Happy New Year

Hi folks,

I hope that 2010 brings you and your families good health and happiness. I also hope that the club can achieve as much in the new year as we did in 2009. Look forward to seeing everyone in February.

PS can you please warm the place up.

Malcolm & Carolyn

AYR TURKEY TROT

On Boxing day 3 harriers managed to blow away the cobwebs after the previous days festivities and head down to the coast.
On an icy cold day for safety the organisers decided to change the course and run it on a partly snow covered beach and to get the distance in it was made a 2 lap course up and down the beach twice.
At the 1st turn at 2.5k Andy Buchanan had put himself into a strong 4th or 5th place and was running strong, next was his father Billy looking very easy as if he was out for a stroll but running very well then it was my turn to round the turn and head to the halfway point
At the 5k turn there was no sign of Andy unfortunately he must have picked up a strain or injury but Billy still looked easy and so we were onto our 2nd lap. At this point i found myself wishing i had entered the 5k which was run earlier as the beach starts to take its toll on the legs
Billy crossed the line in 45:11 and i finished in 54:49 but was pleased with my fastest kilometer of the race from 9 to 10.

Harriers Christmas Run

Monday night training will start at 6.30pm and will be the usual christmas format of fun and joviality as one large pack running easy with the slowest runner
remember to bring some money

Happy Feet 5 & 10K runs

The Happy Feet 5k & 10k Runs will take place on 7th March at the Blairquhan Castle estate and the surrounding area. It's a Scottish Athletics approved race which will be chiptimed. It's a great race for getting rid of winter cobwebs as well as pushing your PBs to the limits or to use as a training race. Sponsored by Nike and the Sweatshop, we offer great prizes for the winners, Nike goody bag, Happy Feet t-shirts, post-race massage to all runners as well as entertainment on the day.

All profit goes to Chest, Heart & Stroke Scotland and its services in the community improving the quality of life for those suffering from chest, heart and stroke illness in Scotland.

The event website is www.happyfeetrun.com where you can find more information and register online.

Congratulations to Craig Ferguson

Following on from his 11th place at the West District Cross Country Championships Craig , an S1 pupil at Strathaven Academy, has been selected to represent the West District at the BUPA International Cross Country event at Holyrood Park in Edinburgh on 9 th January. This is a tremendous achievement for Craig who has only been with the Harriers for a few months and a just reward for the effort he has put in at training.

Well done Craig and lets show them all that West is the Best !

Christmas Greetings

Hi everyone,

Christmas greetings from down under. Can you explain the white stuff at the Christmas handicap? Looks like you had a great day. The weather here is great and the wine plentiful. We look forward to meeting up with everyone on our return.

Merry Christmas and a happy new year to all.

Malcolm & Carolyn

Christmas Handicap

The setting for the Christmas Handicap really was Christmas card perfect today and the Harriers young and old were out in full technicolour. After a last minute course inspection (I'm calling it a training run), the drive behind the rugby pitches was deemed too icy and a diversion onto the Torr Trail was implemented. This shorter lap meant 6 laps were required to keep the total distance near to 4 miles. A large group of the Harriers' Junior athletes set off first and revelled in the snowy conditions. Soon afterwards the first senior Harrier was off and running as Russell Couper donned his beard and Santa costume. Thereafter the pictures tell the story of the race better than I can, so on to the results.

In the handicap first across the line was a beltless Richard Lawton (30:30). Chas started off with the kids and so did an extra lap but after some arithmetic it was established that his time for the

last 6 laps would have brought him in second. In third place and fastest time of the day (23:49) was Ewan Murray, recently selected to represent West District at the forthcoming Hollyrood International Cross Country. After a moving tribute at the prize giving by Chas, the first three were presented with the prizes donated by the Duthie Family in memory of Margaret Anne.

Following on from the first 3, the finishing order was Brian Bourke (24:44), Richard Campbell (26:51), Andy Henderson (26:20), Jamie McMonagle (26:17), Alan Cullie (24:44), Stephen Phimister (29:40), Russell Couper (33:51), Jim Holmes (26:45), Stephen Reilly (26:00), Eddie Reid (26:22), Mary Goldsmith (31:22), Ian Rae (30:05), George Stewart (31:22), Frances Maxwell (32:20) and David Wardrope (31:08). Note that the times are only approximate as there was absolute chaos at the start with many Harriers missing their assigned start time.

Well done to all and thanks to all the supporters who endured the icy conditions.

Alan

Christmas Handicap and Childrens Party

The Harriers Christmas Handicap will take place on Sunday 20th December, starting at 12:30 (at least one person will start then) at the Sports Club. Arrive in plenty of time to get your make up and frocks on and to have your handicap assigned. This is an event for all the family, fancy dress preferred (and maybe favoured) which anyone could win! The race distance is 4 miles consisting of 5 laps of the drive around the country park. Please bring a small value prize and then everyone who brings a prize gets to choose a prize from the table in the order of finishing.

This year we have very special awards donated by Martin in memory of Margaret Anne for whom this event was always a hilarious occasion. The winners (3 off) of the "MAD 4 It Christmas Handicap" will be asked to each choose a charity to which the club will then donate the sums of money donated by Martin. Could you all think in advance of the charity to which you would prefer the donation to be made should you win.

Following the handicap, the Sports Club is hosting a Kids Christmas Party (with Santa and all the usual fun events) starting at 3pm. You have to let Susan Miller know (directly or via Frances Maxwell) before the end of Sunday 29th November if your children wish to attend so they can arrange the catering etc. This was a really successful event last year so here is hoping for the same this year.

Alan

Young Athletes Training

There will be no training for young athletes on December 23rd or 30th. The next training session will be on Wednesday 6th January 2010 starting at 6.30 pm prompt.

FEES FOR 2010

Harriers
The fees for 2010 are the same as 2009 and for anyone who cant remember or our newest members the fees are as follows
This also includes Sports Club Membership
Ordinary member £52
Family member £84
Junior members will be advised when i check the age catagory dates
Fees are due in January and prompt payment is required
We do appreciate this can be a financially difficult time of year so if anyone cant pay in January if you speek to me direct we can arrange a short payment period

Just a reminder if payment or alternate arrangements arent made you cannot compete as a member of Calderglen Harriers

Scottish Athletics 4K Cross Country

The National 4k cross country will take place on 31st January and entry forms are available on the Scottish Athletics website
Please fill out the entry form and return to me by 18th January and i will send them all together
Alternately if you cant get a form to me you can post it direct with your entry fee
i will also put some forms on the club notice board next week 21st Dec

Russell

LSK SUPPLIES VETERANS ROAD RELAY RACE

The above race will take place at Strathclyde Park on Sunday 17 January at 11 am. All entrants must be aged 35 or over. The race is one lap 0f 3.8 miles with teams of four for men and teams of three for women. The entry fee is £2.50 per runner. As the organisers require entries by 8 th January we really do need names as soon as possible . If you want to take part in this race please use this form or contact Russell Couper quickly.

The names we have so far are here: Entry List

Christmas Day Parkrun

At the Parkrun today they announced that as well as the Saturday 26th normal Parkrun they will also have one on Christmas morning if anyone fancies a race on Christmas day

On a personal note i ran 24:51 today which is my best for about 3 years over the distance
This also means as a new league table has started im the leading Calderglen Harrier
lets see how long that lasts

Russell

KAROAKE NIGHT AT THE DFID

John Mullen has kindly arranged with his employer the DFID that all Harriers and their families can attend a Karaoke Christmas Night 7 pm to 10 pm this Saturday 12/12/09. Children must be over 8 years old. Entry at the main door is £2 per family. Free soft drinks and crisps will be available for the children. John reliably informs the club that the bar prices are a lot cheaper than the pubs in EK and he hopes as many of you as possible will attend. The DFID is at Abercrombie House on Hairmyres Road next to the railway station and opposite the hospital.

West District Cross Country Championships

The Bogside in Irvine proved yet again to be an excellent venue for these championships with the course withstanding recent heavy rain coupled with the absence of strong winds making it a perfect day for cross country racing. Despite a disappointing turnout of the Harriers young athletes there was a ray of sunshine in the shape of Under 13 Craig Ferguson . In only his second race for the club Craig claimed eleventh place in the 3200 metre race in a time of 12 minutes and 31 seconds. Craig was the outstanding performer for the club ( seniors and vets included) at the championships and led our Under 13 Boys team to 9th placed team overall. This race also saw some fine performances from Andrew McGurk (52nd) 14 minutes and 57 seconds, Jai Lawson (59th) 15 minutes and 39 seconds and Paul McMonagle (64th) in 18 minutes exact.

Sole Under 13 girl Amie Mulholland also put in an excellent race coming 54th place in a time of 16 minutes and 13 seconds.

Well done to all the clubs young athletes for representing the club at this championship.

West District XC - Irvine

A relatively small band of Harriers headed south to Irvine Royal Academy for the West District Cross Country Championships, the last Grand Prix race of 2009. It was great to see some of our juniors in action and the most notable Harrier performance of the day came from Craig Ferguson who finished in 11th place in the U13 boys' race. Check the blog for a full report on the rest of our juniors' performances.

Frances Maxwell was once again the solo performer for the Harriers in the ladies 6.6km race and even then Frances was lucky to make the start following some slight blog induced uncertainty on the race start time . Still, the 10 minute panic warm up seemed to do the trick and Frances had a strong run, despite only realising that it was not a 4km race on reaching the 4km point! Frances finished 19th vet in 43rd position overall in a time of 29:44.

The senior men had 3 laps of the course to complete in their 10km race. Despite recent heavy rain, the sandy soil had drained well and there were only a few genuinely soft stretches to tackle. The lap was a variation on last year's course, still incorporating the two hills on each lap which were a stern test for most.

Alan Cullie maintained good form throughout the race, finishing in 71st position in a time of 38:09, extending his lead in the Club Championship. Eddie Reid wasn't quite firing on all cylinders today but managed a constant pace on all laps to bring himself home in 96th position (40:19). Ian Rae is short of regular training but started his comeback with a battling performance to finish in 42:21. Jim Holmes (43:52) had been ahead of Ian in the early stages but perhaps over committed at the start and fell back behind Ian and was unaware of a very fast finishing David Herbertson (44:04). David Wardrope (48:20) is finding the cross country races tough but is having no such problems with the Grand Prix and a further double joker declaration takes David clear in the men's Grand Prix. Chas Steven and Russell Couper had a bit of a tussle on the first half lap but Chas judged the pace better to finish in 51:26 ahead of a hard working Russell (56:54).

Well done to all. Further photos from the senior men's race are here.

Alan

Christmas Night Out

Great night out.

Good food, good company, good laugh

Photos to follow............

Christmas Night Out

The Byre, Saturday 5th December.

Meeting time for drinks, 8pm till Late.

Some people are meeting for a bar snack (dinner!) at 6.45pm, everyone welcome for this.

Merry Christmas....Ho Ho Ho

West District XC Championship

Next saturday 5th Dec sees our next GP race. the following are those who have entered and the start times
R Couper, C Steven, A Cullie, E Reid, D Herbertson, J Holmes, I Rae, D Wardrope, M Duthie, G Stewart, D Watt.
And for the ladies F Maxwell

Ladies start at 1:05pm Men at 2:00pm
Please be there in plenty of time so im not left holding numbers forever equally if you cant make it let me know at the club this week or leave a comment on this blog

Russell

Hugh Wilson Memorial 10k

Eleven Harriers lined up in a field of around 140 for the 21st annual Hugh Wilson Memorial 10k at a foggy John Wright track this afternoon. Although most of the Harriers had been racing at Brampton one week earlier, there were no signs of tiredness with many fine performances.

First Harrier back was Martin Duthie in 9th position and first M40, a prize he has won many times over the past 5 or 6 years. Martin's time was 35:52, around 10 seconds quicker than last year.

Frances Maxwell is showing the

benefit of a few months injury free training and racing and was the only Calderglen woman out today, finishing in an excellent new PB of 43:44 and 3rd veteran woman. This is an improvement of over 1 minute and gives Frances a Gold PB standard to start this season with.

Not that far behind Martin, Alan Cullie was 2nd M40 in 11th position with a time of 36:29, confirming his continuing return to form by running two and a half minutes faster than last year and extending his lead in the Grand Prix and Scratch championships. Eddie Reid did well to record a time of 38:38 off of a minimal warm-up having arrived straight from work 10 minutes before the start. This was an improvement of 16 seconds on last year. Andy Henderson managed to keep his various aches and pains under control to record an excellent time of 40:05. The pressure of being Number One did no harm to Stuart Waugh as he finished first M60 in a time of 40:59. Jim Holmes hasn't had the benefit of club training sessions for a while but has raced himself fit over the past few months. This time he crossed the line in 41:25. Likewise, David Herbertson has not managed many Monday rep sessions recently but is on the way back to form too, recording a time of 42:28. Just over a minute further back, David Wardrope recorded his fastest 10k of this

year by a long way, finishing in 43:38 and a carefully considered double joker takes him up to 2nd place in the Grand Prix. Richard Lawton set a massive new 10k PB (2:06 improvement) of 47:49, giving him a Gold PB standard to add to the bronze PB standard he set for 5k in a recent Glasgow parkrun. For the second week in a row, Russell Couper got himself close to eight and a half minute miles, finishing in 53:10, a huge improvement on his form of only a month ago.

The performance award scheme is proving to be a real motivator and with this being one of the first qualifying races of this season it was good to see many Harriers put a standard performance in the bag. In addition to the PB standards mentioned above, the following performance standards were achieved: M Duthie (M45 Gold), F Maxwell (F45 Bronze), A Cullie (M40 Bronze), E Reid (M45 Bronze), A Henderson (M55 Silver) and S Waugh (M60 Gold).

Well done to all! Next GP race is the West District XC next Saturday.

Alan

Grand Prix - EK 10k

A reminder that the next race in our Grand Prix is the EK 10k tomorrow, Saturday 28th November, starting at 2pm from the John Wright Track. Registration is in the EKAC Portakabin beside the track from 12:30pm to 1:50pm. Look out for Russell or I before the race to declare your jokers.

The Grand Prix is now up to date following Brampton. Alan Cullie now has a clear lead in both the Grand Prix and the Scratch Championship. In the women's competitions, Alison Crooks has now boosted the field by 50% but Frances continues to stretch away in the lead of both.

Alan

BRAMPTON RESULTS

After a lot of work and many emails back and forward from A Derrick to the results team we finally have all the harriers times correct and on the results page
So the sweep results are
3rd B Buchanan @ 24 secs
2nd G Crooks @ 17 secs
1st R Couper @ 9 secs

Lanarkshire Cross Country Championships

The Lanarkshire XC Championships took place on Saturday at Drumpellier Park in Coatbridge. The only races not to be altered due to flooding were the Under 11 Boys and Girls 1200 metres. However it was in the Under 13 Boys race that the club had success with debutant Craig Ferguson claiming third place in a time of 10 minutes and 48 seconds. Later on in the day Ewan Murray was also third in the Under 17 Boys race in a time of 17 minutes and 55 seconds. Craig was joined by Andrew McGurk (25th) in 13 minutes and 5 seconds then Michael McAllister in 16 minutes and 30 seconds.



The first race of the day was the Under 11 Girls with Emma Lawton finishing in 12 th place in a time of 3 minutes and 56 seconds. Caitlin Kean (35th) followed in 4 minutes and 49 seconds with Georgina Hernon (38th) only three seconds behind.



Next to the starting line was the Under 11 Boys who were led home by Kevin McGurk (13th) in a time of 3 minutes and 54 seconds. The ever improving Drew Gordon followed in 3 minutes and 59 seconds claiming 16th place overall. William Brady (20th) was next in 4 minutes and 26 seconds closely followed by Niall Bogan (4 minutes and 32 seconds) in 22nd place and Christopher Brady (23rd) in 4 minutes and 41 seconds.





Well done to all the clubs young athletes for taking part in this event and here's hoping even more (except Under 11's) will be at the West District Cross Country on Saturday 5th December at the Royal Academy in Irvine.

Brampton

A total of 25 Harriers set off on a wet and windy (fortunately a cross wind) Saturday afternoon to complete a shorter than usual Brampton. The severe flooding in Cumbria meant that the usual 3 to 6 mile part of the route was largely under water and so the course reverted to the old main road course into Carlisle. This gave a total GPS measured distance of 9.1 miles. The gremlins got into the computerised results timing system too, so we still await the corrected official results to determine if Russell has won the sweep (again!). However, even without the official times, there were clearly many excellent performances from the Harriers.

Davy Watt was first Harrier back in 13th position overall and 1st M45 (51:06) with Martin Duthie taking 2nd M45 spot in 19th position (52:13). Andy Buchanan is missing from the results due to his watch (or rather Dawn's watch) disintegrating as he crossed the line at which point he dipped under the tape to look for the pieces (I know, the most unlikely excuse I have heard too!). However, we can deduce that Andy's time was around 53:16. After that, the next batch of official times are out of synch by one or two places (Please leave a comment with the time from your own watch to help me sort out the official results; as I am not sure at exactly which position they come back into synch).

Performance of the day, and I don't just mean from the Harriers, was Charlie McDougall finishing as 1st M60 in the incredible time of 53:21. Alan Cullie is having his best season for a few years, finishing in 54:45. Next in was the boy of the boy Mullen, Gerry's son Ross displaying pure talent to finish in 56:47. Andy Henderson could genuinely state that he was "21 Today", joining the exclusive group of Harriers who have completed 21 or more Bramptons. Andy was 6th M55 in a time of 59:15. Brian McDougall was tracking Andy closely until the last mile or so when his progress was halted by a stitch. Brian looked to be suffering when he finished in 60:04. Stuart Waugh completed another veteran "one two" for the Harriers finishing as 2nd M60 in a time of 60:16. Jim Holmes has been inseparable from Andy Henderson this season but this time Andy got away. Jim finished in 61:22. Gerry Mullen and Billy Buchanan were side by side for the whole race until the last 100m when Gerry sprinted away to finish in 63:07 compared to Billy's 63:16. David Herbertson is not quite back to full form yet but gave his all to finish in 64:05. Graham Lindsay was not far behind and was also suffering from successive colds but crossed the line strongly in 64:22.

Newly appointed Club President Frances Maxwell led the Calderglen ladies home, finishing in 64:51 and 4th L45, dropping David Wardrope in the last mile. David finished in 65:00, surely his best performance over a longer distance race. Colin Banks (also missing from the results) ran his usual steady, controlled race and finished comfortably in 65:54. John McBride was straight off a night shift and did well to get to the bus let alone run the race. John finished in 67:45. Graham Ramage was making his first trip to Brampton and hopefully will have many more (slightly longer) Bramptons to come. Graham's time was 70:58. Mary Goldsmith rounded off a great season with 71:56 and 7th L50. Alison Crooks was another of those suffering from a cold but kept it steady to finish in 72:10, ahead of husband Graeme. David Dickson appeared to be running well and finished in 72:57. The most prolific Harrier at Brampton, Chas Steven completed his 25th Brampton in a row in a time of 75:03. Graeme Crooks backed up wife Alison from a safe distance, finishing in 75:43. Ian McKenzie has been out of action for a while with an injury and so had to work hard for his 76:42. Finally Russell Couper ran 1 minute per mile faster than the Uni 5 mile race a few weeks ago to finish happy in 80:10.

Once the official results are modified to include Andy B, they should show that Calderglen were 3rd team over all (D Watt, M Duthie and A Buchanan) an excellent result in this premier road running event. Not only that, we were 1st veteran team (D Watt, M Duthie, C McDougall). Very well done to all who took part.

While all this was going on, intrepid cycling duo Dawn and Don (Buchanan and Kennedy) decided to check out the planned race route. The photos show that the organisers had good reason to change the route!

Thanks to Don for the enroute photos to add to my slightly blurry "100m to go" photos (OK, I'll admit to 200m but no further). You can see all the photos here.

Alan

Glasgow parkrun Saturday 21st November Cancelled

The organisers of tomorrow's parkrun in Pollok Park have advised that it is cancelled due to part of the course being flooded. The Edinburgh parkrun is still on though if anyone not going to Brampton was thinking of doing one.

Alan

Brampton to Carlisle 9 Mile Road Race

The following notice comes from the Border Harriers web site:

DUE TO HEAVY RAIN OVER SEVERAL DAYS IN THE CARLISLE AREA PART OF THE COURSE, WHICH IS LOW LYING, IS FLOODED AND CLOSED. HOWEVER THE RACE WILL GO AHEAD WITH A SHORTENED COURSE - APPROXIMATELY 9 MILES

IF THE FLOODED SECTION CLEARS IT WILL BE A 10 MILE COURSE

Thanks to Scot for passing this on. Should be some pb's there then!

Remember that the bus will leave the Sports Club at 9am prompt on Saturday morning. Due to the later departure time and the possible traffic disruption due to flooding, it is unlikely we will have time to stop at Gretna so bring your own pre-race snack/lunch if you need it.

Alan

Club AGM

The 2009 AGM will be held in the committee room of the club on Thursday 19th November @ 8:00pm. Note that Motions in Writing should be forwarded to the secretary (Genevieve) by 12/11/09. The club run will start at 7pm on Thursday and will be quite short to allow the AGM to start at 8pm prompt.

Lanarkshire AAA Cross Country Championships

The above event takes place this Saturday (21 November) at Drumpellier Park in Coatbridge ( Blair Road entrance) . Registration will be at Coatbridge Outdoor Centre from 11 am to 11.45 am and up to 15 minutes before the start of each race at the park. Please note the Outdoor Centre is over a mile from the park and is very busy on a Saturday morning so please go early if you intend entering a race there as car parking is very limited. Full details of the races are as follows:

12 .oo Under 11 Girls 1200 metres ( 1 small lap) Entry £1
12.10 Under 11 Boys 1200 metres (1small lap) Entry £1
12.20 Under 13 Girls 2500 metres ( 1 large lap) Entry £1
12.45 Under 13 Boys 2500 metres ( 1 large lap) Entry £1
13.10 Under 15 Girls / Under 15 Boys (1 small and 1 large lap) 3700 metres Entry £2
13.40 Senior Ladies /Under 17 Ladies / Under 17 men 5000 metres ( 2 large laps) Entry £2
14.15 Senior Men 10,000 metres (4 large laps) Entry £3

Presentation of prizes will take place as soon as possible after each race

Only first claim members of fully paid up affiliated clubs to the LAAA are eligible for prizes. All individual athletes must also be Scottish Athletics registered ( except Under 11's) .

British & Irish Masters Cross Country International - Perry Park, Birmingham, 14 November 2009

I travelled down to Birmingham with the Scottish Masters Team for the Home International Cross Country Races.

If there are a few dozen call offs, there’s always a slim chance that I might get a call up for the Scottish Team in this annual event.

Fortunately that’s what happened this year as I got a last minute call up for the over 45 team.

The omens for the weekend didn’t look good when we arrived at our posh team hotel. My spikes had punctured holes in my post race cans of beer, smuggled into the hotel in the bottom of my bag (£4 a pint in the hotel bar, no way Jose). Unfortunately my posh dinner/dance prize giving clobber was soaked. I blame Athelite for selling spikes that are too sharp. Hopefully, unless it snows, I’ll not need my spikes at Brampton next week. So don’t panic Jamie, my carry out should survive.

Things didn’t get better when I turned on the TV to hear a weather forecast of gales and heavy rain for race day. I’d been promised an ideal for me flattish firm course. All the track runners would be just as well starting their carry outs the night before.

Our 11am arrival at Perry Park the following morning put my race preparation into disarray. It was 3 hours before my race started, 2 hours 50 mins earlier than my body clock is used to. The weather at the course was as predicted and hundreds of runners were crammed for shelter into a small tea room or a Calderglen Harriers, race for life, size tent.

First race started at midday, for all women plus 65 year old & over men. I tried to offer some support to the team but within 30 mins was soaked through and starting to shiver. Not ideal race preparation so, stuff the team, I needed shelter. I decided to sneak into the nearby 5 star Alexander Stadium’s indoor training arena. Trying to blend in with what looked like a GB 4 x 100m training squad wasn’t going to be easy. I started warming up on the 150m indoor straight running track expecting to be thrown out. However, as usual, the sprinters spent about 99% of the time chatting & stretching so I could easily fit in a warm up and strides.

I managed to simulate my last minute rush by leaving the indoor arena 10 mins before my race began. A quick dash to the start line and we were off. I was in the M35/M40/M45 race, meaning I’d be one of the slowest runners. It was a strange feeling being in last place of such a big numbered race for the first few hundred metres, Russell knows what I’m talking about. I tried to convince myself that I’d do the Kelly Holmes Athens 2004 Olympic tactic of picking off all the runners one by one. In some ways this was achieved. She used to pick off 14 runners in a field of 15, I picked off 14 runners in a field of approx 90.

Unfortunately it just wasn’t my kind of race. The previous races had churned up the course with the resultant mud bath developing before I started. After two laps of the four x 2k laps all the energy had been sapped from my legs. From then on it was a struggle not to loose any places. Disappointingly I lost two places late in the race. This is the part of the race I’m normally at my strongest, but thankfully it didn’t affect the team position. We finished 4^th out of the 5 home international teams. I finished 4^th out of 6 in the Scottish Team meaning I was the last counter. My time was 32.57 for a GPS measured 5.40 miles, which was reasonable on a mud filled course. Performance of the day went to Jeff Farquhar of Pitreavie who had a time of 30.55, wining silver medal in the M50 race.

All in all it was a fantastic experience taking part. Hearing people say “come on Scotland” as you run by is a great feeling. With the strength of Vets we have at Calderglen, injuries permitting, there’s nothing stopping us being one of the best represented clubs in future Scottish Masters Teams.

Martin Duthie

Well done to Martin and thanks for the excellent race report!

Alan

Christmas Night Out Part 4

OK, not sure who the 40 people were voting on this but lets assume that at least some of them were Harriers. The final and last minute winner was Saturday 5th December (after the West District Cross Country). The venue is The Byre (Hairmyres) and the time is 7:30pm. A few may wish to go slightly earlier to grab a bar meal before the festivities begin in which case see you there at 7ish.

Alan

Glasgow University Road Race Results

At last we have the results from last weeks University race.
Leading a lone furrow for our ladies was Frances Maxwell 36:10 158th but could have been faster if not for the start of what was a new course to most of us.
The course now being a 2 lap route with a tough uphill start but at the top of the hill there is a small gate for over 200 runners to queue up to get through.
Not a good start but after this some good running as you head down towards the canal, turn left and run parallel to the canal, then left again and head back to Maryhill Road and into the science park before doing a second lap. Fortunately no queue at the gate on the 2nd lap.
Onto the men and leading us home was M Duthie 28:17, 32nd another excellent performance from Martin and continuing his recent good form. Next in was A Cullie 29:22, 41st and really starting to show he may soon be a threat to Martin being 1st Harrier.
E Reid completed our first three 30:51, 64th.
Other harriers running where S Hill 32:28 92nd, J Holmes 32:57 99th, S Waugh 33:08 102nd,
D Herbertson 34:04 116th, C Banks 35:05 132nd in a close race with D Wardrope 35:07 133rd.
That would have been a good finish to see but i was probably just past the canal while that was going on. R Lawton 39:27 193rd, C Steven 41:41 209th and R Couper 47:04 222nd.

Our next Grand Prix race is Brampton on the 21st so hope to see this close competition from some of the Harriers carried over onto the longer distance.
A special thanks go to S Reid and A Derrick for coming along to support us while running.
Lets see if we can get good turnouts at our future races this year like the numbers we get for Brampton. To coin a phrase from Nike JUST DO IT!

Glasgow University Road Race

The first head to head of our Grand Prix season is today at the Glasgow University Garscube Sports Complex, Maryhill Road. The race starts at 2pm. As this is an individual race, you have to register yourself so please arrive in plenty of time. The race entry is £6 for Scottish Athletics members, remember your membership number. For those needing a lift, some will be leaving the Sports Club at 11:45. See you at the race!

Alan

Christmas Night Out Part 3

OK, we're getting there. Where? I hear you ask. The Byre (Hairmyres) of course, having won the second stage of the poll 15 to 2.

Stage 3 is "When?"

the dates are;

Friday 4th,

Sat 5th,

Fri 11th,

Fri 18th

Sat 19th

Other??

Use the poll on the menu to the left to vote for the date (this time you can select multiple answers if more than one date suits you).

Genevieve

WEST DISTRICT XC (Royal Acadamy Irvine)

The West District XC will be held on 5th Dec at Irvine (Royal Acadamy)
Ladies race starts at 1.05 pm, Gents at 2.00pm
I need names by monday 16th Nov either on this blog or see me at training
there is no reserve list for this so no name no entry
cost is £4.00 per head

Russell

Young Athletes 2k and 1k Time Trials

Last Wednesday (28/10/09) the clubs young athletes took part in a split 2k and 1k time trial.
Times are as follows:

Paul Mullen U13 11.09 , 5.11
Craig Ferguson U13 9.57 ,4.46
Emma Campbell U15 8.32,4.16
Amy Mulholland U13 12.42, 6.10
Greg Mulholland U13 12.57,6.01
Andrew McGurk U13 11.14, 5.18
Grant Brennan U13 13.54,6.03
Connor White U13 14.46,6.46
Drew Gordon U11 13.26,6.14
Michael McAllister U13 15.10,7.25
Lewis Easton U11 11.26,5.35
Erin Reidy U15 18.26,8.09
Stuart Hill U15 14.44,6.33
Ross Paterson U15 11.29,5.12
Ian Rae U15 11.57,5.16
Kevin McGurk U11 13.12,6.22

Once again well done to all the young athletes of Calderglen Harriers.

MyRace Magazine

The new monthly myRace magazine is just out & this months 'Big Race' feature is our very own Calderglen 10 Mile Road Race - 4 pages of write up & some good photos.

Magazine is available at your local Running Specialist!

Colin

Christmas Night Out Part 2

So the Pub (18 for the pub, 5 for bowling, 1 other) won the vote....hope that is no reflection on the club!

Poll number 2.

Vote on the Pub.

The Byre (Hairmyers)

Montgomery Arms (Village)

Inn on the Stroud

Sports Club (Our club)

Other (leave comment)

Genevieve

Lanarkshire AAA Cross Country Championships

This event will take place on Saturday 21st November at Drumpellier Park in Coatbridge. Full details have as yet to be finalised but the information received to date is as follows :

Race 1 Under 11 Boys 12pm
Race 2 Under 11 Girls 12.10 pm
Race 3 Under 13 Girls 12.25 pm
Race 4 Under 13 Boys and Under 15 Girls Combined Race
Race 5 Under 15 Boys and Under 17 Girls Combined Race
Race 6 Under 17 Men and Senior Women Combined Race
Race 7 Senior Men

Start times for races 4 to 7 to be confirmed

Age Groups : Under 17 Born during 1/9/92 to 31/8/94
Under 15 Born during 1/9/94 to 31/8/96
Under 13 Born during 1/9/96 to 31/8/98

Under 11's is not a official competition age group category . As a club we recommend that anyone born since 31/8/98 take part in selected fun runs which this event includes to encourage a healthy lifestyle for children. We also advise that anyone under 7 years of age be assisted around the course by an adult which is allowed in this event.

FULL DETAILS OF THE LANARKSHIRE CROSS COUNTRY RACES WILL BE POSTED ON THIS BLOG AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

Performance Awards

Just finalising who did what last season (ending September 30th 2009). We have 8 people qualifying for performance standard awards having achieved the required times at 3 different race distances during the last season (S Waugh, E Reid, S Hill, S Reilly, C Freeman, M Goldsmith, J McMonagle, M Duthie).

There are a number of people with standards at 2 of the required distances. Just in case you forgot to tell me, could the following people confirm if they have achieved a performance award standard time at a third event during the 2008-2009 season (for Marathon, Half Marathon, 10 Mile, 10k or 5k). The events at which you already have achieved a standard are given in brackets after your name.

G McParland (Marathon, Half Marathon)

A Buchanan (10 Mile, 10k)

F Maxwell (10 Mile, 5k)

S Reid (10 Mile, 10k)

A Derrick (5k, 10k and I know I haven't run any of the other distances the past year!)

You can check the required standards using the performance award link on the menu to the left.

There are even more Harriers who have run a standard at one event only and if you have sneaked in performances at two other events, then of course let me know. The complete list of who has done what is here.

The PB awards are more sparse. If anyone has achieved absolute or age group pb's at three events in the 08/09 season, then please let me know.

The awards will be presented at Brampton. Well done to all, whether achieving an award or not.

Alan

Allan Scally Road Relay 2009

A very heavy pre-race shower put the frightners on us in Baillieston today but thankfully that was the only worry of the day as the new course (still 4.8 miles) was a complete contrast to the old, intimidating (in many different ways) Edinburgh Road course. Certainly a much more complex course but with marshalls on each of the many corners there was never a concern of getting lost in the quiet, leafy residential streets of Mount Vernon. The first mile was downhill followed by a very flat second mile. The first noticeable climb came between miles 2 and 3 before dropping to another flat half mile or so and then the final, tough mile up hill to the finish.

The Harriers were out in force for this, the last relay race of this year. Somewhat worryingly, every Calderglen Harrier was a veteran (35+) today but that is a sign of the times and a very large contingent of university teams contesting the Scottish University championships re-dressed the age balance. The A team comprised Alan Cullie (29:57) on the first leg in 33rd position, handing over to Charlie McDougall (28:40), easily the fastest M60 of the day in 23rd position. Eddie Reid (29:23) extended his Grand Prix and scratch championship lead in pulling us up to 21st position. Finally, Alan Derrick (28:15) was in a bit of trouble throughout with heel and hamstring problems but gained another two places bringing us up to 19th overall and in the process passing the Shettleston Harriers veterans team to give us the pleasant surprise of being 1st veteran team.

Our veteran depth was confirmed by our B team finishing as 3rd veteran team. Jim Holmes, without the pressure of having to synchronise his run with the absent Andy Henderson, ran an unrestricted 31:33, handing over to season debutant Scot Hill (30:45). Brian McDougall continues to impress with a solid 31:40 and then Colin Freeman, loosening up with every week, ran a fantastic 29:03 to give the team 27th position overall.

David Herbertson got the C team off to a good start with a time of 32:51 (confirmed by his own watch this week!), handing over to another hamstring sufferer, James Carrigan, who ran with a restricted stride length to finish in 35:26. David Wardrope kept himself in a very strong Grand Prix position with a time of 34:49 and the final leg was left to Ian Rae who ran the fastest time in his team (32:33). Frances Maxwell ran an excellent 34:08 to get the incomplete D team off to a flyer whilst Russell Couper completed our contribution to the race with a time of 43:06.

Well done to all. The general impression within the Harriers was that Shettleston should stick with this excellent new course for the future. Next week sees the first head to head race of the Grand Prix season with the Glasgow University Road Race......

Scally Teams

The Scally Teams can be viewed using this link. We will declare the teams to the race organisers just before 1:30pm for a 2pm race start, so if you have to cancel or change leg, please let me or Russell know well before 1:30. Thanks for the enthusiastic support. This is a great turnout from the Harriers. See the earlier post for a link to a map to the venue.

Alan

NOVEMBER SPORTS MASSAGE PROMOTION

Something that a number of the Harriers have tried over the past year or so and particularly relevant during this intensive racing period.

In need of a sports massage after a hard season? legs feeling tight or tired?

2 x 1/2 Hour sports massages for £25!

Call Grant McLullich on 07967 543 083 to book your appointment,

Grant is based at ATHelite's Sports Injury Clinic in Hamilton.

Alan

Christmas Night Out

It's that time again with Christmas just around the corner & it's time to organise a gathering.

We are offering the recession busting option of no meal this year & maybe just drinking instead.

Please vote on the poll to the left to give us an idea of what would be most popular.

Pub night out

Restaurant

Bowling

Other (please leave comment on this post)

We'll do an poll on location once we have whittled down the options. This first poll will close at 16:30 on Tuesday 3rd November.

Genevieve

Alan Scally Road Relays - Important Notice

Please note on the Scottish Athletics web site today there is a full explanation of the route changes to Saturday's relay and why the host club had to implement them. Anyone taking part should refer to the web site. Fortunately registration and start times are not affected.

Young Athletes 1 k interval session

It has been a while since I posted any news about our young athletes but this important section of the club is thriving although a bit short in the Under 17 age category making our involvement in the recent cross country relays impossible this year. However with the head to head races imminent ( Lanarkshire and West District Cross Country) it was appropriate for the coaches and helpers to step up training for the youngsters. The times of the 1 k interval session are as follows:

Richard Campbell u17 4.34, 4.39, 4.32
Paul Mullen u13 5.14,5.08,4.52
Craig Ferguson u13 4.51,5.08,4.52
Emma Campbell u15 5.47,5.49,5.46
Ewan Murray u17 4.06,4.14,4.11
Amy Mulholland u13 5.56,5.57,6.07
Greig Mulholland u13 5.52,5.56,5.56
Andrew McGurk u13 5.30,5.22,5.32
Alistair Crawford u13 5.35,5.34,5.32
Grant Brennan u13 6.50,6.58,6.45
Connor White u13 6.50,6.58,6.50
Drew Gordon u13 6.18,6.16,6.08
Megan Brady u13 6.50,7.07,8.58
Michael McAllister u13 7.37,7.07,8.58
Lewis Easton u13 6.04,6.04, n/a
Lewis Miller u13 5.39,5.40,5.39
Erin Reidy u15 8.25,8.25,9.11
Stuart Hill u15 6.14,6.42,7.22
Ross Paterson u15 5.22,5.30,5.50
Pierce Hough u15 7.16,6.53,6.35

Well done to all the young athletes many of whom were experiencing this type of training for the first time.

Allan Scally Road Relay

Race 6 in the Grand Prix series is the last of the relays for this year and the longest one. Each leg is around 4.8 miles long, 4 legs for men, 3 for ladies. The race starts at 2pm, and each leg usually takes between 25 and 35 mintues if you wish to turn up after the start for a later leg. Please indicate your availability and any special requirements (e.g. early/late leg, need a lift, etc) using this form. The registration and race start is at Bannerman High School, Baillieston. Click here for a map.

The next two Grand Prix races are the final two before Brampton and are excellent sharpeners, being somewhat longer than the relays so far but still under Brampton distance. So let's have a good turn out as usual. Note also that the Brampton bus is only just over half full, so please let Russell or Chas know as soon as possible if you or your friends/family wish to attend in a spectating/social or racing capacity. It would be a shame to have one of our lowest attendances in this our 25th anniversary year.

National Cross-Country Relay Results

Despite the showery start to the day by the time the senior races started the sun was out and conditions were actually quite pleasant (at least compared to last years wet and windy torture). Frances Maxwell was glad to be joined by Mary Goldsmith in the senior ladies team. Still not a complete team but getting there. The better conditions were partly responsible for everyone improving their times this year but even so, Mary is just getting back from her recent marathon and so her improved time of 21:27 was an impressive result. Frances took the second leg in a time of 19:12, well over a minute faster than last year.

In the senior men's race we fielded 3 and a quarter teams, our best turnout so far this season. Alan Cullie took the first leg for the A team this week and confirmed his strength in the "country" with a time of 16:19, more than 3 minutes faster than last year, handing over in 69th position to Eddie Reid. Eddie pulled back 6 places finishing in 16:26, exactly 2 minutes faster than last year. Martin Duthie made his first appearance on this course for a few years and pulled back a stack of places bringing us up to 51st in 15:18, our fastest time of the day. Finally Alan Derrick clawed a few more places back to bring us into the top half of the field of 100 complete teams, finishing in 46th position in a time of 15:34, almost 2 minutes faster than last year. This put the club 10th in the masters' championship.

There was the expected cliff hanger in the B team as Jim Holmes and Andy Henderson were on 1st and 3rd leg duties and yet still managed to record identical times on their own watches for the second week in a row. This time the official results fell in Jim's favour, giving him a time of 17:39 (exactly 2 minutes faster than last year) versus Andy's 17:43. David Wardrope ran the second leg, his first cross country for the club and this was a tough introduction, finishing in 19:28. The last leg saw the welcome return of Colin Freeman to the short, sharp stuff. Colin had a smooth run through, pulling back 9 positions and finishing in the excellent time of 16:37, some ten and a half hours quicker than his last race!

The C team was a trial for all concerned! David Herbertson was first up, still not particularly well but there anyway. Despite this, David ran his best ever time on this course, finishing in a time of 18:06. A crisis ensued while Chas Steven was out on the second leg as we somehow lost 3rd leg runner Ian Rae's race number, the 3rd leg number being the only specially coloured one in each team. The day's first visit to the very accommodating race referee gave us dispensation to field Ian with the wrong colour of number. With this crisis over and Ian still smiling we relaxed for a minute only to see a distraught Chas walking off the course, calf muscle injured. Chas was devastated to let his team down but could not continue. Fortunately trip two to the referee, this time by Russell Couper, was also fruitful and Ian and Colin Banks were allowed to set off on a lap together to record their own times for the purpose of our Grand Prix. Ian finished in 18:25 (2 and a half minutes faster than last year) and Colin recorded a time of 19:27 (1 and a half minutes faster than last year).

Russell Couper was the quarter team, all on his own this week. However, Russell had a solid run, finishing in 23:50, just over a minute faster than last year, so encouraging progress there.

Well done to all. This result gives Eddie a slim lead in both the Grand Prix and Scratch Championship, closely followed by Alan Cullie in both cases but with David Wardrope and Russell Couper still in strong positions holding multiple jokers. Frances has a substantial lead in both women's competitions but now Mary is back in action and starting the chase.

Alan

National XC Relay Teams

Hot off the press, the teams are listed here. There is still room for a complete team of men and one lady, so please let me know if you want a run (or have to pull out) either via this blog today or by txt or phone tomorrow morning (note that James has already advised he is no longer able to run earlier today).

Alan

National Cross-Country Relays - Cumbernauld

Next up is the potential mud bath at Cumbernauld next Saturday 24th October. This is a proper cross-country! Russell has entered 4 men's teams and 1 team of ladies for this championship. The following men have previously indicated their availability:

A Derrick, R Couper, E Reid, D Wardrope, I Rae, C Steven, D Herbertson, G Stewart, A Henderson, J Holmes, A Cullie, M Duthie, J Carrigan

and the following women:

M Goldsmith, F Maxwell, D Buchanan

Could all please re-confirm your availability using this form (or let Russell know at the club) and anyone not on the above list let us know by Thursday evening so the running order can be decided (note that there are still 3 places available for men to give us 4 complete teams. If anyone of the above drops out then there will of course be more places available).

Alan

Lanarkshire Road Relay Results

More Photos and official times Added....

Perfect conditions greeted the enthusiastic contingent of Lanarkshire clubs contesting the annual Road Relay Championship in Drumpellier Park today. It is a few years since the Harriers' men got amongst the medals here but this year the veteran team of Eddie Reid (14:05), Alan Cullie (14:21), Martin Duthie (13:17) and Alan Derrick (13:21) placed 3rd overall behind

Cambuslang and Shettleston Harriers. Eddie improved by 58 seconds on last year to put the team in a strong position early on, handing over to the flying Alan Cullie who improved by an impressive one and a half minutes on last year and handing over to Martin Duthie in 7th position.

Martin had not run this particular course before but that was no problem to someone of Martin's experience and he cruised through to hand over in 4th place 150m or so behind Cambuslang's B team. Finally, Alan D kept it under control and gradually closed the gap to take 3rd place just before

the half way turn, consolidating that position to finish well clear and around 16 seconds faster than last year.

Andy Henderson took the first leg for the B team, finishing in 15:21 to hand over to James Carrigan in only his second relay outing for the club in the excellent time of 16:32. There is certainly a lot more to come from James. Then Jim Holmes did his usual remarkable job of producing a result that required inspection of the official results to decide, finishing in 15:21, 1 exactly the same time as Andy. "Fresh" off a plane from Florida last night, the very hoarse David Herbertson took the last leg in a time of 16:23, clearly not 100% well.

David Wardrope headed the third team and demonstrated that he is getting to grips with the short relays (and the Grand Prix), finishing in 16:18, a position that takes him to the joint lead of the club Grand Prix. Frances Maxwell did a sterling job stewarding the earlier kids' races and then ran the second leg for the C team, finishing in 16:59, 4 seconds faster than last year when she was part of Calderglen's silver medal winning ladies team. Finally, Russell Couper ran an encouraging 20:45 on the 3rd leg, within sight of the time he ran last year before injuries took over.

A big thanks to Malcolm and Frances for volunteering to help with the race organisation. Without that we would not have been permitted to enter teams. In fact, Malcolm performed lead bike duties for all the races on the day and covered something like 50 miles by the time he had cycled to and from the event. Finally, thanks to Sandra for recording the event in pictures.

Brancumhall Sessions

Monday 19th October is the first of our fortnightly cross country training sessions around Brancumhall football pitches. Bring your usual road shoes and favoured off-road shoes to the club. For those who have not experienced these sessions before, the surface is short grass and given the recent weather, it should be fairly firm under foot.

Alan

Lanarkshire Road Relay Teams

Click here to see the teams and running order. Still room for late additions, so let me know anytime before about 1:30 on race day at which time I will enter the teams. Likewise if you have to call off please let me know in advance. If you need a lift, then meet at the club at 12:45. For those going direct, here's a map. You are heading for the Drumpellier Park Visitor Centre accessed from the Townhead Road entrance beside Lochend Loch.

Lanarkshire Road Relays

Further details of this Saturday's relay are now available. The race programme is as follows:

12.00 u/11 girls

12.20 u/11 boys

12.40 u/13 u/15 u/17 girls

13.10 u13 boys

13.40 u/15 boys

14.15 u/17 boys, senior ladies, senior men

The names received so far are here. See me at the club on Thursday or leave your name here if you are available to run. The more marshalls we can provide the better too, so don't be shy.

I'll pick the running order after training on Thursday and post on the blog along with any arrangements for meeting at the club. The race start is at the visitor centre on the far side of Drumpellier Park, Coatbridge.

Alan

A farewell get together

As most of the club knows, we are off on our travels at the end of the month. I would love to meet up with as many as possible on Saturday 24th October to share a drink and a joke or two. The Monty seems as good a place as any, so hopefully I'll see you all at 8 in the Monty.

Malcolm

President's Trophy

Inaugurated last year, the President's Trophy is awarded each year by the committee to a member who has made an outstanding contribution to the Harriers. This year the award went to a member who has represented the club as a runner, as a former president and secretary and as a major motivator over a period of more than 20 years, Malcolm Buchanan. Malcolm was presented with the annual trophy at the recent Trossachs Training Camp where he was left unusually speechless!

Alan

Race 3 Grand Prix Update and Lanarkshire Road Relays

The men's and women's Grand Prix and scratch championships (men and women) have now been updated following the West District XC Relays. Russell is charging ahead in the men's Grand Prix and Frances is stretching away unchallenged in the women's Grand Prix and scratch championship. Eddie has a slim lead in the men's scratch championship. Thanks to those who are supporting these events.

However, worryingly for the general profile of the club, we are only fielding around half the participants we have had in the previous two years in the opening relays of the season, so come on, let's support the Grand Prix. The GP championships are designed to provide a fair competition for all members but they only work if you do the races. The provisional calendar for the next batch of Grand Prix races is here.

The next Grand Prix race is the Lanarkshire Road Relay at Drumpellier Park Coatbridge this coming Saturday. As previously announced by Malcolm on this blog, the Lanarkshire AAA who host the relay series will require each club to field at least two marshalls for the duration of all the events (children's and senior races), see Malcolm's previous post for details. Please record your availability to race or marshall using this form (or see me, Malcolm or Russell at the club).

Alan

WEST DISTRICT XC RELAY RESULTS

Full results should be available on scottish athletics website by tomorrow
In the meantime first out for the harriers was F Maxwell running 17.18 on a course that had some muddy patches and slippy corners but generally not too bad. unfortunatly Frances had nobody to hand over to so come on girls lets get you out racing and making a team up, we can do well in these events but need to be there.
For the gents Martin Duthie led the 1st team off in 13.36 followed by E Reid 14.36 A Cullie 14.30 and J Holmes 15.29. The 2nd team comprised A Henderson 15.27 I Rae 16.34 J Carrigan 16.29 and C Banks 17.41. Our 3rd team only had 2 runners R Couper 20.18 and C Steven 19.19
Well done to all who ran and thanks to everyone who came along to cheer us on

The next club race is next week the Lanarkshire Road Relays so lets try and get more runners and anyone who cant run can come along and cheer us on or marshall for the race as we need to provide 2 marshalls

TEAMS FOR WEST DISTRICT XC RELAYS

THE TEAMS FOR SATURDAY ARE AS FOLLOWS
Ladies
F Maxwell start time 12.40pm

Men
1st M Duthie ...............1st.A Henderson ....................1st.C Banks
2ndE Reid ....................2ndI Rae..................................2nd R Couper
3rdA Cullie....................3rd J Carrigan.........................3rd C Steven
4thJ Holmes .................4thG Stewart
start time 1.30pm

Be there in plenty of time and contact someone if you cant make it

Russell

Challenge Barcelona Ironman

As many of you know, myself & Genevieve took on the Barcelona Ironman on Sunday.
We were both very near our predicted times & absolutely loved it - it was a huge & quite emotional event & I found it amazing what you can get out of your own body if you break it down & dig deep enough.
A few people have been asking for a race report, which I have now written. Needless to say it is fairly extensive so rather than dumping it on this Blog I have put a link below to our ATHelite Blog where you can read it if you are so inclined & have time to spare!
Thanks to everyone who popped in, called & texted to give us support & encouragement both before & after the event.
We have a couple of weeks of essential rest now then we shall make a return to the Harriers to train at a normal level again for a while!

Colin

http://www.athelite.blogspot.com/

Young Athletes Training

Due to school holidays there will be no training next Wednesday 14 October. We will start back on Wednesday 21 October at 6.30 pm .

Loch Ness Marathon

Update!!
Thanks to Mary for letting us know that her time was actually 4:15, not too shabby at all! See Mary's comment for her full reaction and other news on runners we know.

Also, Andy Buchannan was competing in the Loch Ness 10k and finished a very creditable 4th out of 2500 in a new pb of 34:42, missing out on 3rd place by only 12secs. Thanks to Dawn for the report and all the best to Andy with his studies at college in Inverness; his talent will be missed.

Well done to Mary Goldsmith on her time of 4:17 on the Bonnie Banks of Loch Ness (am I getting my songs mixed up here?). I'm sure this will qualify for a performance standard (will check when I get back to the UK). I've a feeling there may have been more than one Harrier competing in that race series, so as is traditional, if anyone who was there running or spectating would like to submit a race report for the blog and a photograph or two it would be much appreciated.

The bigger the race the more inpenetrable the on-line results seem to be so I cannot actually even check Mary's time at the moment let alone search for any other Harriers!

Congratulations again Mary on a fine time and now put your feet up for a few weeks and recover.

Alan

Lanarkshire AAA Road Relays

Please note that the above races will take place on Saturday 17th October at Drumpellier Park Coatbridge. Times of the various races will be announced at the club. It has been agreed at the LAAA AGM that only those clubs who provide a minimum of 2 helpers/marshalls will be alowed to enter teams. Please let me know the names of those willing to help on the day prior to arranging any teams.

Malcolm

Physiotherapy Service

Please note that from the 31st October 2009, the physio partnership with Accies Fitness will cease. Hopefully this has been of benefit to the club, but after a review of the service, it was decided that we would terminate this arrangement. Can I remind all Harriers who have used the service this year to contact Russell (russell4@sky.com) to update the club records. Our thanks to our club partner EKGTA for facilitating this venture. Any feedback on your experience with the service would be appreciated.

Malcolm

Hard as Nails!

A triple congratulations to Genevieve and Colin on completing the Barcelona Ironman on Sunday. They've been conspicious by their absence for the last 6 months or so due to the extreme training they have been subjecting themselves to but it has all paid off.

Genevieve completed the race in the fantastic debut time of 11:40:32, finishing 746th overall and 9th F35, comfortably beating her target of sub-12 hours. That's a 3.8km swim in the sea, 180km on the bike and a marathon to finish it. Her vital statistics were something like 1:18:03/5:56:49/4:25:40 (can't get them to add up but there must be some unaccounted transition time in there too). If I'm not mistaken, that marathon split is only about 20 minutes outside Genevieve's marathon pb. Just goes to highlight the importance of a warm-up, even before a marathon!

Colin's total time was 10:52:43, comfortably inside his target too and finishing 404th overall and 99th M35. Colin's approximate splits were 1:11:07/5:50:33/3:51:03.

Alan

Calderglen Clean Up

The Rotary Club and Calderglen rangers are organising a clean up of part of the glen on Saturday 10th October. This is an ideal opportunity to help maintain one of our training routes and help keep it up to standard. Any volunteers from any of the sections should meet at Calderwood Gardens which is off Alloway Road at 10am on Saturday morning.

Malcolm

SVHC Half Marathon - Clydebank

Contrary to the previous day, perfect running conditions met the participants of the SVHC Half Marathon Championships at Clydebank. The route was a straight forward out and back along the canal path towards Maryhill. Several locks meant an incline of 150 ft on the way out but the same locks provided some welcome downhill portions on the way back.In a sprint finish, the race was won by C. Upson in 1:19:34. First lady was J.MacLean in 1:21:58.The only Calderglen Harriers representative was Jim Holmes who finished 9th in a time of 1:30:46 and was first M40.

Thanks to Jim for the race report and well done on finishing in exactly the same time as he did one month previously at the Glasgow Half. Mr Consistency!

Alan

WEST DISTRICT XC RELAY

This Saturday is the West District XC Relays
I have entered just about everyone from the club so you can still get a run if you let me know by thursday at training after which the teams will be selected
the following names have already said they will run but i need further confirmation they can still make it so let me know
R Couper, A Derrick, C Steven, A Cullie, J Holmes, C Banks, E Reid, M Duthie,
A Henderson, D Watt, I Rae, G Stewart, J Carrigan
F Maxwell

These are names the teams will be made from unless i hear differently

Russell

McANDREW RESULTS

Well done to everyone who turned up on Saturday on what turned out to be a very windy day
We had 2 full teams out and leading off the first team was E Reid with a time of 19.50 followed by C McDougall with our fastest time of the day 19.09 3rd and 4th were A Cullie and B McDougall running 20.32 and 21.32 respectfully to finish in 18th place
The 2nd team was G Allan 22.57, D Wardrope 23.43, R Lawton 24.58 and R Couper 28.27 to finish 38th

McANDREW TEAMS

Teams for the McAndrew road relay are listed below
Please be there for 2pm approx for warm up and numbers

A TEAM
E REID
C McDOUGALL
A CULLIE
B McDOUGALL

B TEAM
G ALLAN
D WARDROPE
R LAWTON
R COUPER

LADIES
F MAXWELL

NATIONAL XC RELAYS (CUMBERNAULD)

The National xc relays will be held on the 24th Oct
I need names by next Monday 5th Oct
Start times are men 2.40pm ladies 1.40pm
cost is £4.00 per head
either see me at the club or leave your name using this form.

Russell

Notice from Chas

Just to let everyone know I won't be at the club on Monday, Tuesday or Thursday as I have to visit my dad in hospital as he recovers from a hip operation . I will be there on Wednesday for the young athletes training. See you all soon and lets have a big turnout at the McAndrew relay as the club will be officially 25 years old in October.

Mansfield - British Masters Cross Country Relays

For those not at the club last week, just to confirm that we are not sending teams down to Mansfield this year due to not having complete teams in any age group for various reasons. The good news is that we should have a good turn out at the McAndrew instead.

Alan

McAndrew Road Relay

Race 2 in the Grand Prix is the 70th Annual McAndrew Road Relay next Saturday, 3rd October. The relay starts at 3pm. This is a 4 x 3.25 mile relay around the streets of Jordanhill and Scotstoun. Please use this link to indicate your availability to run (or speak directly to Russell). Remember, these short relays are a vital part of your training for Brampton as well as being good fun and having a real team spirit about them. There is a place in a team for anyone who wants to run.

Russell, will enter the teams on the day. As usual, there will be lifts available from the Sports Club to the race on Saturday. For those going direct, changing is in Jordanhill School, Chamberlain Road, Jordanhill G13 1SP and the race starts a few hundred metres away on Helensburgh Drive. Please let Russell know well in advance if you have to pull out as Russell will be entering the teams and declaring the running order in advance of your arrival.

Houston Road Relay 2009

It seemed like most of the Harriers were suffering from the club cold today judging by the number of huskier than usual voices on the start line. However, at least the sun was shining and we still had 3 complete teams of 4 and a full compliment of supporters. Overall the field seemed smaller than usual too; probably also a result of the colds and flu going about just now.

Our vets A team was led off by me. Considerably slower now than when I last ran a first leg here, I nevertheless set off like I used to and went with the leaders. Big mistake! The Garmin GPS confirms that I averaged 5:08 for the first mile, dipping sub-5 at the steeper downhill parts. The GPS also confirms my collapse in the second half, averaging about 5:45 and dropping to just over 6 minutes per mile on the final climb. Overall time was 14:39 for the 2.7 mile course and a position just outside the top 10. Leg 2 saw the welcome return of Charlie McDougall to short, sharp racing. I can guarantee that there would not be another M60 anywhere near Charlie's time of 15:28 and not that many M40's either. Eddie Reid took over on the 3rd leg and paced it well to finish in 15:44, 3 seconds faster than last year. The 4th leg was trusted to Alan Cullie (the only member of the team without a sore throat) who improved by 21 seconds compared to last year to finish in 16:03, bringing the team home in 15th and 3rd vets team.

Graham Allan has made massive steps forward in the last 6 months and is heading towards the

pace that used to be the norm for him. Although we had some problems reading the time on Graham's analogue watch, the official results eventually confirmed that his first leg time was 17:59, a 3 minute improvement on last year. Jim Holmes' training is interrupted just now but even so his time of 16:40 was only 5 seconds down on last year.

David Herbertson is also on the comeback trail and his time of 17:11 was about half a minute down on last year but we know that David will improve with every race. On the last leg, the experience of Andy Henderson was put to good effect, running 16:49, only slightly slower than his last outing here in 2005.

The third team was a mixed team, Frances Maxwell being dropped in it by taking

the first leg (as I now know, not her favourite relay leg!). Frances ran her own race and did not get carried away with the fast start, finishing in 19:12, only around 30 seconds down on her pb set last year. Making his relay debut for the club, David Wardrope ran a solid 18:25,

the fastest time in the team. Colin Banks demonstrated his recent sprinting form in the home straight, getting into one of those head to head situations that is best avoided after a 2.7 mile blast. Colin finished in 19:17. Finally, Russell Couper took the final leg to finish in 22:57.

Thanks to Brian McDougall for taking the photos and hopefully he will get over his recent injury quickly to join the fun. Well done to all.

David Herbertson takes an early lead in the men's Grand Prix and Frances leads the women. The positions can be viewed using the Grand Prix menu item on the left. The newly introduced Club Championship positions are also there for men and women.

Brampton Entry Form

Click here to download an entry form for the Brampton to Carlisle 10 Mile road race. Fill out the form and return your cheque made out to Calderglen Harriers for £18.50 (£8.50 race entry + £10 deposit for bus) to Russell. Refer to Chas' earlier post on this blog for full details.

Grand Prix Joker Starting List

For this season, all the women in the Grand Prix will start with 1 joker and will have no maximum number of jokers obtainable throughout the season.

In the men's Grand Prix, taking account of last year's performances, the starting jokers and maximum jokers playable throughout the season are listed here.

For those new to the Grand Prix, the rules are actually quite simple, honest! The purpose of the Grand Prix is to encourage as many Harriers as possible to participate in the main races throughout the Winter season. This is achieved by assigning Harriers who finish further down the field (relative to other Calderglen runners) "Jokers" which can be played in subsequent Grand Prix races to double your points. In this way anyone who does most of the races in the season should be in with a chance of winning a prize, even if they are not one of the fastest runners. Check last year's results to see how close it ended up. Your best 11 from 16 Grand Prix races count at the end of the season. A list of Grand Prix races will be published soon.

Points are awarded from 12 points for the first Harrier to finish down to 1 point for the 12th Harrier to finish. All other Harriers score 1 point. If you score 6 points or less in a race, then you earn 1 additional joker (subject to the season maximum limit listed in the above link) which may be used in any of the subsequent races. If you score 3 points or less in a race, then you earn an additional 2 jokers. Each joker played doubles your points in that race up to a maximum of 24 points. e.g. if you finish 5th Harrier in a race, then you score a basic 8 points. If you had played 1 joker, this score would double to 16 points. If you had played 2 jokers, the score would be capped at 24 points. If you finish 13th and score a basic 1 point but play 3 jokers then you score 1 x 2 x 2 x 2 = 8 points. Jokers must be declared to Russell Couper or Alan Derrick before the start of the race in which they are to be played (you can leave a comment on the blog or see us in person at the race).

A "scratch" Club Championship will run in parallel with the Grand Prix this year. In this competition, jokers will be ignored and only the total "basic" score used to determine the winners.

Alan