West Highland Way Walk April 2010

Six intrepid walkers set off from Milngavie for Fort William.
Day 1 covered the route from Milngavie to Drymen. This was an easy start to our adventure and with the weather forecast looking good, the waterproofs were packed away. A lunch time stop at the Beach Tree required a short term loan to purchase some isotonic products to quench the thirst. With our pockets much lighter, we continued on to Drymen where we were joined for dinner by Madame President. (Best table manners the order of the day).
Day 2 we set off for Rowardennan. A rare sighting of a student (Stephen) at a cash machine was observed. Up over Conic Hill and on to our 1st taste of the Youth Hostels. The gents dorm was of smaller dimensions and gave Scot the opportunity to reminded Stephen that if the path of righteousness was not adhered to, this was the type of accommodation our Majesty would provide. Throughout our walk, Irene and Caroline made sure all dogs were patted, donkeys fed polo mints and fellow walkers quizzed as to their country of origin, destination, lucky number, favourite colour etc.
Day 3 saw the trek up the loch side to Crianlarich. A stop was made at the Inversnaid Hotel for emergency foot repairs from our travelling blister nurse armed with needles and scissors. The squeamish members of the party retired to the bar. Onwards to Ben Glas Farm for a short stop. More short term loans required for a bowl of soup, but served with the traditional Scottish tourism sour face!
Arrived at Crianlarich to a feast at the Rod & Reel. Highly recommended. Caroline adopted a litter of pups at their B&B. Graham checked his rucksack in the morning to make sure he was not carrying any excess baggage in the form of a puppy or two.
Day 4 was the journey to Bridge of Orchy. On arrival, six pairs of feet had a very welcome cool down in the river followed by several glasses of the isotonic Crabbies alcoholic ginger beer. Highly recommended! Bus back to Crianlarich (free) for another feast at the Rod & Reel).
Day 5 started with a taxi ride to B of O to commence the walk to Kings House. On route much deliberation was taken as to the correct route at Forrest Lodge. After a quickly convened committee meeting, the path over Rannoch Moor was taken. More isotonic drinks on arrival at Kings House.
Day 6 saw another day of sunshine for the walk to Kinlochleven. At the top of the Devil’s Staircase, a pause to toast and remember a dear friend (Christopher). A chat with two mountain bikers confirmed our view that brains and mountain biking are not connected!
Day 7 started with much alarm. Rain! What’s this? The Gods had finally given up on us and sent a reminder that it really was Scotland. We set off with Fort William in our thoughts and the final leg of our trek. Just after Lundarva, we were joined by Irene’s brother and friends to accompany us to Fort William. There we were greeted by Eddie, Sandra, Stuart, Maude and Frances. A welcome sight to escort us firstly to the old finishing line and then to seek out the new finishing line. Not sure if we found it, but we stopped when we ran out of Main Street. A great week with thanks to Scot for his meticulous planning and to the rest of the team for some great chat and bonhomie!

Chatelherault Times

A great turnout for the first Chatelherault session of the year, so many regulars and new faces. As usual we will try to keep track of the lap times through the year as a gauge of fitness improvement. This year, rather than carrying soggy bits of paper, we will do it on-line. Use this form to enter your time. You can enter the times for yourself and for others if you want but just one time per form please. Remember to scroll to the bottom of the form and click the "Submit" button. View the times entered here.

Thanks

Alan

Chatelherault Next Monday!

It is time again to start our fortnightly expeditions to Chatelherault. The first session will be on Monday 26th April and then fortnightly thereafter. Check the event Calendar using the menu on the left for the complete list of dates.

The route is an undulating lap of around 7 miles, all on the wonderful trails of Chatelherault Country Park. Its one you can run fast or slow and you will always get a benefit. See previous times using the Chatelherault Times link on the left.

As usual, if you need a lift or do not know where you are going then meet at the Sports Club ready to leave at 7pm. Otherwise go directly to the start outside the old folks home at the end of Old Avon Bridge Road, Hamilton, ready to start at 7:30pm.


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West Highland Way Weekend

For all those joining in the WHW relay weekend in May, can you please arrange for the balance to be paid. The initial deposit was £20 per person with a balance of £35 to be paid. I'll make a point of being at the club most nights. Please make any cheques out ot me and not the club. Any problems, please give me a call or post a reply on the Blog.

Malcolm

Weekend Racing

In addition to the Harriers participating in the Highland Fling, we had a few more Harriers competing at a variety of distances over the weekend. On Saturday Russell Couper joined another 300+ field for the Pollok Park 5k parkrun where, from my vantage point as a marshal, he seemed to be going fine. However I am sure Russell was not too pleased with his time of 25:26.

Meanwhile Jim Holmes was making his first Strathclyde Park 5k parkrun appearance. A much smaller field of 82(ish) took part and Jim finished 10th in a time of 19:25 (Jim subsequently confirmed that his time was actually 19:52 and that a couple of runners were missing from the results, placing him in 12th rather than 10th position). During the race the field had to contend with the usual dogs and a boat race with supporters/coaches tracking the race on bikes!

On Sunday, David Wardrope was our sole representative in the London Marathon. David completed in a time of 3:52:46. We look forward to a race report when David makes it back to the club.

Well done to all who raced at the weekend.

Highland Fling Relay

A smattering of Harriers distributed themselves across the bottom half of the West Highland Way on Saturday participating in the Highland Fling Race and Relay over the 53 miles between Milngavie and Tyndrum. Ian Rae and Benny Rooney were competing in the full race and we await a full stride-by-stride report from them as soon as they have recovered enough strength to write one! Our intrepid president Frances Maxwell sends the following report:

" I got a call from Benny Rooney on Thursday night asking if I would like to run in his mixed relay team at the Highland Fling. I agreed. Then I thought, what have I let myself in for. He was short of 2 runners. He got another female from Bellahouston Road Runners (Clare - don't know her surname). He assured me that I would get the first leg as there was less chance of me getting lost due to the mass start. Late on Friday I spoke to Benny again and he told me there had been a change of plan and that Clare from Bella would be running the first leg. I was now doing the last leg. Beinglass to Tyndrum!! You know how I just loved that a couple of years ago! I was taking over from David Gray who took over from Grant. My run was steady and I managed to pick off a number of relay runners and to my absolute amazement we got first mixed team. I really can't believe it. I only encountered one problem and that was the herd of cows on the path behind the farm before your get to the Harriers change over point. I think my time was around 1 hour 50 mins. I 've told Ian to let you have a report as he and Benny completed the 53 miles in very respectable times."

Meanwhile, Joanne McEvoy was making her regular appearance in Benny's ladies team. Joanne was assigned the 14.7 mile leg from Drymen to Rowardennan (only a few hills to deal with there!). Not an easy task if you have been out injured for a month or so as Joanne has. A great team effort earned them second place in the ladies team event.

Well done to all who took part in one of the great Scottish running events.

Alan

Bridge of Allan "Toughest" 10k

Ian Hughes is making a habit of doing races where the clue is in the title! Two weeks ago it was the Heaven and Hell Half Marathon and now it is the self proclaimed "Toughest 10k". So not surprisingly, it was not a course for pb's. Ian reports on the event as follows:

It was described as the toughest 10k in the UK and it felt like it! The climbs were tough, they added up to 11000ft. the equivelant distance on the flat was 6.9 miles. There was a small field of runners. I managed 6th place with a time of 41.31. I actually thought my time would be closer to 50mins. My next race will be Monklands and then the Chris Moon Half in June. This starts from the Windfarm and finishes in Strathaven, only 200 places available. The website for this is entrycentral-theonlinestartline for anyone else interested in a local race.

Well done to Ian on completing another mental event. You are not really selling it to us though! (I think there could be a slight typo above and it maybe should be 1100 feet over 10k as 11000 feet climb would mean 1000 feet per km up and 1000 feet back down again within each of the ten km's and I don't recall any Alpine passes in Bridge of Allan, just big hills. However maybe it was km reps up and down the Ochils!!).
Alan

Chris Hoy Edinburgh Half Marathon

I headed over to Edinburgh on Sunday morning for the Chris Hoy Edinburgh Half-Marathon as a pre-race recce for the Edinburgh Marathon in May that follows 12 miles of the course.It was a miserable morning with the rain and wind not letting up through the whole 13 miles. The course is pretty flat and a good race for PBs. It was a well organised event but due to the weather a pretty grim experience with few spectators en-route. My chip time was 1:39:56. Watch time 1:39:58. (This required a final sprint on the finishing straight!!) Very happy with that as this was a PB for me by 6 minutes.

Well done to Graham on a massive pb and thanks for the race report.

Alan

Lochaber Marathon

The conditions were about as good as you will get in Scotland for today's Lochaber Marathon. The event was hosting the British and Scottish Masters' Championships and as such was full of athletes of a certain age, including our own Eddie Reid. Preparations had gone well for Eddie on the lead up to this one and recent race form over shorter distances suggested that this was going to be the one for a pb.

The plan was to get to 18 miles in 2:03 to give a margin for sub 3. Eddie was comfortable and slighlty ahead of schedule at the 18 mile mark, going through in 2:01:33. However, the marathon has a nasty habit of springing surprises and at 22 miles the quads cramped up reducing Eddie to "baby strides" for the remaining 4 miles. This unfortunately pushed the 3 hour mark out of Eddie's reach and he crossed the line in 3h 5 minutes, still earning Eddie a very comortable M45 bronze standard (maybe even a silver once we see the official results).

In the championships, Eddie was 5th in the British Masters and 3rd in the Scottish Masters. Very well done to Eddie and thanks for relaying the report to me. Some photos will follow in a few days.
Alan

Weekend Race Report

On Saturday Stuart Waugh made his way to Strathclyde Park to try the new parkrun but probably found it testing as there was a strong breeze around central Scotland on Saturday
Even with this Stuart still posted a good time of 19:52 breaking the 20 min barrier with a performance rating of 81.46% and finishing in 12th place.
In the afternoon Jim Holmes and Russell Couper made their way to Bishopbriggs for the Deafblind 10k again to find a strong breeze which made an already tough course that little bit tougher. Jim ran a strong race to finish in 42:15 similar to last year but a better performance considering the conditions while Russell ran at a much gentler 52:28 a delightful 6 mins faster than last year to continue the long road back finishing with his fastest km of the race and feeling the benefit from a good last 2 weeks of training. Jim and Russell were happy to see a cheering Martin Duthie just after 3k to keep them going.
On Sunday Graham Ramage headed east for the Chris Hoy half marathon finishing in 1:44:04
unfortunatly ive no report on this but no doubt he can fill us in at the club this week

Also on Sunday Eddie Reid made his way to the Lochaber Marathon look out for a race report to follow

anyone else racing at the weekend let us know

Young Athletes Training

Just a reminder to everyone that the clubs young athletes training commnces this Wednesday at 6.30 pm. All coaches and helpers hopefully will be able to attend although some of them like myself may be stranded abroad as at the time of posting this notice I am in Lanarote as a 7 day holiday has now become 10 days. See you all as soon as possible.

DeafBlind 10k

As announced at the club over the past few weeks, the DeafBlind Scotland 10k takes place at Bishopbriggs sports centre this Saturday. The race starts at 2pm but registration closes at 1pm for those who are entering on the day.

Not only is this event in support of a good cause but it reminds us of a very special person, Margaret Anne Duthie. I know that a few Harriers have already entered and Martin (injured) is going to help out at the event but it would be great for Martin to see as many Calderglen vests as possible there if you are free.

Alan

No Lack of Effort!

All the finish line photos from the 6/4 stage relays at Livingston are now available here.

Heaven & Hell Half Marathon

With a name like that this race could only be located in Scotland where the scenery and weather are able to create both heaven and hell simultaneously. Ian Hughes competed in this race for the third time on Sunday where I'm guessing the warm conditions and the tough course made it more like hell than heaven. However Ian ran a course best finishing in 1:30:28, 11th overall and 2nd M40. Ian also points out that his time at the recent Alloa Half Marathon (1:25:51) also qualifies as a Bronze M40 standard. The only reason I didn't mention this in the previous report was because I didn't realise Ian was a Vet yet!

Well done to Ian and thanks for the race report. If anyone does races, any races, then please e-mail me a race report, as long or as short as you like, so that we can record on the Blog everything that the Harriers get up to.

Alan

Tom Scott and Strathclyde Park parkrun

Scotland, another weekend and so another season. This weekend it was Summer in Strathclyde Park. Seven Harriers lined up in scorching conditions today to compete with around 200 runners in the Tom Scott 10 Mile Road Race.

The course makes good use of the inner and outer perimeter roads/paths to squeeze 10 miles into approximately two and a half laps of the loch. Congestion was a problem as the runners weaved their way around maw, paw and the weans (and the dug) all out to enjoy the surprise summer weather. Perhaps the runners did not enjoy the conditions quite so much as there was no shade to be had and no cooling breeze. However, this didn't seem to matter to the first two across the line (T WOLDEMICKAEL of Shettleston Harriers and N RENAULT of Edinburgh AC) who finished seconds apart in the fast times of 48:46 and 48:53 respectively.

For the Harriers, Stuart Waugh was first across the line in a time of 68:00, a substantial M60 Gold performance standard. However Stuart did not have it all his own way as Brian McDougall caught and passed Stuart around the 8 mile mark only to lose out as Stuart regathered. However, Brian improved his 10-mile pb by a very significant 2 minutes, recording a time of 68:22. Jim Holmes was never far behind Stuart and Brian but got himself boxed in at the start and never managed to close the gap. Jim recorded a time of 68:58. Frances Maxwell ran strongly throughout, finishing in 72:56 and achieving an F45 Bronze performance standard. John McBride was next in recording a time of 78:14, within the sights of Richard Lawton who recorded a time of 79:35. Finally, the heat is not to Russell Couper's liking and inevitably he struggled in today's conditions. However, he did it and was satisfied to finish if not happy with the time of 98:44.

The full race results are here and a gallery of photos is here.

The same venue hosted the inaugural Strathclyde parkrun 5k race on Saturday morning. Jamie McMonagle made his return to racing after a long absence with a time of 19:46, well down on his usual but Jamie recognises that he is at least back on the comeback trail and hopes to show a steady improvement in the coming weeks.

Well done to all who were out racing over the weekend.

Alan

10 Mile PB Opportunity - Tom Scott

The forthcoming Tom Scott Road Race on Sunday 11th April (11am start) should provide an excellent opportunity to set a 10-mile qualifying time or PB for this seasons performance award scheme. Entries will be accepted on the day for a fee of £10. Postal entries are effectively closed. Further details are available here.

National Road Relays - Medallists Again!

For the second year in a row our veteran men's team clinched the bronze medal in the Scottish National 6-Stage Road Relay at Livingston today. Despite several regular team members being absent due to injury and holidays and several of the team being on the way back from injury and illness, those who ran coped admirably with the pressure.

Jim Holmes was advised at training on Thursday that he was selected to make his début in the first veteran team and by all accounts he did not sleep a wink between then and race day. The pressure increased when he found out he was on the first 3.1 mile leg and wasn't helped by several of his team mates trying to boost his confidence with the words "No pressure but.........".

However the extra adrenalin that comes with that level of expectation really does make a difference and Jim got us off to a great start running the leg 40 seconds faster than he has ever done before to record a time of 19:44. The experience of multi championship winning M60, Charlie McDougall was called upon for leg 2, the 5.85 mile leg, pulling us through the field to finish in 35:33. Charlie handed over to the club's other veteran champion M60, Stuart Waugh for the next 3.1 mile leg. Stuart has been injured recently but came through last week's Grangemouth 10k in good shape and so proved himself fit for the team. At the finish it was clear that Stuart had driven himself hard but he was disappointed with the lack of sharpness resulting from his recent lay off. Stuart recorded a very respectable time of 20:40. Eddie Reid is in very good shape at the moment and is a regular in the vets team so had no problems recording his fastest ever time on the long leg to finish in 36:06 and a few more places higher up. Alan Derrick was another of the walking wounded, having only been back light training for two weeks after a 7 week calf injury. In fact, all the recent physiotherapy and massage treatment on the injured calf meant that this was the only part of his legs that did not hurt during the 3.1 mile leg, recording a time of 18:21, by no means anywhere near his best time but glad to be back racing. Completing the team, Davy Watt made his first competitive outing of the year having been weakened by a lingering virus since early January. Incredibly Dave ran 10 seconds faster than last year and pulled in a further 7 places to finish in 33:02, 26th overall and third masters team.

Adding a tinge of disappointment, at the end of the race we were convinced we were in 2nd place having carefully counted and timed the gap to each veteran team (to be identified by a "large and clear V on their numbers" according to the race regulations) at the end of each stage. However this rule must only have been loosely applied as we were surprised to find Cambuslang being called up for the silver medal ahead of us, none of us having seen a V on any of their team's numbers. The time gap to Cambuslang was large enough for it not to have mattered whether we knew they were a vets team or not but had the gap been less than 30 seconds we would have been justifiably aggrieved, some of our recently injured runners having held back a little on the basis that the gap to the leader was too big to close and for fear of further injury. This does not detract from the achievement of the team and it was particularly pleasing to see stalwarts of the club Jim Holmes and Stuart Waugh receiving their first ever National Championship medals.

The club was well represented by a further one and a half men's teams and three quarters of a women's team. Mary Goldsmith got the ladies off to a good start recording a time of 23:25, only seconds outside last year's time. Frances Maxwell found the long leg to her liking, recording a time of 42:08, a full 2 minutes faster than her last appearance on this leg. Finally Genevieve Freeman made a rare but much appreciated appearance on the third leg on the first of 3 races she was tackling this Easter weekend (1 running and 2 cycling races). Genevieve was typically disappointed with her time of 23:38 but ran the whole leg solo, a tough thing to do on a twisty course when you are not running short races often.

Blair Matthew made his eagerly anticipated return to Calderglen team action after an absence of 3 or 4 years and did not disappoint. Blair ran our fastest short leg of the day, leading out the B team finishing in 16th position in 17:06. A few more races and some speed endurance sessions and Blair will be right back at the sharp end. As a relative beginner, Brian McDougall had the unusual experience of leading out his father Charlie on the second leg courtesy of the 2:39 start that Blair gave him. Brian responded well to the challenge recording a time of 39:01, only being caught by Charlie with a mile to go. George Stewart was coaxed out to race and put in a solid performance, recording a time of 21:27, showing that he is on the way back to possible selection for future vets teams. David Herbertson was assigned the next long leg and made up a couple of places to finish in 39:09. David Wardrope was given a shorter leg and was pleased with his time of 21:39. Finally Graham Lindsay had the long lonely last leg, completing that in 42:22.

Colin Banks got the C team off to a very fast start before curbing his enthusiasm to finish in 22:14. Russell Couper does not usually do the long leg here and struggled a little in the latter stages, finishing in 51:51. Finally Chas Steven completed the team with a time of 25:09 for the short leg.

Very well done to all who competed and thanks to the many Calderglen supporters and photographers around the course. The event clearly demonstrated the strong team spirit in the club and emphasises why the relays have always been a key part of the club's race programme.

Click here for further photographs from Scot.

Alan

National 6/4 Stage Arrangements

The 6-stage teams and running order are listed here. We have to declare the teams and running order by 11:30 am at the latest. If you are listed in a team and cannot make it, then please endeavour to let me or Russell know by 11am Saturday morning at the latest. We cannot re-arrange the teams once they are declared, this being a National Championship there is no flexibility in the rules.

If you need a lift, then a group of at least 7 are meeting at the Sports Club to leave at 10am sharp. The race starts at 1200, the men and women starting together.

There has been a course modification due to the last footbridge just before the finishing straight being closed for repair. This detour involves a circuit of the Livingston FC car park to keep the distance up and then approaching the finish via the main road pavement from behind the outgoing runners. Further details and course maps are available on the Scottish Athletics web site.

Alan

Update on the Trossachs Training Camp

Along with lots of running this year we have secured a Sport Psychologist to deliver two workshops.

Session 1: Performance Profiling. Which should look at 'the areas of improvement' and
Session 2: Goal Setting

The training camp is open to a maximum of 32 runners which includes a number of places reserved for non-members of Calderglen Harriers. Under the expert guidance of UK Athletics qualified coaches, the weekend will consist of a number of coaching sessions (both running and classroom based) over the Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday morning and will take advantage of the picturesque trails by Loch Venacher and the nearby Trossachs area.

The dates for your diary are from the afternoon of Friday 17th September to around lunchtime on Sunday 19th September 2010. As always we will be based at the Trossachs Backpackers Hostel near Callander in Perthshire.

Deposits of £20 required to secure your place.

The cost of the weekend will be approximately £50 per person. This includes:
• Two nights (Fri/Sat) dormitory accommodation in the hostel
• Breakfast (Sat/Sun), lunch (Sat/Sun) and dinner (Fri/Sat)
• Technical T-shirt souvenir
• Full coaching program

Cheques should be made payable to ‘Calderglen Harriers’. Completed forms can be sent to me (Genevieve) at; ATHelite, 58 Cadzow St, Hamilton, ML3 6DS

Please be aware that the actual cost of the weekend has yet to be confirmed but will be around the fifty pound mark.

We fully expect this wonderful weekend to fill up quickly so don't miss out and get your deposit in quickly.