Harriers' Christmas Dinner

We are proposing to have our Christmas Dinner at Tony Macaroni's, a very nice Italian restaurant in Calderwood Square, on Saturday 14th December from 8pm. A provisional booking for 20 - 30 people has been made which we need to confirm nearer the time. The cost is £24.95 per person. The Christmas menu is not yet posted on their web site but you can get a "flavour" of what to expect from their standard and a la carte menus here. Tony Macaroni Christmas Menu is here.

Please leave your name here if your would like to attend. Arrangements for collecting money will be announced in due course (e.g. you may wish to pay up monthly).
Alan

Allan Scally Road Relays

The Allan Scally Road Relays takes place on Sat 2nd Nov.
Usual venue at Baillieston.
Cost not known but probably £4 or £5 per head.
4.8 miles each leg 4 for men and 3 for Ladies
Start time is 2pm.
If you want entered leave your name HERE.
Those already registered are HERE.

Fine Conditions in Cumbernauld

Julie Beveridge powers through the field on leg 1.

Official Times added some of which look a bit suspect. Frances' photos added to those of Joanne and me (28/10/13).
Perfect conditions greeted another record field for the National Cross Country Relay Championships at Cumbernauld on Saturday 26th October. For the fifth week in a row, Calderglen Harriers men and ladies were out in force for this important annual fixture. The course provides a perfect blend of cross country conditions with hills of varying severity, large sections of firm grass with fast downhill descents and the odd muddy section for the mud-pluggers.

The ladies and M50 men compete over 3 x 4km laps whilst the senior amd M40 men do 4 laps. Calderglen had 2 complete ladies' teams and 3 men's teams, one of which was an M50 team of 3. Julie Beveridge got our ladies A team off to a flying start with a very powerful run, smashing her previous best time on this course by 40 seconds to finish in a fantastic 16:53 (16:53). Frances Maxwell led off the ladies' B team and definitely showed that she is on the way back to form, finishing in 18:20 (18:20), some 34 seconds faster than last year. After a fine performance in the Lanarkshire road relays last week, Alison Lessels retained her place in the A team and ran a competitive 17:43 (17:44). Karen Allen is still making good progress on the comeback trail and did a great job chasing through the field on leg 2 for the B team, completing in 18:12 (18:12). On the last leg for the A team, Joanne McEvoy was also running strongly, despite an illness through the week and finished in 17:44 (17:45), more than a minute faster than last year. You can't ask for more than that!

Ruth Kelly in her first Cross Country race.

Finally, making her cross country debut, Ruth Kelly was on leg 3 for the B team and although not going as far as to say she enjoyed it, kept her form going throughout to finish in an estimated 22:30 (22:30). As official results are not available and as there are some close times in there, the club Grand Prix and scratch championships will not be updated yet. Well done to the ladies and great to see two complete teams out there.

David Herbertson led the men Vets A team off, the idea being to use David's physical presence to establish a good position in the general melee in the huge field contesting leg 1. As usual, there was a slight timing uncertainty with David on crossing the line but we think it was around 16:40 (actually 16:17!). However there was absolutely no doubt that this was over 1 minute faster than last year, so a great performance. For the B team, Jim Mearns was also running his first ever cross country race, never an easy transition to make for a road runner, especially wearing shoes with little grip. However Jim got his first one out of the way with no problems, running strongly to finish in 18:19 (18:18). The M50 team was led off by John McBride, worried about a swollen knee and the stress of a mystery tour of Cumbernauld which Hugh Simpsonsubjected him to en route to the course, and also disputing that someone so young looking should be selected for an M50 team, despite all that, John ran well, taking over a minute off last year's time to finish in 18:55 (18:38).

David Herbertson battles on the first leg

On leg 2 a man in form, Andrew McAffery was here at his local race for the third year in a row and once again improved, this time by a substantial 23 seconds to finish in 15:31 (15:25), pulling the M40 team through the field. Richard Lawton was obviously inspired by his daughter Emma's silver medal winning performance earlier in the day, finishing in 18:04 (18:06), 1:32 faster than last year. Andy Henderson pulled the M50 team up closer to medal contention with a finishing time of 16:45 (16:47), a minute up on last year. Alan Derrick took over on leg 3 for the M40 A team feeling somewhat under par since Thursday. Also wary having not completed the course last year due to straining a hamstring on the first descent, he nevertheless was encouraged by overtaking many people in a lap of 14:50 (14:58), some 20 seconds slower than two years ago but not bad all the same and making up many places in the M40 competition. Hugh Simpson is well up in the Grand Prix, having contested all the races so far this year and did his challenge no harm at all finishing in 19:27 (19:29). The final leg for the M50 team was taken by Eddie Reid who is struggling to get back into training but does now seem to be injury free. Eddie was pleased to get around pain free in 16:29 (16:30).

Finally, Jim Holmes was on the final leg for the A team and was put under some pressure by being handed the virtual baton about 10 seconds in front of local rivals EKAC's vets team. However, fear is a great motivator and Jim extended that lead to finish in 16:30 (16:37), a full minute faster than last year, Russell Couper was very much patched up for this run but all the same ran well to finish significantly faster than last year in 22:30, despite the forecast rain starting during the lap.

Jim Holmes on leg 4 for the A team.

Some adjustments to times and grand prix positions will follow when the official results come through. Some photos from the day are here with more to come. A big thanks to Stuart and Maud for their support at a great event. Huge thanks too to Frances and Richard for manhandling the club tent into position early in the day and to the many hands who made light work of dismantling it at the end. Roll on the Scally next weekend!
Alan

National XC Relay Teams 2013

Teams for Saturday's relays at Cumbernauld are listed here. Further details including maps and other important information is available to download from the Scottish Athletics web site here. Note that ladies and M50 Men are 3 per team whereas all other categories are 4 per team.

Cars are leaving from the Sports Club at 1200 sharp for those that need a lift. See Russell's post below for more information. If you cannot make it then please let Russell or me (07867863741) know well before race registration.
Alan

NATIONAL XC RELAYS ( CUMBERNAULD )

This Saturday is the National XC Relays at Cumbernauld.
Ladies Start is at 1.40pm and Men at 2.40pm.
I need Ladies at Cumbernauld high School for 12.40pm and Men for 1.40pm.
After this time I will head to the course with the numbers.
Please make arrangements at Thursday training for travel.
THOSE ENTERED ARE
A Lessells, J McEvoy, J Beveridge, F Maxwell, K Allen and R Kelly.
Ladies teams FULL. Reserve M Goldsmith

R Couper, A Derrick, R Lawton, D Herbertson, J Holmes, E Reid, J Mearns, H Simpson, A Henderson, A McCafferry and J McBride.
There is ONE place left on the mens teams.

reserves C Banks, B Buchanan, M Duthie, I Hughes, C Jarvie, K Leinster, G Lindsay, P Marshall, B McDougall, C McDougall, J McMonagle, G Mullen, S Phimister, I Rae, G Ramage, S Reilly, D Searil, C Steven, G Stewart, S Waugh and D Watt.

If anyone listed can no longer make it please let us know by Thursday at training and also if any reserve wants the last place in the teams please let us know asap (first come first served ).

Those still to pay please bring payment with you on Saturday as I wont be at training on Thursday.
Alan will pick the running order as usual and post on the Blog by Saturday morning.

NATIONAL 4K XC CHAMPIONSHIP

The National 4K XC will take place on Sunday 10th November. This is a Grand Prix Race.
Start times are Ladies 12.10 and Men 12.35.
Venue is Bellahouston Park
Cost is £5 per head and I need entries by Thursday 24th Oct.
If you want entered leave your name HERE.
Those already registered are HERE.

MASTERS 10k TRACK CHAMPIONSHIP

Today was the 1st race in the SVHC Grand Prix (10k Track Race)
Held in its usual venue in Coatbridge. We had four Harriers taking part three of whom had raced yesterday, Frances, Stuart and Russell. Graham Lindsay joined us for this today. They have now included a walking race over the same distance which started about 20 mins before the run. I would have been better starting with them as im running the same pace as some of the walkers. Anyway onto the run and we duly got started on time and we were off. Round the 1st lap and I had taken my place at the back of the field and the leg was ok as was the time and up front I could see Robert Gilroy had already stretched into a lead (maybe I wont beat him today). Second time round and I was now in trouble down to one leg and 15secs lost on the 1st lap and Robert lapped me before the line. I duly just took it easy and considered what to do as more were now passing. About the 4th lap Stuart came past running steady and looking as well as ive seen for a while looks like hes starting to get over his injury, then a pleasant surprise Graham came past just a few yards back obviously using Stuart as a pacer. Another lap or two then Frances came past complaining this was a bad idea. Surely she couldn't be feeling as bad as I was. By this time I was considering wether or not to continue as I knew now I couldn't run for 10k. I decided I would try to relieve the leg by walking about 20m which seemed to help for a little while but I had to do it more often and it became about twice every 3 laps. Do I stop or not, the sensible thing is stop but unfortunately its not in my nature.  During all this Stuart, Graham and Frances along with everyone else kept going past again and again and to make matters worse the runners that are normally around about me were not running so I would have a lot of laps on the track myself. Anyway as I hit double figures in laps I decided to keep going and see if I could make it regardless of time. I did manage to hear Frances say to Stuart and Maud when she finished that she was dizzy like she just came off a merry go round (I think she was joking). Anyway it turned out I got 5 laps all to myself and finished with a PW 64.28. Stuart ran 43.00 followed all the way by Graham 43.02. Frances came home in 47.10 This puts Stuart and myself 4th in our age categories with Graham 3rd. Frances leads her category but will during the season move up to the next one and is unfortunately 4th in that category. I now need to consider if its worth trying to get from Brampton to Carlisle. One positive is the leg is ok now so no lasting damage done.

The Dirty Duo

As I couldn’t do Drumpellier and witness the ladies golden performance, the Dirty Duo in Calderglen on Sunday seemed like a good alternative. It was billed as a fun run which was reassuring as I have never done a cycle race in my life. I dusted down my fifteen year old mountain bike, tightened a few bolts and blew up the tyres. Everything appeared to be working.
I gathered my stuff and cycled up to Calderglen. I had decided to go with road tyres as I watched last year's event and the steep up hills were on the tarmac path beside the play park.

The start/finish was on the grass in front of Torrance House and the transition area was roughly where we change into our cross country shoes. The course was a two lap run over the South Bridge and Horseshoe Falls, a four lap cycle down to the left of the play park, zig zagging over the bottom field then back up to the transition area, and the final run was the same two laps as before but in reverse.

I looked more closely at the map. The cycle route had changed. The uphill section took in the hill we do our cross country reps on. Oh no! I’ve got road tyres! I’ll be wheel spinning to a standstill! And what about that big bump at the top, the one we all trip over in the dark? That’s sure to be a stopper! Panic set in. I had 30 minutes to get home, change my rear tyre and be back. I could do it provided there were no technical difficulties. There was. I couldn’t find my tyre levers. Improvising with screw drivers I changed the tyre in a time Sebastian Vettel’s pit crew would have been proud of and had my bike back in transition with minutes to spare.

That was my warm up. The whistle went and we were off. I finished the first run in sixth place. There were a lot of better cyclists than me though and I dropped to about 13th, but I made it up that hill every time! The transition from cycling to running was a new experience and I waddled the first few hundred yards. I got back into my stride and picked up some places finishing 10th over all in 59:14.

I enjoyed the event and I will be better prepared the next time! The winner was Brian Taylor in just over 50 minutes.

Calderglen Lead the Lanarkshire Ladies!

Check out Joanne, Julie and Alison with their winners' medals. Funki!

Frances' photos now added to the album (21/10/13)
On a day that started out looking bleak with torrential rain over Drumpellier Country Park, Calderglen's senior ladies' team ended the afternoon with a brilliant performance in warm sunshine, winning the Lanarkshire Road Relay Championship by a large margin. Julie Beveridge was on first leg duty and is certainly consolidating her impressive speed, pulling out a significant lead on the 4km out and back course to finish in 15:36. Alison Lessells was in 5k pb form only a few weeks ago. However a recent holiday to Cuba may well, by her own admission, have dented the training a little. With this her first race back, extra pressure was piled on by being handed the lead on leg 2. It was no problem for Alison though who extended the lead, finishing in 16:48. Joanne McEvoy had the final leg and was under no immediate pressure but still managed to push herself on to an excellent 16:23 and confirming the Lanarkshire Championship for the team. Their victory was celebrated by the most unusual prize giving yet, with the medals being handed out to them as they stood in the cafeteria queue! Well done to Julie, Alison and Joanne. Frances Maxwell and Ruth Kelly completed our excellent representation from the Calderglen ladies, running in an incomplete team. Frances took the first leg and continues her gradual comeback from injury to finish in 17:50. Ruth has gone from her longest race distance (Loch Ness Marathon) to her shortest race distance (this 4km relay) in the space of a few weeks and found it a lung burning experience, completing the course in an estimated 20:00.

Hugh Simpson finishing leg 3

The Calderglen men were represented by two and a half teams. On first leg duty for the vets team we had Alan Derrick, racing himself back into form in recent weeks. As the U-17 boys race (not a relay, just a straight race) was combined with the first leg of the men and women's relay, there was a wide range of levels of age, speed and experience on display. The initial pace was fast as the young boys took off but many of them faded within a few hundred metres for the more experienced runners to move through, including myself. I had a fairly even paced run, on the limit as usual, finishing in around 4th or 5th pace in the relay in 13:45. Stephen Phimister was taking part in his first short relay of the season and reckons he went off too fast, suffering in the latter stages. However, the team were still well in touch with Stephen finishing in 15:15. Stuart Waugh is making steady progress back to form and in this, his first of two races this weekend, Stuart finished in 16:39. Finally, Martin Duthie relished the challenge of teams to chase and made up 4 or 5 positions, closing down some big gaps to finish in 14:04, bringing the team up to an excellent 4th or 5th place (to be confirmed when official results available).

John McBride led the second team off and squeezed a bit more speed out compared to last week's cross country, finishing in 17:32. Jim Mearns was also doing the difficult trick of running a very short relay leg only weeks after the Loch Ness Marathon, finishing in 17:20. Hugh Simpson had a great run, holding really good form from start to finish and completed the course in 17:47. Richard Lawton was right in the mix with an excellent 17:37 on leg 4. This was clearly a very well matched team!

Phil Marshall is really relishing his first season of road relays and is reaping the benefits, running a considerably faster pace than he did in his first relay only 3 weeks ago. Phil finished in 18:13. Russell Couper is suffering just now with various injuries but got himself around in 22:27 to complete Calderglen's senior participation. We also had two excellent U17 boys running who we will report on when the official times are published.

A big thanks to Maud and Mandy for their support in potentially unpleasant weather conditions and to all the participating Harriers for their continued enthusiasm to race. Only 4 races in and we have already had 26 Harriers competing in the Harriers Grand Prix, which is now led by Julie Beveridge for the ladies and John McBride for the men. The respective scratch championships are led by Julie Beveridge and Alan Derrick. Further photos of the Lanarkshire Road Relays are here.
Alan

Lanarkshire Road Relays

Please be at the venue for 12.15

Lanarkshire Road Relay Teams

Teams for today's Road Relay are listed here. Please let Russell or me (07867863741) know if you can't make it. Also places available in men's and ladies' teams if you let us know this morning prior to registration. This is a Grand Prix race. Further details in Russell's post below.
Alan

LANARKSHIRE ROAD RELAYS

The LAAA Road Relays will take place on Sat 19th Oct at Drumpellier Park Coatbridge.
It's the normal format of 4km legs.
Teams of 4 for Men and 3 for Ladies.
Cost is £1.25 each and race starts at 1.15pm.
I need names by training on 17th Oct.
If you want entered leave your name HERE.
Those already registered are listed HERE.

CRICKET DINNER ( with Steve Cram )

Hi All

Cricket have managed (through BK's Bank) to get a celebrity speaker to
attend a dinner.  It was to be Alex Stewart, but he can't make it, so
the speaker will be Steve Cram.

This is a Tuesday night 19th Nov and early as it is the only time Steve is available.

Tickets will be £25 each and we would like to offer 10 to each Sporting
Section (to form a table).

If sections are interested - need quick confirmation yes/no (by
Wednesday 23rd Oct ) so we can offer elsewhere.

Programme:
5.30-6.10 - Meet and Greet. Photos opportunity. Small Bar
6.10-6.15 - To the tables
6.15-7.00 -  Steve Cram talk.
7.00-7.30 - Questions and Answers
7.30 - 9.00 - Buffet (Supplied by Punjabi Tadka)

Response to me please (with a cheque payable to EKCC).

Bill Linley

Anyone interested let Russell, Frances or Andy know

SCOTTISH ATLETICS MEMBERSHIP

HI All
           Can I remind everyone to keep their membership with Scottish Athletics up to date.
If you have not renewed and are not going to can you let me know so I don't enter you as a reserve in championship races.
This saves me getting embarrassing emails about entries not being members.

Russell

Aviemore Half Marathon 2013

Aviemore 13th October
Having noticed BBC Scotland News reporter Jamie McIvor near to me on the start line I immediately checked my hair(!) and make-up as I naturally assumed he was there to conduct another interview, the powers-that-be having seen my triumphant debut last Sunday and decided they wanted more. For some reason he ignored my delusion and ran his own race to finish in 2:04:26 – his loss.

A first for me at the start, actually a few metres before the start, was a young lady tripping on a loose rock and falling right across my path. Naturally I jumped over her and ran on uncaringly helped her up and enquired after her wellbeing, fortunately she seemed ok and happy to carry on. No more spills after that but plenty of rough ground and, for an overall downhill course, a surprising amount of uphill running.

My day was complete when, during the last mile, a spectator called after me saying ‘saw you on the telly last week, you were great’ - I really should retire from running as of now, it just won’t get any better than this – recognised in the street! I ran on with a big smile across my face and proceeded to win a desperate sprint for the line by a whisker to finish in 1:48:38, earning a big cheer from the large crowd and my best half marathon time for a couple of years.

Note to the harriers committee, a new and much wider front door may soon be needed for the Sports Club to accommodate my swollen head.

The much younger and better-looking half of the harriers Aviemore duo, Ruth Kelly, also struggled a little on the early hills but finished strongly in 1:57:27 to banish the memory of her dodgy knee, which ruined her run at the Loch Ness marathon last month.

The winner was an Iain Jones, unattached, in 1:16:21 and the leading lady was Sheena Logan of Fife AC who was also 8th overall in 1:21:13. All in all a well organised race which I would recommend to anyone.

PS no photos with this report as I think everyone has seen quite enough of my ugly mug for a while.

David Searil

GSR Race Report

GSR 6th October
My Sunday started with a pleasant train journey to Glasgow in the company of the McKenzie and Herbertson clans, playing a game of celebrities on the younger Mr Herbertson’s phone, little did he know he was sitting opposite one, not.

After a near twenty minute delay the thousands of runners were finally sent on their way by Olympic rowing gold medallist Katherine Grainger. The warm, muggy conditions meant a steady first half for me but my day was transformed for the last 5 miles or so by a pleasant cooling rain which allowed me to push on and finish over 7 minutes faster (I said 8 on TV, sorry) than last year in 1:50:02 Three seconds faster would have been nice but…I also got to within 10 feet of the great man himself, Haile Gabresellassie. Admittedly we were running in opposite directions along Paisley Road West, only separated in the race by around three miles! I also ran past last year’s winner, Joseph Kibor, who dropped out just before the Kingston bridge. Yes, another scalp!

Other harriers times on the day were as follows;
Andrew McCaffery 1:20:07 (wow!)
Chris Wilson 1:26:25
Stephen Phimister 1:29:58
Jim Holmes 1:35:00
Ian McKenzie 1:55:57
Mary Goldsmith 1:56:13
David Wardrope 2:01:44

Both Jim and David were also running their 21st Great Scottish Runs, in David’s case (due to PF and sciatica) promising to ‘walk round if he had to’ – going by his time he didn’t walk much, if at all.

David Herbertson survived the pressure of being a pacer to bring his group home ‘bang on time’ while Graham Ramage had an ‘awful’ run in around 1:41 but I can’t be more precise as I don’t know his running alias.

Note that we also had Jim Mearns competing in the 10k to round out the Harriers participation (sorry if we missed anyone).

As most of you will know already my day was rounded off by a live(!) interview on the BBC which seemed to come over quite well and, I’m pleased to say, was a good advert for the harriers.
David Searil

WEST DISTRICT XC RELAY REPORT

More photos from Frances in this album.
A nice sunny day for the 3rd Saturday in a row greeted us at Hamilton Park Racecourse. Its been 45 years since this venue was last used so it was new to us all and I must say its long overdue for its return. Everyone had nothing but good comments about the course and I think we need some sort of campaign to make sure its not another 45 years. We had four ladies running so Julie and Frances were up for the first leg and in the early stages Julie had set off in about 12th place as they headed down the hill away from the grandstand with Frances sitting in just behind mid pack. By the end of the first leg Julie had dropped a few places but had kept herself in the top 20 with a time of 16.27. No idea about Frances's place but a steady run in 18.22. (official times and places not available at this time ).

Joanne took over from Julie with a determined look on her face as she passed the grandstand. By the time she came home she had kept the girls in a good position with a time of 16.59 and to use her own words she will not accept the officials giving her a bigger time. Last out for the girls was Karen still on the comeback road just looking to keep her improvements going after a lay off and she didn't disappoint running a good performance of 18.01.
Next up we had the men with 9 running so first legs went to Ian Hughes, John McBride and Russell Couper.

Off we went at a gallop (Pardon the Pun) and as everyone started to move away from me I thought I was at the rear of the field so just had to get on with it. As we reached the far end of the course we get into the twisty section and found at one of the turns there was someone about 30yds behind me so a much needed incentive to keep ahead as by this time big John was reaching the point of getting out of sight from me and Ian had already disappeared. Times at the line were Ian 14.56. John unknown but an estimate of 19.30 and myself 21.22 which is a pace of about 30 secs per km faster than last week. ( softer ground better for me at the moment ). Andy took over from Ian and Chas took over from John and set about trying to consolidate there positions with Andy running 16.19 and Chas 21.52. We then come to the 3rd leg with Davie Herbertson taking over from Andy. Now it gets interesting as the official times could be well out as Richard on the start line waiting for Chas was started early (never known them to start a 3rd leg early they normally wait till the 4th ). Anyway both obviously liked the course posting great times with Davie running 16.02 and Richard running 17.43 as I say his official time might be about 15mins and he wants that counted in the GP.

With just one leg left we had Jim Holmes taking over from Davie and Hugh waiting for Richard was also started early. Both had fairly lonely runs as the field was well spread by this time but Jim came home in 16.16 and Hugh with 18.15 and as with Richard he wants official time counted.
We had a few supporters round the course cheering us on so many thanks to the families of Ian, Hugh and Davie and to Roddy Shanks who used to represent the club in all these events great to see you again Roddy.
After the race the Vet wanted to put down Frances as she had thrown a shoe but we managed to persuade them not to.
If this venue is used again I would urge everyone to enter as its a fantastic venue for a good days racing

Grand Prix Races

You can view the list of races contributing to the intense start of the GP season here. All very local up until Brampton. For the moment you can only access this list via this blog post and not via the Grand Prix page on our web site. I will fix that when I am back in the country.
Alan

West District Relay Teams 2013

NOTE: Reshuffle of men's teams (09:30 Saturday) due to notification of injury.
Teams for the West District XC Relays are listed here. Please refer to the earlier post from Russell for further details. Note that there are two places available in a mens team and two places available in a ladies team from the list of reserves published in Russell's earlier post. A rare chance to run on Hamilton Race Course, venue for the first ever international cross country race over 100 years ago, so a very historic place in the world of cross country running and right on our doorstep!

Have a good race!
Alan

WEST DISTRICT XC RELAYS

This Saturday is the West XC relays at Hamilton Race Course.#
I need the Ladies there by 11.40am race starts at 12.40.
I need men there by 12.40pm eace starts at 1.40pm

Those entered are R Couper, R Lawton. J McBride, D Herbertson, J Holmes, C McDougall.
C Steven, A Henderson, H Simpson and I Hughes. and for the Ladies F Maxwell, J Beveridge,
J McEvoy and K Allen.

RESERVES ARE M Goldsmith and R Kelly for the Ladies and for the men
C Banks, B Buchanan, M Duthie, K Leinster, D Watt, G Lindsay, A McCaffery, I McKenzie,
J McMonagle, G Mullen, S Phimister, I Rae, G Ramage, S Reilly, D Searil, G Stewart and S Waugh.

If anyone entered can no longer make it let me know by Thursday night.
At the moment we have 2 spaces for the Ladies and 2 spaces for the men.
If any of the reserves want a run let me know ASAP and by Thursday training so we can select the teams, first come first served.

Russell

NATIONAL CROSS COUNTRY RELAY (Cumbernauld )

The National CC Relays will again be held at Cumbernauld.
It will be held on Sat 26th October.
Start Times 1.40 for Ladies and 2.40 for Men.
Cost is £4.50 per head.
I need names by 10th Oct.
Anyone wanting entered for this event leave your name HERE.
Those already registered are HERE.

Great Scottish Run Race Report

No need for a GSR blog report because we have a full report on TV courtesy of the BBC. Well done to David Searil for an excellent 5 minutes or so in the limelight proudly displaying the club jacket and vest in pre and post race interviews and even more congratulations for 21 Glasgow Half's in a row (although I think that both Davy and Russell exceeded that number of Islay "half's" in one evening this year). The full GSR coverage including Davie's piece to camera should be on BBC iPlayer later today at this link for those that missed it. Davie is in the last 20 minutes or so.

Of course we still look forward to receiving a full written report and results for all the Harriers who took part in the 10k and half marathon.
Alan

More Photographic Memories

Many more great photos added to the TTC and Islay Half Marathon albums courtesy of Eddie.

Cross Country Training Starts this Monday

Cross Country training begins this Monday. Please turn up at the club with your normal road shoes and also your choice of off-road shoe (trail, fell or spike). We will run on road to and from the cross country venue (Brancumhall football pitches) and will do repetitions on the grass. The aim of the session is to acclimatise to the different loads that grippy trail shoes or spikes put on your achilles and calves before you tackle a full on cross country race and also to develop the muscular strength that you need to run at speed on a soft surface which does not allow the bounce you get from your tendons, muscles and shoes on a hard, road surface. Believe me, it is good for you and is a foundation of all distance runners training during the winter season. We will do the cross country training every second Monday unless otherwise advised.
Alan

McAndrew 2013 - Hot performances on a Hot Day

Good weather two weeks in a row for the start of the Grand Prix. Is this a record! This week we were at Scotstoun Stadium for the 74th annual McAndrew Road Relay, still the same 3.3 mile lap but now starting and finishing in the car park of Scotstoun Stadium. Not only did this location give us a traffic-free change over area but also got all the hills over in the first half, making it an uphill first half and a downhill second half. A much easier race to pace as a result. Despite many absences from all clubs due to the GSR on Sunday, there was still a large number of clubs present, particularly the Harriers who fielded four teams; 2 Men's teams, 1 ladies' team and 1 mixed team.

The vets A team had a change of personnel this week. I had a go at leg 1. Although feeling that I was lacking out and out pace from the word go, I was able to run a very controlled run, maintaining position for the first half and then moving past several packs in the second half to give a finishing time of 18:30, somewhat slower than 2 years ago but a considerably faster average pace than last week and a competitive time compared to other vets in the race. On leg 2 Eddie Reid continues to be bothered by an ITB/knee problem and really could not attack the course at all. Eddie finished in 21:23 which is a minute down on last year. David Herbertson was up into the A team this week and gave it his all as usual. David ran a fine 21:00, a quarter of a minute faster than last year. It was great to see Martin Duthie back in running action after his recent Triathlon World Championship successes. Still wary of his long-term calf injury and missing the sharpness that short, sharp races bring, Martin ran well, recording a time of 19:13.

The senior ladies team was at full strength. Julie Beveridge was on the first leg to enable a sharp departure for the football. Julie finished in a new course best of 21:25, 2 seconds up on last year. Joanne McEvoy is returning from various colds and seems to be fully recovered with a very well paced 22:49. Finally, Karen Allen was delighted to be back racing after a long, illness enforced layoff. Karen finished in 23:42 and now has a target to aim for over the coming year. All in all, a very competitive performance from our ladies team. Frances Maxwell joined our composite team this week and again worked hard to catch and pass several ladies teams. Frances finished in 24:03.

The vets B team was led off by Andy Henderson on leg 1 who was definitely in the mix for an A team place next time around with a 21:13 finish. A very naughty Billy Buchanan (racing only 2 days after donating blood; tut, tut) was suffering for that and was a bit slower than we might expect a fully tanked up Billy to be, finishing in 23:12. However Stuart Waugh is coming back to form, finishing in 22:24 on leg 3. Completing the so far M60 team, the significantly younger Hugh Simpson recorded 24:13. Colin Banks got our composite team off to a flying start with a fine 22:50 lap, handing over to Frances (24:03). Phil Marshall was making another course debut on leg 3 and has set his benchmark at 24:55. Finally, a very injured Russell Couper broke 30 minutes for the first time (his words, not mine), unfortunately from the wrong direction, recording 30:28. Russell is now going to get some much needed treatment and may miss a few races.

The support of Maud n' Mandy was much appreciated as always and the afternoon ended with a nice spread of complimentary tea and pastries. Very nice. All in all the host club Victoria Park - City of Glasgow have made worthwhile improvements to the event which will keep the event popular for years to come. All we need is the organisers of GSR and the permit authority to play the game and not permit major races that clash with an event which has a 74 year history on this same weekend.

The Grand Prix and scratch championships are now updated and can be viewed via the usual grand prix menu on the left.

Alan

McAndrew Teams 2013

Another great Harriers' response for race number 2 in the 2013/14 Grand Prix. The teams for Saturday are here. The relay starts at 12 noon and a group are sharing cars from the club leaving at 10:15 prompt.

Remember that the relay start/finish is at Scotstoun Stadium this year. Parking is at St Thomas Aquinas School in Westland Drive (not the same school as in recent years) as shown in this map. Scotstoun Stadium is only a short jog away.

If you are going to be late or indeed can't make it, please let me (0786 7863741) or Russell know as early as possible as we have to declare the teams by 11:30 at the absolute latest.
Alan

PS - after 1 race, the GP and Scratch Championship positions are as follows:

Ladies GP   Ladies Scratch
Men GP      Men Scratch