Entries have just opened for the Tom Scott Memorial Road Races, the first to be held for three years.

This year’s races will be held on Sunday, 3 April, in their traditional home of Strathclyde Park.

As in years past, the 10 mile race will serve as the decider for both the West District 10 Mile Championships and the Scottish 10 Mile Championships.

Organisers say that the ‘extremely fast and flat’ route ‘is renowned as one of the fastest 10 milers in Scotland’, and is perfect for personal bests. 

The event’s other race, the Round the Loch 6K, suits runners of all abilities aged 13+ looking for a shorter challenge.

Although there have been a few changes to the race routes over the years, 2022 marks the 58th edition of the event. 

The first race was held in 1962, to keep alive the memory of Tom Scott, a member of Motherwell YMCA Harriers.  Scott was killed in a car accident the year before while travelling to take part in the Doncaster to Sheffield Marathon. He was just 29 years old. 

Since the event’s inception, the Tom Scott Memorial Road Races have become a veritable ‘who’s who’ of Scottish middle and long distance running, with Olympic, European and Commonwealth level athletes all taking part in, and winning, the main event.  

The 2019 10-mile event was won by Lachlan Oates (Shettleston Harriers), ahead of Michael Crawley (Corstorphine AAC) and Craig Ruddy (Inverclyde AC). All three came home in under 51 minutes, earning them the Tom Scott standard for a cash bonus.

In the women’s race, Elspeth Curran (Kilbarchan) crossed the line first, ahead of Fiona Brian (Metro Aberdeen) and Avril Mason (Shettleston Harriers). With their sub-57-minute finishes, Curran and Brian also earned the Tom Scott standard.

Entries to the 10 mile event will be limited to 500, and the 6K to 100. No entries will be taken on the day for either race.

Full results from previous editons of the Tom Scott Memorial Road Races are available from runABC Scotland.

Image: Tom Scott Memorial Road Races (facebook)