[box] Petya Todorova [/box]
Thomas Fay snatched gold in the Glasgow Hares and Hounds annual 5 mile road race, as the former Glasgow student returned to his former stomping ground to comfortably take the title by 53 seconds ahead of current Glasgow student Adam Peters to win with a time of 25.14. Glasgow claimed gold and silver in the womens U20 with Kathryn Pennel coming home in 30.00, 2.47 ahead of compatriot and training partner Rhian Dawes. Pennel dominated from the outset with a performance showcased why she has dominated the Scottish schools circuit in recent years. Pennel, who came 5th overall in the womens race, impressed as she seemed to take competing at the next level completely in her stride. After her victory she spoke of the difficult weather conditions, “I found the race quite challenging as I just moved from under 17`s group to under 20`s group. It was wet and hilly but I am pleased with my result.”
After Glasgow’s recent success on the circuit however there was a degree of revenge extracted by Edinburgh as they were the dominant force present at the event as they saw three runners in the top ten, whilst Sarah Ingils took gold in the womens senior event.
The race, which is increasingly becoming one of the major amateur short distance runs, took on added significance this year with the club recently celebrating their 90th birthday, yet on a miserable day at the Garscube the anniversary never looked set to be marked by any record times. on its day the Garscube can be gloriously picturesque, but this was a day on which you would be hard pressed to tell that to any first timers to the historic course. One record however that was broken was competitors with the vent seeing its importance grow through Scotland with numbers up 50 to 209 racers braving the treacherous conditions.
Event organisers and club captain Sarah Munn and Chris Clarke were absolutely delighted with the smooth running of the event and the great turn out. They said:“Organising the Annual Race began a few months ago; it took a lot of time and effort which today paid off. It has been such a worthwhile experience!”
The race also for the first time saw points awarded in the race for GUSA’s Interschools Cup.
Speaking after the event GUSA Vice President for Recreational Sport Steph Collins reflected on the new addition to the race: “This the first time when the points gained at the Hares and Hounds Annual Race will be accounted for the Inter Schools competition that takes part in March. We are hoping this to provide great incentive for students to take part in more recreational sports events”
