Down by the River Race - Cambuslang

Stuart Gibson and David Searil represented the Harriers at the Down by the River 10k organised by Cambuslang Harriers today. No sign of Christmas excesses in Stuart's performance, finishing 5th overall in a new 10k pb of 33:26. Stuart is now closing in on the likes of Steven Wylie (3rd in 32:00), who he had in his sights for much of the race. David is reported to have run a steady shift in just under 50 minutes although, unlike Stuart, he did not require the sustenance of the complimentary scotch pie and tea provided back at the prize giving. Thanks to Stuart for supplying the race report.

Turkey Trot 10k - Ayr

Boxing day at the beach was the plan for the four Harriers who headed to Ayr for the annual Turkey Trot 10k. Although it was rather cold the conditions couldn't have been better for racing. First Harrier to finish was Ian Hughes in 37:32 demonstrating very consistent race pace. Eddie Reid was next in 38:17. Eddie was delighted with his time considering the excessive indulging ie. food and drink, in preparation the day before. Looks as if he is getting back to fitness. Sandra Reid ran her fastest out and back 10k (she has run slightly faster at Strathaven) recording a time of 44:30. Sandra was pleased with her time and put her good pace judgement down to the new watch received as a Christmas present. Russell Couper battled on to finish (59:40) as he says 'third male harrier' home. Thanks to Sandra for submitting the race report.

Performance Award Review

With the New Year approaching it is hoped that 2009 will see even more Harriers qualifying for performance awards over the distances of 5k, 10k, 10mile, half marathon and marathon. Last year saw 11 awards presented (http://www.calderglenharriers.org.uk/2008AwardsAll.pdf) with a handful more people just missing out because they had achieved standards or pb's at only 2 of the 3 required race distances. Follow this link to see the winners and those who almost made it.
http://www.calderglenharriers.org.uk/SeasonDatabase0708.pdf

The 2008-09 season started on 1st October 2008. Remember that the awards are presented over a range of age groups and several Harriers have not only moved into a new age group this year but some have already set award qualifying performances or age group PB's at 10k, 10mile, half marathon or marathon. The standards tables are available using the Performance Award menu on the left where you will also find a description of the rules. Speak to Scot or I if you need clarification.

Alan

MASTERS ROAD RELAY

The masters road relay will be held in strathclyde park on sunday 18th Jan at 11am
cost is £2.50 a head
this is pre entry so i need names by monday 5th jan or leave a comment on this blog
i will also take names at the pub run on 29th dec remember its a 6.30 start that night
sorry about the short notice

Russell

Christmas Pub Run

This year's pub run will be on Monday 29th December. Please be at the club, ready to leave at 6:30. This event is open to all runners, fast, slow & me. Hope to see as many as possible for a fun evening.

Malcolm.

Sports Club Merit Club

Just to confirm that the monthly prize is paid in cash! Apologies for any confusion.

Malcolm

Sports Club Merit Club

As you know, the Sports Club are always trying to maximize the revenue at the club. At present there is a Monthly Merit Club with a prize fund of £90/month. The participation within the Sports Club at present is poor. To this end I have placed standing order forms in the valuables box to allow you to join the Merit Club. The cost is £5/month.
This is another way of assisting the club and with the chance of winning a share of the 90 drinking tokens available each month.

I'm sure that as a section within the Sports Club who have been very active in the past with their financial support, you will once again rise to the challenge and put the Harriers at the forefront of the Sports Club.

If you have any questions regarding this, please drop me a line or give me a call.

Can you let me know if you intend to join the Merit Club. This will allow me to monitor the Harriers response.

Malcolm

Christmas Cards

A suggestion has been made regarding the distribution of Christmas cards within the Harriers. To save writing, posting and delivering cards to one and all, a donation can be made to the club charity, Cancer Research, and a message posted on the blog via comments from this entry. Donations can be given to Russell. I trust this will be taken in the positive manner that it is meant and does not offend anyone who appreciates a card at this time of year.
I will start the ball rolling by wishing everyone at the club and their families a very peaceful Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year.
Malcolm & Carolyn

Christmas Handicap Results

The fancy dress was of a very high standard at this afternoon's 4-mile Christmas Handicap. The fanciest dressed and eventual winner of the senior handicap was Mandy "Madge" Cullie, closely followed by young Euan Murray and Jamie "Santa" McMonagle. Fastest scratch time of the day was Martin "Robo" Duthie. Full results at the link below and some more photos, courtesy of Eddie.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=p_aBIInrxrvObIu-AZ5PHNA

Christmas Handicap

A last minute reminder that the Christmas Handicap is tomorrow, Sunday 14th December, with the first runner off at 1pm. Please be at the Sports Club by around 12:45 to allow the start list and running order to be finalised. It is a 5 lap course as usual with a total distance of 4 miles, all on road. Please bring a small prize; all the prizes are pooled together and then everyone selects a prize in order of finishing.

Alan

Christmas Party

A couple of people have had to call off but obviously, their deposits have been paid. If there is anyone out there that is wishing they had booked up or have had a last minute change to there plans tonight then, call me at the shop and get booked up for tonights Christmas party!
01698 422 448 ATHelite

Christmas Party

I know you're all starting to get excited now with the Christmas party looming....

The table is booked for 7.45pm at The Village Tandoori.

We can meet at the Montgomery Arms.. aka The Monty at 7.00pm for a little aperitif

See you all Friday

FEES FOR 2009

Fees are due in January
Ordinary member £52.00
Family member £84.00
Intermediate member £25.00
Junior member £12.00
Retired member(65) £24.00

Could members please make arrangements to pay these fees to myself before the end of January or contact me if other arrangements need to be made

Failure to pay fees or make alternate arrangements by the end of January may result in sanctions being placed on individuals

Russell

scottishathletics 4k CHAMPIONSHIPS

The entry form for the Scottish Athletics 4K Cross Country being held on Sunday 25th January 2009 can be found at http://www.scottishathletics.org.uk/index.php?p=80&itemType=fixtures&itemId=7479
Closing date for entries is Friday 16th January 2009.

Malcolm

West District XC - Irvine

Around 500 girls, boys, ladies and men lined up for a series of races at the West District Cross Country Championship on Saturday 6th December and for the second time this season Irvine Royal Academy provided a fine cross-country course in blazing sun shine.

Our young athletes did well in the age group races, the top performance coming from Ewan Murray finishing 24th in the U15 boys event.

Unusually for this season, circumstances dictated that we had no senior ladies and a slightly reduced senior men's participation from the club, however, that is to be expected at this busy time of year and there was no lack of enthusiasm from those who were able to take part.

Eleven Harriers joined the field of around 200 in the Senior men's 10km race, the final event on the programme. Conditions were firm underfoot on this well drained "links" course with only a few very slippery bits in the shade. At the front, Shettleston's Eritrean trio eventually broke away from the field but their third place runner was by no means guaranteed that position as he was chased hard by a group of promising young Scots.

Calderglen's promising young Scot, Stuart Gibson, ran very strongly throughout, finishing 26th overall in 33:47. Jamie McMonagle and Alan Cullie demonstrated their continuing return to form with times of 38:07 and 38:39 respectively. Eddie Reid re-introduced his old habit of going missing during a run; however this time he only disappeared from the official results. He timed himself at 39:34 but seems not to have been captured by the race officials crossing the line, a fact that would have had some impact on the team position with the first 6 for each club to count. Ian Rae is definitely on the way back from injury, running a strong 41:23. Jim Holmes and David Herbertson had a race long battle with Jim coming out on top in 42:06 ahead of David's 42:16. Graham Lindsay was close on their heels for much of the 3 lap race but faded a little in the last lap to finish in 43:17. William Bell made his cross-country debut and looked comfortable in a time of 46:16. Chas Steven and Russell Couper, both struggling a bit at the moment, finished in 53:25 and 56:21 respectively but both ran steadily throughout and felt the benefit of a run on a fine, sunny day.

Calderglen times are here (offical times where available): http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=p_aBIInrxrvNDU7KyoBJTZA

The Grand Prix has been updated and it remains tight at the top with yet another change in leader.

Scottish Athletics Clubmark

As you are aware, we have been working towards the club accreditation for Scottish Athletics Clubmark programme. This has now been achieved. Thanks to all who have contributed towards this achievement. Our accreditation will hopefully provide a focus on Club Management, Duty of Care and Welfare, Sports Equity and Ethics and the Coaching and Competition Programme. If you require any further information on this programme, please give me a call.

Malcolm

Milan Marathon

Gerry and Richie ran 2:53 in the Milan Marathon 10 days ago. Well done.

See the comment under the EK10k times for someone's rather ungracious delivery of this news item. If you have any news on races you have done, please pass it on to someone who has access to the blog (me, Russell, Malcolm, Stephen) or better still, come up and tell us so we can congratulate you in person!!

Don't assume we all have the time to browse the internet or running magazines looking for race results. I personally have been working in extreme conditions inside the Arctic Circle for two weeks, so checking the web for race results, unless people e-mail them to me, has been low on my priorities.

And finally, the Blog policy is that comments from "anonymous" authors are not usually published unless the author identifies themself within the comment text and it is certain that the author is who they say they are.

Regards
Alan

Golf Course Thursday

If tonights weather forecast lives up to its promise, then Thursday's training will be around the golf course. Therefore please bring appropriate off-road shoes. As with Monday night, we will be aiming for the first pack to be up and running at 7:30 prompt, so come early for the pre-training build up!

UPDATE!!
Clearly the snow did not materialise, so it is most likely we will be training on the roads tonight.

EK10k Times

For those who did the above race, just in case the official results do not become available, to keep our records up to date, could you please leave a comment with your time here.

Thanks
Alan

HUGH WILSON MEMORIAL 10K

Another good turnout from the harriers on what turned out to be the coldest race of the year (so far)
Despite the icy conditions Martin Duthie was 1st harrier home unfortunately times not available yet followed by Jamie McMonagle who seems to be back to some good form. Next harrier was Scot Hill continueing his own good vein of form managing to stay ahead of Alan Cullie and Eddie Reid. This was followed by a good race for the line by Stephen Phimister, Stuart Waugh and David Herbertson with about 2 seconds seperating them. Gerry Mullen managed to stay in front of his brother John a bit of sibling rivalry. Finally for the men Richard Lawton crossed the line just beating 50 minutes for the second time in 7 days wont be long before hes chasing that 45 minute mark. Our only female harrier of the day was Sandra Reid running sub 45 again
well done to all who took part