Club Training Monday 12th October

On Monday we continue our "track" sessions at Langlands Place and build slightly on the volume. The session is 10 x 400m at 5k pace with a 1 minute stand/jog around recovery. As usual, aim for even pacing on every rep, with the target being to stay within 1 second of your time on every rep. As the total volume is still 1km short of the race distance the pace of which you are running at, this session should not take you to the limit; it should become more uncomfortable towards the end of the session but you should have enough in the tank to do another 3 or 4 reps at that pace. So keep it under control from the beginning. The 5k pace table is below as a reminder.

Alan

Grand Prix Kick-off 2026-2027 - West XC Relays Kilmarnock

A blustery day in the West of Scotland did not deter a big field for the opening race of the Scottish Athletics 2026-27 cross country season and the first race of the Calderglen Grand Prix. 771 competitors making up 226 teams competed over an approximately 3.5km course of relatively flat parkland and muddy fields. A good initiation for the spikes. 

It was particularly encouraging for us to be able to field almost 3 complete ladies' teams with a mix of experienced Harriers and first time cross-country competitors. Fastest Harrier on the day was Emma Carroll who was running leg 2 for our senior ladies A team, covering the course in 16:49. However, it was tight at the top for our top 3. Claire McSorley (3rd leg for masters team) finished in 16:55 very closely followed by Fiona Williamson (1st leg for the masters) in 16:58. Then Stephanie Caulfield on her XC debut (1st leg for the senior ladies A team) got the team off to a good start in 17:28. Frances Ferguson is gradually getting back to form, running a similar time to last year (18:21) on leg 2 for the masters. Jacqueline Balmer looked very relaxed completing the 3rd leg for the senior ladies in 19:48. Lorraine Buchanan was pleased with her time of 21:33 on leg 1 for the senior B team and handed over to Pam Rycroft on her XC debut who ran well through the mud to finish in 22:55. Wise decisions to play jokers has resulted in Claire leading the Grand Prix after race 1 with Pam just behind in second place and Stephanie close on her heels. The positions in the club championship follow the time order meaning that Emma is leading followed by Claire and Fiona. The GP and Club Championship league tables are available in the menus to the left of the blog.

Given the numbers at training, the number of men's teams we had was a little disappointing. However, those who were there all ran well. Fastest Harrier of the day was Jordan Stewart in an excellent 12:54. Andrew Buchanan was next fastest, leading of the masters team in a time of 15:33. Iain MacLean was in touch with Andy, finishing in 16:01 on leg 4 of the masters team. Gerry Connelly made a rare but much valued XC outing, finishing in 16:39 on leg 2 for the masters team with Robert Pattinson next fastest in 16:54. The race was a bit shorter than usual for Jim Mearns who nevertheless ran strongly in 17:48. Gordon McInally and Kenny Leinster are both fighting to overcome injuries and ailments and finished reasonably close to each other in 19:33 and 19:46 respectively. Russell Couper and Andy Rycroft completed our teams, finishing in 22:11 and 23:40, although Russell would have preferred it to have been a lot muddier. On the bright side, he did finish with both shoes on his feet. Jordan, Iain and Gerry made good use of their jokers to lead the Grand Prix whilst the Club Championship order is as listed above in the finishing time order.

From the enthusiastic performances I saw, hopefully we will have an even better turn out at Cumbernauld in a few weeks.

Alan

NATIONAL SHORT COURSE XC ( KIRKCALDY )

This years short course xc is back at Kirkcaldy on 7th November

u16 girls at noon,   u16 boys at 12.25     dist  2k

u18 girls at 12.50   u18 boys at 13.20     dist  3k

u20, sen and mast women at 13.50      dist  4k

u20, sen and mast men at  14.20       dist  4k

Cost is £9.50 for u16 and u/18.   Adult races are £11.00

Your SA membership must be valid for race day at the time of entry so if its due to be renewed in between it must be renewed early. The system won't allow entry otherwise.

I need entries by Tuesday 20th Oct.

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

BRAMPTON TO CARLISLE 10 MILE ROAD RACE

The Harriers have gone to this event annually since 1986 and some have been to almost every event. We have booked a bus so for those that are new to the club. The bus will leave the Sports club at 7am on Sunday 15th Nov and travel to Brampton. This will get us there in plenty time for warm ups, team photo etc before the race starts at 10.00am. At the finish depending how long we take to run we will have a few hours in Carlisle and time to have a refreshment or two and a good chat about how our runs went. We will then leave for Moffat for a meal and the presentations of our Brampton trophies to our first Lady and Gent and the all important reveal of the sweep winner (please bring £1 cash for the sweep). Back on the bus and back in East Kilbride for about 7pm. Note the earlier times from previous years as the race starts at 10am now.

£20 will secure your place on the bus and should be paid asap. If you opt to pay this direct to the club bank acc then drop Russell a message to say its done and your place is then secure. At this point i dont know what the meal cost will be but probably about £20 and this will be collected on the day. If your coming on the bus please leave your name HERE. If youve added your name it will appear HERE.

Guests can come on the bus too so if you know anyone that wants to run then let them know the details.

As this is a long day you probably should bring something to eat on the bus for before the run and after to see you through to our dinner in Moffat

Entries are now only an online option so everyone will have to take care of their own entry. Details are on the sportsoft website and you will have to sign in for a login with sport soft and this link should take you to it Sportsoft Online Entries 

WEST DISTRICT XC RELAY CHAMPIONSHIPS

 Teams for Saturday are as follows updated 09/10/2026 21.49

11.00am  Junior Girls  A   leg 1  no runner   leg 2 C Buchanan  leg 3 A McDerment

                                    B   leg 1 no runner    leg 2   N McMonagle   leg 3  A McCardle

11.45 am  Junior boys  A   leg 1  I McMonagle  leg2  H Anderson   leg 3  F McMonagle

13.00   Senior ladies   A    leg 1 S Caulfield   leg 2  E Carroll   leg 3  J Balmer

           Senior Ladies B    leg 1  L Buchanan  leg 2  P Rycroft    leg 3  free

           V40 ladies      leg 1 F Williamson   leg 2 F Ferguson  leg 3  C McSorley

14.15  Senior Men  A  leg 1  J Stewart  leg 2  R Pattinson  leg 3  G McInally  leg 4  K Leinster

           Senior Men  B  leg 1  A Rycroft  leg 2  R Couper  leg 3  free   leg 4  free

           V40 Men     leg 1 A Buchanan  leg 2 G Connolly  leg 3 J Mearns  leg 4 I MacLean

Please arrive in plenty time. Lorraine and Andrew will attend to the juniors. I will be at the course from noon to collect the numbers and be at the start area. If anyone can no longer make it please let me know asap as i need to go online to change the declarations also if anyone wants to take any of the spaces in the mens B team let me know asap.

Russell

Club Training Thursday 8th October

Thursday's session is another split session with a shorter route for those racing at the West XC Relays on Saturday and a slightly longer route for those not racing. The session is an easy run with 6 x strides over about 50m to 80m accelerating to race pace and back to easy.

The routes are Kingsway to the Whirlies, down East Mains Rd, up West Mains Rd to College Milton, cross the road and down through the factories as if doing the 4-hills and back up and back up Glenburn Rd the Queensway, then all the way back up the Queensway to the club. The shorter version is to miss out the College Milton section and just to turn left onto the Queensway at KFC. Within your packs, fit in the 6 x 50m to 80m strides on flat or slightly downhill sections of the route. Think of being relaxed and light on your feet as you accelerate up to race pace.

Alan

Grand Prix 2026 - 2027 is Go!

This Saturday's West District XC Relay at Kilmarnock is the first race of the new season Grand Prix. For those new to the Harriers, the Grand Prix is a series of 16 races which the senior Harriers use to contest two competitions in parallel, the Calderglen Grand Prix and the Calderglen Club Championships. The difference between the two competitions is that the GP uses a system of "jokers" to even out the scoring such that theoretically, everyone has a chance of winning if they do enough of the races (best 11 of the 16 to count) whereas the Club Championship is a scratch championship with no jokers to boost the scores such that the fastest runners should win if they do enough of the races! It looks like a good turn out of seniors and juniors for the first race of this season.

The Grand Prix rules remain unchanged again this year and are summarised in this post from a few years ago: https://calderglen.blogspot.com/2023/10/grand-prix-rules-2023-2024.html. The important point to note is that the number of jokers you are assigned at the start of the season is based on the training pack that you are currently assigned to; those in packs 1 to 7 get 1 joker whereas those in packs 8 to 10 get 2 jokers. Jokers must be declared to Russell or his nominated representative (well) before each race starts.

The first batch of races in this year's Grand Prix are provisionally as listed here. The list is also available in the menu on the left of the blog.

Alan