FAST CLOSE RACING AT CUMBERNAULD

It was probably the fastest conditions ever seen and Cumbernauld for the National XC Relays at least for a good number of years anyway. We had 7 Ladies running and 10 Men with both needing 4 legs run per team. First up was the Ladies and off on leg 1 was Kay Conneff for the A team and Allison Lessells for the incomplete team. Both found running with the main field on leg one tough but very rewarding posting times of 16.49 and 17.44 respectively. Next up was Kirsty promoted to the A team after an excellent run at the Lanarkshires last week and Sandy running for the incomplete team. Kirsty had another excellent run with a time of 16.46 pipping ahead of Kay by 3 secs and Sandy not at her best running 20.34. Onto leg 3 and with the A team now in 31st place we had Karen Allen who started to move through what was becoming a well spread out field bringing the team up to 27th place with a time of 17.03. On the 3rd leg for the incomplete team we had Lorraine Buchanan who had the biggest improvement on the day from everyone with a time of 18.44. Last leg and just Julie Beveridge to run for the A team running the fastest time from our Ladies with an impressive 16.22 and securing 26th place for the team. Well done to our 7 Ladies who all ran and competed well.

Onto the mens race and two and a half teams. First up for the A team was Andrew Buchanan, For the B team Jim Holmes and the incomplete team Gordon McInally. Again the first leg can be tough and rewarding as you have to battle through the initial stages but also without the gaps get involved in good racing. Andrew coped best with this posting a great time of 14.39. Jim ran a very strong race to finish in 17.00 and Gordon improving week by week and getting some good form back finishing in 19.25. Onto leg 2 and Martin Howell running for the A team, Richard Lawton for the B team and Russell Couper for the incomplete team. Martin has a habit of focusing so much on his finish he sometimes forgets to stop his watch and guess what he did it again so we had to wait for the official results and Martin ran a great 16.25 and very close with Julies time. Richard who seems to keep his best running for races again didn't disappoint with a great time of 17.22. Russell found some form here and had a very close call with Gordon running his fastest on the course since 2003 with 19.26.
Onto leg 3 and the battle of the Alans that's Alan Cullie for the A team and Allan McLellan for the B team. Alan didn't by his own admission have his best run but still managed a fine 17.26 allowing Richard a 4 sec victory over him. Allan McLellan on the other hand had a flyer running 16.19 pipping both Martin and Julies time by a few secs. Last leg and for the A team Mark Saez and the B team Billy Buchanan. On the provisional results Mark was down for 32.03 so I am claiming a scalp ( sorry Mark it has to be claimed and ive got the printout to prove it ) Now the official results are out Mark ran 14.38 just one sec faster than Andy and our fastest time of the day bringing the team home in 94th. Billy had a fairly lonely run but still put in a fantastic performance with 18.40 and 111th place. Watch out Billy as Lorraine was just 4 secs away from you and closing in. Some very close times in here and its going to be interesting at the short course xc as its head to head and beyond that at Brampton. Good racing from everyone involved and long may it continue.

Lanarkshire AAA Cross Country Championships

This race takes place at Drumpellier Country Park in Coatbridge (enter the park from Blair Road, arriving near Blairhill railway station & car park). on Saturday 24th November (this is not a grand prix race).  The cost for seniors/veterans is £4.

Event	Time	Age group	Distance
Race 1	12:00	U11 Girls	1200m (1 small lap)
Race 2	12:15	U11 Boys	1200m (1 small lap)
Race 3	12:25	U13 Girls	2500m (1 large lap)
Race 4	12:45	U13 Boys	2500m (1 large lap)
Race 5	13:00	U15 Girls	3700m (1 small + 1 large lap)
Race 5	13:00	U15 Boys	3700m (1 small + 1 large lap)
Race 6	13:20	U17 Men	5000m (2 large laps)
Race 6	13:20	U17 Women	5000m (2 large laps)
Race 6	13:50	Sen/Vet Ladies	7500m (3 large laps)
Race 7	13:50	Sen/Vet Men	7500m (3 large laps)

Volunteers
The race organiser states that all clubs need to provide a minimum of 2 volunteers and failure to do so will result in club entries being declined. 

Race Entry
You can enter the race via Q-Buster using the code laaaxc_18. Entries close on Monday 19th November.

Link: https://www.q-buster.co.uk/laaa-cross-country-championships-2018

Richard

National XC Relays ( CUMBERNAULD )

Teams for Saturday are here.
The Ladies start at 13.20 and the Men at 14.45.
Its 4 legs for both.
I need the ladies there for 12.30 to enter the running order and the men by 13.30. If anyone is going to be later than these times please let me know with your estimated arrival time.
Those running are
A Lessells, J McEvoy, L Buchanan, S Hayden, K Wilson, K Conneff, J Beveridge, K Allan.
R Couper, R Lawton, A Cullie, G McInally, M Saez, A Buchanan, J Holmes, M Howell, B Buchanan, A McLellan.

There are spaces for both male and female so if anyone else wants a run check with me and I will see if your listed as a reserve.

Teams and running order will be posted when available.

NATIONAL SHORT COURSE XC ( LANARK )

This years short course XC will take place at the Equestrian Centre in Lanark on Sat 10th November.
Its a 4k straight race with Ladies starting at 1.10pm and men at 1.35pm.
Cost is £7.50 per head and should be paid in advance.
I need names by 22nd Oct to submit the entries.
If you wish entered please leave your name HERE.
Those already registered are listed HERE.

PB for Kenny at Abingdon Marathon

It's contagious within the Harriers this month - another marathon PB, this time for Kenny at Abingdon in Oxfordshire today with a 3:21 timing, improving his PB by about 1 minute. I am sure there is a tale to tell which Kenny will provide on his return.

Sub 3 is the name of the game for Gerry, anywhere, any time zone

Report to follow when Gerry gets back.

Run The Blades - The Night One

Four harriers made the short journey up to Whitelee Windfarm on Friday night for the inaugural Run The Blades - The Night One. Other than Graham none of us were sure quite how the race would go as, like most folk, we'd never raced at night on trail before. Ruth and I have taken part in races that started at one in the morning but those were at ultra pace, this would be very different.
Sadly Ruth decided after travelling there directly from work that she just wasn't up for it and didn't even collect her number. None of our attempts at persuasion would budge her which strongly suggests a correct decision, shame though. She did however meet an old school friend whom she hadn't seen for some fifteen years!
What a beautiful night it was as can be seen from these pictures

I started out trying, stupidly, to hang on to a friend of mine who runs a great deal faster than me but soon was forced to give up that notion and had to settle into a steadier, more sustainable, pace - a good decision as she eventually finished first FV50! My early burst had taken me past George and within striking distance of Graham to whom I managed to hang on to for quite a while.
The route, for those of you who have run the eight mile Loch Goin circuit, was that minus a chunk to the south of the reservoir, by-passed by cutting directly across the dam. When we ran across that section the water, on a cool, dry and calm evening which was perfect for running, appeared to be flat calm and looked beautiful in the moonlight. Sadly no-one could fully enjoy the beauty of the evening for long as vigilance was the order of the day, constantly watching out for the puddled potholes along the rough and ready trail.

Shortly after rejoining the loch circuit we encountered the first uphill of the run whereupon my exertions of last week caught up with me and I was forced to start walking. It was here that Ruth's school pal came past me, having been about two metres behind me for around 1.5k, patting me on the shoulder and saying 'thanks for the great pacing'. From the top of that hill until the finish I was hanging on and indeed walked twice more up Heartbreak Hill (Blackwood Hill really) and Brown Hill nearer the finish. George said afterwards he could see me walking at one point but couldn't quite close the gap enough to catch me.
I came home in 52.26 with George only 33 seconds behind to discover a certain Graham Walker(!) Ramage was the first harrier home in a fine 49.53. I was chuffed to discover later I was third MV60, a category which was won by my pal Ross from Hamilton Harriers.

There were 230 starters and 229 finishers, Graham was 46th, I finished 60th (in my 110th 10k race) and George was 66th.
Here is a link to a video taken of the race ( by a Terry McGeary) and if you look very closely you'll see me almost at the finish at 4 minutes 51 seconds and George at 4.54 although he's wearing his trail race tee shirt which doesn't exactly stand out in the dark... YouTube video
The male race winner was young Kieran Cooper in 34.27 with his dad Richard coming home in third place in 38.08 and first MV40 while the female race winner was Janine Dickie from Bellahouston Harriers in 45.11.
All in all a superbly organised and marshalled race as we've come to expect from Breaking Strain Events and one which I, for one, would very much like to do again.

Lanarkshire Road Relays

Silver Medal winners

Thanks to David Wardrope for this album showing all the Harriers in action here.
On a day when the Ladies outnumbered and outperformed the Men in the club we had some great performances from everyone that ran. Seven Ladies lined up for us giving 2 and 1 third teams with Joanne McEvoy, Kirsty Wilson and Lorraine Buchanan running leg 1. Joanne was first back in 16.05 but hot on her heels and running a course best was Kirsty in 16.20. We didn't have long to wait for Lorraine running a big course best of 18.37. Onto leg 2 and Alison Lessells and Sandy Hayden starting with only a 15 second gap. Alison however did extend the lead on Sandy handing over in a clear 2nd place with a time of 17.22 and getting stronger with every race she does. Sandy came home in 19.41 which I believe is a course best. Leg 3 and Julie running for the A team had a big gap to the leading Ladies but also a big gap to the 3rd team so no pressure. Julie ran her best as always and the fastest of our Ladies today 15.51 bringing the team home with Silver Medals. Julie Thomson ran the 3rd leg for the B team with another course best of 19.10.

Onto the Men with 1.5 teams so out on the 1st leg was Martin Howell and Gordon McInally. Martin being the 1st Harrier back in 15.16 and Gordon continueing to improve again with every race in 18.53. 2nd legs and Alan Cullie and Russell Couper. Alan is getting his fitness back with every race and didn't disappoint again today with 16.10. Russell having struggle with injury last weekend and through the week was hoping to be ready for this but having come down with manflu on Friday and lack of sleep was ready for a disaster but its funny with these short races that you might just have enough in the tank and it proved to be running 19.55 and the fastest time since 2011. Onto leg 3 and Andy Buchanan with the field spread out by now still managed to be fastest Harrier of the day in 15.02. Leg 4 and just Richard to run. Richards running has come on leaps and bounds in the last couple of years and continues to improve running a course best of 17.04 .

Some Juniors had ran today but I will leave that for the Juniors Blog

Munich Half Marathon - A sob story

Get your hankies ready for my tales of woe.

Having had a taste of running in Munich back in July I signed up for the half marathon and as it was October week decided to take the family for a return visit. Coming off the back of the Dunoon half, some regular running and the training camp I thought I was in reasonable condition to target a sub 1:30 again. That went out the window the week before the Glasgow GSR Half when I developed an injury which brought to an end my 12 consecutive runs at that event. The disappointment was tempered by the need to get fit for Munich which was only 2 weeks away. It was a bit of an emotional roller-coaster of a fortnight, going from just wanting to get round when the injury was bad, to thinking about possible times any time I could walk without limping. Everyone has their own personal preference of physio but for me if it wasn’t for Grant I wouldn’t have got anywhere near the start line. He said he’d get me to the start line (although he followed up with “after that all bet’s are off”) and that he did.

We flew from Edinburgh but a 2 hour delay put us in risk of not being able to pick up our numbers on the Saturday and my miserable preparation was topped off with a 65 euro taxi fare from the airport so that we could get to the Expo on time. I was toying with the idea of asking to swap to the 10k but when I got to the expo I got a bit of a buzz and thought **** It ! Do or die over the HM course.

All runners get free transport across Munich on the day of the race. I was less impressed with the
other Bavarian rules which don’t allow supermarkets to open on a Sunday which meant my banana and energy drink fuelling strategy bit the dust. Just to add to the problems Munich was experiencing a mini heatwave which saw temperatures into the mid 20s.

We arrived at the Olympic Park nice and early and enjoyed the atmosphere. Lots of facilities and the bag drop was well organised. We watched the start of the Marathon (some of the sub 3 hr wave were clearly kidding themselves on) then Frances and Mark lined up for the 10k. This race was broken into 3 starting waves but it was just for logistics rather than time based. Frances and Mark went into the second group but that turned out to  be a bit slow. They ran together to 5k before Mark got bored and ran back at a quicker pace. They both enjoyed the race, atmosphere, and particularly the finish in the Olympic stadium.

I made my way out to the start at the mid point on the marathon course. A bit of jogging about the park in the morning didn’t get any negative reaction from the injury (I wont detail the painkiller count) although I was still unsure if I would make it. For the first time ever I ran with my phone, money and hotel key ... just in case.  I had Grant’s words of “take it very easy at the start” ringing in my ears and had worked out a 4:45/km pace would get me round in about 1:45. Well off what I had been targeting but better than the prospect of not getting round. Its amazing how the excitement gets to you even when there’s very little at stake. A warm up which was more thorough than normal for me got the adrenaline flowing.

I met a couple of guys from Belfast in the starting pen who were targeting 1:37 and suddenly my 1:45 was reassessed. I started alongside them and due to crowds it was a 4:45 first km as planned. However it quickly spread out and the pace quickened. I kept with the guys but by 3km I was feeling good and moved away, averaging 4:35/km up to 10km which wasn’t earth shattering but quite decent coming off the back of no training for 4 weeks. I had a dip between 10 and 11km but got a wee lift again, assisted by some of my German colleagues from work coming out to cheer me on. However somewhere around the 15km my lack of miles really started to show. I even contemplated walking at one point, the only thing keeping me going was that all you lot would see it when I posted it on Garmin !! By this point it was really just a case of getting home. The last few km dragged by but then I got sight of the Olympic tower and I knew I was heading for home.

The entry into the stadium was through the famous tunnel and then three quarters of a lap of the track to the finish.

I got home in 1:38:52, 449th overall, 32nd M45, averaging 4:41/km. This time it was all about getting round but being honest I’m probably thinking about what could have been on the course as it was flat. There’s a saying that talks about leaving it all out on the course. I think some of the finishing photos prove that I did, although quickly recovered with a non-alcoholic beer. I made up for it later with a few steins of beer in the Haufbrauhaus (no photos provided – I was just tired).
Stephen

A RUNNERS GUIDE TO THE MUNICH MARATHON

To avoid challenging Davie S to the title of longest race report on the blog, I thought I’d split this into some  general event details and follow up with my own (sob) story.

The Munich Marathon is a big part of the city’s events although admittedly lagging somewhere behind the Oktobberfest. Its easy to get flights from Glasgow and Edinburgh. We chose Edinburgh as the flight back was only £24. There is Marathon (5000 runners), Half (7000), 10k (3000) and a very popular 4 stage relay team over the marathon course (700 teams). The event was probably similar to many other city marathons and had an expo on the Friday and Saturday.

Its an easy city to get about using the U bhan (underground) and you get free transport on the day of the race with your race number.

It starts at the Olympic park and finishes in the Olympic stadium.

The marathon and relay start at 10am then the 10k goes after that, which makes it good for spectators.

The Half starts from mid way on the marathon course later in the afternoon. You need to make your way out there but its an easy trip on public transport. There are plenty of facilities at the start including a bag drop.

The most scenic part of the course is in the opening part of the marathon when there is about 8km through the English Garden (park). This means that the first part of the half is a bit boring before it moves back towards the city centre and all of the historic buildings. The course is pretty much flat, nothing that could really be called a hill, and even the twists and turns didn’t seem to be a problem. There are crowds along much of the route, particularly nearer the city.

Lots of food and drink stations (water, isotonic, banana etc – and beer) around the course as well as the usual entertainment at regular intervals.

The end of the race is in the Olympic stadium and an enjoyable lap of the famous track.  All runners can get onto the pitch and make use of all food and drink facilities. Afterwards there’s showers and a physio facilities etc. There was even one of those dry ice machines to help the tired legs. 

The marathon was won in 2:27, the half in 69:59 and the 10k in 32:09. Decent times but not the type of world class athlete that goes for Berlin for example.

Its a good event, well organised. It was 40 Euros entry but the t shirt was extra. Maybe a bit expensive compared to Glasgow but probably on a par with other European city type events. There were lots of nationalities including a big Italian contingent. The relay seen a lot of the tech companies enter teams.

We stayed in the Schwabing area, best described as being a bit like Glasgow’s west end. It was great for access and for sightseeing afterwards.

Munich is a great city and with a flat course might be one for our travelling Harriers to consider.

Stephen
(on behalf of the Munich Tourist Board....)

Lanarkshire Road Relays - Grand Prix Race #3

Teams for Saturday

Ladies A

1 J McEvoy

2 A Lessells

3 J Beveridge

Ladies B

1 K Wilson

2 S Hayden

3 J Thomson

Ladies C

1 L Buchanan

Men A

1. M Howell

2. A Cullie

3 A Buchanan (keeping Andy & Lorraine on different legs in case they have the kids/dug with them)

4 R Lawton

Men B

1. G McInally

2. R Couper

We have 2 male and 3 ladies teams entered and those listed below are entered to run.
L Buchanan, J Thomson, J Beveridge, J McEvoy, A Lessells, K Wilson and S Hayden.
R Couper, R Lawton, A Buchanan, G McInally, A Cullie, C McCarron and M Howell.
This leaves us 1 male and 2 female spaces so if anyone else wants a run check with me as ive entered some reserve names.
Please arrive at Drumpellier park by 12.45 with your £2 so I can enter the team running orders
Running order will be posted here when available

We also need to provide 2 volunteers so if anyone can help with this let me know.

The Lanarkshire Road Relays will be held on 20th Oct in Drumpellier Park ( Coatbridge )
Time is 13.30 start. 4 legs for men and 3 for Ladies
Cost is £2.
Distance is 4k per leg on an out and back route through the park.
I need entries by 17th Oct
If you wish entered please leave your name HERE.
Those registered are listed HERE.

Continuing a Calderglen tradition

Ahem, my name is David and I, eh...got lost in the Lomond Hills at the weekend. There, I've said it and I feel better for having made my public confession. I've finally joined the list of harriers (Eddie, Kenny, Billy and Allan spring to mind) who have taken the road 'less-travelled' during events by adding miles on to what was already a forty miler. I should point out though that no helicopters were involved.
To backtrack a little I had very nearly convinced myself not to run the Adventures into Wonderland Ultra due to a combination of under training and niggling injuries. Having checked the forecast for the umpteenth time that week (heavy rain but fairly warm and, importantly, dry early on) I decided at around four pm on the Friday to give it a go and actually made a decent job of getting ready at the last minute - sadly the one exception to this was checking the route and given that I'd never set foot in the Lomonds before this was to turn out to be critical error, as you will discover.
Groggily out of bed at 03:30 (argh!) for a 4.45 departure to Lochgelly and the forecast had been correct, it was indeed a beautiful night/morning - calm, warm and dry. The race HQ was at the Meedies, the Fifer's name for Lochore Meadows Country Park, a lovely family-friendly area reclaimed from the degraded landscape left behind when the NCB closed no less than seven pits between 1959 and 1966. Since 2015 it also hosts an emponymous running club and a parkrun was established there in May of this year.

A visual reminder of the area's heritage

A quick chat with a few friends after collecting my number and it was time for the race brief.

Who's the old guy at the back? Oh it's me

I should explain that the organisers seem to have a thing for Alice in Wonderland and call themselves The Mad Hatters which was the theme for all the races, there also being a haffer of 14 miles and a marathon of 28 miles - delightfully inaccurate trail distances. The cutoffs respectively were 5 and 8 hours which gives you a flavour of the courses' severity.

I won't bore you with too much detail (for a change) but, for those who know the Lomonds, the race covered the following hills - Harran (twice), Benarty (twice), Bishop Hill (twice, the first of those straight up the steep front facing Scotlandwell) and both West and East Lomond - a grand total of 5,682 feet of climbing. Conditions degenerated during the first ascent of Bishop Hill and my jacket and gloves stayed on thereafter. Having started under-trained for both the distance and the elevation I began to struggle early on but fortunately met and ran for many miles with a friend of mine. When I asked him,  knowing his propensity for daft challenges, what he was planning the following day I wasn't in the least surprised to hear he was running the Loch Rannoch marathon! And he did, in a respectable time of 4 hours and 34 minutes - he's nuts, but in a nice way
Looking at the results I reckon I was sixth from the back coming down Benarty for the second time. Most of the forestry on the south side has recently been harvested and the slope resembled a battlefield, one in which I was soon lost. Facebook was full of posts later that day telling of many who also were lost at various points on the race including instances of route marking having been removed, sadly I have no such excuse and can only blame a lack of oxygen to the brain for my silly error which led me unexpectedly on to a minor road. Remembering that the race started and finished at Loch Ore I reasoned that the best course of action was to head downhill to my right (I certainly was in no fit state to head back up!) rather than uphill to the left. Had I spent more time studying the route (see above regarding last minute prep.) I might have remembered there was another minor hill to cover with a road between it and Benarty. It was a doh! moment when I looked at the map at home later and realised if I had only headed left for a few hundred meters I would have come to the correct road crossing, been back on track and subsequently saved myself an extra 3.69 miles.

Compare the course map above

with my extra loop to the west almost to the M90!

Finally arriving at the finish with the directional assistance of three separate local folk in a time of 11.05.23 and being presented with my medal, see below, I couldn't help but notice there was only one other left on the table - second from last then I assumed. It turned out the 'last' runner out on the course didn't finish and I was firmly in the final place for the first time in my life, ah well - c'est la vie.

There are many, many worse things in life than finishing last and I did run a fair distance more than most although I was told of someone complaining about running 45 miles. Despite coming home last I was pleased I'd made the effort to complete my 38th ultra and my 7th this year. Just one to go, Glen Ogle with Ruth and Jim, in three weeks time. Also it would appear from the results I was the first MV60. (you can work out the rest yourself as in, first and.....).
The race winners were James Crozier in 6.36.34 and Alice Mezinescu in 7.24.00 who was also in 6th place overall.
Here is a link to a few (not many due to the crappy weather) more photos of the day  Adventures into Wonderland

Sports Club car park temporary closure

Please take note before you come up to training tonight.

There was extenstive work went on in the car park on Sunday to start fixing the potholes.

The car park will be closed all of Monday 15th October and will re-open on Tuesday 16th October afternoon.

Please note: the car park will be uneven and bumpy for the rest of the week, so drive with caution.

This message is also on Sports Club Facebook page.

Richard

West District XC was wet, wet & wet!

L to R: Kirsty, Sandy & Gordon

A total contrast from last weeks run in the sun at Houston with this weeks Grand Prix event being the West Districts Cross Country Relay Championships at a very wet Beach Park in Irvine. The weather forecast for Scotland was just a sea of blue across the west & central belt all day and for once they got it right. All be it wasn't cold with the temperature around 12c and the rain was just more constant drizzle so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. It was a great day for the newer more compact tent that everyone was glad to have to get changed in and keep dry while we all waited for our leg on the course.  Anyway to the race itself.

 

With still a lot of our ladies recovering from the Chester marathon we had a one complete team of three ladies running. As like last week the womens team was led off by Kay Conneff who looked like she was having a good run looking strong.  The club tent was well positioned at the half way point in the course where she got plenty of cheers and encouragement from everyone and her young son Nathan who is becoming a regular supporter at the races and feeding all the Harriers with chocolate biscuits.  Kay completed the first leg in a great standard of 18.09 passing the baton to Kirsty Wilson who again seemed to be running well after recently completing the Glasgow Half Marathon a couple of weeks ago crossing the line in 18.44 leaving the final leg to Sandy. Now Sandy was not looking too good on Thursday night suffering with a virus but had been to the doctor and now looking more fresh faced with medical intervention but still not 100%. However despite this handicap she completed her leg in 22.46 (and beating Russell) bringing the team home in 26th place in the senior team rankings.

 

Next up was the mens turn.  Coach had duly selected the teams based on availability and I was selected for the A team (cue theme tune to 80's classic kids Saturday night show) which is good but nerve racking as you want to go out and perform the best you can for club and yourself. I had a good team around me with Mark Saez on leg 1, late call up to the team Jim Holmes (his golf tournament was cancelled due to the weather) and our very own club president King Kenny on the final leg. The B team was being led out by Alan Cullie followed by Gordon McInally, Russell Couper and Jim Mearns. The C team was a solo effort for club stalwart Chas Stevens using this as good preparation for Brampton.

 

Leg 1 Harriers were ready and were led out by Mark Saez who is running in good form just now and put in a challenging performance around the Beach Park course finishing in the top 15 of his age group M45 in 15.42 handing over to Jim Holmes who had ran the course as a warm up to assess the route establishing where the hills were and the lead up to the finish line.  This worked out well for Jim who ran his leg in 18.21. Next up was Richard Lawton who was keen but nervous being his first cross country race since Falkirk and was aiming to maintain a good performance however the challenging ascents and descents in the hills played havoc with his back making the 2nd half of the course tough. Richard completed leg 3 in 18.41 and passing the anchor leg to Kenny Leinster.  This is was Kenny's last race before his marathon and even though he said he wasn't going to run hard he did!  Kenny was the second fastest of the male Harriers running a great time of 18.14 bringing the team home in 15th place in the master team rankings.

 

Alan Cullie led out the B team who wasn't keen in running the first leg but it served him well as he ran a competitive race with a time of 18.20 just pipping Jim Holmes for those vital Grand Prix points. Next up was Gordon McInally continuing his comeback after having an enduring niggling leg injury running a time of 20.22 handing over leg 3 duties to Russell Couper who by his own admissions didn't have a good run and the descents in the course gubbed his abductor. Despite this Russell finished in 23.13 passing the anchor leg over to Jim Mearns who had not long finished a morning shift at work. Jim admitted cross country isn't his favourite type of running and had at least 4 excuses for not running well (including Thursday's session). However Jim ran a respectful time of 19.31 bringing the team home 20th place in the master team rankings.

 

Last but not least Chas Stevens put in a determined performance in leg 1 and put down a time of 25.01 which I am sure Chas will have no complaints.

 

Well done to everyone who ran at this event and a big thank you to young Nathan Conneff,  John Boyd and Allison Johnstone for coming out to support it was greatly appreciated by all.

 

Richard



Morgan "Pb" Beaton strikes again

At the end of September Russell had posted that Morgan ran a brilliant 5k pb at Strathclyde Parkrun achieving 23:30.  Yesterday she ran the Victoria Park 5k Parkrun and got another Pb by 5 seconds.

Well done Morgan keep up the good work.

Victoria Park 5k Parkrun #245 - 13/10/18

90th, Morgan Beaton, 23:25, 15th parkrun

334 runners in field

Link to results:
http://www.parkrun.org.uk/victoria/results/latestresults/

Chester Marathon

“We have travelled far, by bus and car and other times, we’ve went by railway” - but by whatever means we took 6 Harriers, family and friends arrived in Chester to run the MBNA Chester Marathon.  The following race report will not only give an insight into the Chester Marathon in terms of the race and route but will also give individual Harriers thoughts on the whole experience.

We had Julie T, Lorraine and Sharon taking part in their first marathon, Andrew and Julie looking for potential PBs and Frances who was selected to represent The Celtic (not the only football reference in this report for the eagle eyed) Masters in the England v The Celtic Masters match, representing Scotland in the F50 team. A wonderful honour for Frances and great recognition for Calderglen Harriers.  We also had a wonderful support crew in Anne, Allan and Hannah McLellan, Andy Thompson and Louise Douglas. Team Ferguson also made a surprise visit on Sunday.

The race itself set off from the wonderful setting of Chester racecourse. Pre race there was ample toilet facilities and the baggage drop was easy enough to access even up to 10 minutes before the race start. The first couple of miles head into Chester city centre passing many of its historic sites before heading out into the countryside.  This marathon has the unique factor of taking place in two countries as 19 miles are run in England and 7 miles in Wales.  Once the race crossed into Wales we ran through the villages of Lavister and Rosett. At mile 12 you have a loop to do where you start to pass runners heading in the opposite direction - this loop was probably 2-3 miles long.  I don’t remember during the race passing a sign that said we had physically crossed into Wales but I did notice the sign for entering back into England. This appeared as I crossed a bridge into the village of Farndon.  The race then beaded back into Chester with the last 3 miles bringing us back into the outskirts of Chester. I had read that towards the end of the race there would be ‘race angels’ who who would be positioned on a hill.  There are a few hills in the second half of the race And the hill I came to a mile 23 was only a prelude to the hill with the angels on at a mile 24. As you are tiring towards the end of a race this hill was the last thing you needed.  The last mile had you running along side the River Dee as you eventually came through the arches and onto the race course for a finish on the grass (however I would say the cobbles in the last mile we’re not too welcoming!).

Before revealing how the 6 Harriers did there is an insight below from a couple of the Harriers as to their Chester Marathon experience


CHESTER MARATHON - BY JULIE T

At some point late last year I managed to talk Lorraine, Sharon and Anne into training and running my first marathon with me. It was Lorraine’s first also.
We agreed an autumn one would be best to allow us better weather to train in. After a chat with Frances during a Sunday run she suggested Chester as it was in the autumn, relatively flat course and most importantly she was running it.

The first half of the year was quite busy training for and running three half marathons and a few 10ks. This got us in good shape for the marathon training programme.

Unfortunately Anne wasn’t at full fitness so couldn’t do the training with us. Which was disappointing to us all but the plus side was that her, Alan, their lovely daughter Hannah and my husband Andy and Julie sister Louise became our fantastic support crew, photographers and general cheerleading squad.

The 17 week training program went well and although we were all nervous felt we’d trained as hard as we could have.

Race day was finally here! We walked down to the racecourse for the start. It was a bright chilly morning perfect for a long run.
I was initially worried that there might not be much support and that the field would be small and we’d be running alone for most of it but I was wrong. The support was amazing every village we passed through where out cheering everyone on which was a big help as the miles wracked up.

Lorraine and I had agreed to run together being our first marathon and as our paces where similar during training. We were both hoping for sub 4hr30 min and we’re on target the whole way. I felt we’d paced the whole race well. Looking back at the splits they were slightly fast for the first 16 miles but managed to keep a good pace going with the exception of mile 22 where I began to suffer, Lorraine on the other hand was a wee ball of energy and happiness smiling all the way. Which helped me no end. I managed to get it together again for mile 23 and 24. However after the hill at 24 miles the 25th mile was the slowest. I do remember mumbling to Lorraine to go ahead but she said no way we are finishing this together. So I picked it back up again for the final 1.2 miles but was definitely on auto pilot by this time. The final 500 meters was into the racecourse and our amazing support team was there taking photos and cheering us on yet again. Finally we crossed the line (hand in hand only for the last 500 meters honest) in 4hr 26 minutes we did it! We had survived our first marathon and in a time we were both proud of.

All in all it was a fantastic weekend with fantastic people.

The organisation of the race was excellent a great scenic route with plenty of support friendly runners and well spaced water, gel and toilet stops along the way. I wound definitely recommend it to anyone looking for an autumn marathon that’s fairly easy to travel to.

CHESTER MARATHON - BY JULIE B

I had never intended doing another marathon this year - London was enough for me.  However due to the heat and a virus it had not gone to plan (finishing in a time of 3.34.02).  However I was barely a few hours finished and my sister was nagging me to sign up for another one.  3 weeks later and I had been talked into the Chester Marathon.  As it happened I would have 5 Harriers for company.

So July came.  The day after I returned from the Gothenburg training camp my Chester marathon training began.  However I soon began to regret it.  The weather was warm and the training was hard.  How much I longed for rain and snow and cold weather.  I probably didn’t train as well as I had for London (I had never trained as intensively as I had for London and felt I had put together some quality training sessions for the London marathon).  I took a slightly different route with my training in that 4, 3 and 2 weeks before Chester I decided to race - a half marathon, a 10k and a half marathon.  This meant I did not do my usual last long run 3 weeks out.

I arrived in Chester nervous but excited.  I ideally wanted to try and run a PB - however small this would be (quicker than 3.24.34) but I had also looked at the pacing required for 3.20 and 3.15.  I decided I would try and set off a 3.15 pace and if it didn’t work out I would just reassess it as I went along.  I settled in to a rhythm and kept to a constant pace of between 7.15 min/mile and 7.21 min/mile for the first 15 miles (apart from a 7.28 thrown in at mile 13).  Inevitably my pace did start to drop but even for the next 7 miles I kept between 7.25 and 7.33 (with a 7.22 thrown in at mile 20).  I knew I had been ahead of the sub-3.15 pace group but at mile 22 they eventually caught up on me.  I did try to go with them but by this stage I was feeling tired and knowing that I was on for a PB (however small) I thought if I just kept running as I was I would hopefully achieve this.  I did find the hill at mile 24 tough - when your legs, body and mind are tired and you have to get yourself up a hill and then push on it did cause me to drop a bit.  I also found the cobbled section along the river difficult on the feet (which were blistered by this stage and every step on the cobbles was burning the soles of my feet).  The finish line could not come quick enough.  Bearing in mind it was finishing at the racecourse I I began to wonder where the finish was as all I could see was the river and a let out a rather loud sigh of relief when I hit the arches and turned onto the grass at the racecourse.  Louise had been stood at the arches and her final words of encouragement spurred me on.  A final push to the finish line was made all the more easier when I saw Team McLellan at the side cheering on!  I crossed the line in a time of 3.15.09 - I didn’t realise how close I was to 3.15 or I may have tried to push on more.  Nevertheless I was delighted to record a 9 minute PB (and 19 minutes quicker than I had run London back in April).  However my PB was blown out of the water when Andrew crossed not long after me to announce he had recorded a 17 minute PB!
All in this was a great event made even more special to have done it with some of my club mates.


BMAF CHAMPIONSHIPS

As mentioned at the top of this report Frances was selected to run for Scotland as part of the Celtic Nations VW50 team.  She had a great race and was another Harrier to record a PB on this course (the race has a good reputation for runners to record PBs).  In fact Frances finished third VW50 overall and earned a bronze medal!  In the words of Frances “I’m one very happy Calderglen Harrier.  Great performances from all the Harriers.  Thanks to our support team, Team McLellan, Team Ferguson and Julie T’s husband Andy for their cheers and photographs.  A day I’ll never forget”.


The finishing times for the Harriers were:

Julie Beveridge - 3.15.09
Andrew Buchanan - 3.19.23
Frances Ferguson - 3.27.43
Sharon Gregg - 4.03.49
Lorraine Buchanan - 4.26.46
Julie Thompson - 4.26.46

Julie B