West Highland Way Relay Weekend 2026 is Go!

As previously announced, the Harriers' West Highland Way Relay weekend is from Saturday 16th May (early morning start) through to Sunday 17th May (afternoon return) and will cost £125 per person, dinner, bed & breakfast, which includes a £7 contribution to the minibus cost, the balance being covered by the club. We stay the Saturday night at the Ben Nevis Hotel in Fort William.

For those new to the club we hire a 17 seater minibus and leave East Kilbride about 2 to 3am (pick-up time will be confirmed nearer the time once we have the participants list and can estimate an ETA in FW) on the Saturday morning and drive to Milngavie where Alan will allocate a section of the Way to be run by each person (although you can, if you wish, run with others on their legs). All but one of the legs are reasonably short and in any case we give the longer legs to the fastest runners such that we stand a chance of arriving in time for dinner. The plan is to arrive in Fort William early evening for a swim if there is time and dinner with some refreshments. Depending on the weather we may do an outdoor activity on the Sunday before arriving back in East Kilbride around 5pm. As places are limited it will be a first come first served basis upon giving Frances a deposit of £50 from Thursday 26th March at the Sports Club when entries will officially open. As Frances has to pay the hotel in full two weeks before the event, the balance of the payment is due by 1st May.

Alan

Club Training Thursday 19th March

Due to only having one team entered for the National Road Relays, the planned pre-race run will instead be a rep session. For those representing the club at the national relays, thank you and please do only the first half of the session.

The session is 12 x 400m at 10k race pace with a 30-second jog around or stand recovery (note that this is significantly less recovery than we have been taking when running these reps at 5k pace). As always, aim for consistency of time for each rep (unless there is a strong headwind/tailwind, in which case aim for consistency within the upwind legs and consistency within the downwind legs, averaging approximately your 10k pace across the upwind/downwind legs).

Alan

NATIONAL 6+4 STAGE RELAYS

 We have 1 male team entered for the 6 stage relay this Saturday 21st March

Race starts at 11.30 and i will register the team and have the numbers at the start by 11.00

Please arrive by 11.00 unless your on a later leg in which case please let me know your estimated arrival time.

Team and running order is below.

Leg 1  R Lawton,  leg 2  J Grant,  Leg 3  R Couper,  Leg 4  G Connelly,  Leg 5 C Banks,  Leg 6  K Leinster

P.S.   Can someone please take Colin through.

Russell

Club Training Monday 16th March

Monday's session is the Greenhills Rd 5 x 1600m rep session at 10k race pace. For this session, the recoveries are dependent on the pack and the time taken to run a mile with the recovery being approximately half the rep time. To make this work in a pack system, the recoveries imposed are as follows:

Pack A 3:00 minutes

Pack B 3:30 minutes

Pack C 4:00 minutes

Pack D

 4:30 minutesThe session once again starts at the top of Langlands Drive on Greenhills Rd and runs down the left side of the road on the pavement, turning left at Auldhouse roundabout and keeping left at the fingerposts towards the new houses. Jog around where you finished for the recovery. The next rep is the reverse of the first rep. As the reps swap between predominantly downhill and predominantly uphill, focus more on consistent effort rather than nailing 10k pace in both directions. The overall average pace of the reps in the session should be close to your realistic 10k pace though.

Alan

Club Training Thursday 12th March

Lost track of the day of the week, sorry for the delay in posting. Today's session is a long threshold fartlek around the 4 hills. As per usual on this session, increase to a threshold effort on all the hills, long and short, and run steady between the hills (steady is just slightly harder than full conversational pace). Decide within your packs when to start and finish each effort and make sure you regroup between efforts without actually stopping.

Alan

Club Training Monday 9th March

Monday's session is a post-race, easy run. Take the chance to have a very controlled aerobic run during which you should be capable of chatting at any time. Most of your non-club runs should be like this. The route is down to the Murray Roundabout and then along the Murray Rd onto Westwood Rd and eventually coming out at Parks showroom. Turn right and right again and back up the Queensway and Strathaven Rd to the club. Thursday's session will be a long threshold session.

Alan

Club Training Thursday 5th March

Thursday's session is a pre-race run with strides. The route is Mull to High Common Rd. Along to St Leonards Rd. Past Brancumhall and up to Calderwood Square. Down to the Whirlies and up the Kingsway back to the club. Fit in 6 x 50m accelerations to 10k pace this time. The strides should be on flat or downhill sections. Focus on running lightly and relaxed and carry that feeling forward into the Uni Road Race on Saturday.

Alan