Nigel Barge Back For 80th Time
The Nigel Barge 10K celebrated its 80th anniversary at the weekend with a fantastic turnout...
Having first been staged in 1943, the Nigel Barge 10K is one of the oldest events on the Scottish race calendar. Those of you with good mental arithmetic will have already realised then that 2023 is a landmark year for the popular Glasgow event... yes, Sunday's (January 22) outing was indeed the race's 80th anniversary!
The Maryhill Harriers organised event was a sell-out, with well over 300 runners heading for Glasgow's Garscube Kelvin Campus for the 10K's 2-lap course. It was a great day at the office for Seyd Taha Ghafari of Shettleston Harriers who won the race in a fantastic time of 30:47, second place went to Ross Good of Giffnock North in 31:08 and picking up the final podium place was Stephen Addison of Glasgow University Hares and Hounds who completed the course in 31:27.
In the women's race it was Inverclyde AC's Meredith Reid who took gold in 34:12. Second place went to Natasha Phillips of Dundee Hawkhill Harriers in 34:38 and third to Corstorphine AAC's Josie wren Golder in 36:53. You can check out all the race's results in full via the runABC Scotland race listing page here.
There was also a whisky prize for the traditional 'King and Queen of the Hill' awarded to the first runners that scale the notorious 'Vet School hill'. Taking this year's titles were third placed runner, Stephen Addison, and first placed female - Meredith Reid. As it was the race's 80th anniversary spot prizes were also awarded to the 19th, 43rd and 80th finishers!
Speaking after the race, organisers said: “Our Nigel Barge 10K is over for another year, and what a fantastic race it was!! Well done to all runners who took part.”
The race honours the memory of Nigel Barge, a Royal Engineer who was killed in action at Dunkirk at the age of 23. The talented officer, who helped prepare the defences around the Northern French coast, was also a member of the Maryhill Harriers, organisers of the ever-popular event.
If you'd like to know more, visit the Maryhill Harriers website.
Image: Maryhill Harriers