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