National Cross Country Championship 2017 - What Mud?48:

Calderglen Ladies' team clean up their act post-race

On the bright side, the sun did shine and it was quite warm for the final race of the day, the senior men's race at the National Cross Country Championships, but otherwise the Calendar Park course in Falkirk was a complete quagmire from start to finish. A record entry of 2500 across all the age group races and the biggest field in 30 years (900 entries and 600+ finishers) for the senior men's race guaranteed that any surviving blade of grass on the course was living on borrowed time.

Davie Watt to the fore off the line

Other than the fact that I wouldn't miss the National for anything, the omens were telling me this was a day I should have stayed at home. My usual morning Heart Rate Variability test gave me the thumbs down for any strenuous exercise on the day and a gentle mile and half jog at home before leaving confirmed that I was struggling. No matter, I was going and there was no stopping me. Except that when I started the car to leave for the race, the dash warning lights were telling me I had a left front puncture. Sure enough, there was a large nail in the tyre. I had to get this fixed as I needed the car for work so I sent a message to Russell advising that I probably wouldn't be there in time for the race start, pumped the tyre up as it was only a slow puncture and headed to the tyre centre in Stirling to get it fixed. As they were ready waiting for me, the tyre was fixed in no time and I was soon on my way to Falkirk, straight into a massive queue at roadworks on the M9! That cleared magically shortly after I joined it and I made it to Falkirk with over an hour to spare to the race start. I would not have believed that possible, the day I was having.

Andrew Buchanan negotiates a tricky corner

The ladies were already off and running when I arrived and it was fantastic to see a large team from Calderglen Harriers all running strongly. This was the first year that the ladies had stepped up to 10km for their race but that would not trouble the Harriers. Strongest of all was Julie Beveridge who is putting in a power of training for London Marathon at the moment and showed the benefits with a fine leading Harrier performance, finishing in 88th position in 48:25. Joanne McEvoy paced her run well and truly enjoyed herself, finishing confidently in 50:39. Really showing signs of a return to her old form, Karen Allen was next Harrier home in a time of 51:57, the muddy conditions suiting Karen's strength. Frances Ferguson is building back up gradually and this tough course will have done her no harm at all, covering the 10km in 55:25. Kay Conneff severely handicapped herself by running in normal road shoes rather than studs or spikes. It could not have been fun slipping and sliding around the whole course but Kay is never short of a smile so you would never know. Something else we did not initially know was Kay's time as her timing chip was in her pocket rather than attached to her shoe laces! Finishing with cleanest chip of the day, Kay crossed the line in 56:10.

Whereas the women stepped up to 10km from 8km, the men stepped down from 12km to 10km, all part of IAAF harmonisation of cross country race distances. In a funny sort of way, I would have preferred 12km as I definitely had no pace in my legs and a long slog was my only chance of finishing well up. The Harriers were well represented in the entered field of 900 with only one of our team having to call off. I squeezed my way to the outside of the start group but 5 or 6 rows back from the front to give myself a chance of a reasonable start and to avoid being trampled as the field swung in to the first corner. I would save getting trampled until the second corner for which I would be on the inside! For the first time in many years, as soon as the starter's gun went, I had nothing to give and found myself just running behind the guy in front as if it was a pack run rather than a training run, trying hard to stay on my feet and just keep moving forward. The initial climb wasn't too bad under foot but the first descent was down into a mud pit and things did not improve for the remaining 2.5km of each lap! The legendary climb up the muddy slope through the woods was significantly shortened this year and moved over to the right, turning sharp right part way up onto what was probably a footpath but during the race was a river of flowing, ankle to knee deep mud with some rocks underneath just to make it difficult! The course then entered the golf course section (I hope the membership there isn't expensive as that part of the course is now trashed) and ran parallel to the Antonine Wall ditch. This time we did not drop into the ditch but doubled back and crossed a footbridge leading into another part of the golf course which was equally muddy with a particularly deep, man-trap of a puddle at the gate exiting the golf course at Calendar House. The usually grassy slope through the tented village was becoming very squidgy and this gradual climb was one of the toughest of the lap, coming as it did straight after one of the flattest, fastest parts of the course. At the top we turned right along the top of the hill before swinging or sliding left into another slight depression and facing an almost vertical but short uphill slope of mud. Spikes and strength were a necessity here. Finally we turned sharp right and down the treacherously muddy slope onto what is usually the red ash drive (but brown mud today) leading to Calendar House and the start of the second of three laps.  I can normally tell you about race long battles with specific runners but I can't remember anything in particular happening on Saturday other than getting to the finish and sort of mustering a sprint up the drive to retain a place at the finish.

Gordon McInally on a surprising firm looking part of the course.

Our first Harrier was an antibiotic laden Davie Watt who finished in 228th position in 43:59 and a fantastic 2nd M55. Next up and having a strong run despite having had less than a week to recover from the Strathaven Half Marathon was fast improving Andrew Buchanan in 44:44 and 256th position. Then it was me, Alan Derrick, in 45:02, 264th position and 10th M50, a big but not unexpected drop from third equal last year. Kenny Leinster had a fantastic run to be 4th Harrier in 50:42 and 468th position. Kenny has managed to string some consistent training together since recovering from a persistent injury last Autumn and this is now having the desired effect. Jim Holmes momentarily was in front of race winner Calum Hawkins (although he was being lapped at the time!) and confirmed his evolving form with a time of 53:27. Richard Lawton is always there or thereabouts nowadays and was within sight of Jim in a time of 54:54, leading a very tight group of Harriers. Gordon McInally is vying with Richard for most improved Harrier in the past year and was only seconds behind Richard in 54:58 with Andy Henderson one place behind in 55:02 and 12th M60. Stuart Waugh vowed never to do this again last year but was still here anyway. We have all said that at some point and keep coming back for more. Stuart finished in 56:56 and was a fantastic 2nd M65!!!! Stuart, you will be back. Charlie McDougall made a return to cross country after many years or possibly a decade or so away from the muddy stuff. Charlie was just out to get on with it and finished in 60:23. Russell Couper was much further up the field than usual with his marathon training really making the desired difference. Russell finished in 63:22.

Scotland's true world class distance runner, Calum Hawkins won the race and also commented that he found it a real struggle. As I said after the race, nobody would find that course easy. He next faces a few of the Harriers at the London Marathon in late April where hopefully underfoot conditions will be better.

Well done to all the Harriers who made a bit of history participating in this record field. The fact that a Scottish Olympian has grown up with this event and won it again on Saturday proves the value of cross country running to runners no matter what your event is.

A huge thanks to all our supporters and photographers on the day and in particular to those who transported, assembled and dismantled the club tent which provided welcome shelter. A further thanks to George Stewart whose excellent photos I have cribbed from Facebook for use in the blog and in this album. There are also many hundreds of photos of the event on Bobby Gavin's That One Moment web site here.
Alan

NATIONAL XC (final instructions)

This Saturday is the National XC in Falkirk.
Some are leaving from the club at 11am so if you want to travel as a group be there by then.
If your going direct can the Ladies be at Falkirk for 12.30 and the men by 1.30pm.
I will collect numbers and chips and be on the course for 12.30.
Start times are Ladies 1.20pm with the men at 2.50pm.

Those running are F Ferguson, K Conneff, J Beveridge, K Allan and J McEvoy.
R Couper, A Derrick, R Lawton, J Holmes, D Watt, C McDougall, A Henderson, A J Buchanan, K Leinster, C Steven, S Waugh and G McInally.

If anyone cant make it or not running please let myself or Alan know by Saturday morning so were not picking up numbers and chips.

Anyone still to pay please bring this with you.

Strathaven Striders 'Run with the Wind' half marathon

Photos courtesy of Billy Buchanan are here. More photos now added to the album taken by Kay.

Four harriers travelled the short distance to Strathaven on Sunday morning for the third running of the Striders Run with the Wind half marathon. With Ian Rae wisely deciding not to risk his still-vulnerable foot over thirteen miles on tarmac it left me as the only harrier ever-present at this excellent local event. The weather forecasts in the preceding days had been surprisingly good for the time of year and on the day led to many less jackets, hats and gloves being worn than in previous years although you won’t be surprised to hear I still had my gloves on.

There wasn’t much time for me to chat to my fellow harriers as I kept bumping in to folk every minute or two, in fact I couldn’t look around the hall without spotting someone I wanted to talk to. It’s fast becoming one of life’s pleasures to meet and chat with the many friends I have made over the years through running. Due to the race venue being a primary school Gordon and I were concerned as to how we would cope after the event with the chairs and the boys urinals being only eighteen inches off the ground - we might manage to get down there but getting back up would be an entirely different proposition!

302 runners made their way the mile or so to the start and were soon away down the narrow road heading west into the wind in a balmy ten degrees. A westerly means this is the only section where the field are head-on into the wind, for the remainder of the race it is either behind or across.A couple of miles in I was surprised to see Sandy Hayden about a hundred yards ahead of me although, even then, I was catching her quickly. Pace judgement comes with experience and I’m sure she’ll learn from having gone out way too fast this time.

Around three miles in and the turn north heralded the start of the climb up to Ardochrig which I coped with reasonably well. I had been concerned pre-race that running 14 night-time miles in Glencoe on Wednesday, getting to bed at 04:00, being up ill on Thursday night and then walking up Conic Hill from Balmaha to Drymen on Friday might weaken me for the hills but progress was steady, if unspectacular.

Billy Buchanan, the first of the Calderglen support team, was busy with his camera at the very top of the climb and, with his shouts of encouragement ringing in my ears, I was off on my now-annual charge down the EK side of the hill – I just love flying down here, probably as it’s the only way to recapture any speed I may have had in the past and, needless to say, this was my fastest mile of the race, a sub-7:30. Thoughtfully Kay, along with husband Sean, wee bundle of energy Nathan and Archie the dog, had positioned themselves in a layby a hundred yards or so over the top allowing us slower runners to catch our breath and get a wee bit of speed going for the camera.

At the other end of the hill stood Allan McLellan, also shouting and taking photos – who says us male harriers can’t multi-task? Running along Leaburn (Millwell?) Road I was cheered to see Eddie and Jim, out for a Sunday morning training run. Eddie told me later they ran around the same four roads quite a few times making sure they saw all their clubmates through, cheers guys. It has to be said that one runners’ reaction was a little different, telling them to ‘go away, you’re not helping’ or words to that effect. That harrier shall remain nameless!

I struggled for the next mile or two but by mile nine was beginning to pick the pace up a little but slowed again as mile ten is a long drag. It did however represent the final climbing of the race as the marshalls kept reminding everyone ‘it’s all downhill from mile ten!’ I’d love to say I flew over the last three miles but, in truth, my efforts earlier in the week were by now taking their toll and, although I did overtake a few, I was only just sub-8 minute miling.

I came through the finish in a surprisingly fast 1.52.54, which may be partly accounted for by my GPS reading of 13.04 miles!Andrew J Buchanan was the leading harrier by some distance, coming home in 15^th place in 1.24.19 – a pb by ? minutes (he was a bit vague about his existing his best time!) Gordon’s better half Marion O’Connor ran an excellent 1.40.41 and was first in her category by an impressivr four minutes (sadly there were no age group prizes) while Gordon himself ran 1.46.18, which he seemed happy with.

Sandy came home in 2.12.56. It should be noted she hadn’t wanted to take part at all and was only  persuaded to run by treating it as a long training run, mission accomplished Sandy!

  

Robert Gilroy won the men’s race in a new course record of 1.11.25 and Marie Stanley of Garscube Harriers won the female race in 1.28.23. Grant Baillie of EKAC was second overall in 1.13.23. 
Kenny Davidson of Moorfoot Runners and an ex-harrier many of you will remember finished in 27^th place in 1.27.12 and sent his regards to all the harriers.

The finishing times times ranged from Robert’s time of 1.11.25 to the final finisher in 2.42.29

I believe Coach has Billy’s photos and will add them to this report later. Should anyone (Allan, Kay?) have photos worth showing, no tears or snotters please, then get them to coach or myself and we will add them too.

PS In case you’re concerned Gordon and I found some adult-sized chairs after the race!

The return of the heavy breather.....

Sydney Marathon Clinic (SMC) is a running club based in the Smithfield area of Sydney - about 20 miles west of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge if you use them as your landmark - and about 12 miles south of where we live, so that gives you a sense of how big Sydney actually is! So far I've found it quite hard to find races to compete in although that's maybe because they avoid racing too much in the middle of summer, so I found this one which us run monthly and decided to give it a go.

It's a nice course starting in a park and running out to the back end where you climb the one steep hill in the route. It comes just about 2k and also involves crossing a bus lane which means the runners have to give way if a bus passes just as you approach, and it's stewarded to make sure you do. Once you make the climb its a very slow and slight rise over the next 3k along a good quality tarmac path. No idea why it's there or what for but it's great running. Then you turn back and run back the same route to where you started.

I'd run a fairly tough (hilly) route the day before so I tried to make sure that I didn't go out too hard, and even with a 7.30 am start and a break in the weather it was "only" 20 degrees (with 78% humidity) so I was very aware of trying to manage my pace and not overheat. Also I've been finding it much easier to max out my heart rate so I was watching that and trying to keep it just under boiling point! After getting over the bus lane and up the first hill I tried to drop into a steady pace and hold it as long as possible, and that tactic saw me pass around seven or eight people on the way to the turn.


After that I just tried to focus on the runner in front and although I got on his shoulder once he had enough to pull away again but with me hanging on for dear life. We opened up a good gap on the four chasing us only for the steward to raise his flag and stop us to let a bus though as we came off the downhill at a good lick. That probably put another ten or more seconds on our time - especially allowing for the time getting back up to speed and I struggled to get the rhythm back.

Having said that my first five mile segments were 6:43; 7:01 up the hill and then 6:49, 6:49 and 6:50 before the last mile chasing in to the finish I got down to 6:40 so an overall time of 42:37 on their site and 42:33 on my watch. Overall that gave me a top ten finish in their race, and a benchmark to work from. I might try it again next month! Maybe one for next year's Grand Prix Alan???

David

PS You will all be glad to know I spoke to the chap who finished in front of me at the end and he said "I could hear you breathing behind me for about 7k"....I think I gasp even more here in the heat than I ever did in Scotland....

PPS Hope you all have a great run at next weekend's National XC. I'm sure it'll be 78% chance of precipitation and 100% chance of it underfoot.....

NEW ROAD PROPOSAL

There are proposals for changing the road access to Calderglen with the current road over the bridge being closed and all cars coming in by a new road at New Farm. It is unclear how that would impact on the club. A consultation event is being held in the Gallery Room at the castle in Calderglen on Monday the 20th between 10.30 and 2.30 and 4pm to 8pm. It is open to all and the plans will be available for viewing and people will be on hand to answer questions.

SPORT FUNDING WORKSHOP

Dear Sporting Partner,

The East Kilbride Sports Council have worked with SALSC (Scottish Association of Local Sport Councils) to host a SPORTS FUNDING workshop on Thursday 9^th March 7-9pm at East Kilbride Old Parish Church.   This workshop will be led by Andrew Kelly, Project Manager from Sport Scotland.  The workshop will explore all funding for sports clubs and a guide of current funding programmes accessible for sport clubs and organizations.

Sport Funding Workshop

Thursday 9^th March

7pm-9pm

East Kilbride Old Parish Church , G74 4JS

FREE Registration:  salscoffice@gmail.com

This workshop is FREE to attend.  If interested, can you please register interest by emailing salscoffice@gmail.comas soon as possible to guarantee your place at this workshop.  Please note spaces are limited and will operate on a first come first serve basis.  

Kind  Regards

Craig

Craig Allardice

Community Sport Hub Officer

South Lanarkshire Leisure and Culture

North Stand

Cadzow Avenue

Hamilton

ML3 0LX

Tom Scott instead of Balloch to Clydebank in the Grand Prix

Due to cancellation of the Balloch to Clydebank Half Marathon (this year only because of ongoing refurbishment works on the Playdrome), I have substituted the Tom Scott 10 mile road race which incorporates the Scottish Athletics 10 mile championship on Sunday 2nd April in the Grand Prix. This makes it quite a crowded few weeks with the 6-stage relays, Tom Scott and Grangemouth 10k in successive weeks but I don't want to go further into April looking for another longish race due to the number of Harriers doing London Marathon later in April. Entry web site for the Tom Scott is here.

(Alloa Half was an option considered but at £22 per entry was looking a bit expensive for a Grand Prix race. Having said that, the Tom Scott isn't exactly cheap at £14 plus on-line booking fee).

Revised list of Grand Prix races is here.
Alan
(Note this post was accidentally posted to the Young Athletes blog at the weekend. Thanks to Julie for pointing out the mistake)

NATIONAL XC (FALKIRK)

The national xc will take place on Sat 25th Feb.
Ladies start at 1.20pm with the men at 2.50pm and will be 10k for both.
Cost is £6.50 per head and should be paid in advance.
I need names by Thursday 9th Feb.
Those wishing entered should leave there name HERE.
Those already entered are listed HERE.

Updating Club Member E-Mail Details

It is a few years since we did a sweep of the membership to gather your current e-mail addresses. This information will allow the Harrier's committee to occasionally send out information to members that is not for public consumption on the blog or web site (e.g. matters relating to AGM, finances, membership, etc). Also, the Sports Club has just launched its e-mail newsletter and you will start receiving this occasionally once we have your up to date e-mail address.

Please fill in this form with your name and current e-mail address. Fill in a separate form for each adult member of your family if you have a family membership and you wish both to be informed of anything. If you have more than one e-mail address that you would like us to use, then please fill out a separate form for each e-mail address. Note that the form will check that the e-mail address is correctly formatted before accepting it (i.e. the address contains an "@" symbol and a "." before the final characters, so type carefully!

Alan, Russell

Disclaimer: note that the form and e-mail data validation has been tested on a Windows PC using Chrome browser and on several Android devices (phone and tablet) and works fine. For those using Apple devices, I don't have one so can't test it, so good luck!

FANCY A DRAMATHON?

Following on from an article in the latest Sunday Mail magazine I thought I would highlight a new running event to our members. A new Scottish event in October that combines whisky, landscape and running.

The event is billed as a Dramathon and the Speyside Single Malt Marathon which takes place for the first time on Saturday 21st October. As well as the main marathon event, it can be run as a four person relay team and there is half marathon and a 10k.

During the marathon runners pass several distilleries and collect stamps for 6 drams of whisky, which you will receive at the finishing line.

There is only 500 places so if you like running and a wee dram this might be the event for you.

See link for more info: http://thedramathon.com/

Richard

RONS RUNNERS SPRING TRAIL 5K RUN

Dear All

Entries are now open for Rons Runners second spring 5k race incorporating the Ayrshire Harriers 5k championships.

We would be grateful if you would pass this information on to your club members.  Link to online entry is attached.

Many thanks.
Kind Regards
Melanie

 https://www.entrycentral.com/ronsrunners5k2017

Rons Runners Spring Trail 5k Run - incorporating Ayrshire 5k Championships 2017 www.entrycentral.com This is the second annual 5k run organised by Rons Runners.  This race incorporates the Ayrshire Harriers 5k Championships 2017. 19.00 Start Time Under SAL regulation Pre Entry by 17th April 2017 or whenever the race limit is reached

CARLUKE ON THE RUN ROAD RACE

Dear All,

We would like to invite you to help us turn the town yellow on May 21, by participating in the annual Carluke on the Run road race in support of Beatson Cancer Charity.

Last years event proved to be a massive success, raising £9500 for the Beatson

This year see's the continuation of the successful individual 10k event, along with the addition of a 10k relay for teams of two, allowing people who may be put off from doing the 10k, the chance to split the route with a buddy.

 

You can register for this year's race at https://www.entrycentral.com/carluke10k