Young Athletes Training Wednesday 1 December 2010

Please note the young athletes training will go ahead this Wednesday whether it is snowing or not. Start time as usual 6.30 pm.
After training we will not have use of the Function Suite due to a meeting taking place and all young athletes should be collected from the foyer of the sports club.

Xmas night out

it has been decided this year the Harriers will just have a night out with a drink instead of going for a meal. This will be on saturday 4th Dec after the XC at Irvine. can you please let myself or Frances know at Mondays training if you intend going out and preference of venue and we will announce on thursday night where it will be and put it on the Blog.
Sorry about the short notice but time just catches up at this time of year

Russell

Cyprus International 4-Day Challenge: Day 4 - Too Hot for Santa

Race start/finish in the harbour

The final day was the earliest start yet with a 5:30 alarm call for a coach departure at 6:30 and an 8am race start at Paphos harbour for the 10k. I was pleased to see that although still with a chesty cough, this was the first morning where my resting pulse had been back in the low fifties rather than around 70 bpm as it had been for the past week, suggesting that my cold may finally have been lifting.

With the 250 starters lined up the temperature was already in the low 20’s. Although I was a safe age group winner with a 20 minute gap to the next M45, my aim was to run an honest race and try to have a better performance than the previous two days. Meanwhile Jimmy had made it to the line after eight hours of solid stretching on his injured calf and the motivation to beat the M60 ahead by just over a minute to move up to second M60. On the gun I went with the lead pack climbing up a ramp and out around the other side of the harbour. There was a lot of puffing going on and I easily moved into a top three position before the front two moved away. Once again I was passed by an ambulance! However this time I managed to accelerate past it and in the process moved past the early German leader into second place seemingly moving away from the chasing pack. Although flat in comparison to the previous two days, we were climbing steadily inland and after 3k the naturally tired quads started to ache and the breathing became heavier. The overall second placed athlete breezed past.  I held onto third until about the 6k mark at which point one of the army runners moved past, followed shortly afterwards by the leading German athlete and one final place was lost at about 7k. The legs were screaming for the final 3km but the last 2km through the now busy harbour front did at least seem to pass quickly with the help of crowds of people. I was unchallenged over the last 200m and cruised home in 35:49 in 6^th position. Overall I was satisfied with that performance and subsequent download of the Garmin showed that my pace had in fact been quite even, varying between 3:30 and 3:48 kilometres.

Finished!

Jimmy appeared sometime later, crossing the line in just over 50 minutes, not bad considering his modified running style to save the injured calf. The clock was running and his rival appeared just over a minute later. However, we had to wait 5 or 6 hours until the official results were posted in the hotel to see that he had indeed done enough and finished as second M60 overall by only 7 seconds. The official results also confirmed me as 13^th overall and first M45 some 27 minutes ahead of the next M45. My German alcohol free team had moved up gradually on each day and finished 7^th out of 22 teams. Despite the team name, the entire team enjoyed the free beer on offer to all finishers at the finish line!

All in all an extremely well organised event with complex logistics all smoothly handled. The races were tougher than I imagined, in part due to the hotter than normal temperatures. In fact as the photo shows, today it was even too hot for Santa in Paphos!

Too hot for one Santa

HARDY HARRIERS ON THE RUN

The EK 10k turned out to be a very cold experience for many Harriers this weekend with Friday nights snow still lying on the ground and tempretures refusing to get above freezing.
Harriers being what we are were not put off by this and 14 turned up to do the race with others on the course to cheer us on. First home was Martin Duthie (35.52)and an excellant 4th place, next in Alan Cullie(38.05), Making his debut after a long lay off Neil Green (38.46) followed by Eddie Reid(39.28). Another debut from one of our new members Mark Saez (40.41). David Herbertson (41.38) caused the upset of the day finishing in front of Jim Holmes (41.59).Next in and continuing a lot of steady good performances was Colin Banks (42.54) just in front of Billy Buchanan (43.04). Our only female runner of the day was Julie Beveridge (43.59) which i believe was a PB and in those conditions an excellant performance with surely a lot more to come. The next home was George Stewart (44.30) continuing his return to form (bit to go yet but getting their). David Wardrope (46.40), Richard Lawton (52.19) and bringing up the rear but well enough away from the back of the field Russell Couper (54.38).
Good to see so many out in such bad conditions and many thanks to Frances, Scot, Andy, Chas, Dawn, Mandy and Sandra out on the course cheering us on. Early reports on the GP suggest Jim Holmes is back in the lead and the Ladies remain unchanged but Julie beveridge closes the gap to the 1st three.
Next race in the GP is the West District XC next week and entries are closed. Names of those entered are on the spreadsheet of an earlier Blog.

Cyprus International 4-Day Challenge: Day 3

Day 3 - the trail half marathon. Its no coincidence that we decided to have our start line photo taken in front of one of the race ambulances! This is the day where the overall race series can be won and lost. After yesterday's punishing hill race, the sky was even clearer and the sun hotter by the time the race buses had taken us 1000 feet up into the mountains some 30km from race HQ in Paphos. The point of taking us 1000 feet up into the Akams Nature reserve was of course to enable the first 10km of the half marathon to be a further 1000 foot climb on sandy, rocky trails. Then the course switched to a rough skim of concrete descending 2000 feet over 7km before a tortuous 4km flat rocky trail to the finish on the beach.

On the start line I knew I had an 11:47 lead in my class that I could easily lose over the half marathon distance if things went even slightly badly. On the gun I did not go with the pack of 8 or 9 young guns but settled on my own a few metres back. Big mistake as one of the course ambulances immediately passed me to tail the lead pack and I was stuck in a cloud of dust for the next km. Thankfully a tight up-hill hairpin bend gave me the chance to pass the ambulance and I stuck to the middle of the road from there on to keep him behind. The legs were still powerless on the climb as was the case yesterday and the sun was even hotter so this was a steady uphill slog at what felt like snail pace (and leaving my now characteristic snail trail of snot). A few army guys ran past me here (easily recognisable as every limb had a tattoo - now I know what is meant by the Edinburgh Military Tattoo) but no sign of any M45's so when I reached the top of the climb at 10k in around 46 minutes I was reasonably confident that I could improve on the downhill. It didn't really though. I had the ambulance behind me for company all the way down the series of hairpin bends over the 7k descent. Although I managed to pick up the pace to around 6 minute miles, I still lost a few more places and could not stride out as the hills were just too steep. I was however glad of my decision not to wear racing shoes and instead had my regular trainers on which provided some cushioning (and a big blister on my instep) on the pounding descent. However when the course levelled out with 4k to go the legs said no and I more or less jogged over the rocky coastal trail towards the finish. The finish line was visible from about 2k out but worse you had to run past the finish for 500m and then double back on a soft sandy path to the line which I crossed in 1:31:14 in 13th position (the overall winner was finished in around 1:19). Then a litre of water was quickly swallowed and into the sea to cool the legs off (actually the sea was warm so not as effective as a Scottish beach but I am definitely not complaining). Half the British Army also seemed to be in the sea and the other half were relieving the Mr Wippy Rambo ice cream van of its supply of cones.

Jimmy was not lucky. He came to the race having not run for two weeks with a calf injury. Somehow he had got through the first two races without aggravating it but after only 4k today the calf  locked up again. He shuffled on to the top of the climb at which point the M60 who had been ahead of him in the series caught and passed him. This provided enough adrenalin to hide the pain and Jimmy was able to modify his stride on the descent to save the calf and to pass and beat the other M60 by a couple of minutes, finishing in 2:01. It is however unlikely that Jimmy will be able to run tomorrow.

Subsequent inspection of the results surprisingly showed that I had extended my M45 lead to over 20 minutes. With only the Paphos 10k Road Race (very flat :-)) tomorrow, this is quite a strong, no pressure situation to be in.

 Final report tomorrow.
Alan

Cyprus International 4-Day Challenge: Day 2

Day 2 was an early start to get bussed a few miles up the coast to the nature reserve where the hill race started by the sea. At 8:30 in the morning the sun was already burning a hole in us but we still had an hour to wait for the race start.

At 9:30 the field of 220 were set off along the coast on a flat rocky jeep trail for 800m before turning inland for the start of the 11km, 2000 foot climb. My head was spinning today with the strain of the previous day's race on my blocked sinuses and although I was comfortable on the flat as soon as I turned onto the hill the legs were instant jelly. At that point I knew any hope of trying to race today was gone and it was just a case of not doing any damage to myself. Easier said than done as the legs burned with the constant climb and the relentless heat.

Even with sun glasses, the light and heat reflecting off the white sand stone rocky trail was intense. Having initially settled down in around 12th position, I lost a few more places in the first half before a heavy breathing French athlete caught and trailed me from about 6k to 9k. At 9k the road levelled for 500m and I was able to revert to my usual long stride and pull away, passing another two in the process. The final kilometre was through the narrow streets of the mountain village of Pano Arodes and seemed like the steepest climb of all.

The cheering crowd were a welcome sight in the village square, one short lap of which brought me to the finish in a time of 57:04. As expected, I had dropped back to 12th in the overall competition (and 12th on the day). However, the age classifications had been corrected over-night and I now find myself as first M45 with an 11:47 lead over the second M45. More in his element today, Jimmy Stewart finished in 1:21:32 and maintained 3rd in the M60 classification. My new team (which I have now found out is called Erdinger Alkoholfrei) is languishing in 10th place. The team consists of a German surveyor, a British Army dentist and me and perhaps could do with some alkohol to improve performance.

A post race leg massage will hopefully have repaired me enough for tomorrow's trail race half marathon with another 1000 foot of climbing.

Alan

Cyprus International 4-Day Challenge: Day 1

I believe it may be a little snowy back home so here is some sunshine to warm you all up! So here I am in another hot place lining up for day 1 of the four race Cyprus International Challenge. After a few days of acclimatisation in 25 degrees sunshine, it was time for former Harrier and extreme event veteran Jimmy Stewart and I to take our places in the beach front queue outside the 5 star Coral Beach Hotel for the start of event 1, the 6km individual time trial. Anyone with any sense would have stayed on the loungers by the pools but as the hotel is the regular pre-Olympic warm weather base for the British Olympic Team, various Olympic plaques and top-notch sports facilities provided enough inspiration to get out and run. Truth be told, if we had hung about on the loungers too long, there was a risk of being press-ganged by the large squad of French Foreign Legion soldiers enjoying a few days R&R at the hotel on their way back from a 6-month tour of duty in Afghanistan.

It’s the first time I have queued up rather than lined up for the start of a race, this being a time trial where each runner was set off at 10 second intervals in race number order.  With me at number 44 and Jimmy at 168, it was likely that I would be finished before Jimmy had even started. Injury-free for a change, I was however loaded with the heaviest cold for years, which started the day before Brampton. Being a runner, common sense has no part to play in the decision process and so when my number came up, all thoughts of just getting through this first race easily soon disappeared and off I set in pursuit of the 43 runners ahead of me.


The race started from the beach, skirted around the hotel and emerged through the hotel main gate onto the main road. Within that first 500m I  had already caught and passed 4 or 5 runners and narrowly avoided being mown down by a local motorist in the hotel car park! However, once out the gate I could finally release the large snot build up in my nose (no spitting or such like allowed within the carefully manicured hotel grounds) and take off on the flat road to the finish 6km up the coast. The long line of runners stretched out in front provided plenty of targets to aim for and soon we were half way in the midst of a banana plantation. A glance at the watch showed 3k in around 10:15; too fast with three more days of racing to come and so on with the brakes. The slightest hint of a climb brought us to km number 5 and then the crowd was in sight on the cliffs ahead. Through the finish line in 21:08, a bottle of water downed and then a seat in the shade of a truck. Some time later Jimmy crossed the line in 29:41 and very relaxed.

Later on at the evening pasta party the results were revealed. After day-1 I am 7^th overall, 1:10 down on the leader and 3^rd vet, the first 4 vets being quite close. Jimmy is 3^rd M60. Tomorrow is a 11km hill race, starting at sea level and finishing at 2000 feet. I have also managed to get myself poached and am now a member of a German team sponsored by one of the large German breweries! More news tomorrow.

Alan

Lanarkshire Cross Country Championships

As many of the senior club headed south for the Brampton to Carlisle Road Race the club's young athletes were closer to home at the familiar venue of Drumpellier Park in Coatbridge. There was a fantastic turnout of 23 youngsters which means the club had over 50 runners racing on the one day .
The damp conditions made for some good cross country running and first to the starting line were the Under 11 boys and girls over a 1.2k course. Ryan McParland was the best placed Harrier of the day finishing second in this race only two seconds behind the winner in a time of 3:05. Debutant Jonathon Anderson followed in 3:24 and was closely pursued by Kevin McGurk (3:31) while Jack Nobile (4:03) also put in a fine performance. Ryan,Jonathon and Kevin were further rewarded with the 2nd team prize just behind Ron Hill Cambuslang Harriers.

Emma Lawton running in this race for the fourth year in a row took 29 seconds off last years time taking third place in a time of 3:27. Cliona Campbell continued some excellent running and crossed the finishing line on 3:40 with Kate Kane running consistently in 3:59. These three girls were the second team at the recent Lanarkshire Road Relays and on this occasion went one better to claim gold medals as first team. The girls beat Airdrie Harriers and Ron Hill Cambuslang to the title of Lanarkshire Champions.

In the same age group Anna Fegan surprised everyone running a superb 4:15 while 7 years old Hannah McLellan took part in this event for the first time with a fantastic 4:22 .
Although the club would not win any more medals there were robust performances in the 2.5 k Under 13 races from Caitlin Campbell (10:50),Nicole Sharp (10:55),Lynsey Thomson (10:55),Olivia McAdams (13:47) and Caitlin Kean (13:47).
In the boys race there was debuts for brothers Aaron and Amlar Sumal running 11.00 and 11.32 respectively. Fastest Under 13 boy for the club was Alistair Crawford (9:32) while Drew Gordon (11.02) continues to improve.
The Under 15 Boys were well represented with Paul Mullen (13:27),Andrew McGurk(13:40),Ian Rae (14:01) and Connor White (15:53) over a tough 3.7k course.
The next race scheduled for the young athletes (U13,U15,U17's) on Saturday 4th December at the Royal Academy in Irvine for the West District Cross Country Championships.
Many thanks to all the parents/carers of the club's young athletes for supporting Calderglen Harriers.

West District Cross Country Championships - Young Athletes

The above event takes place on Saturday 4 th December at the Royal High School in Irvine. The following young athletes have been entered:

Under 13 Girls - Megan Brady, Amie Mulholland, Lynsey Thomson, Kirstin McDowell, Caitlin Campbell, Nicole Sharp. This race starts at 12 noon over a distance of 3,200 metres.

Under 13 Boys - Alistair Crawford, Greig Mulholland, Drew Gordon, Fraser Paul, Aaron Sumal, Amlar Sumal, Paul McMonagle,Craig Stewart. Race starts at 12.15 pm and is also over a distance of 3,200 metres.

Under 15 and Under 17 Girls - Lisa Stenhouse and Emma Campbell . This race starts at 12.30 over a distance of 4,400 metres. Both age groups will run the same race but there will be seperate placings and prizes.

Under 15 Boys - Jack Thomson, Ross Paterson, Ian Rae, Paul Mullen, Andrew McGurk. This race starts at 12.50 pm over a distance of 4,400 metres.

Under 17 Boys - Richard Campbell . This race starts at 1.35 pm over a distance of 6,400 metres.

The course is aproximately 400 metres behind the school. Please arrive early to allow enough time for a warm up.

Brampton 2010 - Horses (and Harriers) on the Run

In contrast to last year, the weather conditions on Saturday were perfect for the 59th Brampton to Carlisle 10 Mile Road Race. Fine autumn sunshine greeted the bus load of 29 Harriers and friends preparing to run the race and the small band of travelling supporters. The traditional warm-up to Brampton grave yard (!) and back completed, the Harriers assembled in front of William Howard School for the team photo and all seemed to be relishing the chance of a race without a head wind for a change. Formalities over, the Harriers joined the field of 500 on the start line, seeming to be one of the largest clubs present.

With no floods this year, the course thankfully reverted to the full 10 mile route, although road works on the back roads required an energy sapping 100m diversion along a muddy path. Never the less, the standard at the front was noticeably better than in recent years with the first 12 finishing between 50:33 and 53:35. Host club Border Harriers provided the clear winner, James Douglas, with second place Ian Harding of Morpeth over a minute behind.

Ian Hughes

Rapidly improving Ian Hughes was the first Harrier in 36th position, covering the course in a 59:17, improving his PB by over 2 minutes and picking up the 4th M40 prize. Andy Buchanan has been trying a high mileage training strategy whilst at college in Inverness in recent months which is not having the desired effect and was a bit disappointed with his time of 60:19. Charlie McDougall was also disappointed not to break 60 minutes, finishing in 60:42. However a check on The Power of Ten UK rankings web site reveals this to be the second fastest 10-mile time in the UK this year by an M60, nothing to be disappointed about! Needless to say, Charlie was first of a remarkable 32 M60's entered for this race, winning his age category by over 4 minutes. Next Harrier was Alan Cullie (62:23) who together with Ian and Charlie secured Calderglen the first veteran team prize.

Wednesday night parent helper, Brian Bourke, found out to his cost that the lack of Harriers' vest makes you invisible to the camera, failing to attract my attention on the home straight but still demonstrating a lot of running talent with a time of 63:20. Ross Mullen continues to follow his father's foot steps (albeit some minutes in front of Gerry) as a Brampton regular, setting a new PB of 65:03. Closest Harriers' finish of the day was provided by Eddie Reid (65:35), Brian McDougall (65:42) and Stuart Waugh (65:50), Eddie coming through from third to first in the last 400m. Brian was biggest improver of the day, setting a new PB by almost four and a half minutes. Stuart had one of his best Bramptons for some years and a very strong race. Scot Hill (66:16) is on the steady road back to fitness but is still some minutes off his best. Jim Holmes (66:47) was just outside his best time and unusually was not involved in a photo finish with any other Harriers. Andy Henderson is not long off the surgeon's table and in his first race of this year also ran one of his fastest times for many years (67:12). This was Andy's 22nd Brampton and he picked up the prize for 3rd M55. Stephen Phimister is another of the long-term injured who this time last year was probably thinking he would not run Brampton competitively again. Not only did he run it this year but he also improved his PB by two and a half minutes, finishing in 68:34. Being chased by a horse which had escaped from a field no doubt helped his time!

First of our ladies was Joanne McEvoy, who in her first Brampton appearance as a Harrier set the second fastest time ever by a Calderglen lady of 68:50. Colin Banks was only 22 seconds outside his PB recording 69:10. Kenny Leinster was a Brampton first timer (70:54) whilst Billy Buchanan (71:24) was not far behind and just out pacing George Stewart (71:33). Frances Maxwell was on target for a pb here but a persistent hamstring injury re-appeared just after 5 miles forcing Frances to limp to the finish in a still impressive 72:08, earning her the 3rd F45 prize. This was Gerry Mullen's 25th Brampton which he finished (by his own admittance) perhaps a little too fresh in 72:50. John McBride continues to improve rapidly, achieving a new PB by 2.5 minutes of 74:44. Mary Goldsmith has had a great year and continued the trend here with a massive PB of 74:56, an improvement of 2:40. This was David Wardrope's first full distance Brampton and his target for future years is now 75:44.

Chas Steven has now completed 26 Bramptons in a row, a remarkable achievement and this year he has started to reverse the trend of slowing times with a time of 84:42. This year's Buchanan timing controversy was courtesy of Dawn who insists that she stopped on the line to talk to Gerry Mullen for some 36 seconds and hence her official time of 86:00 should in fact be 85:24. Alright, I believe you! Kirsty Findlater was participating in her first Brampton and cruised to the line in 86:41, having passed a struggling Russell Couper (87:42). In fact, Russell admits to having started very fast and so most of the Harriers had to pass Russell at some point! Also making her first appearance at Brampton, Laura McConnell was not far behind Russell, finishing in 87:58. Finally, Gerry's friend John Mullan, training for a charity place in the Los Angeles Marathon next March, finished in 92:04 in his longest run so far. Well done to all those who were able to participate and thanks for the support from Frances Steven, Maud, Sandra and Davy Watt. In addition to winning the men's veteran team, our men (3 to count) finished 8th senior team and our ladies were 6th senior team (Joanne, Frances and Mary).

The shortened Brampton course last year left many Harriers without a 3rd event to count in the performance award scheme. Not this year though! The following Harriers achieved performance standards (in addition to the pb's already mentioned): I Hughes (M40 Silver), C McDougall (M60 Gold), A Cullie (M40 Bronze), E Reid (M45 Bronze), S Waugh (M60 Gold), A Henderson (M55 Silver), B Buchanan (M60 Silver), F Maxwell (F45 Silver) and M Goldsmith (F50 Silver). Very well done to all. Further photos are here and this link takes you to the full race results.

Alan

BRAMPTON BUS DEPARTURE TIME

Just a reminder that the bus leaves on Saturday at 08:30 prompt
dont be late as the bus will leave at this time.

CALDERGLEN HARRIERS AGM

The AGM will tale place on Thursday 2nd December 2010 at 8pm in the main hall of the sports club
Please try to attend as this is your club and your chance to influence the direction it goes in
Please also consider any nominations you may wish to make for the roles of President, Secretary, Treasurer and General committee members or if you wish to be nominated for a role ask someone to nominate you on the night
Any motions should be made in writing and given to the Secretary (A Henderson) in advance
Please make sure your membership is up to date as this is a members only meeting

If you wish a run in advance of the meeting its normal practice for training to begin at 7pm in order to get to the meeting on time.

British & Irish Masters Cross Country International Championships, Dublin

A mud bath on lap 1

Dublin provided the venue for the 23rd running of the British and Irish Masters International Cross Country Championship on Saturday. Alan Derrick was the lone Harrier selected for the Scotland M45 team in this prestigious event contested annually by the top men and women veteran athletes of Scotland, England, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland and Wales. The race programme comprised 4 events starting with an open masters cross country race and then the international championship races for each age group. Although the wind and rain relented for the first three races, by the  time the final race for M35, M40 and M45 teams came around the rain was back on and the course was looking decidedly muddy in places courtesy of several hundred athletes from the preceding multi-lap races. At least the wind had died away! Each country fielded a team of 6 athletes in each of the 3 age groups giving a total of 90 runners in this final race.

Having been out of training for 2 of the 3 preceding weeks with a cold, Alan was unsure of his strength and decided to avoid the initial cavalry charge from the start, sacrificing position but conserving energy for later in the 5.1 mile race. On the first of five laps the field remained tightly grouped but gradually spread out by the time lap two started. Alan continued to move steadily through the field and was certainly one of the leading Scots by the end of that lap. A race long tussle then ensued with a pair of M45 athletes from Ireland and England, the latter being a former individual medallist at this event well known to Alan from training camps in Portugal and who was clearly struggling with some problem. This battle continued to pull Alan through the field although Alan ultimately lost out to both of them. The course hosted the 2009 European Cross Country Championships and for every muddy section there was also an open and fast section to follow such that the pace swung from slog to flying around every lap. When the bell rang for the final lap the pace surged again and still there were a few places gained as Alan continued to make progress. With 200m to go the runners were directed off the loop along a tree-lined avenue of pine trees, the only mud-free section of the course and Alan even managed to muster a 100m sprint to maintain his position, crossing the line in 29:41, 13th in the M45 competition, 1st M45 in the Scottish team and 4th Scot overall.

Leading Scot in the race was Steven Whylie (M35), finishing 8th overall, followed by Dave Gardiner (M40) and Alan Murchison (M35). In an enthralling race for the overall win, former Irish National Cross Country champion Peter Matthews (M40) emerged from the group of six sprinting for the line. Alas none of the Scottish men's teams in this race finished in the medals. However there were bronzes for the M60, M50, F55 and  F60 teams in the earlier races and Scotland finished third in the overall combined team competition (England first, Republic of Ireland 2nd). Highlight of the day was the gold medal won by Scotland's Melissa Whyte in the F45 race in which she also finished third overall behind Claire Martin (F35) and Emma Stallard (F40) both of England.

Scotland hosts the competition next year at Bellahouston Park on 26th November 2011. There are several Harriers men and women who are capable of being selected for the Scottish team and who should be thinking now about establishing a programme of improvement and targetting some high profile races through next year to stake a claim for a Scotland vest.

Thanks to Chris Upson (M45) for providing the photo and to the entire team for being such great company throughout the weekend.

Alan

Club Entries for the 2011 London Marathon

The Harriers have received 2 club entries for the above race.

Back in October 3 members who had received rejection letters for the marathon indicated that they would like to be considered for a club entry.

They are David Dickson, David Wardrope and Graham Ramage.
A ballot for the 2 places will be held at the Brampton day out.

If any of the above have changed their mind regarding taking part in the race please let me know.

There are a couple of conditions these club entries.

The first is, as these are club entries the runners are required to wear the club vest.

Secondly if there is a similar situation with entries for the 2012 London Marathon, where there are more runners requesting club entries than we have received, then any runner who gets an entry for 2011 would not be entered into a ballot for 2012.

WEST DISTRICT XC (Royal Acadamy Irvine)

The West district cross country championship will take place on Sat 4th Dec.
As this is a pre entry event i will need names and entry fees by monday 15th Nov.
Ladies race starts at 13.05 and covers 6.4K
Mens race starts at 14.00 and covers 10K
cost is £4.00 per head
Please leave your name on this form or see me at the club if you wish to be entered.
This race is once again part of the Grand Prix series.
List of entries so far is here.
Names no later than Monday 15th Nov

Russell

Hills,Hell and Happiness

As most Harriers once again took heed of some sound advice from the coach not to race this weekend in preparation for the clubs classic visit to the Brampton to Carlisle 10 miles road race on the 20th November it came as a surprise to find three "dafties" taking part in races .

The Parkrun series is proving to be very popular amongst club and unnattached runners and in our own club Russell Couper is leading the way. After setting a pb at Strathclyde Park last week unsurprisingly his time dropped a few seconds this time around to 23:53. It is unique even amongst world class distance runners to achieve pb's in consecutive weeks and Russell will surely be delighted with his improved times of recent weeks.

Talking of improvement John McBride has come leaps and bounds since he started training with the club and this is testament to his own commitment and what our club has to offer distance runners. On Saturday John made his way to Bellahouston Park for the Jimmy Irvine 10 k road race which attracted a large turnout . Running consistently John crossed the finishing line on 45:53.

Earlier on in the day at nearby Pollok Park Chas Steven , having pulled out of training on Monday with an injury, took part in the Parkrun. Thoughts of missing the Tinto Hill race or even worse the "Brampton" had plagued his mind since Monday . Not having run since then Chas used this run to test the right calf strain which has caused problems intermittently over a couple of years . If things didn't work out he would have enough time to contact the Tinto organisers so that they could allocate his place to another runner. Fortunately things went well and as all returning from injury runners know the completion of a race is a great relief and often brings a tear to the eye. Even a slower time of 26:05 couldn't dampen these emotions.

Southbound on the M74 listening to The Who "Live at Leeds" CD he made his way to the quaint village of Symington which despite the distance is still within South Lanarkshire. Collecting his race number at the local hall for race titled the Tinto Tiptoe Hill Fun Run. Tinto Hill at 2,333 ft which in mileage terms is about 4.4 miles is a very popular hill race with the entry limit set at 250 being over subscribed many weeks ago with a waiting list should anyone pull out.
The race itself has plenty of good running and scrambling is minimal. The views on a clear day like Saturday were fantastic . Setting a target to complete the race within an hour Chas was delighted to do so in his first hill race since 1990 with a time of 59:31.
Once again apologies to anyone who may have raced over the weekend who has been ommitted from this report.

Lanarkshire Cross Country Races - Saturday 20 November 2010

The club has just received updated details of the above event at Drumpellier Park in Coatbridge ( Blair Road entrance). Richard Lawton has already received many names from the young athletes who will be racing and will also be taking names at Wednesday nights training.
Details of the event are as follows:
12 noon Under 11 Girls 1200 metres Entry £1
12.10 Under 11 Boys 1200 metres Entry £1
12.20 Under 13 Girls 2500 metres Entry £1
12.45 Under 13 Boys 2500 metres Entry £1
13.10 Under 15 Girls/Under 15 Boys 3700 metres Entry £1
13.40 Senior Women/Under 17 Boys/Under 17 Girls 5000 metres Entry £2
14.15 Senior Men 10,000 metres Entry £3

First 3 runners to count for First 3 team prizes (except Senior Men 4 to count)

ALL CLUBS MUST PROVIDE A MINIMUM OF 2 VOLUNTEERS TO HELP WITH THE STEWARDING OF THE RACE - PLEASE GIVE YOUR NAME TO RICHARD LAWTON IF YOU CAN HELP .

Singles and Doubles

As the club had no Grand Prix fixture at the weekend it is no surprise that many Harriers took on board the coaches advice not to race. However there are exceptions particularly for those who missed the previous race the Alan Scally Relays.
The Strathclyde Parkrun 5K was to bring the best out of Russell Couper who recorded a pb of 23.29 in his 28th Parkrun. Making his third appearance at this type of event Ian McKenzie crossed the finish line on 22.50. At the Glasgow Parkrun in Pollok Park John McBride rediscovered some form and completed the undulating course in 22.53 while Chas Steven took 17 seconds of his previous run with a time of 24.47.
Not content with one race Chas then made his to Garscube for the KPMG Glasgow University 5 miles road race . Once a classic road race of one lap the race has suffered in recent years in having to be two laps due to safety concerns which have been further complicated by a gate closure within the first few hundred metres of the race causing a congestion of runners exiting a single gate. Fortunately this latter problem was resolved this year and Chas finished not surprisingly slightly slower than last year in a time of 41.55.
On Sunday the appropriately named, considering the weekend weather, "Run with the Wind" 10k hosted by Strathaven Striders attracted Graham Ramage who ran an excellent 41.53 (pb ?) while Julie Beveridge (44 minutes exact) and Mary Goldsmith (44.15) also put in fine performances. It is also worth noting that former Calderglen Harrier Stuart Gibson now of Ron Hill Cambuslang won this
10 k in a time of 31.32 the day after being 5th at the "Uni" in a time of 25.07 .
Well done to everyone who raced at the weekend and apologies to anyone I may have missed in this report.

Giffnock North AAC Primary Schools Cross Country Races

Further to our young athletes’ success at the National Cross Country in Cumbernauld, a number of Young Calderglen Harrier athletes were out in force on the day after representing their primary schools at the annual Giffnock North AAC East Renfrewshire and EK Primary Schools Cross Country Races in Rouken Glen park.

First out on duty was Emma Lawton representing Kirktonholme ran in the girls Primary 5 race and put in outstanding performance in this 1.5K cross country course.  Emma established herself in first place as soon as the race started and maintained a good 100 metre lead to her closet rival around the whole course to win in a time of 6:33.  Second place runner’s time was 7:00 and third place recorded 7:47.

Emma clear in the lead.

Fresh after winning a silver medal in the Lanarkshire Relays, Kate Kane representing Kirktonholme ran a solid performance in the girls Primary 6 race with a time of 7:15 and helped the Kirktonholme girls achieve 4^th place in the team rankings.

Mark McKenzie, son of Ian McKenzie, was representing his school Mossneuk in the Primary 6 boys’ race along with Grant Dryburgh representing his school Blacklaw. Grant came in 6^th place (6.16) and Mark came in 9^th (6:22).  The Primary 6 boys race was the fastest race ran with 1^st place recording a time of 5:44 so well done to Grant & Mark for running at such a fast pace. Hopefully Ian can encourage Mark to come and train on a Wednesday night with the other young athletes as obviously like his Dad is good at running.

Newcomer to the Harriers, Nicole Sharpe was representing St.Kenneths in the girls Primary 7 race and produced a time of 7:05.

Last but not least Ryan McParland (representing St.Kenneths) redeemed himself this year and deservingly won the Primary 7 boys race.  Last year he slipped at the start and came in 4^th but this year he corrected this by putting in a fabulous start and performance with a winning time of 5:56.

Ryan with his class mates who together won the team prize.

Well done to all for taking part in the races and especially to Emma & Ryan for first class performances in their age group races.

With these fine performances, all the young athletes will be ready to represent the Harriers in the next race which is the LAAA Cross Country Championships at Drumpellier Park, Coatbridge on the 20^th November.

Thanks to Richard and Gerry for the comprehensive report and photos and well done to all our young athletes.

Alan

West District Cross Country Championships - Young Athletes

The above event will take place at the Royal Academy in Irvine on Saturday 4th December. Age groups as at midnight 31 August / 1 September 2010. Race details are as follows:

Age Group Start Time Distance
Under 13 Girls 12 noon 3,200 metres
Under 13 Boys 12.15.pm 3,200 metres
Under 15 and
Under 17 Girls 12.30 pm 4,400 metres ( please note this is one race with seperate age group teams and prizes)
Under 15 Boys 12.50 pm 4,400 metres
Under 17 Boys 1.35 pm 6,400 metres

All the age group young athletes of our club who are Scottish Athletics registered will be entered for this race .

Grand Prix Races - November to December 2010

The following three races are in the club Grand Prix:

• Brampton 20th November
• EK 10k 27th November
• West District Cross Country, Irvine 4th December (pre-entry only, see Blog post)

Alan