Grand Prix Update

The Grand Prix is now up to date following the "Either Or" 10k's (Strathaven or East Kilbride). Next race is the West District Cross Country.

CLUB T-SHIRTS

The club t-shirts will be ready in the next 2 to 3 weeks
The cost for short sleeve will be £8.00
The cost for long sleeve will be £12.00

Will everyone that has ordered t-shirts please make arrangments to pay Eddie in
the next couple of weeks so when he gets them hes in a position to hand them straight out

Scottish Masters Road Relay Championships

Could all the Harriers of a certain age (35) and above keep in mind that the Scottish Masters Road Relay Championships are on Sunday 18th January in Strathclyde Park. We did well last year (you may recall George telling you about his medal) and I would expect that we could do very well again this year given the way that all our vets have been performing in the season so far. We can enter multiple teams. Assuming the same format as last year, then it will be teams of 4 for men and teams of 3 for ladies, each runner completing one lap around the perimeter of the loch.

Christmas Night Out @ The Village Tandoori

Just to confirm that the table is now booked for 15 people on Friday 12th December. Genevieve "asked the nice man if we had a couple extra people wanting to come would he allow it and he said yes". So if anyone was undecided, there is still a chance to go. Please let Genevieve know.

Strathaven 'Run with the Wind' 10k

11 intrepid Harriers made the short journey to Strathaven on Sunday for the 2nd 'Run with the Wind' 10k.
A good November 10k with a twist insofar as you register in the town but then 350 runners are bussed up to Whitelees Wind Farm at the top of Ardochrig to run back to the town again.
The downside of this is that is was absolutely 'baltic' & the buses disappear after dropping you so no options but to walk to the bus & travel up in race gear only, so a chilly start.
A great turnout this year & they could easily have filled it twice over but it was capped at 350 due to running in the open country roads.
First in for the club & 5th overall was the illusive Robo-Harrier Martin Duthie (34.27) complete with his pinned shoulder. A great return following a dodgy cycling manouvre in a Triathlon earlier in the year - good to see him back. Next in was Colin Freeman (35.26), 50 secs quicker than last year and 10th place overall.
A great run saw George Stewart as 3rd Harrier (40.15) & would have won Calderglen the 1st team prize had there been such an award. There wasn't. (EDIT - that is untrue - Bellahousten would have got it - last time I listen to other people!)
Next up were the battling Jim Holmes (41.01) & Graham Lindsay (41.09). Age before beauty? A tough one to call.
The ever improving Francis Maxwell was over the line in 42.23 & a close second F35.
A battle was on between Sandra Reid & Mary Goldsmith. Mary (44.16) was 1 second quicker on the chip timing than Sandra (44.17) but Sandra crossed the line first & so takes the Grand Prix points.
William Bell completed the glory of his first race in a club vest in 45.09 followed in by Richard Lawton (49.07) & Russell Couper (55.58).
A great race topped off with a very welcome free Soup & Roll in the hall afterwards to get the cockles warmed up again.

Full results can be found at http://www.strathavenstriders.co.uk/

Colin

Brampton Photos

Photos of almost all the Harriers competing at Brampton are now available on-line. Use the link at the bottom of this post. Apologies to the 5 people I missed (Billy, Caroline, Mhaira, Kevin and Irene); club vests and hence guaranteed photographic recognition are available from Russell. Thanks to Eddie for providing the camera.

http://www.calderglenharriers.org.uk/gallery/brampton2008/brampton08.html

Early Run for AGM

As the Harriers' AGM is this Monday, the club run will be a short, easy run with the first pack leaving the club at 7pm sharp. Please try to be there before 7pm and ready to run at 7. The AGM will start at 8pm prompt and usually lasts no longer than 1 hour. Please support your club and your committee by attending, even if you can't be there for the run.

Brampton 2008

Were it not for the strong head wind, Saturday would have been the perfect day for the Brampton to Carlisle 10-mile road race, with otherwise mild and sunny conditions. However, weather is not a factor that is given much consideration by distance runners and Calderglen Harriers sent their biggest ever contingent to the race, the 25th year in a row that the club has been present at this, the oldest 10-mile race in the UK. 38 Harriers competed, 14 of them experiencing their first Brampton and, at the other end of the time-line, Chas Steven and Gerry Mullen completing their 24th and 23rd Bramptons respectively.

There were many fine performances throughout the Harriers' team, whether first timers or old hands. From the times, it seems that the wind was worth around 1 or 2 minutes and so it is especially impressive that 7 Harriers achieved Brampton pb's: Stuart Gibson (11th overall in a time of 56:34 and improving by 33 seconds), Mary Goldsmith (5th L50 in 77:18 an improvement of 1:22 and more than 4 minutes faster than last year), David Herbertson (67:21, a 2:23 pb improvement and 5:16 faster than last year), Ian Hughes (61:29, an improvement of 1:01), Frances Maxwell (71:46, 5th L40, a pb improvement of 1:54, 3:06 faster than last year AND, the 3rd fastest time by a Calderglen lady ever!), Stephen Phimister (70:28, an improvement of 1:22, despite suffering from a cold) and Stephen Reilly (62:52, an improvement of 20 secs). There were many other Harriers who ran very close to pb's and, on a less windy day, these surely would have been pb's. Many of the Brampton first timers also achieved 10-mile pb's although these stats have yet to be analysed.

In terms of the official prize winning positions, we had Stuart Gibson in 11th overall, Charlie McDougall as 1st M60 and 3rd men's team (Stuart Gibson, Andy Buchanan and Jamie McMonagle). Just out of the prizes, our ladies were 4th Veteran team (Frances Maxwell, Sandra Reid and Mary Goldsmith).

All the Harriers' times can be viewed here:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=p_aBIInrxrvPMoUiVSs7TYQ

The full official results are here:
http://www.race-results.co.uk/results/2008/brampton08.pdf

Watch this space for the Grand Prix update and also photos of (nearly) all the Calderglen runners.

Buchlyvie Half Marathon

Colin Freeman ran the Buchlyvie Half Marathon on Sunday.
A beautiful morning set the scene for a good race, the out & back course is 95% off road, starting in Buchlyvie Village with the only on-road section before heading off in a long straight line 6 miles down the disused railway path before turning at Aberfoyle for the return journey.
Care had to be taken with it being very stoney underfoot with one very wet & muddy section.
A fantastic course until the last half mile which was the only downside of the race - two laps of a very wet & muddy field which is the very last thing you need at the end of a half marathon.
A highly recommended half marathon with a difference, if only it can avoid the Brampton clash in the future. A little dubious about the distance as he hadn't run over 10 miles in half a year -Colin was targeting 1hr 22 and actually finished in 1.22.21 and went through the 10 mile mark in 1.01 so all in all a good day.

Lanarkshire AAA XC Championships

This year's event will be on Saturday 22nd November at Drumpellier Park Coatbridge. As usual I will require the names of two club members to help with stewarding. If you are not racing that day, please let me know if you are available to help out.

Malcolm

WEST DISTRICT XC

WEST DISTRICT XC IRVINE (royal acadamy)
LADIES START 1.35pm GENTS START 2.00pm
cost £4.00 per head
declarations close 30mins before start

Please give names by 17th Nov to myself or Eddie at the club on training nights
or leave a comment on this blog

Village Tandoori Wins BUT.......

The poll to select a venue for the Christmas night out has been won by the Village Tandoori. However, in the past week whilst we have been running the poll, the restaurant has become fully booked on the planned date of Saturday 13th December. Therefore we have made a booking for Friday 12th December instead. Limited places available and we need to gather deposits of £7 per person this week. Genevieve will collect the money on Monday or Thursday at the club or hand the money into the shop. To recap, the details are as follows:
What: 3 courses (tandoori and European food)+ entertainment(karaoke/disco/live [?] depends what night)
Total Cost: £18.95

Glasgow University 5 mile Road Race

Only three harriers turned up for the 5 mile race, although to be fair it was the week before Brampton. There were perfect racing conditions but the course threw up one big problem. A large gate that was supposed to be opened to let the runners through, was closed. This meant that the runners had to squeeze through a small gap when they were still in large packs. Having talked to the club president, we've agreed that this should result in taking 10 seconds of the times, so here they are.
First for the Harriers was Stuart Gibson continuing his great form finishing in 27:01(really 26:51). Next representing Strathclyde University Harriers was Stephen Reilly, finishing in 30:06 (29:56). And finally the club president, Chas Stevens returned to his former university to race and finished in 41:18 (41:08).
Well done!!

Tarbet Weekend

Hi All,

Time to book the weekend away again. For those who have not been before. It is a social weekend with a run, walk, shop, do as you please during the Day on Saturday. (we will probably have the team handicap race again).

Date: Friday 6th February 2009.

Cost: £54pp for 2 Nights DBB or £69 for 3 Nights DBB. (very small supp. for single rooms)

Book online at www.shearings.com or Tel: 0844 55 60 885

Quote ISD844(online) or DSD844(TEL) before 15th Nov and you will get a 5% Discount ( might buy half pint )

When I phoned a few days ago there was still plenty rooms but I couldn't reserve without paying so the quicker you book the better.

Ten people definitely booked so far. We normally book for 2 nights, I've booked for 3 nights but I think most people will still go for the 2 nights.

Any Questions just see me at club

Scot

Eddie's Half Marathon

Some of the Harrier's made the journey up to Fort William to run and support Colin Jarvie in Eddie's Half Marathon. Colin was running to raise money for Project Ability and ran a great time of 1:49:20. Some of the other Harrier's who took part included Scot Hill and Eddie Reid, who after running the Allan Scally the day before, finished in respectable times of 1:26:30 and 1:27:52. The top performance of the day though was Sandra Reid who was 2nd vet 40, and managed to take around 8 minutes off her former PB to finish in 1:40:01. A thanks goes out to Frances Maxwell who put in a great performance cheering in the runners.

Well done to all!!

Allan Scally Road Relay Results

In stark contrast to the previous week at Cumbernauld, perfect weather conditions greeted the large Harriers' contingent in Baillieston this Saturday. Many Harriers continued to demonstrate fine form with pb's over the traditional 4.8 mile course.

Alison Crooks made her relay season debut with a fine first leg time for the ladies of 35:38, handing over to Mary Goldsmith who took 3 minutes off last year's time finishing in 34:32. Frances Maxwell completed the women's team with a time of 32:18, two minutes faster than last year and bringing the team home in 9th position overall, and 3rd non-university club team.

Calderglen fielded 4 men's teams. Young gun Stuart Gibson found the weather conditions more to his liking this week, to the extent that he actually turned up for the race and in the process set a massive pb of 25:18 on leg 1 (9th position). Calderglen's tight "mid-field" battle continued with Stephen Phimister (30:23) setting a competitive time on his first Scally. Eddie Reid set a time of 29:42, slightly down on last year and handed on to Jim Holmes (30:36) who took half a minute off compared to last year and brought the team home in 23rd position.

The B team comprised all Calderglen's faster vets, with Davy Watt leading off in a very competitive time of 25:52, 11th position and leading vets team. Scot Hill kept the club in the hunt with a time of 28:22, also a substantial pb. This left the team lying 2nd in the vets race. Jamie McMonagle maintained this position (28:09) and left final leg runner Alan Derrick a 1:37 gap to close on the leading vets team from home club Shettleston Harriers. A lonely run ensued with Alan only seeing, closing down and passing 1 runner on the long Edinburgh road stretch and 2 more in the final 200m but unfortunately his time of 26:43 and 12th overall was not fast enough to catch the veteran leaders who finished one place and 32 seconds ahead.

Calderglen's C team was very closely matched: David Herbertson with a massive pb (30:31), George Stewart (31:25), Ian Rae (31:00) and Gerry Mullen (31:59). Our incomplete D team comprised Kenny Beattie (33:59), making his relay debut Richard Lawton (37:16) and Graham Allan (34:49).

Making his debut for Strathclyde University Harriers, Stephen Reilly also ran a pb of 29:04.

Men's times:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=p_aBIInrxrvOrQUgWN5GGZQ

Women's times:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=p_aBIInrxrvNlxe4u2AwUQQ

The Grand Prix has been updated.