Club Training Thursday 19th December

Thursday's session is a hill threshold session at Lickprivick. Take the Murray route to the bottom of Lickprivick as the warm up. Then do 4 x 3 mins up Lickprivick at threshold, jogging down to recover followed by 2 x 2 mins up Lickprivick with a jog down recovery. After the last rep, continue up and over at water tower and back to the club via the Murray again. The efforts should have the usual threshold feeling i.e. two or three word sustainable effort and are definitely not running to exhaustion on each rep.

Alan

Harriers Festive Handicap

Fifteen Harriers donned the fancy dress this morning to compete in the Harriers' annual festive handicap over a distance of 4 miles. Each Harrier was assigned a time handicap and were set off individually with the intention that everyone should finish the five lap course at almost the same time if the handicapper has done a good job. First off today was Andy Henderson, a founding member of the Harriers 40 years ago, still running strong at 70 years old and who was ably assisted and accompanied on his run by Jim Mearns. Last off was Kai Wheeler, one of the youngest members now running for the senior Harriers and a long-term member of our junior section. 

With enthusiastic cheering from the supporting Harriers, the handicap gradually unwound with each passing lap. By the last lap, all the runners were on the same lap and we waited expectantly to see who would appear in the lead. And it was first timer at the handicap, Claire McSorley, who came flying through into the lead on the very last part of the last lap crossing the line without needing to use her witch's broom, in 29:45. A few seconds later Andy and Jim finished in 44:50 in what qualifies as a close finish by handicap standards!

Fastest time of the day went to Kai Wheeler in an impressive 24:55, especially as Kai had been competing on a very tough course in the West XC League at Linn Park the day before. Second and third were separated by only 2 seconds with Stephen Phimister just pipping last year's winner, junior Harrier, Francis Santangeli in 27:15 and 27:17 respectively.

Fastest lady was Rachel McPhillips in 27:51, the first of three from the McPhillips family competing. Second fastest was handicap winner Claire McSorley in an excellent 29:45, despite battling with a costume that was not well suited to the blustery conditions. Club president, Alison Lessells was third fastest in 32:21, a very strong run following a fine run in the West XC League the day before.

Thanks to all who participated and supported the event and to John McIntyre for taking many, many photos which will appear in the EK News sometime in the coming weeks.

Full results (scratch times) are here.

Alan

(a West XC League report will follow when the official league results are updated and published, which should be in the next few days).

Club Training Monday 16th December

With so many racing on either one or both days at the weekend, Monday's session should be taken very easy by those who were racing. The session is at Langlands Place and is 12 x 400m at 10k pace with a 1 minute stand or jog-on-the-spot recovery. For those who were racing, particularly the handicap on Sunday, drop the pace by 2 or 3 seconds per 400m compared to your 10k pace. This should make a huge difference as to how difficult the reps seem. All you you should be doing is striding out at a fast but relaxed pace, feeling light on your feet. For those who were not racing at the weekend, then aim for your usual 10k pace. Irrespective of whether you are doing the reps at slower than 10k or at 10k pace, try to be disciplined and finish all the reps in the same time.

Alan 

Xmas Handicap

 Just a reminder of the Xmas handicap tomorrow.

Starts at 11 (or group photo at 11).

Alan will determine starting order and handicap.

It’s fancy dress. And it’s bring a prize to receive a prize. Round about a fiver. We’ll do the results in the lounge straight afterwards for those who need to get away and then those who want can stay for a coffe/chat afterwards.

Club Training Thursday 12th December

Thursday's session is a medium length run to be taken at an easy pace ahead of Saturday's race. The route is all the way down the Queensway, crossing to the left side at the underpass just before the petrol stations. Carry on beyond McDonalds and then turn left into the factories onto the 4-hills route. From there, complete the last part of the 4-hills course (Dunedin and Lickprivick in particular) and back to the club. This is just some basic aerobic base training, which should form the bulk of everyone's weekly mileage.

Alan

West District Team Selection for Charlotte!

As a well deserved reward for her brilliant performances and boundless enthusiasm in the cross-country season so far, Charlotte Buchanan has been selected to represent the West District at the Inter-District Cross Country Championship at Alexandra Park, Dennistoun on 11th January 2025. It would be great to have as many Harriers along as possible to cheer Charlotte on in her race. It is many years since a Harrier of any age was selected to represent the West District. I am sure you will join me in congratulating one of our most promising juniors on this achievement. 

The event is at the same venue we have used for West District XC Relays a couple of times in recent years: Alexandra Park, Alexandra Parade, Glasgow, G31 2ER.

In addition to the various age-group races in the district championships, this event also hosts the Scottish round of the British Athletics Cross Challenge, so there will be plenty of high quality racing to watch throughout the day. As if that was not enough, there is also an open race for seniors and masters over 8km which will be nice preparation for the National XC. Entry details are available on the Scottish Athletics web site here: https://www.scottishathletics.org.uk/cross-challenge-24

The entry fee is £10.00. The process to enter is a bit convoluted. After clicking the above link, log in to your Scottish Athletics account on the Scottish Athletics web site that is displayed. Then navigate to the Scottish Athletics fixture calendar here, browse the list to the 11th January and then to the right of the event name, there is an Enter Now link. Click that and it should be obvious from there on.

Alan

Club Training Monday 9th December - Brancumhall

Monday's Brancumhall session is a threshold session. The effort level should be at the normal 2 or 3 word pace equivalent to the effort level you could maintain for about an hour non-stop. However, the reps are somewhat shorter than 1-hour. The session is 4 x 2 laps at threshold with a 2 minute jog recovery. Apart from the first rep, each rep starts/finishes where ever you are after 2 minutes of jogging. This session will total approximately 4 miles of reps.

Alan