6 + 4 Stage Relay Results

Photos from Eddie now added.
I've been waiting for the results to come in before writing this as I had some times missing but looks like there are some errors. We had a partial ladies team, a complete M50 team and 2 partial male teams.

Gerry Mullen approaches the finish in good style

It was a breezy day for the race but not as bad as it had been in the morning and the rain stayed away apart from a few light showers. On the short leg for the Ladies was Sandy Hayden making her debut and finding the course quite testing and not overly happy with her run but shouldn't despair as it was a good opener of 25.23. Frances Maxwell ran the long leg and declared her time of 42.49 finding the conditions quite tough at the high part of the course but I have to say she was looking quite strong when she passed me just before going under the railway. Perhaps she would prefer the official time shes been given of 36.02. Onto the men now and our A team had 4 runners and first out was Andy Buchanan again on his debut at this event running a great time of 17.09 and had the usual eyeballs out finish handing over to Geo Ferguson another on his debut and straight into the long leg running a great opener of 44.26. More to come if he continues to race. Colin banks ran the 3rd leg putting in a steady performance of 23.44 a bit down on what hes ran before but conditions didn't make for fast times. Billy Buchanan finished off this partial team running the long leg in 41.46. I hope this is correct as I never got his watch time.

Billy Buchanan

Our B team was our complete M50 team and starting them off was Eddie Reid with the legs possibly a bit heavy after his 10 day training camp but running a steady time of 20.29. Next out was Andrew mcCaffery on the long leg and again I hope they've got the time right of 36.44. Kenny Leinster took the proverbaly baton for the 3rd leg and ran a good run finishing in 21.44. Gerry Mullen completed the team running the long leg in 42.04 bringing them in in 8th place in the category. Great to see Gerry out racing again and hope he can make some more of the upcoming races. Our C team only had 2 runners with Jim Holmes setting us off. Chasing Eddie most of the way to complete in 21.25 and handing over to Russell Couper for the long leg. Really shouldn't have completed this but not in my nature to quit while ive still got one good leg. Limped most of the way for the 3 miles uphill but managed to move a bit better when I hit the downhill section but finishing in a PW of 54.32. Good to see the club represented at this event again but our attendees have been dropping for a few years now. Lets see if we can start to increase our number of runners next year. Another good days racing and always good to see our colours taking part.

Colin's Party - New Venue

Colin Banks is turning 40 soon and is holding a party to celebrate to which the Harriers and their partners are invited. This is being held on 2nd May 2015 in The Salmon Leap, Calderwood Square, East Kilbride from 7:30pm. Please leave your name here or respond directly to Colin (c.banks@talktalk.net) by Friday this week (note if you previously responded, please reconfirm your response using the form).
Alan

National Road Relay Teams - Livingston

Teams for Sunday's National 6/4 Stage Road relays are at here.

You will see that we have 2 spare places available in the ladies' team and 6 spare places available in the men's teams (we have paid for and entered 3 men's teams, so we should at least try to fill them). The reserves who are eligible to fill these spaces are (obviously some more likely to be available than others :-)):

Reserves:- M Duthie, J Freer, M Howell, I Hughes, R Lawton, P Marshall, J McBride, C McDougall, S Phimister, I Rae, G Ramage, D Searil, H Simpson, C Steven, D Watt and J Mearns.

J McEvoy, J Beveridge, S Reid, R Kelly, M Goldsmith, R Kelly, K Allen and A Lessells.

Please leave a comment on this post, send me a txt or e-mail if you can fill a place. Inevitably, returning from warm weather training, I have come down with a heavy cold or I would have been running myself.

A group are meeting at the Sports Club to leave at 10:15 sharp. The race starts at 12:00. This year, parking has moved back to its usual place in Almondvale Stadium (EH54 7DN), just a 5 minute walk from registration and the start/finish area. Full details and maps on the Scottish Athletics web site here. 

Please remember that the clocks go forward 1 hour tonight!!!!!
Alan

Clydebank 5k Road Race

A melting pot of perfect racing conditions, a flat, freshly ironed tarmac road and a stacked quality field made today’s race an excellent opportunity for PB and SB seekers alike at Clydebank’s annual 5km road race.

A generous start time of 2pm and dry 14 degrees brought out a large stellar field looking to participate in this enter on the day race.

Andy Buchanan, Sandy Hayden, Russell Couper and an old harrier legend from some six or seven years ago making his comeback, Blair Matthew made the journey the Clydebank playdrome.

Blair making his first racing appearance in some years after relentless injury problems finally found some consistent enough training to make a return racing.  While myself Russell and Sandy were eager to test out our latest good form and consistent training in this short, sharp, 5km race.

The race begins with 2 laps of Clydebank industrial estate on perfect flat roads covering the first 3.5km before moving briefly onto the main road then turning a sharp left to join the canal towpath for the remaining 1500m to the finish.

I positioned myself within the masses of nervous twitching energy of the second row of what was clearly a very experienced field.  Within the first 100m after the gun I was surprised to be elbowed and stubbed down to what felt like 150^th place with barely enough space to stretch my legs in the dense fury of movement.  I was forced to head out wide on the slowly banking left turn to move ahead in the field after the pace evened in the opening half kilometre. On completing the first the lap I found some rhythm, but in a no-mans land between two large groups of runners meaning I had to pace my own race for what was left of the distance whilst picking off stragglers from ahead.  I was delighted to cross the line in personal best of 16.29, a pleasing time considering my last three weeks of training have been mostly easy running and a half marathon.

 Blair followed in 17.19.  He ran the first 800m in front of me leading me to believe his predicted time of “sub 19” was clearly nonsense. Clearly a sign of more to come.

Up next was Sandy Hayden.  Sandy ran a commendable time of 24.57.  After a comfortable PB at last week’s parkrun of 24.12 she was somewhat new to the electric pace at the start of the race, perhaps over cooking the first mile.  However with this experience now in the bank there is no doubt good chunks of time will come off her already impressive 5k times.

 Russell has a history of good running at this event, the course he holds his fastest time on.  Today proved to be another good run for him.  He finished strongly in the middle field in an improving time of 26.21.  Boding well for the coming season.

NATIONAL 6+4 STAGE RELAY

The National Road Relays are on Sun 29th Mar.
We have entered 3 male teams and 1 ladies team.
There are spaces available for both male and female in the teams so if anyone from the reserve list below wants to run let me know by Thursday so Alan can select the running order.
Cost is £4 and should be paid this week.

Those confirmed entries are:- R COUPER, A DERRICK, A BUCHANAN, B BUCHANAN, J HOLMES, E REID, A McCAFFERY, C BANKS, A HENDERSON, G MULLEN, K LEINSTER and G FERGUSON.

For the Ladies:- F MAXWELL and S HAYDEN.

Reserves:- M Duthie, J Freer, M Howell, I Hughes, R Lawton, P Marshall, J McBride, C McDougall, S Phimister, I Rae, G Ramage, D Searil, H Simpson, C Steven, D Watt and J Mearns.

J McEvoy, J Beveridge, S Reid, R Kelly, M Goldsmith, R Kelly, K Allen and A Lessells.

Falesia 5k 2015 and Warm Weather Training Camp

After 8 weeks without a drop of rain in the Algarve, it was inevitable that the morning of the annual Falesia 5k would see the heavens open with a vengeance. I awoke to the sound of rain hammering down on the patio and, having already run around 70 miles in the preceding 6 days in glorious sunshine, I could easily have turned over and given the race a miss. However, that is not a Harrier's attitude and so up I got and changed into wet weather gear; a rare occurrence on the Algarve. Despite the "waterproofs", I was soaked on the 100m jog to race registration in the Neptuno Bar. Worse was to come when my warm up jog of a lap of the course (2.75 laps = 5k) revealed the entire course to be a river, with rapids in some places! This is one of these courses with no flat parts, it is either climbing or descending and the rain was so heavy that it had no where to go except down the roads.

However, the gods were shining on the race organisers and 10 minutes before the start, the rain stopped, the rivers disappeared and we had perfect, cool, windless racing conditions. An international field of just over 100 assembled on the start line at the highest point of the course and without much further ado, the race was off. I accelerated fast to get clear of the masses and on to the back of the lead pack, which I promptly let go as they were all 20-30 years younger than me. The first km is downhill and fast and I felt comfortable despite the miles in the legs. It is amazing what the body can do if given adequate rest and nutrition between sessions, even if there are two sessions per day as we had been doing here right up until the day before the race. The first lap progressed well with me gradually overhauling a couple of the younger runners who had started too fast and could not handle the first steep climb to end the lap. Lap 2 did not go so well and by half way I was very much in "hinging oan" mode, although nobody was passing me thankfully. The crowds of supporters, including an injured Eddie, shouted their encouragement which helped me to maintain some sort of form as I started the final three quarter lap and was now lapping many of the backmarkers, giving me some targets to aim for. The final 600m is uphill and I was really struggling but still holding a reasonable pace. There was no hope of a sprint finish and as I approached the final 100m, one of the younger runners on the camp, who I had assumed was already up the road in front of me, breezed past. I was however just glad to cross the line and stop.

I finished in 18:05 in 12th position overall and first M50. I was also "chicked" to use the triathlon terminology (it may have a different meaning for those familiar with Club 18-30 holidays) as long term training camp training partner Jenny Spink finished almost a minute in front of me (good luck to Jenny and her sub 2:35 aspiration for the London Marathon next month).

I was delighted to be presented with first M50 prize by running legend, Bruce Tulloh, now 79 years old and still training most days (Bruce was 1963 European 5000m champion, author of many coaching books and coach to many British and Kenyan Olympians. He also set the record for running from LA to New York, a distance of almost 4000 miles, averaging over 360 miles per week! That is speed and endurance).

As mentioned above, Eddie had picked up an injury in the previous evening's beach fartlek session and was having an enforced rest day. However, he only lost one day of training and the training camp physio now has him back in twice a day training action; he is not getting out of it that easily!

There has been a strong focus on nutrition and hydration on this year's training camp and Eddie and I have been putting this into practice regularly as illustrated.

We are also aware that we received a lot of criticism last year for our beach volleyball exploits with bikini clad team mates, You can rest assured that we have refrained from any such activities this year and have, as previously mentioned, been focussing on training, nutrition and hydration. The image below confirms this. Not sure what is going on to the left of camera but it could be a beach volleyball match in which neither Eddie nor I were involved!

Various hydration strategies in practice.

I leave you with an image of how most of our training runs start out here - absolutely fantastic cliff-top trails!
Alan

Deeside Way Ultra 2015

Last Saturday a record field of around 350 runners lined up for the opening event of the Scottish ultra season on a calm, cold and cloudy morning in the Duthie Park on the north bank of the river Dee in Aberdeen.

The Race Director, George Reid, has been seriously ill this year and received many hugs and handshakes when he arrived just prior to the start looking a little more like his usual, ebullient self  (He has also been most put out, as a card-carrying SNP member, to be diagnosed with something called GB syndrome!) You may recall Morten Wieghorst, the former Celtic player, a professional athlete, at one point during his illness being flat on his back unable to move even a finger and barely breathing. Collections were taken before, during and after the race for GAIN, the charity which supports research into this debilitating but fortunately rare disease.

Having now run twelve ultras I know many of the lovely people who make up the fast-growing ultra-running community and spent so long catching up with friends, chatting to some who previously were acquaintances only through facebook and giving the afore mentioned George a big hug it only hit me seconds from the start that I hadn't taken care of the essential pre-race 'relief'. After a mad dash (a warm up?) to a handily-placed pissoir I made it back to the line, marginally lighter than before, just in time to hear Dod (George in the Doric) start the race.

The first five and a half miles passed in a blur of chit chat with yet another pal but, crucially, thirty seconds a mile faster than my planned pace. Given my poor winters' training I had no ambitions to run other than conservatively and ultimately was to pay the price for this serious lapse in concentration.

Reaching the first checkpoint at around eight miles I met two members of the AthElite triathlon club, Ellie and Lorna, who were both running their maiden ultras. Despite the usual, general camaraderie of an ultra I was seriously missing the expected friendship of Ruth and Jim, due to ankle and achilles problems respectively, so was very glad of alternative company. Yes, ok, I was only really missing Ruth as Jim, had he been there, would have been miles ahead!

After embarrassingly having to stop to re-tie an errant shoelace (it must be a decade or more since I allowed that to happen, again not enough attention to detail at the start) I let the girls go ahead when I had my first meeting with my support crew, a.k.a. Alison, just shy of the halfway mark.

Fed and watered I had no need to stop at the temptingly well-stocked food tables by the halfway point near Banchory so cruised around the turn and headed straight back in the direction of Aberdeen.

Following another brief kiss and a cuddle with Alison (it’s not just the body that needs sustenance during these long runs you know!) and with a very light tailwind my progress was brisk for a while but the wheels started to wobble before the third checkpoint at twenty five miles where I found myself a full ten minutes behind schedule. My hip was also giving me major pain which was not being suppressed by a second co-codamol of the day forcing me to adopt a walk/run strategy for most of the remainder of the way. This did however enable me to keep making progress while at the same time giving my legs a break from the monotonous shuffling action dictated by the ultra-flat terrain and helped avoid those wheels coming off the cart completely.

I belatedly realised I had been looking for a sighting of the AthElite ladies, to allow me to use them as a target and thereby pick up my pace. With neither of them anywhere in sight the realisation I must be losing ground to couple of beginners, if you can call Ironman-experienced triathletes beginners, (should that be Ironwomen?) probably contributed to my general feeling of defeat towards the latter stages of the race. Rather sadly I was mildly pleased to hear afterwards that they had gone for a ‘bathroom break’ at one point, only re-joining the race behind me and had been unable to catch up, indeed they were eventually to finish six minutes behind me, still an excellent start to ultra running for them both. I have heard today that neither have yet stopped eating since crossing the line!  

I finally dragged my sorry ass over the line in a personal worst for the D33 of 5:54:04 which was, of course, gun time – my Garmin showed 5:53:58, a much more respectable-sounding time you’ll agree! I have since rationalised my performance as simply a long, hard training session hopefully leading on to my much greater goals later this year. Most of you will already know my main focus is the West Highland Way Race where I will be following in Ian’s footsteps and hope to do a tenth of what he has already achieved, i.e. finish one! I have the Fling prior to the WHWR and three others afterwards to keep me busy (Run the Blades at Whitelee Windfarm, The Devil and Tiree).

The many first-time ultra runners were both surprised and delighted by the encouragement received from all the other runners. As the D33 is a simple out and back course everyone sees everyone else at least once and even the winner, in fact particularly so, Ross Houston of Central AC, below, was overflowing with positive comments for all he encountered on his triumphant run back to the Duthie Park to finish in a new course record of 3:10:40.

If his name seems familiar, it should, as he ran 2:18 in a Scottish vest at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games marathon last August. In the four years I have been running this brilliant event I have not seen such an overwhelming lead, in fact he eventually came home an emphatic fifteen minutes ahead of second-placed Ross Milne of Corstorphine AAC. For once it would not be hyperbole to say he had time for a quick shower and a bite to eat before greeting the runner-up! The female winner was Joanna Wilson of Carnegie Harriers in 4:11:03.

Some other finishing times were; Rosie Bell of Strathaven Striders in 4:30:28, David Meldrum, the RD of the John Lucas 50 and also of Strathaven Striders in 5:21:57, my companion for forty miles during the Great Glen Ultra last year, George Chalmers in 5:24:23 (he is currently in training for the 110 mile Double-Cateran Trail Ultra in May, good luck with that one George) and finally Lorna and Ellie finished together in 5:59:00, a time very close to but pleasingly not starting with a 6!

 

 

PS Continuing the D33 theme of stripped-down medals this years' effort was a resin-filled jam-jar lid with D33 hand-written on it, see below. Different it certainly is.

 

Ben Gullipen Hill Race

2 Georges headed to Callander on Saturday 14th March for the inaugural Ben Gullipen Hill Race.  That is Geo Ferguson and George Stewart.   The distance was 13.5K, up and down a well trodden Land Rover track.   The route takes in part of the Friday evening run on the TTC weekend.   The weather was dry but cold and the word from the organisers at the race briefing was that it was advisable to wear long sleeves as it would be a lot colder at the summit.   At 11.00am the runners headed up the hill out of Collihan Car Park for a 7.5k climb up to the mast on the top of Ben Gullipen.  Both Georges were together on the uphill and after 15 minutes Geo pulled away and passed a few competitors on the way up to reach the summit in 40 minutes.  On the initial downhill he passed George who seemed to be putting in a good effort to reach the summit.  Geo found himself in a race with 2 other competitors but eventually pulled away from them on the downhill and then overtook one other runner.  At this point still feeling strong Geo set his sights on chasing down the next runner  however he didn’t manage to catch him and came in a couple of seconds behind.    A strong finish saw Geo cross the line in a time of 1hr 8 on his watch although the official time is 1 hr 10.  George finished in a time of 1hr 18.  It was good to see George out racing again even although he was not in a Harriers’ vest.  The event which was hosted by Skidaddle was very well organised with a goody bag for every finisher and medals for the first 3 male and female and also age group categories.  The tea, coffee and biscuits at the end were a really nice touch.  This was a small very friendly run I wish I could have taken part in but I was the official photographer for the day.  Will put this one in my diary for next year.....

Frances

ROUND THE HOUSES 10k

Time is running out if you want entered in the Grangemouth Round the Houses 10k.
There are only a limited number of places left so don't delay.
This is a GP event. Enter via www.entrycentral.com

WEST HIGHLAND WAY WEEKEND

This year’s West Highland Way weekend will be 23^rd/24^th May 2015.  The total cost for the weekend will be £68.  If you are travelling in your own car the cost is £48.

A deposit of £20 is required to secure your place on the bus, no deposit no place!  Frances will take deposits at training and there are only 17 places available on the bus. Places will go fast so don’t delay.

For those new to the club the weekend consists of an early morning pickup on the bus (approx 4am) then everyone will get a leg to run between Milngavie and Fort William although you’re free to run with others on their leg.  Accommodation is dinner bed & breakfast in the Ben Nevis Hotel (swimming pool, sauna and jacuzzi available) with a gentle activity on the Sunday morning before returning to East Kilbride by approx 5pm.

 

Frances

Balloch to Clydebank half Marathon

Well with the recent weather weve had today was probably the nearest to perfect weve had for a while. 8 Harriers ended up taking part and with a bus trip to the start we arrived on a variety of buses except Martin as he missed the last bus and had to drive to Balloch for the start. Fortunately a good friend that runs a similar time offered to bring him back later for it. 9am and were all lined up 370 starters which meant quite a congested first 500metres or so. After this point I could feel my hamstring as we had hit an slight incline and found I was hobbling a bit to relieve the pressure and watch all the Harriers go by except Andy Buchanan who was already well away. Onto the flat and everything going ok as long as I don't try to push the pace. The course takes you from Balloch through Alexandria and Renton which is about 4miles of straight road. At 4m the road climbs to go under the dual carriageway and onto country roads. Ouch back to a hobble on that climb. By now the rest of my clubmates were well out of sight and it was just a case of trying to keep within my target of 2.10. Into Dumbarton and 5miles done then onto Crosslet rd where the Dumbarton 10k starts.

Onto the cycle path and 6miles although according to my garmin it was 5.85 then at 7 it was showing 5.81. Starting to think the course may be short. Relieved at 8miles the marker and my garmin were in sync. Oh no here comes the climb to the roundabout Ouch again. Im now into territory ive not ran since Brampton and the pace is slowing but just a little and the hamstrings struggling on the flat if I try to go faster. Through Bowling and a couple of little ups and downs followed by the biggest climb on the course between Bowling and Old Kilpatrick boy did that hurt. Through 10 miles and some water then an almost flat run for home except a little climb at 12m. Into territory ive not ran since Islay 2013 and the pace dropping some more (hanging in a bit) but glad to run the whole way as I suspected I might need to stop and stretch a few times today. Crossed the line in 2.09.02 (official chip time) in 333 place. How did the rest do well heres the official chip times and places. A Buchanan 19th 1.17.10, M Howell 106th 1.30.47 3 mins faster than his last half, A Henderson 112th 1.32.25, J Holmes 165th 1.37.58, B Buchanan 216th 1.44.29, J McBride 231st 1.46.22, Sandy Hayden making her debut in a Half Marathon 271st 1.54.05 then myself as mention above. Great days running and thanks to Jim Mearns and Ruth Kelly for being out on the course.

Maybe Andy B could drop me a report about the front of the race and I will add this to give a different perspective on the race.

Thanks to Ruth for the photos taken out on the course. Everyone features somewhere in this gallery.

NATIONAL 6+4 STAGE RELAY CHAMPIONSHIPS

The National Road Relay will be held on the Sunday 29th March again in Livingston.
Race start time is Noon
Cost will be £4 per head and is the usual format of 4 legs for Ladies and 6 for Men (M50 teams are 4 per team and W50 are 3 per team).
I need names by Thursday 12th March.
If you wish entered leave your name HERE.
Those already entered are listed HERE.

Tuesdays are for Beginners

The Tuesday beginners section has been a part of the Harriers since the very start 30 years ago and has been very capably and quietly maintained by John Mullen in recent years. Recognising the many enquiries that come our way from new comers to our sport, we are re-launching the Tuesday section and formalising its role as both a time and place for those new and old to the sport to run for fun, who want a non-competitive run and also as a step on the way to the intermediate and advanced training nights on Mondays and Thursdays.

The beginners group meets as usual at 6:30pm on Tuesdays at East Kilbride Sports Club, Calderglen Country Park where Eddie Reid and John Mullen will organise the runs. What does it cost? £15 for a 10 week block. Give Eddie a call or drop him an e-mail for more details (contact details are on the poster below) or download the poster here. Check out our web site and this blog for further information on all of our activities.

Balloch to Clydebank Half

Could everyone that is running the Balloch to Clydebank half next week declare there jokers at training this week as I wont have p/work with me pre race. Also if anyone is not going to run let me know so were not looking for you in the results.

Russell

Down by the river races

Well what a horrible morning for running. Today Martin Howell headed down to Cambuslang for the 10k along with his friend James Davidson for company. You may remember James joined us at Brampton this winter. I decided as I couldn't get an entry for the 10k just to continue this weekends speedwork and do the 3k. Too cold to leave the car I just wished Martin well as he headed over to the start as the 3k was a 7mins later start. I went over the road just as they started to catch them on the first straight and give an encouraging cheer. It was now I discovered that 7mins is a long time to keep warm in such cold wind and rain/sleet. Soon the 3k was off and by 1k was stringing out with the wind not too bad as it was mostly side on and found myself running really well considering ive raced a 3k on Friday and 5k Saturday. Went through 1k with a new fastest time on my garmin then went through 1m with a new fastest time. Unfortunately the last k was into the wind with driving freezing rain so lost a bit of time but not much. Finished in 14.17 and 1st vet. Quickly back to the car as I was freezing and heaters on full blast to thaw me out. Watching the route for the leaders coming back and first back was ex Calderglen Harrier Stuart Gibson (Ronhill Cambuslang) just shy of his course record in 31.31. Martin came home in 41.09 a great time in horrendous conditions. He informed me just after the turn about 6k they had driving hail and sleet which makes his performance even better.
I did notice he ran the race with full leggings which I don't care what anyone says does reduce your leg speed but I cant blame him for wearing them in those conditions. Looking forward to the warmer 10k's coming up to see just how fast hes going to get. James was targeting 1hr and succeeded in 58.33. A great race and well organised so it would be great to see more Harriers there in future.
Other results 2nd Ben Stevenson (Edinburgh Uni 32.16)  3rd Robert Gilroy (Ronhill Cambuslang 32.18). 1st Fem Sarah Douglas (Edinburgh Uni  37.54)  2nd Fem  Jo Williams (Lothian RC 38.08) 3rd Fem Melissa Wylie (Dumbarton AC 38.53).