Cumbernauld in the Sun

Autumn colours and sunshine graced Cumbernauld for the National Cross Country Relays on Saturday and the Harriers made the most of the better than usual conditions to record some fine times and course bests.

Four of our ladies were in action and the first team of Julie Beveridge, Joanne McEvoy and Karen Allen finished an excellent 19th out of a record field of 60 complete teams. Julie set off tracking her sister Louise for the entire lap to finish in 17:37 and handing  over to Joanne in 23rd place. Joanne had a good run, making up a further place in 18:49. Finally, Karen stormed round in 17:43, around 1:45 faster than last year and bringing the team to 19th. Frances Maxwell had a solo run in the second team and enjoyed the nicer than usual conditions to finish in 18:54, meaning that all of our ladies improved on last year's times.

The men fielded a two and a quarter vets teams (M35+) and M50 team and a mixed senior/vets team. The vets A team was led off by Martin Duthie, just back from a holiday in Hawaii, so perhaps the good weather at Cumbernauld was not quite as good as he had become used to in recent weeks! Martin finished in 15:47 (only 3 seconds down on last year) to hand over to local "boy" Andrew McCaffery who made his cross country debut at this event last year. Andrew joined the Russell Couper school of pb's by improving by 3 seconds on last year, finishing in 15:54. Eddie Reid is still on the comeback trail after a quiet year of racing and was pleased to get back into hard racing action, finishing in 16:51, only 5 seconds down on last year. I then took off rather nervously on the last leg, nursing a doctor's surgery worth of injuries and illnesses but in need of a race. After a cautious start I was starting to fly past people a mile in but then I was struck down by an injury not on my pre-race list when my right hamstring twinged and then locked up completely, bringing me to a halt and immediate withdrawal from the race. Very embarrassing having just flown past various runners who now left me standing stationary! Scotland selection jinxed me again. Two weeks to get over that injury (and the others).

For the first time there was an M50 team category over 3 legs and with a national medal for the winning team. We have a lot of depth in the M50+ category and in this case deployed Kenny Leinster on the first leg (18:03), handing over to Andy Henderson who had a great run in 17:45 before handing over to Stuart Waugh who brought us home in 8th place in 18:59.

Our mixed team was given a great start by a very unwell Jim Holmes who nevertheless took 30 seconds out of last year's time to finish in 17:29. David "The Man of Many Jackets" Herbertson was next up and relatively jet lag free judging by his time of 17:31, also a significant improvement on last year. George Stewart did not continue the trend of improvement but did lay claim to a place in the M50 team recording 18:31. Finally, Stephen Reilly lowered the average age and average time of the team considerably to finish in 16:02.

Another team of vets was led off by David Wardrope who set a time of 20:27, reflecting heavily interrupted training recently. However Richard Lawton on leg 2 is in good cross country form and set a course best of 19:36, a 40 second improvement on last year. John McBride made his cross country debut (not an easy course to start on) and finished in 20:13, handing over to Chas Steven who had a solo run around to finish in a good 22:21. First to finish though, was Russell Couper who had a team all to himself but struggled with fatigue after very little sleep to finish in 23:11.

A great team effort on the course and an even greater team effort from all those who helped set up and pack away the fantastic, new club tent which kept the cold wind off us all.

Well done to all. A whole load more photos courtesy of Frances are here.
Alan
Note that the above times have reverted to our own, self-recorded times except in those cases where our own time was missing. This is because, on closer inspection, the official times contain a catalogue of errors affecting just about every one of us and cannot really be trusted.

National XC Relay Teams 2012

Teams for Saturday are now on-line here. A fantastic representation for the club. There is a 3-man, M50 team category this year, so we have put a team in for that too.

Parking, changing and declarations are at Cumbernauld High School as usual. Your attention is drawn to a road closure as detailed in this extract from the event information:

PARKING

Is at Cumbernauld High School G67 2UF. Access for the slip road to the school from the A8011 to Kildrum Road is closed due to road works. Take the next slip road for alternative route to the school. Please car share if at all possible, the school car park will fill up

Russell has asked that the ladies are at the school by 12:40 where he will be with your numbers and the men should be there by 13:40. Thereafter Russell will be out on the course where you can collect your number.

The ladies' race starts at 13:40 (3 x 4000m) and the men's race starts at 14:40 (4 x 4000m for all categories except M50 which is 3 x 4000m).

Any call offs then please let Russell or I know by 12:00 or earlier if possible. There are spare spaces for 2 ladies and 2 men. Chances are that you have been registered as a reserve and hence can run. Full entry lists, including reserves are on the SA web site here. Let Russell or I know if you now want to run.
Alan

Malcolm Down Under!

As some of you may know, Malcolm and Carolyn Buchanan are giving up the globe trotting lifestyle and making their move to New Zealand more permanent this time. Malcolm is going to have a wee farewell evening in the lounge at the Sports Club from around 7:30pm on Saturday 3rd November (after the "Scally") to which we are all welcome. The more the merrier!
Alan

NAT 4K XC ( BELLAHOUSON PARK)

The National 4k XC is again at Bellahouston Park on 11th Nov.
Start times are Ladies 12.15 and Men 12.35 this is a straight head to head race.
Cost is £5 per head and i need names by Monday 29th Oct as this is a pre entry event.
Please leave your names HERE.
Names recieved so far are on this LIST

The Allan Scally Road Relay

Saturday 3rd Nov is the Allan Scally Road Relay starting at 2pm.
This is Grand Prix event no 5.
Teams of 4 for Men and 3 for Ladies over the 4.8 mile course.
Cost is £4 per head
Names needed by Thursday training 1st Nov so the teams can be selected.
Again we will run incomplete teams so everyone can run but please make sure your SA number is up to date.
Please leave your name HERE if you want entered.
Names received so far are on this LIST.

Aviemore Half Marathon

Having trained properly for this one (actually running beyond 13 miles) courtesy of the Harrier's Sunday morning club, I was cruelly struck down by Man-flu in the week leading up to the race. This meant that my first run in a week was the Aviemore Family Fun Mile the day before the race which I ran with my son Mark. A good fun event for all the family run around the centre of the resort and for a small entry fee of £2 a decent goodie bag for everyone.

The Saturday night had a free pasta party to encourage early registration and ease the burden of the Sunday morning. We stayed out at Coylmbridge which gave me a 2 mile walk / jog on Sunday morning to ease off. You get bussed out to the start at Bagaduish Outdoor Centre and I found myself up at 1100 feet over an hour before the race started. However its very well organised and there was even coffee and biscuits to help keep you warm.  Most runners gather in the sports hall and I met fellow Harrier Grant Maynard here who was a bit of a course veteran, this being his 3rd run. It was a crisp morning but didn't feel too bad until the last 10 minutes when you had to load your gear into the baggage bus and were left with just racing kit and a few jogs around the site to keep warm. Nearly 900 runners gathered in predicted time groups and were led forward to the start by a piper. In a simultaneous start the 450 runners of the 10k would cover the second part of the course.

Off we went, the first half being on trails which underfoot were something like a mix of the glen or the windfarm paths (when Eddie keeps us on the right route), but generally wide enough in most sections to pass runners. At just 2k in there was a very steep drop which had me worrying that we were dropping too quickly and would use up most of the predicted 400 foot drop from start to finish. This took you down through the Queens forest and along past mountain streams, probably the most dramatic of the scenery sections in a race which didn't lack visual stimulation to take away the pain. Sure enough from 4k - 6k it climbs back, including a sharp 50m climb over just 500m but then drops just as quickly to have the last few km of trail around Loch Morlich. It was then out onto the ski road around the 10K mark and those with previous experience made the most of  the faster section on tarmac which included long downhills. The only negatives were that the traffic remained on the road although not too busy, and in some sections you could see very far in front !

The race came back into Aviemore town and finished in front of the 4 Seasons hotel.

I was a bit disappointed with 1:30:51 (67th overall and 24th Vet), falling for the talk of a downhill race but not taking account of the first half being off road.  Strangely I thought I went too fast on the trails but checking the times suggested that it wasn't as fast as I thought but perhaps took too much out of the legs and couldn't take advantage of the road section.
Grant was just about spot on with his prediction, finishing 1:37:01 (137th and 42 Vet). The race was won by a guy from  Corstorphine Harriers in 1:14 and a lady Vet set the female course record in 1:20. Prizes were also available for Vets, Supervets and Vintage so plenty of opportunities.

A really good race which is well organised and run on behalf of the Speyside Trust Charity. The race generally closes early as numbers get limited by the need to bus people out to the start. The weather was decent but 2 days later it was bitterly cold as the first flurries of snow landed so like any race in Scotland you just have to take your chances. With the mixture of trail and road its a race well suited to the Harriers and if you get your strategy right should provide an opportunity for a decent time. As it is overall downhill there might be some debate as to whether it counts towards a pb but that's not something I have to be too concerned about, this year at least ...

Thanks to Stephen for the report and well done to both of you.
Alan

West district XC relays

Today saw 19 Harriers take to the XC course at Kilmarnock in what can only be described as near perfect conditions. The earlier rain had stopped and the sun shone and the course was muddy which is only right as it is xc.

First up was the 4 Ladies 1 complete team and a single leg runner. Karen and Frances were both on first legs with Karen running 17.11 and Frances 18.13 good runs from both. On the second leg following Karen was Joanne running 17.57 and to round of our senior team was Julie Beveridge with our fastest female time of the day 16.54 and we think a top ten finish. (waiting for full results). Then came the men's race with 15 taking part for the Harriers. First legs went to Andrew McCaffery A team (14.54) in a close race with our C team Stephen Reilly (15.00) good grouping guys, for our B team Ian Rae (17.16) and for the D team or maybe the Dream Team Richard Lawton with hios best result in a long time (18.29). This was the only leg the teams were out of sequence as they then finished in the alphabetical order. Second legs were Jim Holmes (16.11) Kenny Leinster (16.50) David Wardrope out of sorts (19.25) and Chas Steven (19.32). The third legs is were some found it difficult to work their watches properly with Stuart Waugh (17.05) Billy Buchanan (16.45) Hugh Simpson (18.58) succumbing to Richard after all his boasts then Russell Couper (20.38). This was our D Team finished but our other 3 teams had a leg still to do with Andy Henderson (16.45) George Stewart (18.12) also out of sorts and finally David Herbertson (??.??). We will need to wait for results before alan can update the GP although he can do the Ladies as they all know how to work watches.We have the National XC coming up in two weeks time and we have 2 Ladies and 5 Mens teams entered, there are still 2 ladies and 3 mens spaces available so please feel free to see me at the club to check if your on the reserve list if you want a run.

Thanks to Joanne for the photos, more of which are here.

Breaking News from JFK, New York!

Grand Prix and Scratch championships updated ahead of the West XC (well you have to find something to do when your flight is delayed by 2 hours). Use the usual links on the left to access the current positions. All the best for tomorrow in Kilmarnock.
Alan

TEAMS FOR WEST DISTRICT XC

Teams for Saturdays race are as follows:-
LADIES A  1 K Allen    2 J McEvoy   3 J Beveridge
               B   1 F Maxwell

MENS VET A   1 A McCaffery 2 J Holmes        3 S Waugh        4 A Henderson
             VET B  1  I Rae             2 K Leinster       3 B Buchanan  4  G Stewart
MENS C            1 S Reilly          2  D Wardrope  3 H Simpson    4 D Herbertson
MENS D            1 R Lawton       2 C Steven        3 R Couper

There is still 2 Ladies and 1 Mens place available if anyone wishes a run but check with me first to make sure your on the list of reserves.
See details below for arrival times to collect your numbers from me and let me know before 11.30 of any call offs

West District X/C Relays : Kilmarnock

Ladies Race start time 12:30
Be there for 11:30 to collect your race numbers from Russell.
There are still 2 places available on the 2nd team.
Let Russell know as soon as you can if you have not yet entered but now wish to run.

Mens Race start time 13:30
Be there for 12:30 at the latest to collect your race numbers.
It will also let you support the girls race.

If there are any call off's let Russell know as soon as possible so the teams can be selected.

Please do not contact Alan regarding teams or call off's etc. as he is currently  in the USA.

High Heels Update

The Community Champion award went to Peter Lee, an 86 year old who raises money for the British Heart Foundation and runs half marathons playing the spoons. He truely is a worthy winner. Thanks to everyone for your interest and support. We had a great night, meeting Big Bob from River City, Christopher Biggins, The Krankies and managing to avoid Colin and Justin!

McAndrew Relays Report

A fine turnout from the Harriers today with one complete ladies team and two and a half mens teams.
With four runners lining up at the start we had Stephen Reilly running the B team ahead of the A team due to him not being a Vet, Stephen finishing in 19.42. Next in was Jim Holmes for the Vets A team in a time of 20.51 followed closely by our ladies team Karen Sturgeon 21.13 then a little wait for Hugh Simpson in a new course best 23.42. So off were all our second leg runners, their turn to face the wind on Anniesland Rd the rest of the course being fairly free of wind and with the dry cool conditions it made a pleasant change as this race is usually wet. Andt Henderson brought the B team in still ahead of the A team in 21.02 with Eddie Reid closing the gap in 20.24. Our ladies had joanne McEvoy on this leg running a consistent 22.07 followed not so closely by Russell Couper in the expected time of 27.01. This was the mens C team complete so taking the title of 1st Calderglen team to finish. Onto our 3rd legs and Andrew McCaffery overhauled our B team with our best time of the day 18.58 with David Wardrope dropping back but still with a good time of 22.57. Our ladies 3rd leg went to Julie Beveridge pulling a bit back on our B team with a time of 21.27 and possibly 3rd ladies team (need to wait for the results). That left our two 4th leg runners to battle it out David Herbertson fresh off the plane from Thailand and Mark Saez making his debut on this course.  David had enough of a start to fend off Mark running in 21.16 with Mark 20.29. Dont know the placings yet but will get them online when they are ready.

McAndrew Teams 2012

Teams and running order for tomorrow are listed here. Note that for this race men's vets teams are M40+ according to Victoria Park CoG's web site. Parking/Changing/Registration is at Jordanhill School, 45 Chamberlain Road, Glasgow, G13 1SP. Check the Google Map here. The race starts at 3pm but please be there by 14:15 if you are on a first leg such that numbers can be distributed and to allow time for  a warm up (again, a very gentle lap of the course is recommended beforehand). If anyone has to drop out, please let Russell know in advance (no point telling me, I will be on a plane to USA at that time!). Otherwise we will assume that you are running.

Have a great race, wish I was there.
Alan

NATIONAL XC RELAYS (Cumbernauld)

The National XC relays will once again be held in Cumbernauld on Sat 27th Oct.
This is a pre entry race and i need names by Monday 8th Oct either HERE or at training on Thursday or Monday.This is Grand Prix race number 4. Names received so far are listed here.
Start times are Ladies 1:40 and men 2:40.
Cost is £4.00 per head and again we will enter partial teams so everyone wanting a run will get a run.
Please make sure your Scottish Athletics membership is up to date.
sorry about the short notice on this one.
CORRECTION TO THE COST ITS £4.50 PER HEAD

Russell

McANDREW ROAD RELAYS

The McANDREW ROAD RELAY will again be at Jordanhill on Sat 6th Oct starting at 3PM (Grand Prix Race #2).
Teams will be 4 for men and 3 for ladies with a cost of £4 per head.
Again we will enter incomplete teams so everyone can get a run.
Please leave your name HERE by 3rd Oct or see Alan or Russell at training on 4th Oct so the teams and running order can be selected. Names recieved so far are on this FORM.

Baxters Loch Ness Marathon

Why would I ever want to do a marathon? I'm a track runner. Marathons are only for people who need to get a life……aren't they? I've now got nothing but respect for anyone who completes a marathon, it's now the toughest race I've ever done.

I was watching the London Marathon this year and, maybe because it was in a home olympic year, it suddenly got me thinking. Will I regret it if I don't try and experience that some day? The seed had been planted but, not being in the know on the marathon scene, I didn't realise that the London Marathon ballot was only open for about 30 seconds (Andy can you enter my name in the club London Marathon ballot?) I'd missed the ballot and my back was now up. I didn't need their flamin' ballot, surely I could find another local marathon and cruise round in the 3 hour 15 minute qualifying time. It's not even 7 minute miling, that's got to be easy?? How naïve was I. That is seriously hard to do for over 26 miles. I scanned the fixture list in June and noticed the Baxters Loch Ness Marathon at the end of September. That would fit nicely into my schedule, so my name was entered.

On my first long run of a massive 8 miles, nearly double my normal run distance, I bumped into Eddie Reid. I was still buzzing from entering and excitedly told him that I'd entered my first marathon. 10 minutes later I popped a calf muscle. I was limping home, thoroughly depressed, when I bumped into Jim Holmes. He must've thought at the time that I was a crabbit prima donna! If my dodgy calf couldn't last an 8 mile run in the glen, what chance would I have of running 26 miles on tarmac? I'd virtually given up hope of getting to the starting line. 2 weeks rest and 3 weeks easy jogging later and I was ready to try an 8 mile run again. Thankfully my calf held out, but now I had just over 2 months until race day. I really had to gradually build up
my long run to 20 miles to give myself any chance of getting round. I started off every long run expecting my calf to let me down. Surprisingly I survived the rest of my long runs without a hitch. Albeit I was running on the forgiving Whitelee Windfarm trails and not on tarmac, which would surely find me out. I hardly ever saw
another runner up at the windfarm, mainly it was just off road bikers. I would highly recommend the windfarm as an alternative place to run. Endless miles of trails, with a cushioned surface to run on and lots of tough climbs thrown in. You can also have a shower, then a lovely coffee and cake at the visitors centre.

Before I knew it me and Mandy were on our way to Fort Augustus for the marathon, which also incorporated the Scottish Marathon Championships. The day before we recced the course, which starts just before Whitebridge and follows the banks of Loch Ness. Going through Foyers and Dores before finishing in Bught Park in Inverness. It was taking us an eternity to drive the course, so how on earth could I run all that way? Scenery was beautiful, but I was doubting if I'd get the chance to appreciate that the following
day. The race itself is very well organised, considering the logistics of busing 4000 runners from Inverness to the start in the middle of nowhere. This was also a two hour journey. Not ideal prepartion just before running a marathon.

I decided on taking the alternative choice of a short bus journey from Fort Augustus to the start, which was only a few miles. The only draw back to this was that I was on the last bus to arrive. The sight on arriving was unreal. There must have been over 50 buses abandoned at the side of a one lane road with thousands of people squeezing their way past the buses to the start line. It was like a scene from a disaster movie. I thought that, as I was being bused to the start, there was no chance of me having my usual nightmare
time keeping problems. If I wanted to start at the back of the field then I was there in plenty time, but fighting my way through thousands of people to the start line left me with only a few minutes to spare for a warm up before the gun went.

Last minute advice from Calderglen's marathon expert, Gerry McParland, was to find a comfortable pace and then keep the mile times constant. Mandy, my expert nutrition adviser, had devised a complex refueling schedule. So complex that I thought I'll never remember it and was going to write it on my hand. Unfortunately, while sitting on the bus to the start, I realised that I hadn't even remembered to write it down. So I just had to wing it.

Finally Brian Burnett set us off on our way. The first ten miles seemed to fly by. I was feeling strong but kept resisting the temptation to push on. Everything was going to plan up until 15 miles. Then all the numpties who'd gone off too fast were  starting to struggle. I was regularly picking them off one by one. This became probably too motivating and, before I realised, I'd got carried away trying to pick off one too many. Suddenly I became the numpty and was pushing just a bit too hard. Not too much damage would happen in shorter races, but in a marathon this can be suicidal. I got to 19 miles and my legs were starting to
get heavy. This was unfortunate timing as it came at the bottom of a 1 mile climb up from Dores. My race plan was to take it easy going up this hill and to then, if I felt OK,  push the last 10K downhill to the finish. Unfortunately the hill knocked the stuffing from me and my legs started to seize up. Probably from pushing too hard and also a lack of longer training runs on the road. The last 10K seemed to take an eternity, but I dug deep and crossed the line in 2 hours 57mins. I'd secretely hoped if everything went well to
sneak under 3 hours. So I was delighted to join the sub 3 hour club.

On crossing the line I couldn't resist trying to produce a Kodak moment. I lay on the ground with arms in the air doing a goal scoring type celebration, but show offs usually get their comeuppance. When I tried to get up my legs had stiffened up so much I was stuck and couldn't get back up.

All in all it was an incredible experience which surprisingly left me feeling pretty emotional at the end. Roll on London.

Martin