Parkrun Update

There have been so many Harriers participating in the Parkrun at Pollok Park the last two Saturdays that the "monthly" report has been brought forward to recognise all the excellent performances.

Saturday 25th April saw the biggest ever Glasgow Parkrun field (238) and, coincidentally, the biggest Calderglen Harriers turnout too. It was another fine, sunny morning although again quite windy. However, as much of the course is well sheltered within the woods, the wind was really only noticeable on the start straight.

On arriving at the start area it was encouraging to see so many Harriers literally appearing out of the woods (individually!). Alan Derrick was the only Harrier not to record a course best finishing in 17:09, 3 secs slower than his first appearance a month earlier although he did manage to secure a comfortable 3rd place overall. Jamie McMonagle was next in 19:07, an improvement of 6 seconds which was no doubt limited by a night out on Friday. Stuart Waugh improved by 19 seconds on his first performance (February) recording 20:10. Stuart was frustrated to just miss out on a Calderglen M60 Gold Performance Standard, however that will surely come next time. Debutant Jim Holmes recorded a solid 20:14, just 1 second outside his 5k pb. David Herbertson raced Parkrun for the fourth time and set his 3rd course best in a row (20:51), an improvement of 4 seconds. John McBride made his debut too but for some reason was missing from the entries database and so the official time is not known. Russell Couper maintained his steady progress on the way back from his operation recording an improvement of 22 seconds (25:36). As noted in an earlier post, Tuesday nighter Julie Collins made her first appearance in the excellent time of 27:14 and can expect to take minutes off that as her experience and fitness improves.

On 2nd of May the field again exceed 200 runners. Jamie sends the following report:

I ran this morning in a p.b. for course in 18mins 42secs in 16th position, improving my best by 25 secs. Bronze Performance standard, ya beauty! Guess what, no cider the night before!Special mention to my wife Jean who took part in her first run finishing in 34mins 32secs which augurs well for the womans' 10k next week. Richard Lawton took part in his first run and finished in 24mins 17 secs and Russell Cooper ran a p.b. for course by 15 secs in 25mins 22 secs so p.b's all round. Another big turnout with 201 runners.

As everyone is demonstrating (except me!), a 5k race is an excellent training session and we can expect to see the benefits carried through to the forthcoming 10k's.