Hogmany at parkrun

Six Harriers took part in the Strathclyde parkrun on Hogmany.
First timer Mark Saez finished well up in 7th place in a time of 19.40 so well done to Mark on a good opening run. Next home was Julie Beveridge having a close race with her sister Louise finishing in a time of 20.52 just 9 secs behind Louise (20.43) taking the 1st and 2nd Ladies. David Wardrope was next in with a new best time for the run 21.34 so another well done to David and it shows the benefits from the training run on Thursday. Next in was 10 year old Emma Lawton with a new PB of 25.18 and 4th Lady followed closely by dad Richard 25.19. A bit of team running me thinks. Finally myself 26.08 and 1.32 faster than last week and no reaction from the calf so happy with that. If anyone is sober and up for it Pollock parkrun is on on New Years day at the usual time.
HAPPY NEW YEAR

Pub Run Review

Not that we are competitive, but several records were broken in last night's festive pub run:

1. most participants (somewhere between 23 and 25, counting was not our strong point last night)
2. biggest ladies team ever to turn out for a Calderglen event (8 - what does that tell you?)
3. fastest time (2:47:34 for 6 pubs and 6.25 miles - for those targeting a comfortable sub-3 hour marathon, this gives you a useful guide as to how you might feel at the finish if we assume that 6 pubs is equivalent to about 20 miles of running)
4. most Garmins ever deployed at a Calderglen event (at least 6 that I saw, making this the most accurately verified event in Calderglen history)
5. biggest kitty (follows from record (1))
6. most cups of tea and cappuccinos consumed on a pub run (around 4 or 5; a first, never happened before) 
7. first official Calderglen entry in a pub quiz away fixture (New Farm)
8. most fun had on a pub run!

Thanks to all Harriers and friends of Harriers for making this annual event so enjoyable. A big thanks to Frances and Sandra for the huge responsibility of transporting the kitty from pub to pub and for getting the drinks in.

Happy New Year!
Alan

New GPL for New Year

Finally remembered to update the GP and Club Championship following the West District XC. George Stewart  regains his position as GPL whilst Jim Holmes rises to the top of the scratch championship. Julie Beveridge maintains a tight grip on both the GP and Club Championships. Check the full results using the menu on the left (corrected on 30/12/2011 with a missing joker). The next Grand Prix race will be the National Cross Country Championships at Falkirk on 18th February.
Alan

Boxing Day Training

As the Sports Club is open on Monday, there will be a gentle training run at the usual time (7:30) on Monday evening for those that can make it. Remember that Thursday's training run is replaced by the Pub Run with a 6:30 start time. See the earlier post on this blog for details.
Alan

Christmas Eve parkrun

Four Harriers of varying ages went to Strathclyde park this morning on what was a pretty miserable day.
Strong winds didnt make for fast times which suited me as this was a test of how my calf muscle was after the disaster of the West XC. Frances Maxwell arrived at the start then realised she forgot her barcode so is in the results as an unknown. They kept us waiting in the cold at the start as we finally got away about 5 mins late. I took my usual place up the front with Frances not far behind and Richard Lawton in mid pack with the youngest Harrier taking part and making her debut over this distance Emma Lawton. Frances soon passed me as expected heading for another fine time and as for myself i went through 1k in 4.45 a controlled 1st k as planned and no problem with the calf but soon after this i felt a twinge and stopped to check it out and give it a stretch. All seemed fine so carried on but again i reduced the pace as this was only for a stretch of the legs after 2 weeks out. Turning at halfway i seen Richard and Emma relaxed and looking easy and with the calf starting to tighten slightly i knew they would eventually catch me which the did just before the 4k mark. Judgement on the test of the calf was it failed and it needs more rest so may have to take a taxi round the pub run.
Final times were Frances 21.27, Emma 26.16, Richard 26.17, Russell 27.40.
We had one runner at Pollock, John McBride clocking another consistant performance 23.34.
One other result worth mentioning was at Pollock one of our ex members Stuart Gibson was 1st in a new PB of 15.29,
MERRY CHRISTMAS

Pub Run

The Calderglen event that for some is both the most anticipated and then, subsequently the least memorable of the year will take place on Thursday 29th December, starting at 6:30pm. Please be there ready to run at that time wearing bright, reflective clothing and a head torch if you have one. We cover about 7 miles and 5 pubs at a speed of about 1.5 pubs per hour, running as a group, so everyone can manage (ps bring enough money to cover a drink per pub).
Alan

CLUB FEES 2012

Sports Club and Harriers fees are due on 1st Jan 2012
The fees are:-
Family £94.00
Ordinary £58.00
Intermediate £30.00
Junior £16.00
This is the combined fee for Family and Ordinary.
I will collect due fees at any training night from now.
It is understood that this can be a financially difficult time of year but please renew by 31st Jan 2012 at the latest. If this is still a problem for anyone then please feel free to discuss privately with me when you can renew your membership to see if we can work something out.

May i also take this opportunity to pass on Christmas wishes to all on behalf of the Committee.

Yours in Sport
Russell Couper
Treasurer

Christmas Handicap

The traditional Harriers' Christmas Handicap saw not only a new winner at his first attempt but also a first time with no Santas running! A very high standard of fancy dress was set by the 12 Harriers who could make the 11am start on Sunday. Characters from ancient history to superheroes from the future lined up to race 4 miles against TV characters and inanimate objects. Last year's winner, Russell Couper, was sidelined due to the injury sustained at the West XC on Saturday so that left the gladiatorial Hugh Spartacus Simpson to start off first, chased a minute or so later by Fred Flintstone (David Wardrope) and Billy Buchanan feeling the heat in his Tigger romper suit. Frances Maxwell branched out in the form of a Christmas Tree whilst Joanne McEvoy was dressed to help Santa (who was a no show). George Stewart looked uncomfortably comfortable made up as a chav and was so convincing that he almost pulled a boy racer in the golf club car park. Graham Ramage is clearly benefiting from some all over conditioning and rippled around the course as Captain America whilst Jim Holmes was shedding insects left, right and centre as he tried to "get out of there" as quickly as possible. Stephen Phimister called upon his extensive wardrobe of blue man outfits to appear today as Scottish Blue Man (really needs to get some matching shoes though). Alan McLellan continued the blue theme as a smurf, chased by the Glass Act, Eddie Reid, rattling his way around the park as a bottle of beer. Finally Martin Duthie gave himself the best possible chance of victory by dressing as an old runner (what's new you say) despite his moustache making a bid for freedom whilst passing the zoo on lap 2 (thankfully the moustache was later returned to captivity after Mandy organised a search party).

All the pictures are here.

Winner of the handicap was Hugh Simpson who managed to hang on despite a fast charging David Wardrope closing the gap to within a few seconds on the line. Frances Maxwell was first lady and Martin Duthie set fastest time of the day (22:51).

Thanks to all who stood in the cold to support and a big thanks to Martin for again donating the £100 for the handicap winner to donate to a charity of their choice, in memory of Margaret Anne.

Finishing times: Hugh 29:15, David 27:59, Billy 27:49, Frances 28:49, Joanne 28:35, George 33:08, Graham 27:02, Jim 26:28, Stephen 26:02, Alan 25:25, Eddie 27:05, Martin 22:51.

Alan

West District XC - Irvine

Despite the hurricane and snow of the preceding week, conditions at Irvine were just about perfect on Saturday for the West District Cross Country Championships. The sandy soil had drained well and was firm under foot except for the usual quagmire in the field around the start/finish area and the winds were thankfully light. A route identical to that used in recent years was set but this time run in the reverse direction, with the biggest hill coming towards the end of each lap.

This was race number 10 in the Grand Prix and the last of the year so there was plenty of incentive to end 2011 strongly. Calderglen were well represented in the senior ladies' race with Julie Beveridge, Frances Maxwell, Joanne McEvoy and Karen Sturgeon all lining up for the 2 lap, 6.4km race. Julie rocketed away at the start and gradually extended her lead  over Frances throughout the race. Julie finished in an excellent 34th position out of 102 in a time of 27:49. Our next three ladies all battled closely throughout with Frances leading the chase for much of the race, followed by Joanne and Karen. In the final quarter mile, Karen called upon her reserves of strength and surged past Joanne and Frances to finish in 50th position in 28:58 with Frances (29:00) and Joanne (29:04) in 51st and 52nd positions completing the formation finish! Frances was 12th veteran in a very strong field.

The senior men's race covered 3 laps of the same course, totaling 9.6km. 212 men lined up of which at least half appeared to be veterans. On the starters whistle the field charged through the mud where one runner immediately lost his shoe, stopped to go back for it and was knocked flat on his back by the masses. All the Harriers survived the start except for Russell Couper who pulled a calf muscle before the first corner but manfully carried on for the remaining 9.5km to secure his Grand Prix points! Continuing a recent trend,  I could not go with the initial pace of the other veterans around me and watched them stretch away over the first 500m before I was able to gradually start clawing back the gap and passing people. The first lap was the fastest (just) but seemed the longest. By the second lap I had managed to catch some of my regular rivals but was struggling to pull away. However on lap 3 I managed to open a gap and pull in a few more stragglers from the packs ahead and ran strongly to the line in 35:10, 48th position and 8th veteran. Andrew McCaffrey had his strongest cross country race yet, except for the muddy bits where he felt he was struggling. Andrew finished in 85th position in 37:08. Eddie Reid was not comfortable from start to finish but still ran well to finish in 40:33, somehow letting adopted Harrier Donald Kennedy (Kilbarchan AC) to get away from him (Donald finished in 39:24). Ian Rae is a specialist on this particular course and repeated his habit of beating Jim Holmes here. Ian finished in 41:35 with Jim two places behind in 41:43. Kenny Leinster loves this sort of course and most importantly remained injury free to finish in 42:30. Graham Lindsay is benefiting from regular racing nowadays and had his best ever run on this course recording 43:16. George Stewart had his second nightmare in the space of a day, following his Friday night performance in the Fife Nightmare race series with a daylight performance which saw him drop a few places lower than expected, finishing in 43:56. David Wardrope trailed Hugh Simpson for almost the whole race but managed to muster some speed on the last lap as Hugh faded to finish in 47:04 with Hugh eventually a minute behind in 48:11. Russell kept plugging on to the end to finish in 60:59.

Well done to all and thanks to the support. A special mention to Billy Buchanan who brought his new spikes along for a gradual introduction to cross country, not even taking them out the box and instead lending some much appreciated vocal support. Thanks to Joanne for the photos, all of which are here. The race created some space for the evening's Harriers' Christmas Dinner which most of those racing were able to attend.

Christmas nite out

Hi all, have a great time and remember to turn up for the Sunday morning run.

Christmas night out/ Christmas handicap run

This Saturday is our christmas night out
For those that have booked places at our night out at Di Maggios please arrive at 7.30 for 8.00pm.

Sunday sees our Christmas handicap run starting at 11am so please arrive early for Alan to give you a start time.

West District XC (IRVINE)

This Saturday sees us at Irvine Royal Academy for the West District XC
Ladies start time is 1.05pm but please be there for 12.20pm.
Men start at 2pm but be there for 1.15pm.
I will collect the numbers from registration and be at the course for distribution.
Those entered are:- F Maxwell, J McEvoy, J Beveridge, M Goldsmith and K Sturgeon.
R Couper, A Derrick, G Stewart, D Wardrope, J Holmes, A McCaffery, D Herbertson, B Rooney, H Simpson, E Reid, I Rae, G Lindsay, K Leinster and R Lawton.
If you cant make the race please let me know before i register the entrants on Saturday.
Could those that havnt paid yet please do so.
Frances will be meeting anyone needing a lift at the sports club at 11.30.
Eddie will be meeting at the sports club at 12.15.

Russell

Golf Course Tonight....... Maybe

Given the weather, please come prepared for either a road or Golf Course session tonight (Monday). For the golf course you will need whatever shoes or spikes you normally wear for cross-country.
Alan

Glasgow University Road Race

Twelve Harriers braved a classic case of sunshine and showers at the Glasgow University 5 Mile Road Race on Saturday afternoon. The Harriers all arrived at the GU Garscube Sports Complex with plenty of time to spare and I took the opportunity to do a partial lap of the course to test out my achilles tendon before deciding to enter the race. My return to the sports complex was met with a wave of disappointment as I declared myself fit to run and carefully calculated joker strategies were thrown into disarray. In the 20 minutes before the start, the weather switched from sunshine to sleety rain every 5 minutes, or so it seemed. As we gathered on the start line with the field of around 200, the rain was pelting down. Then the starter fired his gun and we were off on the uphill drive through the grounds of the vet school heading towards the (open) gate out onto the Switchback. A very fast initial pace split the field and by the time we crested the hill on the Switchback after a half mile we were descending straight into blinding sunshine, avoiding pot holes and lamp posts if you were lucky! A sharp left through the car jet wash (kept the shoes clean) lead us along the canal bank on Temple Road, climbing gently towards the Dawsholm Park incinerator and then a short sharp climb over the railway bridge before the welcome sight of the long descent down Dalsholm Road., certainly much easier to run down than it was to run up on the old course! The heavy rain meant that the course became a little bit cross-country at the bottom of the hill as several large, muddy puddles had to be negotiated before the steep climb onto Maryhill Road. A nice gentle descent along Maryhill Road towards the science park and the first of two laps was complete.

After being dropped by many of the field in the first half mile surge, I was able to work my way back up the field as the race progressed, not being passed by anyone but passing many, especially on the up-hill sections. I could see several known veterans and others who looked like they could be vets ahead throughout the race but eventually ran out of time to pull them all in, finishing 15th overall and 3rd vet in 28:44, happy with that although the achilles was immediately sore as soon as I stopped ("should have kept running then" was the most helpful suggestion I got). Meanwhile Eddie Reid had a stress free run, (at least it would have been stress free had the official results not shown Russell finishing significantly ahead of Eddie) in 32:12. Andy Henderson ran a well paced 33:09 despite two attempts by a fire engine to block his way into the sports complex on the final lap. Stuart Waugh experienced a recurrence of his knee pain, probably caused by the cold conditions, but fortunately the two lap format of the course made it easy for Stuart to drop out after one lap and hopefully not to do any lasting damage. Julie Beveridge ran an absolute stormer with a massive negative split, toying with George Stewart for the first lap before taking off on the second lap, passing a startled Jim Holmes at great speed with a half mile to go and finishing in 33:49. Jim Holmes managed to recover in the final 200m and closed in on Julie to finish in an identical time of 33:49 but just behind Julie. George Stewart again ran a good paced race to finish in 35:00, just ahead of Joanne McEvoy (35:02) who had a much better race today. Billy Buchanan made his debut in this event, recording 35:35 whilst dealing with the pressure of not wasting the two jokers he had been advised to play. David Wardrope was next to finish in 36:00, just in sight of Hugh Simpson (37:56). Russell Couper was the only man to finish the race twice and his second (real) time was recorded as 43:48. I am sure Russell will ensure that there is some extended discussion of which of the two official times he recorded is correct!

Well done to all on good performances on this blustery day. I had never run this two lap version of the course before and I was pleasantly surprised at what a nice course it was with no traffic issues and a good mix of ups and downs. The organisation by the GU Hares & Hounds was excellent (except for the microscopic entry form which was giving most of us older runners a few problems to read) and the course was well marshalled.

Grand Prix updated: Andy Henderson stretches his lead in the GP and moves to the lead of the scratch championship for the first time. Meanwhile Julie Beveridge now draws level with Frances Maxwell in the GP and increases her lead in the scratch championship.

Alan

Request for a person to marshall at the West District Cross Country Championships

A request has been made by Allison Simpson ( Scottish Athletics Regional Manager - West )
for a marshall to help on the course or at the finish.
Date of the races is Saturday 10th December at Irvine Royal Academy.
Marshalls to arrive by 11.15am.

Allison can give someone a lift from East Kilbride if needed.
Allison can be contacted at her email address : allison.simpson@scottishathletics.org.uk