INVERLEITH SUNDOWNER

By Colin Galbraith

On what was expected to be a warm early summer evening, the weather had turned somewhat chilly for those of us that had

elected on wearing club vests for the first in the 2025 Inverleith Sundowner 5k Series. After a group warm up and trot over to the start line opposite the main gates though, it wasn’t too long before things started to heat up.

Having never run this race before (nor even Inverleith Park for that matter), the course itself wasn’t as plain sailing as the rectangular route map might have you believe. It weaves its way around the interior wall of the park, but the first 750m sees you

climb a tricky 30m ascent, circumventing the various tree roots, swollen stumps, and sharp dips. Full concentration is required to stay level but that didn’t stop Martyn Tunstall from taking a nose dive and skinning his knee on one of the laps.

The remaining 800mof each lap is more or less flat, but those obstacles shouldn’t be taken lightly at any point. In total you lap the park three times, on the third you veer left onto the grass and over the finish line.

In total there were 103 participants on the night, 13 of whom were representing West Edinburgh RC, outmatched only by FNZ who I believe were co-sponsors. An outstanding effort for a Wednesday evening!

Of the WERC runners, performances were pretty impressive despite the falls and forgotten shoes (Oliver Jackson was forced to run in his work shoes after forgetting his trainers).

Top mentions to Rhea Mcglashan, who on her return to racing following injury, posted a great time of 23:44. Mandy Scott and Jenni Owens both claimed monstrous Dairy Milk bars by winning their age categories with times of 21:54 and 23:02 respectively, and Alan Jeffrey came 3rd overall with an easy stroll home at 17:37.

But the story of the night was the battle between Lisa Pollock and Oliver Jackson. At the start of the race I could see Oliver leading Lisa by a hundred metres or so. This placing remained for most of the race before Oliver and Lisa started to break

away. The home straight beckoned across the grass when Lisa made her move, racing past Oliver and beating him to the finish line by a mere 3 seconds. Ensuring the club was represented across the full spectrum of placings on the finishers board, I was sure to do my bit by making everyone wait for the team photo!

There were 99 ice-cream cones for all at the finish and the first section of a 3-part

medal for those taking part in all three events.

Signups for the June and July events are still available from Blast over over https://blastrunning.co.uk/events if you are interested. Blast races range in type but are always well organised and always fun so I for one can highly recommend.