Sunshine & Showers at Strathclyde Park

Billy Buchanan heads for the sharp end of the loch

Now updated with official times and positions!
The weather threw everything at the assembled field of runners for the Scottish Masters Road Relay Championships in Strathclyde Park this morning.Torrential overnight showers were replaced with glorious sunshine only for the showers, hail and blustery winds to return by the time the last leg runners were off. In these conditions the club tent earned its crust, providing a touch of comfort, shelter for the Harriers and nicely enclosing a park picnic table and benches.

Eddie Reid sets off on the last leg

Calderglen were represented by two M50 teams of 4 and one and a quarter M35 teams. First leg duty went to Davie Watt (M50A), Hugh Simpson (M50B), Alan Derrick (M35C) and Russell Couper (M35D). Although not having raced for a long time, Davie got off to a flyer, finishing a close second in the M50 event and inside the top ten overall. Furthermore, Davie now has a watch and could report his finishing time to be an excellent 21:08. In fact, officially he was 21:05 and second fastest M50 of the day, only 6 seconds behind David Thom of Cambuslang. I was a couple of places behind Davie and struggling to maintain form, especially into the wind, but was happy enough with a finishing time of 21:31. Hugh Simpson is only just getting back to training after many interruptions so struggled with his breathing (28:32) but still ran well and has taken a big step back towards hard training with this race. Russell Couper struggled on the second half of the lap and was not at all happy with his run (34:13) but has missed a few sessions recently.

Andy Henderson was on leg 2 for the M50 A team and is another one coming back from a few weeks of illness, so it was a big ask to hang onto the 2nd position established by Davie. Andy slipped back to 5th in a time of 24:51, still a great time. David Herbertson had taken over from me and passed Andy but with his usual timeless elegance, did not record a time, so we shall wait for the official results to advise (23:36, a course best!). Billy Buchanan had just arrived back from warm weather "training" in the Canaries so could have been excused if he was at all jaded. This was not reflected in his performance though, finishing in an excellent 25:21 for the B team. On leg 3, Stuart Waugh had the challenge of improving on 5th position for the A team. Stuart did exactly as he was told and passed the 4th place Carnegie runner, handing over in a fantastic 24:23. Richard Lawton represented the C team on the 3rd leg, covering the 3.6 mile lap in 27:59. Gerry Mullen chased down 5 or 6 people on his leg to finish in 25:04. After a possibly too swift full lap warm-up, Eddie Reid made it back just in time to take over from Stuart, knowing who he had to catch to get into the medals. Eddie ran strongly as always and crossed the line in 5th position in a time of 23:28, someone else having sneaked past un-noticed on either Stuart or Eddie's leg. A commendable performance for the club in a national championship. Kenny Leinster was on last leg duty for the M50 B team and rounded out a very evenly matched team with a 25:30. Gerry Connelly made his first appearance in a newly purchased Calderglen vest and experienced the loneliness of the last leg relay runner. Gerry ran a well paced 25:44. I see a well matched training pack forming there!

Well done to all and a big thanks to Andy and Gerry for bringing the club tent down.
Alan