Grant McLullich Sports Therapy Harriers' Prices

Note that Grant will be increasing his prices from 1st July but that Calderglen Harriers are still receiving a £5 discount per session such that we pay £24.
Alan

Eddie's Way May Become Reality

According to a Scottish Natural Heritage report published on Friday, Eddie Reid may in fact have been in the forefront of tourist development in Scotland when he trail blazed a new leg of the Harriers' West Highland Way relay a few years ago. Some details here. Thanks to Malcolm for pointing this out.
Alan

Trail Race 2012 - Wet but Wonderful

Body Surfing Jim Holmes crosses the finish line

The wet weather did not put the dampers on the hundreds of runners of all ages who ran in tonight's Calderglen Harriers Trail Race series. Young and old (particularly the young!) enjoyed the wet and muddy conditions. Thanks to all who helped, participated and supported and a special thanks to race director Russell Couper for pulling it all together once again.

Provisional results are below:
1k
3k
5k (missing results added to end)
10k

All the results from previous years are available on the Harriers' web site here.

Alan

Grand Prix Final Event - Vertical Mile Tonight

Race 16 of the Grand Prix series is tonight and there are positions that could change in both the lady's and men's competitions. Lets make it an exciting finish and have as many up at the club as possible for this traditional finale.
Alan

Trail Race - Harriers 10k Team Selection

Updated status 25/06/12 - all 7 runners listed below have confirmed availability. Should one pull out, then the first reserve is Stephen Phimister.


Updated Team Draw 25/06/12 - Stuart would prefer not to run, so one new name added.
Updated Team Draw 23/06/012 - Martin would prefer to help than run, so one new name added. Now increased to 7 Harriers running (and one correction as Davy Wardrope ran it last year)
As previously announced, a team of 7 Harriers to run the 10k will be selected from those who volunteered to help marshall or do some other job. Those selected may still be required to do some job before the start of the race but will be released in sufficient time to do a warm-up for the 10k.

Russell has provided me with the list of volunteers (excluding those who indicated in advance that they would not want to run and those who ran last year) and using the usual random number generator, the first 7 names to come out of the electronic hat are:
Geo Ferguson, Frances Maxwell, Ian Hughes, Andy Henderson, Jim Holmes, Richard Lawton, Hugh Simpson (underlined names have confirmed that they will run. Could the others confirm as soon as possible).


As per usual, if you would rather not run, please leave a comment on this post asap and I will draw a replacement name. It is good for Harriers publicity to have our runners out there in the 10k too, so this is also an important job.
Alan

Trossachs Training Camp 2012

22/06/12 - Only 12 places left!
Finally we are ready to launch TTC 2012, a weekend of running, stretching, learning and copious eating based at the Trossachs Backpackers Hostel, Callander from the evening of Friday 14th September through to early afternoon on Sunday 16th September. Due to slightly increased overall costs, the price for the weekend this year has gone up a fiver to £70 which includes your 2 nights bed and breakfast accommodation at the Trossachs Backpackers Hostel, a 2 course dinner at the Lade Inn on both the Friday and Saturday evenings, a comprehensive buffet lunch on the Saturday and Sunday and a technical T-shirt (not forgetting the preparatory work, leadership and motivation of all your club coaches). And if that was not good enough value,  we also intend to be inflicting sports massage on you this year, with a talk on the benefits and brief tune-ups for the inflexible.

Places are restricted to 28, including your coaches and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis on receipt of a completed booking form and a £40 deposit (or payment in full if you prefer). Cheques should be made payable to "Calderglen Harriers". Genevieve will be kindly gathering application forms and payments at ATHelite in Hamilton. Booking forms are available to download here, on the Harriers noticeboard at the Sports Club or from ATHelite.

Move Fast (but warm up first); this one usually fills up rapidly.
Alan

Rouken Glen 10k - Wet Wet Wet & Wet

This was Giffnock North’s 20th anniversary of the Rouken Glen 10k and a total contrast of summer weather from last year’s event from lovely dry day to torrential rain a year later around the same date....only in Scotland!  With the change of the Vertical Mile race I was expecting a group of Harriers lining up for the race but it only turned out to be myself and John McBride. Once we had found each other we joined the rest of the runners and the playing pipe band all huddled under the pavilion as with the poor weather this seemed to replace the mass aerobic warm up prior to the start.  As we all waited patiently for the 7:45pm start, runners started filtering over with 5 mins to go to minimise standing in the cold.  At the usual starting point it was a bit of a damp start (no joke intended!) one minute John & I were talking then we heard a horn blast and we were a way. From the start John went ahead and I ran my own race as this was my first competitive race event in 2012 after sustaining my calf injury late last year.
I took the first 2km in and around the park fairly easy as I knew the hills were coming and felt confident I could pass alot of people on the long ascent to the 6km mark.  On the 4km downhill section on Ayr Road to the finish I made my pace transition at the top of the road gradual to ease from hill climbing pace to a steady downhill pace to avoid having erratic breathing and a stitch which I have experienced in this event before.  Thankfully my experience and training with the Harriers paid off.  With the final section of route outwith the park on Rouken Glen road I was keeping an eye out for the speed camera as I knew from that point it would be just leading into the final up-hill 150m sprint to the finish and I was able to up my pace to give a final sprint to the finish, settling for a time of 52:21.

My target was 50 mins and to get through the race in one piece without sustaining or worsening my calf injury, 1 out of 2 is not bad.   After returning to training with the Harriers in April I felt I did the best I could, ran a good technical race and just need to work on getting fitter to increase my pace as I want to run as fast as I can.  My time was 1:31 slower than last year but it has set a marker to see what stage I am at and what I need to work on to lower my time to 50 mins then the high 40s’.
John McBride’s time was 48:12, 33 seconds slower than last year but John was happy with his time.  Also Dawn Buchanan was running and she clocked a time of 52:04.

Thanks to Richard for the race report.

Roukenglen 10k and Brian Goodwin 10k

Over the last 2 nughts harriers have been out representing the club locally. On Thursday John McBride and Richard Lawton went to Roukenglen Park for Giffnock Norths 10k. I have no report available but Richard was happy with his time of 52.47 for his first 10k of the year after an injury layoff. John ran a consistent 48.36. On Friday night David Wardrope and Myself headed to Pollock Park for the Brian Goodwin 10k hosted by Bellahouston Harriers. After the afternoons thunder storm the weather had dried up by race time. Its a 2 lap course starting and finishing at Cartha Queens rugby club. I missed my usual jump start on David and started beside him so never got my usual startty and as a consequence David disappeared into the distance immediatly. I got a decent start but still not running right with my dodgy knees and with heavy legs after a visit to the physio on Thursday i did manage for the first time in years to run faster on the second lap and caught about a dozen in the last 3k. Happy to still be heading in the right direction taking 4mins off last weeks time (54.38). David on the other hand had a great run finally getting his target hes been chasing all year a sub 44 finishing in 43.55. Well done to all the guys and good luck to those racing for the club around the country in the next couple of weeks.

High Heels Half Marathon

Thanks to all who sponsored my Mum in her High Heels Half Marathon. It was tough conditions on Saturday, but she marched on undaunted, braving wind, rain, dive bombing swallows and charging geese to complete the 3.54 laps of Strathclyde Park in a pb of 4 hours 30 mins, 20 mins faster than her last training session. She wore out three pairs of high heels in the process and raised over £1000 for South Lanarkshire Young Carers Forum. More information can be found in this EK News article.

Kirkintilloch 10K

Three Harriers made their way to Kirkintilloch on Thursday night for the 10K.
It was quite warm but almost perfect for running except the wind which was blowing quite hard.
Myself and David Wardrope had pre entered but were joined by Colin Jarvie who had just travelled back from working in Newcastle. As we lined up for the start it was clear they had a good entry of just under 300 and we were off the first half kilometre on streets taking us on to the canal and heading towards Bishopbriggs.The first 5k plus is flat (Canal Path) taking us to the bridge at Cadder. It then crosses the bridge and climbs quite sharp uphill to the main road leaving Bishopbriggs at which point hitting 6k we turned straight into a strong headwind nearly stopping me in my tracks. Slightly downhill it was hard work with the wind but just after 7k you go back onto the canal with a straight run to the finish on the canal path just as you enter Kirkintilloch. David was looking for his first sub 44 with the flat course and without the wind im sure this could have been done. times were D Wardrope 44.54. C Jarvie 49.40. and R Couper 58.38 which was all i was after with Sundays nightmare.

Hugh Wilson Road Race - This Saturday

EKAC have re-launched the Hugh Wilson Memorial Road Race as a 5 mile race taking place this Saturday 16th June, 2pm from the John Wright Sports Centre.
Alan

Parents / Volunteers required - part-time or job share available!

(no experience necessary as full training will be given)

Would you be willing and able to give an hour of your time on a Wednesday evening? 

Calderglen Harriers Young Athletes section is a running club run by 4 coaches and a band of parents / volunteers.  We are desperately trying to recruit additional volunteers to assist the coaches for all age groups in the section.  Over the last year the club has expanded rapidly and we are now operating a waiting list for new members as we are unable to take on additional young athletes based on our current level of adult helpers.

As most of our training is done within Calderglen Country Park, we need adults to act as additional eyes to ensure the safety of our young athletes.  Please be reassured that we will not ask volunteers to go out and do a lengthy run and helpers will be matched to groups depending on their abilities and preferences.  We do however offer excellent development opportunities with funding available to support anyone who wishes to gain a coaching qualification – just be careful that you are not the one left holding the baton!

If you or anyone you know is interested in applying please e-mail richard.lawton3@btinternet.com

Dechmont Law Trail Race

Runners often say that they would much prefer cross country races if they were in the Summer. Well this was your chance; the muddiest Summer race I have ever done. The Harriers returned in force to the Dechmont Law 10k Trail race after an absence last year due to a clash with the WHW relay. It was not necessarily a pleasant surprise to find out that Lothian Running Club had changed the course to add in the missing half mile that had given us all such impressive 10k times in previous years. The course now consisted of a small loop into and out of the forest, a medium loop into the forest and down towards the M8 and then the familiar big loop into the forest again, past the alien, down to and across the M8 and then along a slippy grass path parallel to the M8 before crossing the motorway again for the final, initially uphill kilometre to the finish. Thankfully the last 400m or so was downhill, allowing us all to finish in style.

The leaders were out of sight fairly quickly after the downhill start whilst Charlie McDougall and I settled into comfortable top ten positions. Having overcome the stress of my Garmin failing on the start line, within a km I had moved up to fourth place although I was soon relegated to fifth by a storming Hunters Bog Trotter. This is where I remained to the end (39:57) though I was expecting half the field to catch and pile past me in the second half when my legs turned to jelly at every slight uphill. I picked up the second vet prize (although second overall was also a vet). The race was won by Bellahouston Road Runners' Mark Johnston in 36:30. Charlie has been avoiding cross country races for a number of years due to an old foot injury and was expecting this to be a firm trail similar to Chatelherault underfoot, which it usually is. He was therefore pleasantly surprised to handle the mud and grass so well, despite wearing road shoes, and may now consider some cross country races with appropriate trail shoes come the winter season as he excels on the country. Charlie was classified as first ultra-vet and finished a fantastic 9th overall in 41:18. Surprisingly, Andy Henderson had never done this event before and hence wondered what sort of climb was coming up as he seemed to be running downhill for miles and miles from the start of the race. Despite having a tight chest, Andy  ran very well to finish second super vet in 20th position (44:47). Jim Holmes was next Harrier to finish and was able to confirm that the course was definitely longer than before, finishing in 45:04 in 23rd place.

Joanne McEvoy had a great run finishing in 45:50, which placed her 4th lady and 3rd senior lady, Scottish veteran international Sue Ridley knocking Joanne out of the prizes. Frances Maxwell, complete with fully functioning replacement Garmin, ran strongly to finish in 47:37, closely followed by Karen Allen (47:40) who was also a first timer at this event and admitted being taken by surprise by how soon the finish came (must have been the only one!) having way too much energy left at the end despite a fall in the mud with a few km to go. Joanne, Frances and Karen won the lady's team prize (the men had finished a close second in the men's team competition). The prize was a big, heavy box. But what did the box contain? Something tasty perhaps or something sparkly? See later for the answer.

George Stewart became ex-GPL, finishing next in a time of 48:26, some 9 minutes slower than his best time on the old, half mile shorter course, suggesting that he was running at only 18 minute mile pace (i.e. walking) for at least a half mile today! David Wardrope was not far behind George, completing the course in 50:56 whilst a minute or so later, Hugh Simpson ruined his road shoes and a new pair of socks to finish in 52:21. This was despite stopping to help a fellow runner who had fallen in the mud and broken his glasses against a tree. Well done Hugh. Encouragingly, Hugh was very close to his Ayr 10k time, suggesting that he has plenty of strength. Russell Couper did well to finish as he took a dizzy spell during the race forcing him to walk for much of the last 25 minutes to cross the line in 65:28. Hopefully nothing serious wrong with Russell.

And so to the lady's team prize. All I am saying is that we should have the most spotless, wrinkle free lady's team for the rest of the season!

Lady's Team Prize

More photos courtesy of Joanne here.
Alan

Islay Half Marathon Meeting

There will be a half hour meeting after training this Thursday 14th June for those going to the Islay Half Marathon in August. This will be primarily to arrange travel and to confirm any other preparations which have to be carried out in advance.
Alan

Dechmont Law Details

Full details of the race are here.

On the day entries close at 10:15 am. Registrations, Entries, Changing and Parking at Deans Community High School, Livingston, EH54 8PS
Alan

Vertical Mile - Change of Date

Due to the Rouken Glen 10k moving back to its traditional Thursday evening (21st June), the Vertical Mile has moved to Monday 25th June as several Harriers have expressed an interest in doing the Rouken Glen event.
Alan

Pollok Park 5k parkrun

As I begin to write this short report I wonder how I can to start this and Wow & Amazing are words that come to mind.  There are not many races / running events that Emma and I can do together so it is always a pleasure to do the parkruns.  The usual plan of attack now is we both do our own race and meet at the end, and of recent it has been Emma waiting for me and today was no different.
We did our warm up and stretches together before we headed over to the congested start and found a mid point in the pack to start the race. The usual parkrun information at the start and then it was Go!  Needless to say by approaching the first bend Emma was out of sight and I knew then she was up for doing a good time.  At this point I all I could do was run my own race.
I navigated through Pollok Park with good pace, handled the hills & flats well.  Towards the end of the race I felt I ran well, fitter than I have been, my calf was ok and was rewarded with a time of 25:03 which is a season best by 50 seconds.   However that paled into insignificance when Emma greeted me at finishing line showing me her watch time of 21:54!   I thought age 10, massive PB, Wow & Amazing!
Emma’s official parkrun result was she finished in 62nd place and was the 3rd lady out of a field of 346 parkrunners and came 1st in her age category JW14. She set a new Personal Best by 84 seconds at Glasgow parkrun!
So maybe a new member for the senior Harriers women’s team!

Thanks to Richard for the report and very well done to Emma! She is certainly angling for a first team place with a time like that!
Alan

Grand Prix Updated - Two to Go

The Grand Prix and Club Scratch Championship points have been updated. All championships are tight at the top with changes possible after Dechmont Law tomorrow.
Alan

Auldhouse TT Times

Despite the miserable weather, a great turnout of 18 for the June Auldhouse 5k time trial, no doubt helped by the fact that I forgot to mention it on the preceding Monday! Course bests for Stephen Phimister (19:18), Stevie McIntyre (22:22), Joanne McEvoy (20:48), John McIntyre (21:30) and Karen Allen (20:56, a massive 1:37 improvement) and a comfortable bronze M60 performance standard for Billy Buchanan (21:47) were the performances of the night, whilst Alison Lessells recorded her first time of 22:25. As the piece of paper I was recording the times on disintegrated in the rain, please check the times I have recorded in the spreadsheet which you can see in the "Auldhouse Time Trial Times" menu to the left and leave a comment with any corrections.
Alan

Corstorphine 5M RR

3 Harriers made their way along the M8 to Edinburgh for the 8th race in the SVHC Grand Prix.
I arived very early in fact the numbers hadnt even arrived then Stuart arrived with Maud after a short lay off with injury then to my dismay Graham Lindsay the only one ahead of me in our age category.
The start had been moved this year after it had been accuratly measured adding 300 yds plus onto the previous course. Off we went and with my own injury to worry about i soon seen Stuart and Graham disappear into the distance although Graham told me afterwards he had managed to stay with Stuart until it started the biggest climb about 3.5 mls then dropped off a bit. For myself i was wishing the rain would come on to cool me down a bit but alas it wasnt to be and i found myself being pushed along by a girl i passed just before the 1st hill at 2 mls but was passed again at the top. Back passed again on the flat and had moved about 30yds away by the big hill at 3.5mls. Again she climbed well and was closing but was now racing a gent that had caught her so now 2 chasers. I got over the hill about 10 yds in front and could see the next runners in front the closest being about 400 yds away so it was just about keeping ahead of my chasers. One more surprise was to come the runner 400 yds in front had slowed really badly and i caught him within 0.5ml and had a strong run to the finish keeping about a 10sec gap to my chasers. Times were Stuart 34.25, Graham 34.51 and me 43.51.

Callander Crags Race - Harriers 4 - Midges 1 million

A record number of Harriers travelled through for the Callander Crags race tonight with 4 hardy Harriers plus support joining a larger than usual field for the Summer edition of this bi-annual hill race. Unfortunately the midges were also out in record numbers and we were all eaten alive before the race even started.

Joining me on the start line were George Stewart, declaring his race number matched his age (21), Chas Steven who was under severe pressure to beat his number (1) and a rare race appearance by the jet-setting David Herbertson. It looked like there was a field of 50 to 60 covering all ages from 9 to 70. When the starters gun shocked us into action, the initial sprint for the narrow path leading up the hill was too fast for me and I found myself without a clear path in the early stages and struggling on tired legs all the way up (and down). George and David traded places on the ascent before David latched onto a local kid at the top who clearly knew the quickest route through the undergrowth and down to the road. At this point the long legs of David dropped the boy and he proceeded to the finish strongly. George also had a good descent, passing 7 or 8 on the way down. Chas clearly enjoyed himself and declared it a lovely wee run. Finishing times were Alan Derrick 26:54, David Herbertson 29:42, George Stewart 32:19, Chas Steven 38:06. After the race we all retired to the Riverside Inn for the prize giving and sandwiches. We got a lot of sandwiches............

Well done to all, thanks to Joan and Frances for their support and thanks to the guys for making the trip through. Some more photos of the start and finish here.
Alan

Auldhouse Time Trial Tomorrow!

Memory failure again. It is Auldhouse Time Trial number 2 tomorrow night. Please be at the club for 7:30 sharp so that I can collate the start list.

Alan

West Highland Way Relay in Pictures

A montage of photos from last weekend are now on the web here. Thanks to Joanne for her photos. Various comedy photos from Frances now added at the end (Google messed up the order of the photos unfortunately). This is what you can expect.......

Alan

Callander Crags Race - Summer Edition

For those who enjoyed the challenge of the mountain ascents during the West Highland Way, the Summer edition of the Callander Crags hill race takes place this Wednesday evening, starting at 7:30pm. Details from Alastair and Sheila, the event organisers, are as follows:

Alistair , Sheila and all our friendly Marshalls would be delighted if
you could join us for a wee run up the Callander Crags.

Registration is in Tulipan Crescent, Callander  (FK17 8AR), which is the first street on the right after Tesco, heading northwards through Callander. (Usual
Place). Registration is in the red Volkswagen camper van.

Remember please that this run is for all ages and abilities and the
emphasis is on each challenge being an individual one.

Check all your times from previous years and calculate if you are at
your peak or just over the hill.

All children under 13 must bring a parent who can keep up.

This years valuable and useful prizes will be lavishly distributed
straight after the race at the Riverside Inn. (Just across the road from
Tesco)

We hope to see you, and hope you have a really enjoyable run!

Alistair and Sheila 

The race elevation profile is on the left. Its about 800 feet up over about a mile, over the top and back down in a further 2 miles. The ascent is on a forest path, the start of the descent is on a rough hill path and then on a tarmac road and finally back onto a forest path to the finish. The entry fee is usually a nominal sum of a pound or two.

Alan