Updated: Gala Harrier Darrell Hastie breaks Scottish over-40 record for 3,000m

The Gala Harrier clocked that time, his best as an over-40 veteran by five seconds, at Glasgow Athletics Association’s miler meet at the city’s Emirates Arena this month.

That earned him third place overall in his race, the 12th of the day over that distance, getting home two minutes and 23 seconds behind winner Jack Heathwood, of Glasgow’s Bellahouston Harriers.

The record broken by Hastie, of 8:32.6, had stood since 1997, having been set by Cambuslang’s Eddie Stewart in the Czech Republic back then.

The 42-year-old is delighted to have bettered that time almost three decades on, saying: “It was good.

“It was a funny thing as I’d run an indoor race two seasons ago, I think, a masters championship in Glasgow, and I’d won that in 8:35.89 and a guy from Scottish Athletics got in touch a few weeks later to tell me I was quite close to the record, so I had that in the back of my mind this time round. It wasn’t something I’d been aware of back then.

“The Emirates was shut all last winter getting refurbished for the world championship so there weren’t really any opportunities to get a race over 3,000m indoors without going down to England, and I kind of put that on the back-burner – it was one of those things – but when I saw this race coming up, I thought it’s definitely an opportunity to have a crack at it.

“It was an open race and there were a lot of young lads in it, so that really helped as I think in my head I’m still about 21 so I feel like I’m kind of competing with them as well and not just other veterans.”

Hastie, a primary school janitor by trade, followed up that record-breaking run by finishing as fastest over-40 at Saturday’s cross-country inter-district championships at Glasgow’s Alexandra Park for the second year on the bounce, in 24:35, placing 25th overall.

“You don’t get too many masters runners in that race with it being more about the inter-districts but 25th overall, I was quite pleased with that,” he said.

“It was a really good day out and the club was given a really good representation in the east district team and that really is quite an honour as you have to be at a pretty good level to get selected.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many Gala runners picked before, so that was really good.”

Hastie credits late Kelso coach Addie Gray for putting him on the track that’s led to his success in masters races of late, saying: “I used to run with Addie through my mid-20s and into my late 20s.

“What a character he was. He was a really good guy.

“To be honest, I probably wouldn’t be running now if it weren’t for him.

“I’d have been about 24 and I was at the point of getting a bit fed up and thinking about jacking in running and a couple of lads that trained with him got in touch and said ‘come along and train with us’ and that kind of revived my interest and really got me going again.

“I’ve him to thank for that as I wouldn’t be running now if it hadn’t been for him.”

Hastie’s under-20 clubmate Robbie Welsh was ninth in the same 3,000m race at the miler meet that saw the old over-40 record broken, clocking 8:58.46.

Fellow Borderer Kieran Fulton, of Moorfoot Runners, also returned home with a medal, for finishing as third under-20 over the same distance in 8:26.28, taking sixth place overall in the 13th and second-last 3,000m race, won by Robbie Ferguson, of Renfrewshire’s Kilbarchan Amateur Athletic Club, in 8:19.59.

Hastie’s over-50 clubmate Julia Johnstone was in action over 3,000m too, placing tenth in her race, the fourth over that distance, in 11:27.16, as was Hastie’s son and under-17 clubmate Oliver Hastie, finishing fifth in his, the seventh, in 9:30.64.

Their respective races were won by under-20s Alice Mourao, of Edinburgh’s Corstorphine Amateur Athletics Club, in 10:16.56 and Kaydan Day, of West Lothian’s Livingston Athletic Club, in 9:06.82.