6+4 STAGE RELAY

Teams for Sunday are here. We have a complete ladies team, one complete mens team (vets team) and an incomplete men's team (4 out of 6). We have entered and paid for three men's teams but due to various unavoidable call-offs have probably our lowest turnout for many years. However, as almost the whole club is entered as reserves for those three teams, if anyone wishes to help boost the club's representation at this National Championships tomorrow and get a competitive, timed run in, then please leave a comment here or call Russell or me before about 11am on Sunday. The race starts at 1pm. Full details and course maps on the Scottish Athletics web site here. Parking is at Almondvale Stadium as usual and the declarations/changing, etc are in St Margaret's Academy.


Alan
This Sunday is the 6+4 Stage relay at Livingston. The following names will make up the teams but i need you to confirm by training on thursday night that you will be there so Alan can make the running order. Names are:- LADIES:- F MAXWELL, M GOLDSMITH, J McEVOY, J BEVERIDGE. GENTS:- R COUPER, A DERRICK, E REID, J HOLMES, G STEWART, M DUTHIE, G MULLEN, A HENDERSON, D WATT, J McMONAGLE, I HUGHES, C BANKS, C McDOUGALL. There is a list of reserves entered so if your not listed but would like to run let me know as there is spaces in the mens team and i will check if your on the reserve list. Russell

Alloa Half Marathon

11 Harriers set off to go to the Alloa half marathon on Sunday 13th March but only 10 got there (Unfortunately Mark had car problems at Bothwell and didn’t manage.) The race started at 10am with a 1 mile sprint followed by a slight incline for 2 miles levelling off with approximately 5 miles flat where we were able to get into a more
comfortable pace to find that about the 10 mile mark we were met by a hill which I can only say felt like Lickprivick, only longer which was then followed by another hill towards the finish line.

This undulating course obviously suited us as there was some fine running on the day! Ian Hughes ran a pb with a time of 1hr 20.42 (performance standard M40 bronze), next home was Eddie in 1hr 26.39 (performance standard M45 bronze)  followed by Scot Hill in a time of 1hr 28.53. Stuart Waugh's time was 1hr 32.09 (performance standard M60 silver but already has a gold standard from earlier in the year) with Jim Holmes not far behind in 1hr 32.48. The next 4 harriers had to race for the finish line; first to finish was Graham Lindsay in 1hr 36.12, Julie Beveridge ran a pb with a time of 1hr 36.17, Colin Banks' time was 1hr 36.31 followed by Frances in 1hr 36.21. London Marathoner David Wardrope had a fine run in a time of 1hr 41.45, next home was George in a time of 1hr 43.03. Russell was happy with his run in a time of 2hrs 07.14.

A great turn out from the Harriers on this new introduction to the Grand Prix. Well done to all. Thanks to Eddie for the race report.

Grand Prix - Substitute Race for Jack Crawford

Following the postponement/cancellation of the Jack Crawford 10k race for the second time, we are going to give up on that one for the Grand Prix this year. In its place we will do the DeafBlind Scotland Canal Bank 10k race which also takes place at Bishopbriggs Leisuredrome Sports Centre and is in support of a very good cause. The date of the race is Saturday 16th April with a 1:15 start. You can register on-line here.

Alan

Falésia 5k Road Race

Harriers Alan Derrick and Martin Duthie lined up for a high quality 5k road race last week, half way through the annual warm-weather training camp at Aldeia da Falésia on the beautifully warm Algarve coast. The race is organised by West Cheshire AC who also have an annual training week here along with the 2:09 Events group (60+ runners) I was with, a large German running club (Hamburg) and various smaller groups of international athletes from around Europe.

The course follows two and a half circuits of the road around the perimeter of the village and sports complex, starting at the highest point of the course. Except for the final 400m lap of the running track to finish, there are no flat parts on the course which is either descending or climbing. A 500m stretch repeated 3 times is particularly cruel as the slope is not steep enough to look like a hill but is very definitely a hill when run at 5k race pace and is immediately followed by a 150m climb up the steepest part of the course, gaining 75 feet in total!

The race is considered to be part of the training so there are no easy days before hand (and a training session in the afternoon afterwards!), therefore most of the participants from our camp were definitely not race fresh. Never the less, some very impressive times were set. At the start a group of young athletes took off along with some German vets, all of whom I let go initially with the hope of dealing with the vets as the race progressed. Indeed this was the way the race panned out. The juniors included a trio of Estonian internationals and it was one of them who won the race in a new course record of 15:02, closely followed by UK junior Tom Anderson in 15:07. Meanwhile, I comfortably picked off the German vets and some other stragglers as the race progressed and was well clear in 6th position by the finish in a satisfying time of 16:52 (a Calderglen M45 gold performance standard) and first vet. Keeping the Calderglen veteran profile to the fore, Martin was second vet in 9th position in a time of 17:37 (M45 Silver performance standard). The field of 112 included ages from 18 to 75 and provided a very colourful spectacle in the morning Algarve sun. The course was surrounded by spectators including Mandy Wright and Jimmy Stewart cheering enthusiastically. Further photos are here, thanks to our roving photographers Jimmy and Mandy for their support.

The 10 day training camp did not start off with the best weather this year but despite that we only got rained on once during a training session and by the second half normal service was resumed with wall to wall sunshine. In the 10 days I covered a total of 95 miles which included around 10 steady runs off-road, 1 long Sunday run (with the last 2 miles in a severe lightning storm, torrential hail - not great if you have a bald head like me but wonderful for the complexion - and flooded roads), 2 track sessions, 2 long repetition sessions on the cross country course (last year's European Championship course), a 3000m time trial on the track (9:40 for me), the 5k race and various non-running sessions such as core stability work and yoga. Of course, with all these sessions comes many cakes, coffees, ice creams and meals built in around the sun bathing and dooks in the sea. Unfortunately it is over for another year!

NATIONAL 6 + 4 STAGE RELAY

This years end to the winter season is again the National 6 + 4 stage relays.
There are a couple of changes this year, first of all it is on SUNDAY 3rd April and it is now a 1pm start time.
Cost is £3.00 per head male and female.
There will be masters medals for teams age 40 and over Male and Female.
Names are required by Monday 14th March, no later.
Please leave your name on this form or see me at the club in the next few weeks for entry.
NAMES REQUIRED BY 14th MARCH

Names received so far are here.

Russell

Inverness Half Marathon

An intrepid Davie Searil and wife Alison decided that the weather in south west Scotland was not bad enough for them at the weekend and so headed north to Inverness for the Half Marathon. Davie reports as follows:

The wimps at Springburn yesterday and the namby-pamby footballers in Inverness today might have fainted at the sight of a wee bit of spring snow but us EK folk are a hardier bunch!

Alison & I drove around 90 miles up the Great Glen from the Ben Nevis Hotel in Fort William with a 25 mile diversion along the way due to a downed power cable at Fort Augustus. We began to wonder if we would make it in time as the diversion took us higher into the hills, up and over a bealach with four-foot high snow on either side of the road.

I then ran in bitterly cold wind, sleet and rain, through massive puddles and slush (often both together).

I somehow ran 1:49:32, my fastest, by a long way, for two years - 490th from 1120 finishers and 10th M+55. I know, I know - I don't look a day over 65. The overall winner was Andrew Douglas of Inverclyde in 1:07:53 and the female winner was Mellisa Whyte of the home town harriers in 1:20:31.

Very well done to Davie, sneaking back into great form. A few Harriers will now need to take note!

Alan

ALLOA HALF MARATHON

The ALOA HALF MARATHON is the next race in this years Grand Prix
This is a pre entry race and entries close online noon Monday 14th so if you havnt already entered you have to do so by then.
You can find the link in the Scottish Athletics fixtures list.

SPRINGBURN CUP OFF

THE JACK CRAWFORD SPRINGBURN CUP IS OFF
Due to the adverse weather Springburn Harriers have had to put the race off.
No descision has been made yet wether its postponed or cancelled but will definetly not be run today so dont travel.

Trimpell 20 Mile Road Race

As part of our training for the London Marathon David Wardrope and myself headed down to Lancaster for Sunday's Trimpell 20 Mile Road Race. Conditions were perfect with clear blue skies and nothing more than a light breeze - it was quite cold on the starting line but things soon warmed up as the race progressed.

Both of us intended to run this at our anticipated marathon pace but straight off it was clear we were going a little faster than planned. The course is nice and flat with too few hills to mention so after our LSR around the hillier roads of Auldhouse we were both able to run comfortably at a faster pace.

The race begins on the track at the Salt Ayre Sports Centre which then leads onto a cycle path for an out-and-back over 4 miles or so before heading onto the edge of the river Lune. After passing through an old industrial area then a housing scheme we were soon heading out along a more scenic route through the Lune valley. Again this was an out-and-back but the pleasant scenery didn't make this seem too much of a chore. After heading past the start we double-backed onto the race track for a 'springy' finish.

I ran a pretty consistent run crossing the line on 02:33:11 - roughly 7 minutes quicker than I had intended.
David wasn't far behind with a time of 02:38:11 - proclaiming this to be his 2nd best long distance race ever!

I was placed 159th and David 180th out of 388 finishers.

The race was very well marshalled with plenty of water stops and encouragement along the way.

We both seem to have finished this race with little problem so things are looking good for our up-and-coming marathon in April!

Graham Ramage

LASSWADE TEN MILE RACE

Four Harriers travelled through to the village of Rosewell, just south of Edinburgh, to take part in this very hilly race. The race started with a slight uphill before it levelled off. You then drop steeply into Roslin Glen, which is then followed by a 1 in 5 climb out of the glen. The first 5 or 6 mile follows this theme. The last 4 miles (that's if anything is left in the tank) you can stride out a bit.
The first Harrier home was Stephen Reilly in a time of 66:46, followed by Scot Hill in 68:47. Next was Stuart Waugh who was 69:58 and finally Graham Lindsay 76:11. Ex-Harrier Kenny Davidson also took part in a time of 64:39. It was nice to catch up with how he is doing in Peebles.
We also had a support team (when they weren't following the Da Vinci Code at Roslin Chapel) of Irene, Caroline and Maud

MEMBERSHIP FEES OVERDUE

Harriers
We are now into March and several memberships have not been renewed.
Can anyone who is not renewing let me know and anyone still to renew please advise me when payment will be made. There will be door checks coming soon by the Sports Club and i dont want anyone to find themselves in an embarrassing position.
Remeber you cant compete in competition unless fees are paid.

Russell