Inverclyde Now Logo WOMEN’S Record Broken At Greenock’s Lyle Mile — Includes Full Results

3 January, 2020 | Local

MORE than 100 people braved the fourth annual Lyle Mile race, held by Greenock Glenpark Harriers on New Year’s Day.

The start was frantic as runners set off from underneath the railway bridge on Lyle Road and headed up the hill for 350 feet climbing, with some of the steepest sections occurring right from the off.

The hill evens out to a steady climb in the middle section, before one last steep section at the final turn before the route heads towards the finish at the beacon.

Neil Lafferty of Greenock Glenpark Harriers was third last year, having led the race in the early stages. He was not to be outdone this year as he got to the front and held off all challengers to finish in a fantastic time of 6.37, four seconds quicker than the previous year.

Graeme Hyett was second in 6.43 closely followed by young Shaun Wiseman in 6.45. Shaun was first junior on the day and this tops off a great few weeks for the Glenpark athlete who recently broke the 18-minute mark at Greenock parkrun.

The first female in all three previous editions of the race has been Claire Thompson, but she was not in attendance this year. Ayr Seaforth’s Toni McIntosh was the 2020 winner and smashed the female course record by 49 seconds, becoming the first female to break 8 minutes with a super time of 7.38.

Impressively, the second sub-eight-minute female came along just moments later as Greenock Glenpark’s own junior runner Ava Beaton came through in 7.53, after a phenomenal run.

Ava and Shaun were not the only standout juniors on display. Scott Newman, Ben Campbell, Jude Dolan and David Docherty all broke the eight-minute barrier. Leo Beaton and Euan Johnson had great runs, with Aimee and Erin McEleney securing impressive personal best improvements. 

There was a big turnout from Glenpark’s couch-to-club runner group taking part, many of whom would never have thought six months ago that they could run up Lyle Hill the hard way. (The group is free and a new block starts on Tuesday 7 January. Email the club at greenockglenparkharriers@gmail.com for more information.)

The Lyle Mile raises money for charity and this year £270 was donated to Inverclyde Homeless Forum. The club thank Alison King and all of the other volunteers who dedicated their time to making sure the event ran smoothly. There was also a big team of photographers out on the route getting some great shots including Emma Benstead from the club plus GBR Photographs and Ross Cameron Photography.

It was also a big day for Glenpark members taking part in other events. There was a great turnout for Greenock parkrun in the morning, with 47 Harriers in attendance, three of them — Connor McCrorey, George McCallum and Gordon Hepburn — earning personal best times. A couple of Glenpark members even managed the New Year double, taking on two parkruns in one day, with Sue Hewitson and Kirsty Ormond doing Victoria at 9.30 and Greenock/Linwood at 11am.

Elsewhere, Julie Smith completed the New Year’s Day Triathlon in Edinburgh and Scott Hannaway was racing in Musselburgh.

Lyle Mile Results

Neil Lafferty 6:37, Graeme Hyett 6:43, Shaun Wiseman 6:45, Sean Gaffney 6:47, Daniel Doherty 6:54, Stevie Campbell 7:09, Paul Monaghan 7:12, Andrew Osborne 7:19, Scott Newman 7:25, Owen Atkinson 7:29, Colin Morrison 7:29, Ben Campbell 7:34, Oliver Reilly 7:35, Dylan Crawford 7:36, Andrew White 7:36, Jude Dolan 7:37, Toni McIntosh 7:38, Mark Wheeler 7:39, James Healey 7:41, Gordon Hepburn 7:50, Ava Beaton 7:53, David Docherty 7:54, Richard Wheeler 8:00, Leo Beaton 8:06, Daniel Ashworth 8:14, Finn Boyd 8:30, Euan Johnson 8:33, Stephen Hanley 8:33, Ross Neilson 8:34, Ian McKee 8:40, Stephen Reid 8:43, Kai Wheeler 8:47, Erin McEleny 8:51, Graham McGrattan 8:55, Andy McLean 9:05, Summer Taggert 9:07, George Hegarty 9:08, Katie Johnson 9:10, Steven Jackson 9:12, Lucas Bezian 9:19, Stuart Clark 9:21, James Doherty 9:22, Frank McMahon 9:24, Eric Lindsay 9:25, Jim Cuffe 9:30, Marian Monk 9:34, Claire Monaghan 9:36, Lynsey Mooney 9:40, Grant Reilly 9:41, Liam McFadden 9:42, James Prior 9:45, Gerry Gillespie 9:46, Sean Woodman 9:50, Alan O’Rourke 9:52, Alex Wiseman 9:56, Cameron Crawford 9:56, John Gordon 10:00, Lesley McKay 10:02, Malcolm McLean 10:04, Nicola Falconer 10:05, Abbie Tosh 10:05, Cheryl Thomas 10:08, Ann Marie Reid 10:09, Jim Nellis 10:10, Gordon Gallacher 10:16, Colin Campbell 10:18, Francesca McKay 10:25, Aimee McEleny 10:26, Marianne McKay 10:27, Ian Hanley 10:27, Islay Newsome 10:33, Ken MacFarlane 10:43, Lynne Lesley 10:44, Katrina Nisbet 10:46, Gordon Murray 10:49, Kevin Gill 10:50, John Green 10:51, Sinead Mclaughlin 10:58, Heather Lafferty 10:58, Debbie McKenzie 10:59, Stacey Hearl 11:10, John MacDonald 11:16, Douglas Green 11:18, Kenny Scott 11:25, Sarah Williamson 11:26, Susan Falconer 11:34, Andy McGilp 11:34, Barbara Watt 11:37, Douglas McCorrie 11:39, Colin Robertson 11:44, John McLaughlan 11:46, Carol Currie 11:50, Sharon Black 11:53, Vicky Cookson 11:54, Sarah McBride 11:55, Moira McCluckie 12:05, Ben Mullen 12:09, Angela Nelson 12:14, Jennifer Boyd 12:21, Claire Melville 12:22, Davie Peaston 12:22, Richie Currie 12:26, Susan Clark 12:29, Liz McAuslan 12:29, Gerry McNellis 12:32, Jan Green 12:33, Stuart Chalmers 12:40, Beth Docherty 12:46, Catherine Macnaughton 12:49, Ross Mullen 12:52, George Nedley 13:06, Chris Lang 13:19, Charlotte McKay 13:30, Brian Heffron 13:32, Shona McCormack 13:41, Rebecca Young 13:42, Adele Newton 14:11, Simon Hutton 14:11, Natalia Doherty 14:38, Sharon McNeil 14:40, David Black 14:57, Lorna McLean 15:36, Joe Hefferman 19:05, Lorna McCartney 19:05

Pin It on Pinterest