A BIG THANK YOU

May I start by saying what a privalige it is to be Calderglen Harriers Race Director,
As someone that goes to many events that others put together I appreciate the hard work that goes into these events and im grateful that I can give something back.
First of all Many Thanks to all that turned up for our four races, if we have no competitors then we don't have an event. Next I would like to thank our many sponsors. EKGTA, Coca Cola, EKES, Tunnocks, Marks & Spencer, Run4It and Costco. Again without their support it would be a poorer event. Finally the members of Calderglen Harriers and friends and family many of whom give up their day to set up the courses, sort registration, marshall the events, hand out goody bags, take results at the finish line, bring along the tasty buffet and sit all evening in a room typing entries and results. If ive forgotten anyone please take it as read you have my thanks.

Team Prizes, Junior Prizes and Veteran Prizes will be in the post on Monday.

Again a BIG THANK YOU to everyone.

Trail Race 2013 - A Record Field

Calderglen Harriers flying at the start of the 1km

Expectations were high after record pre-entries for our annual Friday evening trail race series and we were not disappointed on the night when young and old enthusiastically lined up for the 1k, 3k, 5k and 10k races in mild and dry conditions. A slight breeze kept the majority of the midges at bay too thankfully. 

First race of the evening was the under 9's 1km starting at 6pm. A start line "Mo-Bot" confirmed that Mo Farah has indeed grabbed the attention of young athletes across the country. Then the around 50 youngsters launched themselves off the fast downhill start. Just over 4 minutes later a very close race to the finish line was won by Calderglen's Evan Hughes closely followed by team mate Patrick Saez, both sons of senior Harriers. Just behind, first of the girls, Isla Ward of Fusion Triathlon Club was third overall. There was plenty of effort and smiles throughout the field as the youngsters clearly enjoyed this great little loop around the Country Park. A link to the provisional results is at the end of this post.

Next race on the programme was the combined U15 and U13 Ewan Murray Memorial 3km race over a challenging, undulating course of two laps. Pre-race favourite Aiden Gilbride (U15) of East Kilbride AC did not disappoint and was the clear winner in a time of 11:42, followed by Paton Struan (U13) of Ron Hill Cambuslang and Cameron Watson of Inverclyde AC (U13). First of the girls was Calderglen's Emma Lawton (U13) in a very impressive 6th overall in a time of 13:32.

The 5k race field covers a mixture of youths and adults and indeed youth won out in the end with Law & District AC's junior Luke Foss the clear winner in 15:54, an excellent time on such a tough course. Towards the opposite end of the age spectrum, Hunter's Bog Trotter Donald Naylor (M40) was second in 16:09. The enigmatic HBT contingent had all entered both the 5k and 10k races, so were definitely making good use of Calderglen Country Park on their trip through from Edinburgh. Third place was a senior athlete, Andtew Coulter from Ron Hill Cambuslang in 16:36. The next 4 places were occupied by a quartet of East Kilbride AC athletes, Vincent Hastings, Jamie Clements, David Gorman and Niall Walker, for a certain team prize and first of the ladies was team mate Kelly Baillie in 21:23.

A record entry of 218 was received for the 10k race and even though there were around 20 non-starters, it was still the largest field assembled in the 17 years of this event. The course covers a very tough 10km route around the country park and out towards Langlands before returning through "The Glen" to the traditional finish through the avenue of trees to the entrance to the Sports Club. Former Calderglen Harrier and pre-race favourite Stuart Gibson of Ron Hill Cambuslang was perhaps feeling the pressure on this relatively low key race, even more so when he went through the initial short lap lying in third or fourth position. However, local knowledge and pace judgement paid off in the end as Stuart stretched away on the long lap to win in 34:49 followed by club mate Robert Gilroy in 35:13 and Colin Thomas of Jog Scotland in 35:26. Impressively, Donald Naylor of HBT who had finished 3rd in the 5k was 6th in the 10k! First lady was last year's winner and current national masters cross country champion Edel Mooney of Lothian Running Club in 40:18, heading a large and much appreciated contingent through from the east.

And then of course we had the domestic challenge between a hand picked selection of Calderglen's finest volunteers who not only helped out with the preparations and marshalling for the earlier races but then competed in the 10k race. First Harrier across the line in relatively relaxed style was George Stewart in 48:56 with recent close rival John McBride just behind in 49:27. Alisson Lessells was not far away from big John, crossing the line in 50:05, having made a big effort to pass Richard Lawton (50:13) with Hugh Simpson (51:03) and Jim Mearns (53:38) completing a very closely matched Calderglen team.

A huge thanks to all who made the effort to travel from far or near on Friday evening to support our event and a huge thanks to our club and event sponsors EKGTA, Run-4-It and EKES and others who made donations to help us put this evening together. We could not do any of this without the Calderglen Harriers, family and friends, Jimmy and Myra Moore who helped out on the night and we should all congratulate race director Russell Couper who makes sure that everybody volunteers to help and has done such a great job organising and publicising this event.

Provisional results for each of the events are here: 1k, 3k, 5k and 10k. Age group and team prize winners will be notified by post after the results have been reviewed. Results from previous years are available here. Some further photos of the earlier races are here.

Alan

Trail Race Food

Hi All
         Can I just remind everyone that it is customary to feed our guests on Friday night with a buffet.
That said what we need is everyone to bring up a plate of sandwiches or sausage rolls or some home baking that sort of thing. Please no trifles as its a finger buffet.

Many thanks

Trail Race

Hi all, good luck with the Trail Race. Hope the weather is kind.

TTC Update

Thanks to all Harriers, ATHelite Tri Clubbers, friends and local runners for an excellent response to the launch of the TTC. We have now filled 25 of the 28 places. Please encourage anyone you know who is interested in participating to get their entry form in and deposit as soon as possible. We will be creating a waiting list too as there usually are one or two drop-outs due to late injuries or other unforeseen circumstances.

For those who have not yet got your deposit in, please do so as soon as you can. Leave a comment on this blog if you want us to e-mail the postal address to send a cheque to (for security reasons, don't leave your e-mail address on the comment, we already have all the e-mail addresses from the on-line entries). Cheques should be made payable to "Calderglen Harriers".

All details of the event are here in the original blog post.

Alan

WHW Race

Ian Rae finished the WHW race a little after midnight Saturday night with a time of 23hrs 34mins and 42secs. Well done to Ian and im sure we will get a race report when hes recovered.

Black Rock 5

I headed to Kinghorn on Friday night to take part in the Black Rock ‘5’ Race.  This is a road-beach race of about 4.5 miles in length.  The course is an out-and-back one, with the turning point at the Black Rock, which can be found in the Firth of Forth.  The race has, for obvious reasons, to be run when the tide is out.

The race starts on a hill and climbs for about 100 metres before turning at the top of the hill and descending down to the beach.   From the start of the beach out to the Black Rock it is about a mile.  I got out to the Black Rock and ran around it, by which stage I was ankle deep in water.  After that it was a mile run back along the beach.  Having enjoyed nearly a mile of relatively flat/downhill road running at the beginning as this was an out-and-back course you can guess that I now had a mile of ascending back up the hill to the finish line.  Don’t be caught out by the finish line either as although I had the 100 metres back down the hill that I had started on, you get to the bottom of this hill and turn at the railway viaduct to discover the finish line which is on another hill, about 100 metres up the hill.

I crossed the finish line in a time of 33.24.  I did not have a time in mind due to both the nature of the race and also my level of fitness over the last few months.

The weather certainly played a part in making this an enjoyable race as it was a lovely sunny night in Kinghorn and many of the locals were out supporting the race.  The views once you got onto the beach were lovely as you looked towards Edinburgh and the Forth Bridges. 

There was a bottle of beer for all finishers after they had crossed the line and there was also a post-race barbeque.  The race was well organised by Hunters Bog Trotters.

752 people finished the race last night, with the winner being Dermot Cummins in a time of 22.48.  The leading lady was Jennifer Emsley in a time of 26.27.

Julie

Trail Race Harriers Entries

We have 6 members that asked to be entered in the draw to run the trail race and we can allow the 6 to run although you are still required to help until the 10k start time but you will be released from duties as early as possible. What I need from you is a completed entry form to fill up the database and need it before Friday. If you can bring along a form on Monday to training that would be great. I can take it Thursday but would prefer it earlier. Although your entry is free if you wish to donate the entry fee to the club it would be appreciated.

Brian Goodwin Memorial 10k

Chris Wilson and myself took part in the Brian Goodwin Memorial 10k tonight in Pollock Park.
Its a 2 lap relatively flat course so has the potential for fast times, That said it was my slowest road 10k of the year as im still nursing a calf injury and had to keep the pace down almost from the start finishing in 59.15 . Chris on the other hand is finding his feet if you pardon the pun. After running a fantastic 39 mins at Roukenglen last week he was looking for further improvement tonight. To use his own words he ran a steady first lap as he could feel a stitch coming on but by the start of the 2nd lap this had passed. He stepped up his pace as he wanted to beat last weeks time and he didn't disappoint running in 38.00. Well done Chris more to come I think.

Vertical Mile 2013

The eagerly anticipated climax of the 2012/2013 grand prix series will take place on Monday 24th June during normal club training. It goes without saying that this will be a slightly inclined race over 1 statute mile, whereby the course will start at the bottom of Auchentibber and the course profile will then describe a monotonically increasing function to a finishing point marked by the Auchentibber war memorial.

All remaining jokers will be automatically played, no need to declare them.
Alan

Trail Races

With our Trail Races fast approaching (28th June) its time for our members to commit to helping out on the day and night.
As usual if we have enough helping we can free up members to take part in the race.
I will be at the Sports club on the day from approx. 1.30pm to start to set up the hall and course.
We're better to have too many as not enough so anyone that can come up in the afternoon as well as the evening it will be greatly appreciated.
What I need now is for you to add your name to HERE with an estimated time of arrival so I can allocate roles for everyone. If there is a particular role you wish please also indicate this and if possible that's what you will get. If your names already on see HERE. Please also tick the box if your are interested in being put into the draw to represent the Harriers (for free) in the 10k Trail Race (only those volunteering for duties will go into the draw).

Russell

THANKS TO EVERYONE THAT HAS ADDED THEIR NAME BUT WE STILL NEED ANOTHER 2 AND WE HAVE A FEW MEMBERS THAT HAVE NOT REGISTERED THEIR AVAILABILITY IF THEY COULD PLEASE DO SO.

Calderglen Sports Hub Family Open Day

Calderglen Sports Hub is proud to announce its launch.

Family Open Day - Sunday 23rd of JUNE, 10am until 2pm

Venue: Calderglen Community Sports Hub, East Kibride Sports Club

www.calderglensporthub.co.uk

Come along and sample various sport and physical activity at the HUB

All ages welcome

For more information on this event contact andrew.fleming@southlanarkshireleisure.co.uk

Scottish National Masters Track & Field Championships

The Scottish Masters Track & Field Championships where held today ( Sunday ) at Grangemouth Stadium alongside the National 10k Championship and Junior relays. Stuart Waugh and Russell Couper went along for the 5k even though with such a high entry rate the schedule had moved this event to the evening and split it into 2 age categories. First up at 18.30 was Russell in the M35 to M55 race. With the timing of the event a lot did not turn up so we had 10 starters. Off we went and after the first full lap I was already half a lap down on the leading 6 with another 3 about 30m down on them. Oh dear the last few laps are going to be lonely. Never mind I was running it as a time trial anyway, The first few laps went well enough and my time was a little inside the schedule I set myself then disaster 3.5 laps in and my calf was causing a lot of concern not the one that had been bothering me for the last couple of weeks but the other one. Time to back off and just get round so my pace dropped by about 15-20 secs per lap. For anyone that doesn't know this is part of the SVHC run & become series and I was trying to get back in my age group lead. With 3 laps to go it wasn't as bad and I picked up about 10-15 secs per lap. Finished with 26.26 which was a minute faster than last year so not overly unhappy with that. Next up was Stuart at approx. 18.55. This was all other ages and it had a slightly larger turnout. They started just as I had finished so missed the first lap as I was making my way over the infield to the start point. By the time I picked up the race there was a lead of 2 with the rest spreading themselves out around the track. Stuart was looking fresh enough in the early laps and moving at a steady pace but as it moved into the last third he was starting to look a bit more stressed and it was obvious his recent injury was taking its toll. he kept working hard though and crossed the line in 20.39. He was a bit disappointed with this but probably more with the injury preventing him from pushing harder. A good eventfull day with lots of races to see or take part in. Non stop action and worth some other Harriers giving it a try in future years.

Dechmont Law - The Real Story!

A small turnout of diehard runners turned out last Sunday for the Dechmont Law 10k trail race.  The weather continued to shine as it has done during the past week but just slightly on the cooler side due to the race being late morning.

There were some good performances with 1st Harrier home Stephen Phimister in a time of 42.07 and not far behind was Eddie Reid in 43.35.   The next two runners were David Herbertson in 44.06 followed closely by Jim Holmes in 44.51.  Our only female runner of the day was Joanne McAvoy who completed the race in 46.24 claiming 1^st female Harrier!  The day’s closet head to head was George Stewart and Richard Lawton with George coming out top 51.11 and Richard 51.13.  George had stopped early on in the race and Richard passed him and maintained a healthy lead until the last 500m. George had crept up on Richard and smoothly went by with Richard reacting slowly but unable to catch in the downhill finish. 

Apparently George was motivated by the thought of potential headlines on the blog of being beaten again! Scottish National Trail Race…say no more.

The last runner of the day was Russell Couper in a time of 62.38.  Even though last Russell might be the true winner as he hopes he has won the 2013 Grand Prix.  However we shall wait until results have been counted and verified by Alan.

Richard

Potters 'Arf Marathon 2013: Stoke-on-Trent

This was the race that I have been training for all year despite having Achilles Tendonitis and regular visits to Grant.

Its a hilly race very demanding and even more so on the hottest day of the year so far, there is a Gold medal for under 1:30, a Silver for under 1:45 and a Bronze for under 2 hrs, my goal was for under 2 hrs which I missed out on by 4 mins last year, this year I was looking for a Bronze medal.

The first few miles of the race are undulating and I found myself going faster than expected I soon slowed at 4 miles when I reached a long inclining hill, however the Monday night training at Chatelherault helped me get to the brow and a nice descent at the other side.

At the 1 hour mark I had completed 7 miles and was feeling good but temperature wise I was hot, 2 water stations and lots of enthusiastic spectators lining the streets shouting encouragement was a big help.

At 10 miles I was at 1:27 on target for under 2 hours but starting to struggle with the heat and yet another long hill, starting to question why I was doing this, but another water station came up took a few jelly babies and even managed to run part way up ‘Heartbreak Hill’ as the locals call it at 11 miles, similar in challenge to our vertical mile run, picked up the pace when I reached the top a few more smaller hills and a sprint to the finish in a time of 1:56:42, Bronze Medal in the bag !!

A great well organised race of about 1500 runners with streets lined with spectators supplying extra water, jelly babies and a few welcoming water hoses.

Maybe Silver next year......see how my training goes !

Well done to Phil on a great improvement on a tough course.
Alan

Roukenglen 10K

 As many of you know the old Roukenglen course had a 4k hill climb and wasn't known for being a fast course. So when the pre-race blurb advertised a new ‘faster, flatter route’ then it was worth a go. Over the years the Harriers had a big turnout at this event but our numbers were lower on a decent night for running. It takes the usual ‘festival’ format and Evan Hughes of our young athletes section ran in the 1k primary school races. His dad Ian Hughes chose the 5k event to save the family hanging around too long and finished 2nd in 18:18.

 

The 10k has been promoted to a chipped race and we lined up in the normal start position at the bottom of the park. Concerns were raised when the organiser announced over the PA that this was a challenging course and quizzed looks all round for those looking for the faster, flatter route.

 

For those that have ran the course before its a similar first loop but this time you remain inside the park and head up to the pond. There is a short sharp climb up onto Davieland Rd then its the usual outer loop past the park entrance and the start of the climb at Stewarton Road. The difference this time was that we came into the golf club car park and then its onto an ‘undulating’ section of trail that includes a lung bursting climb. Descriptions ranged from ‘the top part of Lickprivick’  to ‘the log jamb without the logs’ . It was 2 of these bigger loops then back past the pond and the usual finish down the path.

 

Estimates range from it being 30s to 1 minute slower than a flat course. Challenging it certainly was. Faster and flatter ... ? well only if you compare it to the previous course which had big uphill.

 

Best performance of the night went to Chris Wilson who stormed round in 39:39 - not bad for his first 10k race ! We’ll give him honorary Harrier status for the night but he needs to get a vest or Russell will withdraw such generosity ! Next home was Stephen Phimister 40:56 who had hoped for better - although strangely the chip time was 3s longer than the watch time. Stuart Waugh had a reoccurrence of his leg injury but made it interesting as Joanne chased him down the home straight, just managing to hold her off over the line although both with chip times of 43:41. Richard Lawton (47:16) was next over the line followed by Colin Jarvie (48:38). Russell Couper was out for a training run ahead of this weekend’s events but also had injury problems near the end and finished 55:42.

 

Nearly 400 ran with the winner crossing the line in 33:45.

 

As long as you accept that its not the fastest of courses then its a decent local race and probably well suited to our country park style of training. It has to be said that its one of the better race t-shirts although green, white and gold might not be to everybody’s liking !!!!

Thanks to Stephen for the report

Dechmont Law Trail Race & Skye Half Marathon

Over the weekend we had a few Harriers out and about racing.
First out on Saturday was Gerry Connelly at Skye for the Half Marathon. No race report available but Gerry ran a time of 1:51:54.
Then on Sunday we had round 15 of the Grand Prix at the Dechmont Law Trail Race.
The course was extended this year as it had been a little short in previous years making it even tougher than normal. The course was very firm due to the warm weather of late but with all the dry ruts it made for difficult running.
First Harrier home was Stephen Phimister ( 42.07 ) then came Eddie Reid (43.35 ) next in was David Herbertson ( 44.06 ) and Jim Holmes ( 44.51 ). Joanne McEvoy our only Female taking part came home next in ( 46.24 ). Our next two Harriers made a race of it between themselves ( 51.11 ) versus ( 51.13 ) with George Stewart just pipping Richard Lawton to the line. Finally still nursing a dodgy calf was Russell Couper ( 62.38 ). Happy enough with this all things considered with the extended course and dodgy calf it was still 3 mins faster than last year. Another good race hosted by Lothian Running Club and I would encourage more Harriers to try it next year. Alan will update the Grand Prix when he returns and then announce when the final race The Vertical Mile will be. In the meantime if my arithmetic is correct there is no change in the Scratch Championships positions but the Grand Prixs both have new leaders Joanne McEvoy and Russell Couper. Message for George I will need to start calling myself GPL.

If anyone else was racing over the weekend that ive not noticed let me know and I will add it on.

Phil Marshall ran the Stoke on Trent Half Marathon in a time of 1.56.42 a pb for Phil well done.
Hopefully a report to follow.

Davie Searil has had a busy weekend on Saturday he ran the Inverness parkrun in 23.58 but not content with this he then ran the Nairn 10m road race on the Sunday 1.22.26. It just goes to show even on holiday harriers just cant help themselves.

Ruth Kelly also ran the Vale of Leven 10k completing the full Polaroid series with a time of 52.44, this was also Ruth's first outing in her Harriers vest which to use her own words brought out a little competitive streak. Im sure this will grow in the coming months as the times drop.

Dechmont Law Trail Race

Registrations, Entries, Changing and Parking at Deans Community High School, Livingston, EH54 8PS Junior Trail Start: 10:30am. Fun Run Start: 10:45am. 10k Trail Start: 11:15 For those meeting at the club, we will leave at 9.30 am.

Longest Day Golf Challenge

The early rise at the West Highland Way was good practice for my next endurance event. On 21st June myself and three work colleagues are playng four rounds of golf in a day to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support. Our team, "50-shades-of-grey-hair", are teeing off at 5.30am and hope to be finished around 10pm, subject to having enough golf balls! I know a lot of these requests go round so there is no obligation what-so-ever, but if you would like to know more about the challenge and the charity feel free to visit:- www.justgiving.com/50-shades-of-grey-hair

TTC T-Shirt Sizes

We have now checked the sizes of the event T-shirts we are going to be ordering and can give a little more detail on the sizes as follows (this information is now also shown on the on-line entry form but not the printed one):

XS.  33-34

S.    35-36

M.    36-37

L.      38 -41

Xl.    41-44

XXL.  44-47

For those who have already filled in the TTC entry form and wish to change their T-shirt size, please let Eddie know and we will manually change your selection. Note there is also an XXL option available now.

Alan

TTC 2013 is Go!

What shocking colour will the event T-shirt be this year?

The seventh annual Trossachs Training Camp is ready to launch. This year it takes place on the weekend of Friday 13th to Sunday 15th September 2013, starting at around 5:30pm on the Friday and finishing early afternoon on the Sunday at the Trossachs Backpackers Hostel in Callander. Due to the generous support of our club sponsor, EKGTA Ltd, we are able to hold the price at £70 for the weekend, the same as last year. This includes two nights dormitory accommodation in the Trossachs Backpackers Hostel, 2 x 2 course dinners (3rd course available as a £4 extra per night) at The Lade Inn and 2 x buffet lunches provided by Zizique Deli and Mhor Bread as for the last two years. There is an accommodation-limited entry of 28 as usual so move fast to secure a place. Entries are on a first come, first served basis on payment of the £40 deposit with a completed entry form and will be accepted from Harriers and non-Harriers alike (a waiting list will be put in place should we be oversubscribed). This year we have an on-line entry form option here to ease the administration or the traditional printed entry form here. So fill in your on-line or printed entry and then bring the deposit (and printed entry form if used) to hand in to Eddie Reid, preferably on a Thursday training night at EK Sports Club (Thursdays are best as we train at Chatelherault instead of EK Sports Club on alternate Mondays through the Summer).

All standards of runner from relative beginner to experienced are catered for but please ask if you have any questions about the weekend or any doubts about your ability to participate. There is a box on the on-line entry form for sending questions to us or pop along to EK Sports Club on one of our training nights (preferably a Thursday at 19:30). Further details of where we meet are on our web site (link in menu on left).

Our enthusiastic and experienced team of Calderglen coaches (over 100 years of running experience between the four of them; I know that must mean most of us were running before we could walk) will lead equal ability packs on the various sessions throughout the weekend. The Forestry Commission and local charities have been working hard repairing weather damaged trails and opening up new ones, so I intend to put my local knowledge to good use in presenting some new routes and variations in the wonderful Trossachs scenery. The basic structure of the weekend is the tried and tested format of trail runs of varying length in the forests on Friday evening, Saturday morning and Sunday morning, a repetition or hill session on Saturday afternoon and a mixture of seminars and easy conditioning sessions between runs on the Saturday. Grant and Robbie from the Hamilton Sports Hub are signed up to administer words of wisdom and healing hands on Saturday morning.

We are all looking forward to seeing participants new and old alike.

Alan