Back for its third outing, Dalry's Skirt the Skeith 12K event will return to the village on 23 June this year. The race is organised through the Community Development Hub and supported by the Dalry Sports Club as a community event for the local and surrounding areas.

The race starts at Dalry Public Park in North Ayrshire and runs up Blair Road, around Auchinskeith, along the walls of the Historic Blair House and back to the park. The route is challenging and hilly and the terrain can vary throughout the race. There will be a waterstation around 7K into the race at the entrance to Blair House.

Speaking about the event, organisers said: "This year we are supporting our local food larder and if you feel you could help we would love it if you could donate on the day - a tin (fruit, veg, soup etc) or dried food such as pasta or rice."

Post race there will be the usual BBQ with meat and vegan burgers for all runners. All runners will receive a medal made by the local mens shed, goodie bag with bottle of water and a biscuit at the end of the race. There will be cash prizes for 1st and 2nd female, 1st and 2nd male as well as 1st and 2nd veteran male and female. There will also be spot prizes on the day donated by local businesses.

In 2023 a great day was had by all. It was another rainy affair, but this helped cool the runners down and didn't stop some of them beating the course record. The winner with an amazing time of 42:46 was Michael Rimicans from Irvine Running Club while first female through the finish line was Lorna Baird of Kilmarnock Harriers in a time of 46:29.

If you'd like to know more, visit the Skirt the Skeith entry page.

Image: Dalry Community Development Hub Facebook