The summer road race calendar is entering silly season making race selection a tricky affair, however, a good 10k race is always welcome, the most recent addition being the Haddington 10k. Previously a 5 mile event, the inaugural  Haddington 10k promised a fresh challenge for previous competitors and new faces alike.

Report by Mike Jones

Sitting at work on Friday with temperatures soaring well into the mid twenties, most were expecting a fairly gruelling slog come race day, however, in true Scottish fashion Saturday morning dawned beanie hat cold and thermal vest blustery. Happy days...

Keeping with tradition, the race is held during Haddington Festival Week which meant a good pre-race atmosphere at Neilson Park. After working my way through the crowds I picked up my race number and met up with fellow Musselburgh runners Steve and Mary. Tactical club chat over and tombola money well spent it was time to line up at the start.

Race underway, and after a lap round Neilson Park it was down to business, with a fairly sharp climb up the B3969 to Briery Bank to get the legs in gear.  Once that was out of the way, the race settled down to a mildly undulating B road route, punctuated by an occasional steeper elevation change. Despite a fairly stiff breeze conditions were good, as the predominantly tree lined roads provided a good deal of shelter, and plenty of nice scenery to boot.

Before half way, it was apparent that unless there were any nasty surprises this was shaping up to be a fast course with PB potential. Position wise, the runners seemed to be fairly well strung out, meaning race positions were hard won and easy lost. After a bit of a struggle, I managed to make a bit of a break at 5k from the small group I was racing with and eventually I was able to join the back of a couple of runners at the 8k mark. All the time I was keeping my eyes up ahead for Stuart (ex Musselburgh, now HBT), but alas by this point I was giving up hope of catching him.

Entering the final kilometre I knew a PB was in the bag (a nice feeling), and a sub 40 was close.  Energy levels were low, but I gave it everything I had to finish in............40:00 dead! So the sub 40 has to wait for another day, but still a PB so can’t complain. Steve finished in a very respectable 43:15, with Mary finishing in 50:01 – looks like the 2 second jinx was out to get the Musselburgh runners today!

The winner was Bryan Mackie of Edinburgh AC with a cracking time of 32:14. All in all, a fast course with a nice flow to it and a good atmosphere at the start and finish, well done to Haddington for an enjoyable race.

Photos by By Brian Marshall

Results: http://www.scottishathletics.org.uk/index.php?p=80&itemType=fixtures&itemId=13869