Houston Grand Prix 2012- 2013 Race 1

Jim Holmes nears the finish

The Harriers' 2012-13 Grand Prix campaign got off to a great start with a big turnout from the Harriers and many other clubs on a blustery afternoon in Renfrewshire.

Although many of the regulars were missing due to illness, injury and other race duties, we still fielded 3 men's teams and 2/3 of a ladies team. In possibly a first for the club, most of the Harriers actually followed the coach's advice and completed a full, gentle lap warm-up to get them primed for this short (2.7 mile), sharp blast around the leafy lanes of Houston. Making his début on this course, Stephen Phimister got the vets' A team off to a good start recording a time of 16:17, handing over to Eddie Reid. Eddie has had a long break from the shorter races but still ran a great time of 16:11 to record our fastest veteran time of the day, averaging exactly 6 minute per mile. Jim Holmes was only 10 seconds down on last year, and given the head wind in the later part of the course, this was a great performance, finishing in 16:58. Finally, Andy Henderson had to fend off an EKAC challenge from Graham Haddow on the last leg, which he did comfortably, finishing in 17:12.

In the vets B team, reigning grand prix champion George Stewart started the defence of his title by going straight to the back of the pack at the start. However, this proved to be a sensible pace judgement decision as he moved through the field with only one mishap (a twisted ankle blamed on his socks) to finish in 17:41, only 5 seconds down on last year. Stuart Waugh was surely the fastest M60 in the field on leg 2 with a time of 17:18. David Wardrope overcame several pre-race scares (accidentally not selected for a team and then given the same amount of season start jokers as George) to run well inside 7 minute miles with a time of 18:19 whilst Gerry Mullen had more of a lonely experience on the last leg, recording 17:50, just 6 seconds slower than last year and confirming his good form.

Our fastest runner of the day, Stephen Reilly, was given the chance to upset the apple cart and put our third team as far up the field as possible to give (in Russell's own words), Russell the chance to lose it all on the last leg! Stephen recorded a time of 15:51. Richard Lawton had never run here before and considered it to be perhaps the toughest relay course we do (wait till you see Kilmarnock!). Richard finished in 19:21. His regular rival, Hugh Simpson was also making his début on this course, which he promptly confirmed by parking his car on the start/finish line for the duration of the race and then making a wrong turn into the Houston Inn car park inside the last 200m. Despite this, Hugh pipped Richard with a time of 19:16. Finally, Russell did exactly what he said he would do (run 22 something) by finishing in 22:22.

Joanne McEvoy, despite an extreme gym session the night before destroying her quads, still managed a respectable time of 18:01 on the first leg, just 6 seconds down on last year. Frances Maxwell was the only Harrier to improve on last year, finishing in 18:27, a 4 second improvement but worth much more given the strong winds.

After all that, normal Grand Prix and Club Championship service is resumed with George Stewart tied for the lead in the Grand Prix with Jim Holmes and Hugh Simpson and Stephen Reilly taking the lead in the Scratch Championship. Joanne leads both the Grand Prix and Scratch championships for the ladies. Full results are available by the menu on the left. Well done to all.

More photos here.
Alan