend, despite this £230 was raised and this was passed onto the local Laurandy Centre which provides day care for elderly people.
The next trail run will be held this Sunday for NHH members. Clyth Hall is the start point with registration taking place from 9.30 for a 10am start. The long course is eight miles and the short course five miles with the route winding its way through the Burn of Whilk Wind Farm.
Beach and Bark results - 1. Stuart Chricton 55:59, 2. Mark Taylor 57:01, 3. Stuart Morrison 59:07, 4. Ryan
Sutherland 1:00:09, 5. Willie Miller 1:00:25, 6. John Budge & Ruso 1:02:12, 7. Kenny
Macgruer 1:02:49, 8. Grant Anderson 1:03:15, 9. David Spencer 1:03:44, 10. Jayne
Klimas 1:03:57, 11. Simon Harrison 1:05:25, 12. Paul Macdonald 1:06:24, 13.
Graham Turner 1:11:26, 14. Kevin Oag 1:11:35, 15. Amy Sutherland 1:11:37, 16.
Lorna Stanger 1:13:56, 17. Marnie Kerr 1:15:25, 18. Amy Harrold 1:16:00, 19. Emma
Malcolm 1:21:29, 20. Ruth Akers 1:21:31, 21. Phil Cartwright 1:27:10, 22. Suzie
Anderson 1:30:36, 23. Fiona Bremner 1:30:42, 24. Martine Hughes 1:31:03, 26.
Julieanne Leslie 1:40:33, 27. Asia Walker 1:40:39.
Short Course 1. Sarah Armitage 1:08:51, 2. Les Mackay 1:11:14, 5. Mandy McIntyre
1:11:15.
Keiss Beach results - 1. Mikoljah Hutny Wojcica 23:23, 2. Hannah Hutson 23:42, 3. Mark Thain 24:25, 4.
Willie Miller, Simon Harrison, Paul Macdonald 27:18, 7. Aiden Inrig 29:32. 8. Jack
Williams 31:22, 9. Graeme Miller & Jack Falconer 31:27, 11. Sarah Alexander
31:35, 12. Suzie Anderson 31:57, 13. Lisa Coghill 34:40, 14. Francesa Robinson
35:57, 15. Peter Dobbie 37:52, 16.Amber McGibbon 48:22.