It was a great weekend for Kirkcaldy as the town celebrated the return of its half marathon after the inaugural outing two years ago. Not only that, a new 10K trail race and 1M fun run joined proceedings making this the first Kirkcaldy Parks Running Festival.

Following the success of the inaugural 2019 Kirkcaldy Parks Half Marathon, the newly assembled 'event team' evolved into an SCIO (Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation). COVID hit hard at the start of their 2020 planning and the event was cancelled completely. As restrictions were lifted throughout 2021 the committee persevered and managed to create and execute their plan to introduce a smaller (but equally tough) 10K trail race.

And it was all of this that led to this year's Running Festival, which was by all accounts a brilliant success for all involved. Speaking after the event a race organiser commented: "This weekend sees our first foray into a Running Festival, with three runs over the weekend instead of one.

"As the sun sets on technically the first Kirkcaldy Parks Running Festival, the whole of the KPRF committee would like to give our utmost thanks to the many many people that helped to make the event such a success.

"We said it after the first event but this really is Kirkcaldy's race, it belongs to us all... and it shows what a community can do when we all pull in the same direction."

88 runners tackled the gently undulating 10K Trail Run, blessed with warm weather and a good crowd cheering them out and back. Stephen Horrocks-Birss of Fife AC was the overall winner with a time of 44:49 while Vikki Laing (unattached) came first in the  female race and 18th overall in a time of 59:19. 

Over in the Half Marathon, Ryan Lafferty of Fife AC came first in a time of 1:13:48 while first female was Rhona Van Rensburg also of Fife AC in 1:27:50. 

Beveridge Park played host to the event village where those taking part were able to make the most of the food and drink stalls and other vendors too. A happy race goer said post-race: "Well done to all this weekend - fun run, 10K and half plus all the organisers and volunteers and sponsors. A great weekend for the town. Looking forward to next year already."

If you'd like to know more about the event visit the Facebook page here.

Image: Kirkcaldy Parks Running Festival