SVHC 5k Championship - Clydebank

Humid and windy conditions greeted the relatively small field who gathered in Clydebank Business Park this evening for the annual Scottish Veteran Harriers 5k Road Race Championship. Alan Derrick and Stuart Waugh were the only Harriers in attendance as this was the night before the Vertical Mile. Having handed back last year's winner's trophy, a rather weary and flat footed Alan lined up on the start line. The early pace was too fast (as usual at this race) and foolishly I hung on to the 5 minute mile pace until the leader tired after a half mile leaving me in the lead and gradually slowing over the next two miles. With a quarter mile to go, Paul Thompson (the early leader) was back on my shoulder and sprinting past unchallenged. I crossed the line in second place in 16:57, somewhat slower than last year but not surprising given the weekend's exploits (despite what you may read elsewhere, no sheep were involved!) and the relative lack of training over the preceding three weeks due to injury. Stuart was also suffering with his hamstring/glute problem but surprised himself by recording a respectable 19:58. I achieved a comfortable M45 gold performance standard whereas Stuart just missed the M60 gold standard by 1 second (subject to verifying the official times).

Alan

Trail Race Results 2010

Thanks to all who helped make last night's trail races such a success and especially Russell who was feeling the strain at some points but coped admirably as always! If anyone took any photos please pass them on to me and I can post them to the club gallery. The results for the 1k, 3k, 5k and 10k can be found here. Age group and team prize winners will be advised by post once the results have been fully verified. 1k Results updated today. Use the browser refresh button to make sure you download the latest version.

Photos from the trail race courtesy of John Kynaston of Kilbarchan AAC are here.

Alan

A Day in the Lakes Half Ironman Triathlon

Team ATHelite headed down to the Lake District at the weekend for this gruelling Half Ironman distance Triathlon. There were a few Harriers amongst us - Colin, Genevieve & Dawn were doing the whole thing whilst we enlisted further Harriers assistance for our relay teams. Martin Duthie did a great swim leg, Billy Buchanan ran a storming half marathon run leg as did Alan Derrick who ran the glory leg for the ATHelite 'A Team' and ran them straight into first place on the podium!

The race report is now on the ATHelite Blog....

Race_Report

Harriers Team for Trail Race

At the last trail race committee meeting it was decided that I should pick a team of at least 3 Harriers to take part in the 10k trail race on Friday. This year it was agreed that I should pick the team by making a random choice from the list of those who volunteered to help on the night. I did this by assigning everyone a sequential number in the list of volunteers and then creating a random number generator in Excel to generate a corresponding list of random numbers. The first three selected by this process are:

1 Ian McKenzie

2 Michael Daly

3 Jim Holmes

Should any of the above prefer not to run, then the next 3 names in order of selection are:

4 Alison Crooks

5 Eddie Reid

6 Martin Duthie

The list continues and we can keep selecting until we get 3 names to run! Some people already indicated on Monday that they wanted to marshal rather than run and they have been removed from the random list already.

Would those named above please confirm their willingness to run or otherwise by leaving a comment, sending me an e-mail or telling me at the club on Thursday at the latest.

Thanks

Alan

Peebles Beltane 10k Trail Race

For the third weekend in a row the Harriers were out in force at a 10k race, this week turning in great

performances at the Pee

bles Beltane 10k Trail Race. George, Jim, Eddie and Russell took the easy option of driving to Peebles whilst Genevieve and Colin continued their Ironman preparation by cycling 51 miles from East Kilbride following a "scenic" back road route, timed to bring them to Peebles just before the race start in a state of readiness. They certainly timed it well, completing the journey in a fine 2:52 some 35 minutes before the start. Their subsequent impressive performances in the race confirmed that they were indeed ready.

A field of around 120 gathered in blazing sunshine in beautifully cared for playing fields at Gytes Leisure Centre. Kenny Davidson was in charge of the marshals (and appeared himself at 3 different locations around the course) and Kirsty Davidson had the pressure of registration

and results to deal with. A 1km lap of the perimeter of the pitches broke the field up before heading off along a narrow river bank trail. Unfamiliar with the course, the relatively flat first 4k of the race lulled the Harriers into a false sense of security.However immediately after the 4k water station, a hill of "log jam" proportions reduced many in the field to a walk and was the main topic of post-race banter. A descent through pine forest trails maintained the Chatelheraultesque theme before returning to the river bank for the blast to the finish. Unfortunately for the runners (great for the supporters!) on reaching the finish the route continued past the finish line for a final km around the perimeter of the playing fields before the final run in to the line.

First Harrier back was Colin Freeman (saddle sore but otherwise running strongly) in around 41 minutes with Eddie Reid around 50m or so behind. Jim Holmes had the extra pressure of wearing number 118 and the attention that brings from the public at large but coped well to finish in 44 minutes.

The most competitive Harriers' performance came from Genevieve, especially the last km. An innocent comment from the coach advising that she was 2nd lady with 1km to go provoked a sign language response suggesting that the person just in front was the 2nd lady. In fact George Stewart was just in front (at this stage) but sprinting ahead, I was able to confirm that indeed there was

another lady 10m in front and the instruction to "SPRINT" was issued. Just what Genevieve did not want to hear with 800m to go and so the instruction was duly ignored. With 400m to go it seemed that the gap was increasing but encouraged by George, the other Harriers, the Davidson children and their friends, Genevieve gradually closed in over the final 200m before the legendary sprint was finally unleashed with 80m to go, flashing past the Dunbar Harriers lady with a slightly under the weather George desperately hanging on. In fact, not only had I missed the lady just in front of Genevieve but I also missed the first lady so in reality Genevieve was 3rd lady overall. A great performance, especially after 3 hours on the bike and her best placing in a running race. Just as well she did not totally ignore the instruction to sprint!

Russell is still struggling with his ITB tightness. Add in the heat and the hill and this was not a course for Russell. However he was happy to finish.

The official times for the Harriers were: Colin 41:43 (13th), Eddie 42:00 (14th), Jim 44:05 (18th), Genevieve 51:06 (3rd lady), George 51:06 (48th), Russell 61:53 (95th).

Well done to all for making the effort to travel through and for competing strongly and well done to Moorfoot Harriers for a great wee race and a fantastic spread of tea and cakes.

More photos here.

Alan

Young Athletes Training

The Wednesday night training for the club's young athletes will stop for two weeks. The dates there will be no training are 30 June and 7 July. Training will recommence on 14 July at 6.30 pm.

Dechmont Law Trail Race

Seven Harriers and their supporters made their way through to a rainy Dechmont Law Trail Race today for the penultimate race in the Grand Prix series. Registration was in a brand new school and community centre with an unbelievable range of facilities and activities going on within. However outside rain and mud greeted the competitors on the undulating and twisty course. Wonderful!

All of last week's walking wounded from Rouken Glen were back in action today. After setting the early pace and breaking the lead pack up into only two, Alan Derrick dropped back into second place after about 3km as the eventual winner stretched out a lead. Alan was closing the gap over the final uphill 3km but left too much to do and was 20 seconds down on the leader at the finish (34:49), still a very pleasing result and 15 seconds faster than last year's 4th place finish. Unfortunately the achilles tendon damaged at Rouken Glen is now going to require at least a week of rest to ease the pain.

Alan Cullie had entered the Vale of Leven 10k which took place this morning but felt obliged to maintain his 100% Grand Prix participation record and showed tremendous loyalty to the club by turning up at Dechmont Law instead. Now recovered from his back to back race series the previous week, Alan ran well to finish in 9th place in a time of 37:01. Eddie had a week off training following his knee pain last weekend and felt the benefit of fresh legs, finishing in a time of 37:58 in 12th position. Jim Holmes recorded a course best of 40:22 whilst Stuart Waugh was first M60 in a time of 41:29. George Stewart made a rare race appearance finishing in 44:56, whilst David Wardrope is still working on getting some pace back in his legs after multiple marathons, finishing in 46:30. Russell Couper got the all clear from the physio yesterday and finished in 55:25.

Thanks to Sandra and Frances (chief photographer) for standing in the rain to support and well done to all who ran.

The final Grand Prix race is the Vertical Mile on Thursday 1st July.

Alan

Chatelherault Times

Hopefully there was more than just one person at Chatelherault on Monday, sorry I couldn't be there, work is getting in the way of a good time again! Please record your Chatelherault times here as usual and view all the responses here (remember to leave it 5 minutes and then hit the refresh button on your browser to see the latest entries as the web page is only republished every 5 minutes or so).

Finally, Auldhouse 5k time trial this Thursday!

Alan

Trail Race Volunteer Rota

UPDATE - STILL NEED MORE VOLUNTEERS TO HELP

There was a brief Trail Race progress meeting after training last Thursday at which it was suggested that we put the volunteer rota on the blog. There are various jobs available on Friday 25th June from setting the courses out, marshalling, registration, giving out prizes and so on. Setting out the course starts at around 1:30pm so if anyone is available early to help that would be much appreciated. Please use this form to record your availability. See the list so far here. Gerry Mullen will be coordinating the marshalling jobs on the day and Russell will coordinate overall as race director.

Mary is going to post a separate list on the club noticeboard for catering assistance so please give Mary details of your support there.

Alan

Moorfoot Beltane 10k Trail Race

As announced at the club, former Harriers' stalwart Kenny Davidson extends an invitation to the Harriers to take part in his home town club Moorfoot Runners' 10k Trail Race on Sunday 20th June, 1200 start, Gytes Leisure Centre, Peebles. Enter on the day or on-line. Further details and a course map here. Looks like a scenic course!

Given the distance, the plan is to coordinate our travel to the race by sharing cars. Please indicate your intention (definite or provisional) to participate using this form. See who is signed up here.

Rouken Glen 10k 2010

Ten Harriers lined up for the Rouken Glen 10k today, race 14 in the club Grand Prix. Having moved from its traditional Thursday night slot (due primarily to Police advice that it was easier to close the roads on a Sunday afternoon than a Thursday night), the size of field did not really improve from last year and was perhaps no more than 150 runners (nor did the size of field really necessitate closing roads). Thankfully, given the midday start time, the weather was cooler than of late but unfortunately The Hill was as long and steep as ever! Although there has been a two month break since the last Grand Prix race, all of the Harriers are regularly racing and there were a few tired and injured bodies out there, reflected in some of the times and also by the number of Harriers queuing for the post race massage.

First Harrier across the line was Alan Derrick in 4th position overall in a time of 35:10, earning

1st M45 prize and a comfortable M45 gold performance standard. The time included a minor off course excursion at an un-marshalled junction at the 6k mark which may just have cost a sub-35 time but would not have affected the position. Alan Cullie has completed 3 races in 4 days (Dumbarton 10k, Strathclyde parkrun and Rouken Glen) and was therefore satisfied with his time of 38:54, a bronze M40 performance standard. Eddie Reid injured his knee whilst sitting down last night (allegedly on, after or in the vicinity of a night out) and was both tired and treading carefully to finish in 40:52 and was the first to join the queue for the masseur. Not far behind (in the race, not the queue), Brian MacDougall used the physical and mental strength gained from training around the Auldhouse 10 mile course to power up the hill, finishing in sight of Eddie in 41:18. Jim Holmes had a poor race by his recent standards, starting off too slow and never making it back up, finishing in 42:15. Ian McKenzie and John McBride have both been racing regularly recently and showed good stamina to finish in an estimated 46 minutes; great times on that course. Grand Prix leader David Wardrope has injured himself with back to back marathons

(London and Edinburgh) and the Dumbarton 10k so unsurprisingly struggled round in 48:32 and went straight to the massage queue where even greater pain was inflicted! Richard Lawton didn't quite match his daughter's performance (1st in the Primary 4 1k race) but did put in a solid performance of 49:23. Russell Couper injured himself at Clydebank 10 days ago and had not run for 8 days. Needless to say this race did not help the situation although he did finish (in 58:39) and was the third Harrier to join the massage queue. Well done to all.

The Grand Prix and club championship positions have been updated and can be viewed using the menu on the left as usual. Next Grand Prix race is the Dechmont Law 10k Trail Race next Sunday. This is an enter on the day race, so the more the merrier. If anyone who participated in the Dumbarton 10k would like to submit a race report that would be most welcome. A number of Harriers were also in action at the Chris Moon Half Marathon. A race report will appear here soon.