IT WAS home sweet home for members of Pitreavie AAC as they were able to resume competition on their track recently.

Clubs from across the Eastern District travelled to West Fife to join them for the first of two open graded track and field events, held as part of the Scottish Athletics 4J Studios Running Together Apart initiative.

Organised by Pitreavie, this creative response to ongoing COVID-19 restrictions ran across Scotland during May to allow athletes to compete locally, while still having their results registered on a national leaderboard.

The day, which also incorporated three out of the four SUPERteams events – the 75 metres sprint, long jump and 600m – saw some fine performances from club members.

Sean Redpath, in the Under-23M age category, claimed a 100m PB of 12.9 seconds, while Erin Macfarlane (Under-17W) enjoyed a best of 43.8 in the 300m.

Lily Simon (Under-15G) posted 43.4 in the latter event, with Katie Thomson running 43.8, while Michael Massey (Under-11B) and Heidi Lang (Under-11G) threw excellent distances of 5.37 metres and 4.37m respectively in the shot put.

In addition, Rebecca Grieve was one of 90 athletes competing at the 4J Studios Scottish Athletics May Invitational in Kilmarnock on May 8, and she ran a strong 400m in challenging and wet and windy conditions to win in a time of 57.81, which she improved on by 13 seconds at the Loughborough Open a few days later.

Events co-ordinator Nicola Moriarty said of the event at Pitreavie: "We had great feedback from athletes through to officials with a number of athletes obtaining PBs, after not having access to competitions for many months."

Meanwhile, with the easing of COVID-19 restrictions in Fife, and the ability to run in events of up to 30 individuals, 25 enthusiastic Pitreave AAC Endurance (PAACE) section members took to the roads of Dunfermline in the club’s first handicap race since the pandemic took hold.

The five-mile route started at Pitreavie’s club house, going up through Pitcorthie and Aberdour Road, before turning round in Pitcorthie and heading back. A good downhill from the King Malcolm Hotel made up for the hilly first half, with a long, flat stretch at the end to the finishing line.

Runners set off based on their predicted five-mile finish time, with slower members heading out first, ensuring the athletes returned at similar times and allowed people of all speeds to compete with each other.

Laura Marie Bannister placed first, in an excellent time of 41 minutes and nine seconds, beating her prediction by nine minutes, as Lesley Mealing (39:24), also ahead of her prediction, just pipped Ian McGory to second place by two seconds.

Graeme Downie ran the course, with its 177 feet of elevation, in a fast time of 29:55.