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Saturday 28 September 2013

Houston 2013


It was a stunning day in Renfrewshire for the annual Houston Road Relays, with temperatures pushing into the low 20's degrees C. As this is the traditional start to the Calderglen Grand Prix season, we had an enthusiastic turnout from the club with 3 and a half teams fielded. With a mix of Autumn leaves in the shaded lanes and Summer heat on the more open roads, this was going to be a tough 2.7 mile loop. A strong vets A team comprised Eddie Reid, worrying about a knee problem that kicks in on downhill stretches sometimes, Charlie McDougall, about to turn 65 on Monday but still with the enthusiasm for racing of a 25 year old, myself, a bit ring rusty and Davie Watt, expected to be flying as usual.

Our second team was also a good vets team with Davie Herbertson on first leg duty, not having flown in from anywhere this time, handing over to Jim Holmes, looking in good shape for next weeks Glasgow Half, Andy Henderson lookingtypically fit and in-form John McBride taken out of his comfort zone and promoted to the B team for his first time at Houston. The third team had Colin Banks, a man on a mission, on leg 1, handing over to Hugh Simpson on leg 2. Hugh had to keep running at the finish as he was on his way to a family wedding in South Africa via Skype (that must be a first for the Harriers). On leg 3 Richard Lawton was having his second attempt at Houston but was worrying about the heat. Finally, Phil Marshall made his relay debut on leg 4 and ran very strongly on a course which suits his strength. Frances Maxwell led off half a team and had a tough battle against several ladies' teams which she eventually won before handing over to Russell Couper, who, you guessed it, does not like the heat!

Due to various timing non-starters, non-stoppers and non-existers, many times are missing, so I shall leave presenting any times until the official results become available (Monday evening according to the Kilbarchan web site). Well done to all for great performances and strong running. Thanks to Sandra for enthusiastic support as usual. Roll on McAndrew and hopefully the sun stays. More photos here.
Alan

McANDREW ROAD RELAYS

This years McANDREW ROAD RELAY has a few changes.
Start time is now NOON and the start / finish area has moved to Scotstoun Stadium.
Date is Saturday 5th Oct.
Cost will be £5 per head and again it is teams of 3 for Ladies and 4 for Men.
I need names by training on 3rd Oct.
If you want entered leave your name HERE.
Those already registered are listed HERE.

Friday 27 September 2013

Houston Teams 2013

Teams and running order for tomorrow's first relay of our Grand Prix season are here.

The first leg is off at 14:30 but we would like everyone there by 13:30 at the latest so we can declare the teams (we need to get the entry fee of each of you to pay for the teams on the day). Some are sharing cars and leaving the Sports Club at 12:30. It is such a short relay (2.7 miles) that you really do have to do a good warm-up before the start.

Registration is in Houston Church Hall, the location of which is shown on the course map along with parking locations.

If for some reason you cannot make it, please contact Russell or me (07867863741) well before 1:30 so we can change the teams.
Alan

Triathlon World Championships - London

A great report on a fantastic pair of performances from Martin:

Triathlon provided some of the most dramatic, noisy and spectacular races in the 2012 London Olympics. When it was announced that the 2013 Pruhealth World Triathlon Grand Final, which incorporated the age group World Championships, were returning to London, many competitive GB triathletes were keen to try and be selected for the GB team. It became even more attractive when it was decided that the course was to be in Hyde Park. The same course used for the Olympics

I was no different and my season would be organised around the various qualifying events taking place in England. I was hopeful of selection for the aquathlon, which comprises of a 1000m swim followed by a 5k run. This was my stronger event and I was pleased to win one of the three qualifying events, which guaranteed my selection.

It was always going to be much harder to be selected for the sprint distance triathlon, which comprises of a 750m swim, 20km bike and a 5k run. The competition was going to be fierce. I decided to try and qualify through the British Championships at the National Watersports Centre in Nottingham. The top seven finishers would be guaranteed selection.  I made the mistake of checking the list of entrants. I recognised lots of names of people who had been winning local events throughout the country. That was daunting enough but on the day it felt worse. Everyone competing seemed to look super fit and have an ultra modern fast time trial bike. The race itself for me was a struggle. My swimming goggles steamed up and I could hardly see where I was going. I also swallowed a mouthful of water and had to stop to calm myself down. Worse was to follow on the bike. When I jumped on the saddle nearly came off. I thought my race was over but pedaled on anyway. The seat was wobbling about, but I just kept going and thankfully it didn’t seem to get worse. As long as I focused on sitting right in the middle of the saddle I seemed to be getting by. Eventually after a tough 5k run I crossed the line expecting to be in about 30th place, but amazingly I’d finished 7th. I’d qualified with a few seconds to spare.

The feel good factor of being selected to compete in two events at London was short lived. With 2 months to go before London I pulled a calf muscle. I still thought it had time to heal and I could still train for the swim and cycle, but I’d given up hope of my running being at its best. That didn’t really bother me as I just wanted to be on the starting line to enjoy the whole experience. Frustratingly the pull was worse than I thought and I only managed my first easy run one and a half weeks before my first event in London. I didn’t even try to fully test my calf at race speed in case it broke down. The main thing for me was to be on the starting line and think I’d a chance to get round the course.

I’d a nice surprise a couple of days before London when my workmate and one of my training buddies Cameron Kennedy, said he had booked the sleeper to London and was coming down to give me some support. Possibly this added a bit to the pressure because I didn’t want him to come all that way to watch me pull up as soon as I started the run. Even warming up just before the first event Cameron was asking how the calf felt. I said it felt OK but inside I wasn’t convinced.

My first event was the aquathlon. The swim was in the Serpentine in Hyde Park. Earlier we were told that there would be no time to warm up in the water prior to the race starting. We would just be in the water 30 seconds before the starting horn sounded. Cameron is a seasoned open water swimmer and enjoys the challenge of beating the elements out doors. For me, unless it’s a scorching day, give me the comfort of a swimming pool. It always takes me about 10 minutes to adjust to the cold, which is just horrible. I couldn’t see myself being ready to race after 30 seconds, but surprisingly the swim seemed to go well. Maybe the adrenalin rush at the start just blocked out the cold. I recognised some people beside me when I got out of the water that I’m normally behind, so I was now sure that my swim had gone well. We then had to run 200m with our wetsuits on into the transition area, where our running shoes had been placed earlier. Running hard on my bare feet was not ideal for my fragile calf.

My only gripe with the whole London experience was that it was not clear where we were supposed to leave our wetsuits once we had taken them off. In the pre race briefing we were told that there would be a box to place them in. However no box appeared, so I just placed my wetsuit beside my running shoes. I was just about to set off on the run when I thought I heard a race marshal tell us to put our wetsuits over a metal rail. So I grabbed my wetsuit, put it on the rail and set off on the run. The race marshal then called my back bellowing “put your wetsuit under the rail” so I’d to run back and replace my wetsuit. This was the same marshal who penalised Jonny Browmlee 15 seconds at the London Olympics, so I’m starting to think maybe Jonny didn‘t jump on his bike early before the mount line. I’m joking as, to be fair, the marshals have a thankless job and it’s not their fault if we are given the wrong information before the race.

I then set off on the run frustrated and feeling hard done by. The one good thing about that was I’d completely forgotten about my fragile calf. I had planned to set off on the run cautiously and push on if the calf felt OK. I was now 400m into the run before I realised that the run was actually going well. From that point on I was just counting down the miles, hoping my calf would survive until the end. I crossed the line elated that I’d got round and it felt like a decent performance. I shortly found out that I’d finished in 11th place. I’d no expectations about position beforehand, but to finish well up the field in my biggest ever race was fantastic. Later I realised that I’d just missed out on a top ten finish by 6 seconds. So maybe the altercation with a marshal cost me a top ten. We will never know, but what I did know was that I had two days to recover for my next event, the triathlon.

The following day both my calf’s had stiffened up, probably due to the lack of running I’d done. I visited the team GB masseur and that seemed to help, along with the reassurance from her that my injured calf didn’t appear to be further damaged. I was trying to convince myself that I had a good performance in the aquathlon and whatever happened in the triathlon would be a bonus. It wasn’t really working, as deep down I knew that if I didn’t get round feeling I’d competed well, then it would still be a bit disappointing. Especially as I had family and friends coming to watch the triathlon, who had never seen me compete before. If I dropped out in front of them it could only be a bit of a damp squib.

From start to finish on the triathlon it couldn’t have gone better. A good swim set me up for, according to my bike computer, my strongest ever bike performance. I’m sure this in part is due to the additional mileage I’ve being doing cycling to work, with my shinny new cycle to work scheme bike. Thankfully my calf had unexpectedly survived the second race. I finished 13th overall and 4th in my GB team.

My races were over. Now it was the turn of the Brownlees. I joined a packed grandstand. Hopefully to watch Alistair complete the World Series with a win, which would give him the World Championship title. Even if he didn’t win surely Jonny would be there to win. Unfortunately it was not to be, Alistair limped home injured and Jonny was a “tactical numpty” to get out sprinted by Javier Gomez from Spain.

The junior men’s World Championship race made up for that disappointment with local boy Grant Sheldon from Blantyre taking the bronze medal behind silver medalist Marc Austin from Glasgow. Those two will ensure Scotland have a strong triathlon team at next years Commonwealth Games.

The whole experience was so much better than I had hoped. It just left me wanting to try it all again next year. This was the biggest ever World Finals with 75 nations taking part. So Canada next year has got a lot to live up to. Special thanks to Mandy and Cameron for their support. There always seems like a thousand things to remember before a big triathlon race and Mandy’s organisation skills are priceless. Cameron, the foghorn, gave the loudest support I can remember. Nearly blew me off my bike. It was also great to have my sister and niece support me at a race for the first time. They actually said “triathlon is a really cool sport”. Yes I’ll agree with that, even if you do compete in a naff trisuit.

I was now looking forward to the closing ceremony in Trafalgar Square, with the after race party in Tiger, Tiger until 3am. I went back to the apartment to get ready when the rain came on. I’m definitely getting passed it, a night in suddenly seemed more appealing than Tiger, Tiger.
Martin

Monday 23 September 2013

Even More TTC Photos Added

Frances' photos now added too (27/09/13)
Russel's photos from Saturday and Sunday at the TTC have now been added. Unless I'm mistaken, it was wet on the Sunday!

Full album here.

More photos to come later in the week.
Alan

Sunday 22 September 2013

George Cummings Relay (Houston)

This years Grand Prix starts again with the road relay in Houston.
The race starts at 2.30pm with teams of 3 for Ladies and 4 for Men.
Cost will be £4 per head.
Names required by training on 26th sept so Alan can select the running order.


Please leave your name on this form if you are available. All names received so far are listed here.

WEST DISTRICT CROSS COUNTRY RELAYS

This year the West District XC relays will be held at Hamilton Park Racecourse.
The date is 12th Oct with start times 12.40 for ladies and 1.40 for men.
Cost is £4 per head and I need names by Monday 23rd Sept.
Please see me at the club or leave your name on this form.

Names received so far are here.

Saturday 21 September 2013

Masters Age Groups Consultation Result


SIGNIFICANT DECISIONS BY RR AND CC COMMISSION

19th September 2013


Following a Road Running and Cross Country Commission meeting there are a couple of important announcements.

One takes in a change in Masters categories for all championships and the other refers to the Senior/Junior 4k race on Sunday 10 November - with races added that day for U15s and U17s.

*After consultation with the Clubs the RR&CC Commission at its meeting on 18/9/2013 decided to discontinue the M35 and W35 categories at all SAL Road Running and Cross Country championships from 1/10/2013. The Championships will continue to support Masters categories at 40+.
For details see Rules for Championships here
*The SAL Short Course Championship (4K for Senior/Junior men) will be augmented with a 2K
Championship for U15s and 3K championship for U17s.
This will be introduced in the 2013-4 season (10/11/2013).
*The over-50s team races at the SAL Cross Country and Road Relay Championships will now have medals for 1st, 2nd and 3rd teams.

Sunday 15 September 2013

TTC - Hands up if you Enjoyed Yourself


Spot the deliberate mistake - fortunately
only one of thirty shirts was like this!
The 7th annual TTC was another very successful event for the Harriers. A full house of 28 runners from the Harriers and ATHelite, great weather (except Sunday), fantastic food and total enthusiasm from all involved made for a really enjoyable weekend. Friday evening's 5 mile trail run was used to fine tune the pack membership in the lead-up to a very busy Saturday. After an evening in the Lade Inn where our party of 30 made quite a dent in a tonne of food, we awoke for the traditional team photo (preceded by a little yoga) on Saturday morning. Resplendent in our event T-shirts we were soon photographed and good to go. 
A selection of routes taking in some or all of the Callander Woodwalk, Bracklinn Falls and the Crags (could almost be a list of some of the Callander pubs but in this case it was actually hills) tested the 3 packs over distances of 7 to 10 miles.
Top of the Callander Crags

Straight after that we launched into 3 seminars on Biomechanics and Causes of Injury (Robbie Rooney), Benefits of Massage (Grant McLullich) and Yoga for Runners (Mark Russell). A huge thankyou to the 3 speakers for sharing their expertise with us. An excellent buffet lunch was provided by Mhairi Taylor of Delizique/Mhor Bread to set us up for the afternoon. We started off with parallel sessions with Mark Russell taking the ever popular yoga session whilst I directed the Ministry of Funny Walks aka a running form session outside.
Harriers & Ladders - Running Form Drills

To round off Saturday's training we did a downhill hill reps session and then retired to the Lade Inn for dinner.A severe weather warning had been issued by the Met Office for Sunday with gale force winds and torrential rain forecast. They were almost right, it was very wet but the wind was fine. This year's routes covered distances of 12 to 16 miles taking in the three Lochs Venachar, Achray and Drunkie. No one was lost but everyone was soaked! After drying out, the training camp finished with another excellent Delizique lunch.

Thanks to all who helped organise and who participated in this memorable event. The hostel has been provisionally booked for the same weekend next year so hope to see you all there. Russell was chief photographer for the weekend so sometime soon I shall add Russell's photos to the album and link them to this post. The photo album containing some photos from Frances and me is here.  To be expanded.
Alan

Saturday 14 September 2013

PB and a Podium

While most of the Harriers headed to the Trossachs training camp, I set off to Newcastle with my sister for the Great North Run weekend.  Louise had entered the Great North Run in the ballot and had a place.  I was too late to enter and instead Louise convinced me to enter the Great North Run 5k on the Saturday morning.
I set off to the Quayside for a warm-up with Louise who spent her morning taking pictures of Mo Farah, who started the race, and running up and down the quayside shouting at me.  The race started on the Newcastle side of the quay but soon crossed the Tyne to Gateshead where we ran out along the riverside for about 2k before turning to return to Newcastle.  On the return, you ran on part of the special track assembled for the Great City Games taking place in the afternoon.  The last kilometre took you over the millennium bridge and onto the home straight.  At the turn, I was third female and retained this position as I crossed the line in a new PB.  My gun time was 19.49 although chip time would have been few seconds faster.  Unfortunately, finishing in the top three only records your gun time!

The weekend has a number of races taking place from age 3 upwards and there is a good atmosphere around the city.  The Great City Games in the afternoon allowed us to watch live some sprints and the mile races whilst catching a glimpse of World Class Athletes.  Now tomorrow I’m on supporting duties for team Beveridge.
Julie

Thanks to Julie for the report and what an absolutely fantastic, high profile podium for Julie to achieve. I'm sure it will not be the last podium and certainly not the last pb. Great to see a Calderglen vest up there beside two Gateshead vests.
Alan

Wednesday 11 September 2013

Ayr Seaforth 5 Mile River Race - 22nd September

A message received from Peter Laing of Ayr Seaforth about their forthcoming race:

"I hope you enjoyed the Land o Burns 10k race in May & hope you can make our next event on Sunday 22nd September!
It’s a 5 mile race through the scenic Craigie estate up & down the banks of the river Ayr & a refreshing change from running on the road!
You can pre-enter online at Entry-central or enter on the day at Dam Park stadium from 10am!
Hope to see you there!
Regards
Peter Laing
Ayr Seaforth Athletic Club"

Alan

Monday 9 September 2013

DIRTY DUO - CYCLE CROSS & TRAIL RUNNING EVENT

There is cycle cross and trail running event around Calderglen Country Park on Sunday 20th October.  It is based on the Triathlon and competitors will run, cycle and run again through the trails. If your child or indeed you or other members of your family wish to enter please find further information on how to get involved in the event please click on the to South Lanarkshire and Culture web site: http://www.slleisureandculture.co.uk/news/article/549/dirty_duo_a_little_run_a_little_cycle_and_a_ton_of_mud

Thanks to Richard for passing on this news from the Club Together meeting with Whitemoss tonight.
Alan

Monday 2 September 2013

Harriers Cross Training Part Deux - Climbing & Caving

On Friday the 30th August following a previously casually mentioned , "I would like to try that at some point", (nearly 2 months ago) the people who had uttered those fateful words and forgotten all about it were called up to the climbing wall at Playsport at Stewartfield . (5=a-side pitches/golf etc you know the place along from Kingsgate). Yes step forward Geo, Frances and Joanne, nerves of steel and hand grips like gorillas.

The Friday night entertainment had been arranged by the EKCC (kayak club) and there were a few spare harnesses available so the scene was set for these brave Harriers to increase the gradient they are used to at Langlands doing hill efforts by about 90% to running up vertically and keep smiling.

Where does "caving" come in you may ask, well it is a bit of light relief to crawl horizontally rather going vertical, and did raise a few laughs especially as the cave was dark .(Note in the photos it is only the camera flash which lit up the scene) The cave is part of the climbing wall area so there was easy access.

Frances as club president did volunteer to go first on the wall a natural leader (She was standing closest ). She was clipped into an automatic belay , no human contact needed, which if you fall off works like a seat belt and arrests the fall and then you can descend under your own control.

Unfortunately  Frances on her first attempt, and obviously just to make sure this device worked fell off, about 3 feet up !! and crashed to the floor, she had just discovered you need to be approx 4 feet up for the belay to work. What the President does for her people is amazing, we now knew exactly what to do - yep don't fall off.

It was all great fun even though the forearms and hand grips were a bit shaky in the bar afterwards when lifting the liquid refreshments.
Anyway the link below shows the loonies, sorry, experts in action.

Photos!

Thanks to Billy for the report and for bringing them all back to the safety of hill reps tonight.
Alan

Bella 5k and 10k

Sunday 1st September was my 3rd 10k in a row to have a go at beating my pb time but today was not the day.  There was blistering winds in Bellahouston Park which meant parts of the course you were running into a strong wind.

I was running 4:30 mins per 1k which I managed to 4k then I lost time to 4k to 5k markers due to the wind.  When we got onto Mosspark Boulevard the wind had subsided and I was able to pick up the pace to make up lost time. Then we did a 2nd loop of the park and I lost time again at the 7k to 8k with the final 2k I was able to run faster going down then up Mosspark Boulevard and finishing in the park.

My debut time on this course was 47:30 (56 seconds over my pb). Stuart Waugh was running again today and got a time of 45:11 improving by over a minute from last week’s 10k in Killin.

The host club Bellahouston Roadrunners had a 5k race with 118 runners lining up before the main event and we had 3 Harriers on the course.  First in was Ian Hughes with a top 20 position in a time of 18 mins,next in was Junior Harrier Anna Fegan in a  time of 30:17 and her Mum Jennifer, who helps on Wednesday training, with a time of 31:21.

Thanks to Richard for the report and well done to all.
Alan

Closure of Juniors' Waiting List and Call for Volunteers and Coaches

Due to demand outstripping the supply of coaches, the Juniors Membership Waiting List has been closed. Further details are here on the Juniors Blog. To resolve this situation, we need more coaches and volunteers as also detailed in the same blog post.
Alan