Club Training Thursday 22nd January

Thursday's session is a threshold Thursday consisting of 1 x 12 minute effort, 4 minutes jog and then 8 minute effort. This is enough ahead of SVHC relay. The warm up is up Strathaven Rd to NEL roundabout, down to the Murray Roundabout and then onto the Queensway at the Town centre. The first rep starts here all the way down to KFC, turn right onto West Mains Rd, past the train station and on to Lidl. Turn right up Churchill Avenue and Strathaven Rd.

Be extremely careful on all road crossings. Do not charge across. Sacrafice the rep effort until the road is clear rather than taking any risks.

Alan 

NATIONAL XC CHAMPIONSHIP (FALKIRK)

This years National XC Championship will once again be held at Callendar Park in Falkirk on Saturday 21st Feb.

First race is U/13 girls at 11.00am up to Ladies at 12.50 and Men at 14.40

Distance is 10k for seniors.

Cost is £8 for juniors and £9.50 for U/20, Seniors and Masters.

Make sure your SA membership is up to date at the time of entry and the race date.

I need names by Tuesday 3rd Feb.

If you wish entered leave your name HERE. Those already registered are listed HERE.

West Cross Country League - Strathaven

 

Saturday was the first out of 2 west league cross country events where we had representation through the different age groups. It was great conditions for running, cold, not windy and not too muddy underfoot. The course was set in Kirkland Park in Strathaven which is set on a hill with the course mainly being either uphill or downhill, with not very many flat sections, however the hill wasn't anywhere near as bad as the Linn Park hill last year!

The first race we had harriers taking part in was the U13 boys race. Innes McMonegal and Luca MacArthur both gave a good account of themselves with Innes finishing in 12:32 in 34th place with Luca around a minute behind in 13:43 in 43rd place. The incomplete boys team finished in 13th out of 17. We had 3 U13 girls competing who also all gave a good account of themselves. Charlotte is getting back to full strength after her long injury lay off and was pleased with her run , finishing in 13th place in a time of 11:43. Nina McMonegal finished not too far behind in 30th place in a time of 12:43, depsite losing a shoe in one of the muddy patches and finishing the race in one shoe. Lucy Rooney completed the girls team finishing in 50th place in a time of 15:17. The girls team finished in 8th place out of 13. We had 2 harriers taking part in the U15 boys race. Finlay McMonegal had a strong run finishing in 9th place in a time of 12:35 with Robbie Rooney not too far behind in 13th place in a time of 13:06. The boys did well with Calderglen Harriers finishing as 2nd team out of 11. 

The senior harriers ran a combined race with males and females running together. There was some close contests throughout with the 2 Andrews (Buchanan and Higgins) resuming their battle for grand prix points. Kai Wheeler finished as first harrier in a time of 25:40. Martin MacDonald running his first cross country as a harrier wasn't too far behind finishing in 25:56. Iain Maclean was around a minute behind finishing in 26:49, with Jason not much further back in 27:16. Andrew Buchanan got the better of Andrew Higgins this time, finishing in 28:08 with Andrew H 6 seconds behind in 28:14. There was a few minutes before Alison finished in a time of 30:52. Richard Lawton was next to finish in 32:11. Despite thinking she'd never run a cross country again while running Decembers West District Championships, Jacqueline Balmer turned up again and ran strongly to finish in 34:01. Russell Couper completed our male entrants finishing in 39:33 and Lorraine Buchanan completed our female entrants (also running on her birthday - hope you enjoyed your wine and birthday cake later), finishing in a time of 40:19. Currently with some teams still to submit their results  the overall male team is sitting in 9th out of 24 teams, with the masters sitting in 6th from 13 teams. The female master steam are currently sitting in 3rd from 7 teams.

Thanks to Alan Derrick, Peter Moyes, Robert Pattinson, Susan and Heidi Grant and Charlotte Buchanan for  coming along to support. It was much appreciated, along with Marie Neil and Richard Stark from Strathaven and the EK marshalls there seemed to be support all the way round.

Lets see if we can get a good turn out for the 2nd and final league match at Balloch on the 7th February to keep these positions up.

 

Club Training Monday 19th January - Brancumhall

With many racing on Saturday and Sunday, the Brancumhall session is a lighter one this week. The session is 6 laps in total, alternating between one side of the quadrangle at 5k effort and one side jog recovery. The aim is to be light on your feet on the soft ground. For those who are not naturally light on their feet, this means focusing on a higher than your usual cadence, shorter strides, higher knees and landing on your forefoot with definitely no heel striking. You should find that this takes you across soft ground with much less effort than plodding.

Alan

SVHC ROAD RELAYS ( STRATHCLYDE PARK )

 The SVHC Road Relays will take place on Sunday 25th Jan at Strathclyde Park.

Teams of 3 for Ladies and 4 for Men. This event is for 35 and overs.

Start time is 11.00am. Cost is £7.50 per head and legs are 6k on an out and back course

We will enter part teams too if we dont have enough for full teams.

I need names by Thursday 22nd Jan.

If you wish entered please add your name HERE.  Those registered are listed HERE.

Club Training Thursday 15th January

Thursday's session is a run without reps! Instead the plan is to do the 4-hills as a relatively easy aerobic run. Just a constant, easy effort with the hills providing a slight increase in heart rate as and when they come. For this type of run, absolutely stick to your packs and feel the benefit of a session that is not leaving you on your knees.

Alan

West Cross-Country League - What is it and why we need you

For those new to the club or who have not participated in the West XC League before here are a few pointers as to why it is important to have you participate for your club, Calderglen Harriers.

Unlike any other race we do, the two races in the West XC League are team events only. There are no individual awards or positions. The winners are the clubs.

For the few years that the league has been in place, we have done well, especially given the relatively small size of our club. We have done well not because we have super fast, elite runners but because we were represented by many Harriers across the different male, female, age group and combined categories.

What do we need to do for Calderglen Harriers to place highly?

1. we need to have at least the maximum number of counters in each team in each category to avoid accumulating penalty points for incomplete teams. Senior teams have 4 counters per team; all other age groups have 3 counters per team. Scores are awarded by adding up the finishing positions of each member of a team (4 or 3 to count) and adding on any penalty points as explained in point 2. The lowest score wins.

2. we need to have more than the maximum counters per team running. Penalty point system has changed. Penalty points are the total number of participants in the race + 10 points. So every extra person we have above the maximum counters for a team puts a penalty point onto the score of each team for each person they are missing from a complete team. Full explanation here on the West XC League web site.

3. we need to have good attendance in both league match 1 in Strathaven and league match 2 in Balloch as the competition is a 2-race league.

4. for the reasons above (and as it is only 2 races this year), both races are in the Calderglen Grand Prix (see the newsletter sent out last week).

So, looking to see as many as possible of you in Strathaven on Saturday!

Alan