Cambuslang Down by the River 10k is Full

Unfortunately no places left in the 10k and no on the day entries for the 10k (3k will take entries though). Link below.
https://twitter.com/scotathletics/status/571606306580258816
Alan

National Cross Country Report - Mud (not so) Glorious Mud

Senior Men's 12k Gets Underway

A hardy contingent of Harriers joined 1599 athletes (a record number) young and old to contest the National Cross Country Championships at Callendar  Park, Falkirk last Sunday. The conditions were atrocious with driving, freezing rain and the new route (a more compact version of the old course) was looking decidedly like a ploughed field by the time the senior women and senior men's races took place. I had completed a recce of the course the weekend before and had declared the course likely to be excellent under foot and probably suitable for rubber studded trail shoes rather than spikes. I was very wrong!

The start line had been turned through 90 degrees so that the runners started off parallel to the front of Callendar house before turning left and taking a longer, diagonal route up the usual first hill and back down again more or less as before. This was the the firmest part of the course on grass. At the bottom of the hill we turned back towards the house and then swung left along the edge of the tarmac drive before crossing down to the edge of the pond. This part was extremely muddy and on an adverse camber with a real risk of slipping into the pond. Thereafter for those wearing rubber studs, it was possible to pick out the firmer, ash path amongst the flowing mud and to make quite good progress around the pond. However, instead of turning off the path up the usual quagmire of a hill, we instead continued around the pond on the path to the back of Callendar House, briefly dropping into a very muddy section of the Antonine Wall ditch before emerging around the side of the house to climb the hill where the club's "tented village" added some colour to the dreich day.
At the top of this hill we turned right rather than the usual left turn and made an immediate descent again before doing a U-turn back up the hill and running along the flat top past the high rise flats parallel to the main road. This whole section was incredibly muddy and there were runners spread all over the place trying to find some traction. The lap doubled back from there to follow the usual route parallel to the main road back to the red ash drive heading back to the house. The hill on this back straight was particularly impassable and were it not for the fact that I was suffering with the effort, it was almost comical watching others (and myself) trying to get up this hill without sliding backwards or sideways.

We had two ladies running in the senior women's race over a distance of 8k (2 laps); Frances Maxwell and Joanne McEvoy making a very welcome return to racing. The ladies did most of their warm-up in the car with the heater on full blast which was parked nearby; a very sensible decision. Both Joanne and Frances are running strongly right now and this meant that they coped with the conditions very well indeed. Joanne finished in 37:01 in an excellent 132nd position overall with Frances not far behind in 37:45 in 138th position out of 226 finishers.

Despite a few last minute call-off's we still had 8 men contesting the 3-lap, 12k senior men's race which was the last race of the day. Although the course was already destroyed by the time the men started, we did at least get the best of the weather as the rain stopped and the sun almost came out. Apart from that it was a struggle from the beginning with no good running anywhere on the course. Andy Buchanan continues his good form although was perhaps not fully recovered from his 12.5km road race last weekend, feeling a little stale. Andy literally ploughed through the mud to finish in 45:34 in 111th position. Next in, a long way back, was Alan Derrick in easily his worst National XC performance ever (although nothing about it was easy!) in a time of 51:11 (305th). Andy Henderson had a great run and must have finished well up in the M60 standings (age groups not available in the results) to cross the line in 55:07 (412). Kenny Leinster is showing no signs of his early season injuries, finishing in 58:22 (480th) having broken away from Jim Holmes on the last lap. Jim crossed the line in 58:58 (494), a few places ahead of David Herbertson who just slipped over the hour to finish in 1:00:04 (502). Richard Lawton declared this to be the toughest race he had ever done but paced it well and kept his form to finish in 1:05:11 (552). Finally, a re-motivated and ever improving Russell Couper came in after 1:10:33, finishing 566th out of 571 finishers. I am sure there would have been quite a few non-finishers on the day, so well done to all the Harriers for sticking with it. Full results are on the Scottish Athletics web site here.

A huge thanks to Andy Henderson, Kenny Leinster and Jim Holmes for manhandling the club tent to and from the course and all who helped put it up and take it down again. The tent was much needed on the day. It was fantastic to have the support of Stuart and Maud Waugh (and grandson), Sandra Reid and Sandy Hayden. A big thanks to Sandy for braving the conditions to take all the photos, the rest of which can be found in this gallery.

Scottish Athletics have produced videos of the event on YouTube and are looking to convince the TV companies that this event is worth televising in future years. You can help them achieve this ambition by watching the videos as the number of hits will be used to show the popularity of the event. The full message from Scottish Athletics and the video links are below.

Alan

Dear Club Secretary

The National XC event at Falkirk was a hugely popular event with the finisher numbers – at close to 1600 – the best the championships have known in 21 years of Men and Women competing at the same venue on the same day across the various age groups. There were 797 athletes finished in the Senior races.

It was a remarkable response from our clubs and scottishathletics fully appreciates that commitment to competition and support from all concerned.

Now we have a series of race videos from the event on Sunday which capture so much of what happened at Callendar Park in difficult conditions.

We would like you to use this footage in any way you see sit across any club platform – be that website or social media – as we seek to maximise the impact of the National XC.

These are only being hosted on the scottishathletics YouTube channel and therefore we are able to secure an accurate measurement on the number of views (which may help us in future years in terms of seeking to televise the event).

This link takes you to the overall highlights package of the National XC 2015 (six minutes) – with clips from each of the races and some captions on team results:

This link takes you to the scottishathletics YouTube channel ‘Playlist’ for the National XC 2015 – with ten videos in total.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmLOsp-Ue_yQuC6FpM0GzJqm1Wi7plLWN

Thanks

Peter Jardine, Communications Manager, scottishathletics

Never too much of a good thing.

A really interesting and well written article on some recent research on exercise, how much and who benefits. Based on a long term study of more than a million Scottish and English women.

http://m.runnersworld.com/health/too-much-exercise-for-whom?utm_content=buffere75c1&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Southside Six 2015

Just a wee reminder that entries for this years' Southside Six open on Entry Central at 21:00 tomorrow night, Tuesday 24th. Last February the 400 available places sold out in just 36 minutes so if you're thinking of entering, be ready. But only after me, of course!

Update: This years race sold out in 30 minutes! Six harriers made it in plus at least one on the waiting list.

Run with the Wind half marathon

A Race of Two Halves

In complete contrast to last weeks’ vest and shorts weather four intrepid harriers made the short journey to Strathaven for the inaugural Run with the Wind half marathon on an icy, windy but dry morning. We had of course all seen the forecasts and were prepared for the worst, Graham Ramage going so far the night before to suggest he might run in duffle coat and balaclava.  While waiting for the race start, in the school hall, he also told me about the bit of kit he hoped to buy when Decathlon begin their spring sale, the Kalenji Electro Warm. Yes, a battery-powered, heated running jacket! I scoffed at the time but had to admit I could have done with one during the second half of the route.

The race began, for me, at a steady pace with my pal Derek Boyd of the AthElite Triathlon club and indeed we would run together for the entire way, alternately pulling each other along as we hit our highs and lows at different times. We did, of course, reach the high point of the course together at Ardochrig which the entire field would have been very glad to attain as most had assumed, as I did, that the first half would be the hardest part today – little did we know. 

We enjoyed the stretch downhill all the way to Leaburn Road where we were met by Graham’s mum and dad and Martin Howell, great to see you guys but cruel, so cruel to be taking photos in front of a puddle reaching right across the road - the only (manly) option was to plough through the middle when, in reality, I really wanted to find the shallower edges. When we subsequently turned into High Cleughern Road we realised the wind had been at our backs until then and were immediately buffeted by gales and increasingly heavy and painful sleet. Within minutes I had lost most of the feeling in my hands and feet and latterly lips and ears too. Despite this we surprised ourselves by picking up the pace in this, much tougher second half probably trying, subconsciously, to get it over with as quickly as possible.


Finally I was pounding down the last road section (if you’ve run the Striders 10k you will be familiar with it) whereas Derek wisely saved a little for the final uphill kick and a last charge across the grass to the finishing line, heading me by a few yards. I came home in 2.01.26 with which I was very pleased given the course, the weather conditions and the fact I had a twenty mile training run only four days before.

All runners thoroughly enjoyed the hot soup and home-made sandwiches on offer back at the school, I personally sampled two cups of lentil and I know for a fact that Ian blagged the very last spicy tomato. Only when Graham suggested we head for home did Julie say, quietly, as only Julie can, that she would hang around a little longer because she ‘thought she might have been first female’. Talk about understatement! The three of us immediately and unanimously said we were waiting for the prize giving however long it took – as Ian so eloquently put it ‘this is the closest I’ll ever get to a medal’.

We cheered lustily as Julie strode up to receive her plaque and bottle of bubbly (if there was a cash prize it was quickly palmed although I don’t blame you Julie, I wouldn’t wave money around us lot either) 

The prize giving photos were shot from Ian’s very modern (for him) Sony Xperia but actually taken by me as Ian managed to take pictures of himself by accident the last time he used it!

Julie won the race in 1.36.09 with Ian close behind in 1.37.43, Graham not far away in 1.41.41 (the obsessive-compulsive in me likes these numbers immensely) with me trailing a long way back.

 

 

 

The overall race was won by Mark Paterson of Motherwell AC in 1.24.29 and there were 212 finishers, an impressive number on such a filthy day

AthElite runners you may know were Derek Stewart in 1.51.11 and my running buddy Derek Boyd in 2.01.20

 

Robbie Rooney, the podiatrist from The Treatment Hub in Hamilton, ran 1.52.21

Postscript; It should be noted that around five o’clock today Graham ran another 7 miles because he had a twenty miler to do on his Brighton marathon training plan. I called him ‘officially nuts’ on facebook, which, coming from an ultra runner, should worry him more than a little.  

NATIONAL XC CHAMPIONSHIP

On Sunday 22nd Feb we have the National XC Championships.
Ladies race starts at 1.25pm over 8k and I need those entered at the course by 12.30pm for registration. As last year the race will be chip timed and this year we have a considerable course change so please refer to Scottish Athletics events page to see the changes. The school will also be closed so again look at the events page for info. This will also mean there is no changing and shower facilities.
Mens race starts at 2.30pm over 12k and I need those entered at the course for 1.30pm for registration.
Those entered are F Maxwell, J McEvoy.
R Couper, A Derrick, R Lawton, S Waugh, A Henderson, J Holmes, A Buchanan, C Steven,             D Herbertson, K Leinster and A McCaffery.

If anyone is not running let me know so I can return the chip.

Kenny and Andy will be leaving from the club at noon so if you want to meet and travel together be their as they will need help to load the tent.

Kirkintilloch 12.5k

In a year which has given us some excellent running weather Phil, Andy and myself set off for Kirkintilloch on Sunday morning in probably the best yet - clear, crisp (almost warm!), calm and sunny. With Phil as my human satnav we arrived even before race registration was set up prompting Andy to say how pleasant it was to arrive at a race without having been lost even once!

Having listened to Andy talk about his pre-race routine Phil and I decided to attempt to boost our performances by drinking some espresso from the mobile coffee van parked nearby. It turns out he drinks his an hour before the race whereas we only decided to do so eight minutes from the start! It seemed to work for me however Phil had to have a comfort break half way round and has no intention of repeating the experiment.

Robert Rogerson, the RD of Kirky Olympians, welcomed a record field to the tenth running of this race and happily claimed to have organised sunny skies for every one of those years - it certainly was shorts and vest weather.

Having stated in advance that he was planning a ‘threshold’ run Andy steadily disappeared into the distance in about 5^th or 6^th place while Phil and I settled into a more conservative pace from the off. We ran together until just after the 3k marker when I stretched out down one of the many hills on the route. Any one who has taken part in this race before will remember that there are few flat stretches, constant effort and concentration being the order of the day with no chance of settling into a rhythm.
 

 The overall race winner was none other than wee Rab himself, Robert Gilroy, in 41:08, five seconds ahead of his Cambuslang clubmate Kerry-Liam Wilson, those two having run a race within a race way ahead of everyone else. The third and fourth-placed finishers were also relatively isolated but not so oor Andy who, despite having what he thought would be a comfortable margin in hand over the sixth–place host club runner, had to abandon all hopes of a steady run and resort to a lung-bursting, eyeballs-out finishing kilometre to hang on to an excellent fifth place, in the end by just five seconds. As it turned out he only had thirteen and fifteen seconds over seventh and eigth places. Andy recorded a faster than expected 46:11 while the leading female was the unattached Shona McManus in 49:08.

I steadily passed around a dozen or so competitors over the last few kilometres to cross the line in 168^th place in 64:19 which I was very pleased to note later was only eleven seconds slower than my course best of six years ago. Phil, despite the impromptu stop, came home in 69:24 for 216^th position. The 267^th and last runner came back in 93:19.

When uploading to Garmin Connect I noticed an elevation gain of 115 metres which, over less than eight miles, equates to blooming hilly! I also realised (I know, it’s sad) that this was my 300^th race in my twenty two years of running.

PS Sorry Phil but the photographer at half-way seems to have missed you altogether, was this perhaps where you made your pit-stop?

Stop press: I have found a link to a video of Andy's finish from the Kirkie fb page. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwpIRS5_T64

Endurance Night with Robert Hawkins

An invitation from Allison Simpson at Scottish Athletics:

Dear Club Contact/CTO

Here is something for the road runners (and all endurance athletes)

I was wondering if you could be so kind as to advertise this evening on your club Facebook/website pages and also circulate around all coaches and athletes.

Giffnock North AAC have kindly agreed to open this up to all and tickets can be purchased on the night.

http://www.giffnocknorth.co.uk/endurance-night-with-robert-hawkins/

I do hope to see you there.

All the best

Allison

Devilla 15k

Yes, finally another race report. Yesterday, on a beautiful sunny Sunday morning, I made the short journey over the river Forth to Police Scotland Headquarters at Tulliallan. No, I had not been requested to surrender myself, as the less charitable among you will have assumed, but instead had entered the Devilla Forest 15k trail race.

I only received a late entry from the waiting list a few weeks before and, as I couldn’t afford to fall any further behind in my ultra training, was unable to tailor my running for the shorter distance so resigned myself to just plodding around the woods. Please note the same excuse will apply to next week’s Kirky 12.5k and the following Sunday’s Strathaven half!

The organisers, Carnegie Harriers, could not be faulted on any aspect of the day even arranging the weather in our favour meaning that what is normally a muddy route became, in the words of Monty Python,  ‘something completely different’. Race registration was also superb, the strict order being collect number then chip then beer. Numbers were carefully marked as the beer was dished out, Carnegie, although named after the famous philanthropist, clearly well aware of most runners’ proclivity for collecting more than one! (Harvieston’s Schiehallion, if you are interested and given to one of my sons as, sadly, I’ve never liked lager)

The race itself was mainly heads down keeping an eye out for ruts, tree roots, mud and the occasional patch of ice. I kept what felt like a decent pace going until encountering the only significant hill of the day, just after halfway, at which point my ultra instinct must have kicked in as I found myself walking before my brain had sent any such signal to my legs! In my defence it should be noted I was already two-thirds of the way up the hill before this happened. What pleased me most was the fact I had sufficient strength in reserve to kick on when I spotted the 1k to go marker although, having failed to recce the finish, (yes coach, I should know by now) I was praying there were no hidden nasty (uphill) surprises to come over the final 1,000 metres. Thankfully all was steadily downhill and I overtook six or seven competitors with my version of a sprint (in my mind a graceful gazelle but in reality probably more like a wounded gnu) on my way to the line, finishing in 1.22.45 for 321^st place from 506 finishers.

I managed to pip at the post an ultra-running legend from the host club, one Fiona Rennie, who confided in me after the finish that ‘she really doesn’t like these short distances’! For those that don’t know of her she collected her crystal goblet awarded for ten! finishes in the WHW race just last year the same as our own Ian Rae.

The winner was a Johnny Lawson of Portobello RC in 54.51, which is sub-six minute miling over an undulating, muddy and icy course. Fantastic running! The leading lady was the host club’s Joanna Wilson, only seven minutes or so behind him in 1.02.36. I also noted although didn’t spot him on
the day our old pal Benny Rooney of EK Tri Club who ran 1.17.28 for 241^st place.

Note to Sandy, Carnegie Harriers sadly saw fit to place me in the V60 category and not the V40!

NATIONAL MASTERS XC

On Saturday in Kilmarnock we had 5 Harriers competing in the Masters xc championship.
First up was Stuart Waugh competing for the first time in the 65 and overs with a distance of approx. 6k. On the early part of their first lap of 2 Stuart was tucked in behind the Male leader but after about 1k or so a small gap started to open. By the end of the lap the gent who had been down in fourth in the early stages had caught and passed Stuart putting him into third and this remained so till the end with the only change being between the first 2. A great bronze medal for Stuart with a time of 29.32.
Onto the M40-M60 event and we had Andy Henderson, Kenny Leinster. David Herbertson and Russell Couper lining up. The course was a little over 8k. I knew I would be watching the field run away and so it almost turned out. The difficult part I found was only having road shoes or spikes there was a section of tarmac for about 150metres which had to be run 4 times. I needed the spikes for the rest of the course so had to go with them but the feet got hurt on the tarmac. Got a few glimpses of the other harriers after the turn at the far point of the course and all seemed to be running a steady controlled race. Andy was first Harrier home 39.36 followed by Kenny 40.57 with David 42.02 then finally myself 52.58. Happy enough with the run and an improvement from the EK cross country 2 weeks ago this one being 0.3 mile longer but not as hilly. The four of us made an over 40 team in 22nd place and 3 of us made a M50 team in 16th place. Enjoyable day apart from the tarmac and would be great to get more out at next years event wherever that turns out to be.