March 11 2026
Promoting Athletics in Orkney
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| Sunnybank Half Marathon | August 16, 2026 | READ MORE |
| Rousay Lap Half Marathon | August 22, 2026 | READ MORE |
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Orkney Athletic and Running Club (OARC) is delighted to announce that John Cairns has been appointed as Club Development Officer (CDO) following an open application process conducted through the Scottish Athletics Club Together programme. This is a part time, ten-hour a week post.
John will be well known to club members past and present as our lead throws coach and has been a key part of OARC for many years, including as a trustee from the formation of the charity until 2023. John also has a wealth of experience in club and sports development, including as Orkney Rugby Football Club’s Development Officer for almost seven years.
OARC’s hope is that John will provide a key link between the coaching team, athletes, officials and our board of trustees and help develop our volunteer coaching and officiating teams, as well as providing a longer term strategy to develop our volunteers and athletes. John will work across the whole club, including our primary, secondary and senior sections in track, field and road disciplines.
We as a board of directors look forward to working with John, and I’m sure that everyone will join us in wishing him the best of luck in this new role.
John Cairns said: “It is a really exciting opportunity to develop athletics and running in Orkney. I am looking forward to working across the whole club.”
Erin Gillen, National Club Manager at Scottish Athletics, said: "I'm really excited to see John appointed as Orkney Athletic and Running Club's new Club Development Officer. Having someone with John's experience, passion for the club and commitment to developing people is a huge asset. We look forward to supporting John and the club through the Club Together programme and seeing the positive impact this role will have on volunteers, members and the wider athletics community in Orkney."
Congratulations John & good luck in your new job 😊
Nice one John! 💪🏽
Fantastic! You will be great John 👏🏼👏🏼
You the man John Cairns 💪
Entries are open now for the Orkney Television Enterprise Sunnybank Half Marathon. This is the Island Games loop course of four laps, and as a result we are offering relay entry as well as individual entry for teams of two or four, so if slogging it up the hill past the golf club four times doesn't float your boat, why not share the pain with a friend... or enemy? Entries will close on 9th August.
www.entrycentral.com
OARC Sunnybank Half Sunday 16th August 2026. Race starts 10am Registration in the crush area at Picky Centre from 9:00am - 9:45am Single entry or relay team entries below Relay teams of 4 one lap each...How do I enter a team of two? The website won’t allow me to have a person do more than one lap each. Thanks.
Scottish Sea Farms Stromness Shopping Week 10k
A fantastic field of 59 runners completed the Scottish Sea Farms Stromness Shopping Week 10k today, the race returning after a fallow year in 2025 with great support from locals and visitors. I think everyone who’d entered may have woken up with a little regret with strong winds and rain all morning, but the rain had stopped well before the start and whilst there was still a fair bit of wind around, conditions were certainly improving through the race.
There have been rumblings of slow post in Orkney recently, but there were no such issues today in Stromness as visiting Dutch runner Benjamin Post powered around the Stromness hills and through the winds to finish in 34:22, taking the victory by 27 seconds from OARC's Ewan Foubister who finished in 34:49, with both young athletes posting very impressive times around a challenging course in tough conditions. It’s fairly unusual in Orkney distance running for the veteran men not to have things all their own way, so chalk one up for the seniors! John Gonnella was third home and first veteran in 36:30 with Gary Ward and Craig Moar rounding out the top five.
The women’s race was also closely contested between two Orkney triathletes, with Caron Oag taking the win in 45.45, narrowly ahead of St. Magnus Winner Rebecca Learmonth (as she definitely likes to be called) who finished in 46.06. In other categories, Dawn Williams was the first veteran female in 47.59, James Leonard the first super veteran male in 47.23 and Donna Stephenson the first super veteran female in 62:12.
Thank you to everyone who took part, and to our fantastic team of marshals: Jacqueline Innes, Fiona Morgan, Katie Hall, Rosalind Spence, Liz Foubister, Mervyn Hourston, Evelyn & Hilary Grant and Avril Bain, as well as Carrie and Sarah for keeping everything running smoothly on the day, to Leigh for printing the medals and to Craig for setting everything up beforehand and putting it away again afterwards. Thank you to the Ferry Inn for the use of their garden, to Scottish Sea Farms for the sponsorship and to Julia’s Shed for providing us ice cream to spend the sponsorship on! Thank you to the Royal Party for coming down to present the trophies to Caron and Benjamin, and thanks to the Shopping Week Committee for all your hard work putting everything on.
Next up on the home road running calendar is the Sunnybank Half Marathon - newly renamed from the less catchy Kirkwall Half Marathon (Route 2) - this is the Island Games loop course and as a result, we’re going to offer it as a relay as well as an individual race. Entry details to follow tomorrow! Full results of the race below, let us know if anything doesn't look right. Participation league update in the week!
Off they go!
Thank you Marshalls and OARC for a great event, I can confirm I was one of those who woke up with a little regret… but there was an audible ‘oooh’ when free ice cream was mentioned! 😆
Photos from Hilary Grant, Sarah Finn & Louise Henderson - thank you all!
Love it! Are there any results available? Thanks.
Sorry to miss it this year
Stromness 10k check in is in the Ferry Inn garden.
Didn’t realise that was me in the picture at first 😂
Great stuff! Will the results be on here later? Thanks
This year's Rousay Lap will be held on 22nd August. Entries can be made in advance at evententry.co.uk/rousay-lap-2026 with no charge for entry but money being raised for local charities.
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As well as providing regular athletic instruction and training sessions, one of the key aims of OARC is to promote pathways to performance and as part of this, the Club organises and participates in a range of home and away competitions throughout the year.