Calderglen Harriers 10 Mile Road Race Results

Fantastic weather and a large turnout for the Harriers' 25th Anniversary 10 mile race. The race started at 10am from Langlands Gate where the field of around 100 climbed the long, uphill start straight to Greenhills Road. The eventual leading contenders established their positions along Shields Road with Calderglen's veteran M45 duo of Davy Watt and Martin Duthie joining Cambuslang's Robert Gilroy and Stuart Gibson in the initial break away. By mile 4 the first 4 were strung out and effectively making long, solo efforts for the remainder of the race. Robert Gilroy was the clear winner in 54:15 followed by Stuart Gibson (55:28), Davy Watt (57:46) and Martin Duthie (59:05). Both Davy and Martin achieve comfortable Calderglen M45 Gold performance standards for these times, incredible given the severity of this officially verified course.

The ladies race was a comfortable affair for top Scottish road racer Toni McIntosh of Ayr Seaforth. Toni finished 10th overall in 63:02. Second lady was the unattached Claire McArthur (63:57) and third lady across the line was Clare Gemmel (65:44) of Springburn Harriers. Clare graciously deferred the 3rd place prize, instead taking the F35 prize, allowing the 4th lady across the line, Jill Smylie (72:22) of Giffnock North to get a prize.

There were strong performances in all the veteran categories, men and women. With Martin Duthie having taken the M40 prize, it was great to see Andy Henderson returning to his best form for years to win the M50 category in 68:34. This gives Andy an M55 Bronze performance standard. First M60 was David Adams of Hamilton Harriers in 73:28 and first M70 and oldest competitor was William Drysdale of Law & District (1:43:10). The F45 prize was won by Heather McIntosh of Garscube Harriers (74:36) and the F55 category was closely contested and won by the oldest woman in the race, 64 year old Elizabeth Gilchrist of Ferranti AAC in the incredible time of 82:34.

The Team of Ten competition was contested by Springburn Harriers and ourselves with Kirkintilloch Olympians just failing to field the required 10 runners. Calderglen's ladies were the key to this event. Our men had runners to spare but with only 3 Calderglen ladies running everyone of them had to finish and run well to keep the team in it. Mary Goldsmith was first of our ladies in 80:21, an F50 Bronze performance standard. Although Alison Crooks established an early lead over Sandra Reid, in the final quarter Sandra came through to finish ahead of Alison in a time of 84:37 with Alison just behind in 85:52. The 7 men completing the Team of Ten were Davy Watt, Martin Duthie, Colin Freeman (62:04 an M35 Bronze performance standard), Alan Cullie (65:24 an M40 Bronze performance standard), Eddie Reid (65:37 an M45 Bronze performance standard), Andy Henderson and Jim Holmes (69:07). The combined score for these 10 runners was 289 points, enough to beat a very competitive Springburn team (383 points). There were more strong performances from the remaining Calderglen men. Graham Lindsay raced strongly in the early stages but just returning from holiday must have been at least a little jet lagged, finishing in 73:06. In one of his first races for the club (and certainly his first Calderglen 10), David Wardrope achieved 77:40. Not to be forgotten, former Harriers' stalwart Kenny Davidson made the trip through from Peebles and recorded a time of 67:53. This early season 10-miler must surely set a lot of Harriers up for some personal bests at Brampton.

There were 93 finishers and only 3 or 4 DNF's. The feedback received so far suggests that all who ran were impressed with the event.

The full race results can be found here. Some great photos and complimentary remarks from RoadRunPics.com. There are further photos taken by David Herbertson and myself here. We think we have captured everyone in at least one photo.