Pub Run - Dry and Balmy

31 Harriers and friends braved the dark streets of East Kilbride for our annual Pub Run. An approximately 7 mile circular route was planned around 6 bars/pubs starting and finishing at the Sports Club. Head torches and hi-viz gear were to the fore although there were also a few Ninja Harriers in almost complete black outfits who hadn't read the safety briefing! It was unseasonably warm though with temperatures nudging double figures so the need for running jackets was marginal.

As always, the evening becomes a bit of a blur to most as the miles tick by (or could it be due to the pubs rather than the miles). However, I can report that all were having a good time although unfortunately one heavy fall in a poorly lit section of footpath sidelined one of our closely grouped pack early on.

Once again our arrival at some of the venues was met with incredulous looks from the regular clientele as we provided an unexpected boost to the night's takings and a sudden spike in temperature and humidity! Fortunately we had a highly capable team of three taking the strain of driving ahead and getting the drinks orders in so all we had to do was run and drink. So a huge thanks to Frances, Davie and Hannah for volunteering for that high stress task. When all the running was done and we arrived back at the Sports Club (there may still have been some drinking to be done though) we were extremely grateful to Alison Searil for organising pizzas to soak up some of the liquid consumed over the preceding 3 hours. And so another very successful and well attended Harriers Pub Run rounds off 2019.

Happy New Year and here is to  another great year of Harriers in action!
Alan

A Blast from the Past!

Many years ago, when we first started the Harriers web site (around about 2000/2001), I had put together a searchable database of Harriers' race results, compiled mainly from Grand Prix races but also including a few others. With several changes of web hosting providers in the intervening years the technology behind that old database became obsolete and no longer worked. However, I have now resurrected the data from the old database and re-formatted it into a searchable Google Sheet. The data cover races from approximately 1992 to 2002. Makes for some interesting reading. Use the drop down lists in the yellow cells to select the race and/or the person (you can leave either blank if you want to see everyone for a specific race or all races for a specific person). Here is the link:

Harriers Race Results Archive 1992 to 2002

If more than one person is accessing the spreadsheet at a time, it may go a bit haywire but you can't break it, so play away. If there is any interest, I will merge in all the race results from Grand Prix races from 2002 to the present day, all of which I have archived.

Alan

Turkey Trot 2019

I headed down the M77 on Boxing Day as I usually do at this time of year but this time the trip would be a little different from any of the ten previous Turkey Trots I've done in Ayr. For one thing I deviated off route slightly to collect Ruth from Kilmarnock as she was to be my minder for the duration, I don't think Alison would have let me out the door otherwise. The main difference of course was that it would be my first proper 'race', ten weeks and six days after the events at the West District XC.

I don't mind admitting I was a wee bit concerned myself, tossing and turning most of the night before - all part of the recovery process of course, like fitness, confidence in my heart will only come back gradually. On arrival at the seaside, aka the Citadel car park, I was told I could now open a Christmas present which Santa Claus, aka Jim, had left on my doorstep on Christmas Eve with the mysterious instruction 'not to be opened until you see Ruth on Thursday'. If you haven't guessed already they, Ruth and Jim, had arranged, with Russell's co-operation, for me to have a new club vest for my comeback race- nice one guys, thank you from the bottom of my...

Having arrived in plenty of time we stayed in the hall watching a few youngsters running around burning off all their excess festive energy until it was time to brave the cold and go for a warm up run which did seem a bit pointless given the pace I intended running but the importance of both warming up and cooling down has been emphasised constantly by my cardio physio (a sub-2:50 marathon runner himself) so who am I to argue?

After a lot of head-scratching we finally remembered that we last lined up together on a 5k start line at Troon way back on the 5th of January this year on the occasion of Kevin's first-ever parkrun so as well as keeping a close eye on me Ruth would have to take care of herself, being a wee bit rusty over such a short distance.

My 'escort' had instructed me to set the pace and so I tried to replicate the speed I have been doing on the Hairmyres treadmill recently and thought I did so quite well until I checked Garmin much later, see below.

Clearly steady isn't yet in my racing vocabulary, some work required

The wee spike towards the end was the result of a deliberate speeding up to get past one of the afore-mentioned kids who should have kept some of that energy he wasted earlier as we took him down!

Boy and (gran?)dad look askance at being overtaken

I had suggested earlier to Ruth that she shove another kid over the sea wall to keep him out of our way, knowing it would be a soft landing on the other side - she declined for some reason...

As we overtook a couple of ladies dressed head to toe in Christmas gear one spoke to Ruth and it turned out they knew each other from walking their dogs. I was amused to hear the introductions being made using the dog's names as they didn't know each other's!

Finn's mum, I believe, on the right

We came home together in 75th and 76th positions, respectively, in 30.19. I'm not quite sure why Ruth was the leading harrier, maybe she dipped her antlers on the line! It turned out we had run at 9.8 kph, well faster than anything I've done so far and although I've run further this was my longest continuous distance post-heart attack. Ruth declared herself 'over the moon with that' but I strongly suspect she was being kind as I know she's capable of much faster. The winners were Reuben McDonald in 16.21 with Giffnock North club mate Cameron Green (cheered home by dad Neil) in second place gaining yet another pb, in a time of 16.30 - well done young Mr G. Hannah Terrance of Springburn Harriers was first female in 18.36. There were 116 finishers and 2 dnfs.

I completely forgot the cool down as we posed for pictures instead...

The later 10k was won by Alasdair Campbell of Cambuslang Harriers in 31.43 and Jill Smylie of Giffnock North in 39.06.

Ian flying

Our own Ian Hughes ran 39.40 for 28th place and Russell was 149th in 52.58, there were 235 finishers with 1 dnf. 

Russell finishing strongly

Very strangely a David Searle also ran the 10k in 44.42 for 67th place, even my namesake is way faster than me although in my defence he is apparently an MV40. Can I now claim to have run the 5/10k double again? Two David Searils, there's only two David Searles, two...

Earlier we had noticed the touching image of a young lad leading his blind dad through the hall at registration little realising that he would go on to lead him through the race too, lovely.

All pictures are by Kenny Girvan except the one after the race in the car park.
Here's a link to some more pictures from the day TT2019

The Pub Run

Remember that the annual Harriers' Pub Run is tomorrow, Friday 27th December, leaving the Sports Club at 6pm sharp!

Please come up early so that we can gather drinks orders and collect the kitty. Its a slightly different sequence of pubs this year so please be on time so you can find out exactly where we are going (I actually don't know yet).

Safety is our top priority, so please wear high viz and bring head torches. As we are in and out of pubs along the route and will be going from hot to cold, make sure you are layered up and can strip down a bit whilst in the warm pubs and wrap up again when out on the road. Have a change of clothes ready for after the "final" drink in the Sports Club.
Alan

GAA Cross Country Sessions

The next in this year's series of cross country training sessions hosted by Glasgow Athletic Association is at Bella Houston Park on 28th December starting at 1030 sharp. Details https://www.scottishathletics.org.uk/glasgow-xc-session-on-december-28/

Alan

Grant McLullich Sports Therapy Harriers' Prices

Note that Grant will be increasing his prices from 4th January 2020 to £40. However Calderglen Harriers are still receiving a £5 discount per session so we will pay £35.

Up to 21st December 2019 it is still £32.

Richard

Tuesday and Wednesday Volunteer Rotas

As discussed at the AGM, online volunteer rotas have been added to the senior and junior blogs. See the links at the very top left of the blog alongside the Home and race entries links. The idea is that anyone who has time available to help out the Tuesday and Wednesday coaches can leave their name against the date or dates they can help. Then Richard, John, Mark and Eddie can plan the session in advance knowing they will have some help.

Let's see how it goes. 

Alan

Christmas Greetings from NZ

Wishing all at Calderglen Harriers a happy, healthy and relaxing Christmas. I hope the New Year bring success and injury free running.

Costume no Handicap to Caveman Chris

A well dressed (up) group of Harriers gathered this morning for the annual festive handicap. Due to the on-going roadworks at the main entrance, the course was shortened from its usual 4 miles to just under 3 miles (4.6km to be precise), taking in the Tor Trail rather than exiting on to the Strathaven Road. 5 laps of the testing trail was just fine for the runners and supporters on a morning of sunshine and showers.

We were all glad to see Davie Searil making a return to running, having been cleared to start back gently through the week. Davie had the honour of being set off first in his easy access Harriers vest but was under strict instructions to stop after two laps and to walk the uphills, which he did. Making his debut on the event, Colin Banks should have been flying in his air force overalls but instead made steady progress around the course to finish in 29:02. Anne McLellan started off with big hair but shed that after a lap as visibility was becoming a problem. Anne finished in 29:42. Ever the gentleman, Andy Henderson was also an officer for today, smartly dressed in white but handicapped by the absence of a belt meaning a one armed running style whilst the other hand kept his trousers up. Andy finished in 27:28. Russell Couper is working his way through the super heroes and although we thought he had shot his bolt with a seemingly fast start, ran a well paced race, almost winning but being caught on the final lap to finish in 26:29. No one gave Billy Buchanan a ghost of a chance but he still managed to spirit himself around the course in 26:02. Gordon McInally has done this event a pharoh few times and is always there or there abouts and today finished in 24:53. Not content with having run the juniors race at 10am, Kai Wheeler was naturally our youngest runner and completed the tricky course in 24:18. Marrion O'Connor always runs well on this one and made cat-like progress around the trail to finish in 23:29. Jim Holmes thought that there were not enough Hills on the course and so Jim met Harry which resulted in 23:02. Kevin Farmer's prayers were answered with a problem free run, finishing in 21:51.

With the excitement building the last lap was where it was all change at the front. With Russell starting the last lap with a gap to Gordon and apparently big gaps behind, it looked like Russell might have it in the bag. This is one of the few Harriers' events that Allan McLellan has not won. A new injury earlier in the week made today just a get around effort except that the further Allan got into the race, the better he felt. With 100m to go, it looked like Allan might just win but even the pointy hat couldn't quite get across the line in front of a fast finishing Chris McCarron who had started so far behind the rest of the field he was almost in the stone-age but managed to pass everyone to dip Allan on the line. Allan ran a fine 21:44 with Chris crossing the line in 19:50, our only sub-20 run of the day. With no need for any Dastardly short-cuts, Martin Duthie brought Muttley to the line in third place with a time of 20:39 and second fastest time of the day.

The winners were delighted to be able to nominate a charity to receive the donations generously provided by the Duthie family. Refreshments, mince pies and the lucky dip prize giving for all rounded off the day. Thanks to John McIntyre for the official photography (look out in the EK News in the coming weeks) and Frances for the unofficial photographs which will be published here shortly. A hardy few spectators cheered the runners on and thoroughly enjoyed the new, shorter lap which provided the opportunity to cheer and warm the hands up more frequently than the old, long lap!

The "official" times and lap splits are here.

Alan

Harriers Handicap

Final details of the annual senior Harriers handicap are as follows (see the Junior Blog for details of the Junior handicap).

The event is tomorrow, Sunday 15th December.
Intention is to start the first runner off at 1100 from outside the sports club. Thereafter runners will be set off at intervals. Come up early to get changed into fancy dress.

As always, all finishers who bring a prize (approx £5 value) will be able to draw a prize at the end. A final course inspection tomorrow morning will be used to confirm the route. Total distance will be about 4 miles consisting of multiple laps. Due to the narrow entrance to the Sports Club caused by the road construction works, we most likely will come through the Torr Trail rather than out on the Strathaven Road. If anyone is able to come up and help marshal the exit from the Torr Trail to keep our runners safe, that would be appreciated.
Alan

Facilitating Team Entries for Future Team Events

Following feedback received at the AGM, a few changes have been made to the blog to give members more advance notice of future events at which we should have a large team presence and to register your availability. The changes are as follows:

1. the blog has been reconfigured such that it will default to full web view, even when viewed on a mobile device. Previously the blog would automatically display in a simplified mobile view if viewed on a mobile device and in that view the Calderglen Events and Training calendar widget would not be visible.
2. at the top of the blog there are now two links:
1. Home - Posts: this is the standard view where you can see all the usual posts.
2. Entries for Future Events - this is a fixed page containing a link to all the Calderglen team entry forms for future events we know about. This gives you as much advance notice as we have and allows you to leave your name and get the event into your diary well ahead. Blog posts specific to each event will still follow on the Blog Home page as we find out all the details.

Please let me know if you have problems with any of the new features on your specific devices.
Alan

Devil's Burdens Hill Relay 2020

The Devil's Burdens Hill Relay takes place on 25th January through in the vicinity of Falkland, Fife. This is a 4 stage relay with 6 people in the team. Legs 2 and 3 require pairs of runners as there are significant navigational challenges (ask Kenny), particularly if the weather and visibility is bad. Teams can be mixed male/female. It is pretty much a full day out (or longer!).

The running is tough going and is mainly full-on hill running on open terrain. Slight lack of detail on the Fife AC web site at the moment other than the date. However, check this web link for further updates on the details as and when they become available. There may be changes to some of the routes compared to last or earlier years.

Please leave your name here if you would like to be included in a team. It is highly recommended that you also attend a recce of the difficult sections of the course which will take the form of a day out with a lot of running a weekend or two before the race (Saturday or Sunday to be decided). Possible recce dates are on the web entry form above. The recce is highly recommended (ask Billy). We may have to be a little bit selective in terms of pairing up runners to ensure safety and good matching of runners.

Names received so far are here. We shall make arrangements for the recce early in the New Year.
Alan

NATIONAL XC CHAMPIONSHIP (Grand Prix)

This years event will again be in Falkirk on Sat 22nd Feb.
Its 10k for both Ladies and Men.
Provisional times are 13.00 for Ladies and 14.50 for Men.
Cost TBC
I will need names by Tuesday 4th Feb
If you wish entered please leave your name HERE.
Those already registered are listed HERE.

SVHC MASTERS RELAYS

The SVHC will be holding the Masters road relays at Strathclyde Park on Sunday 26th January.
Start time is 11.00am and consists of 1 lap of the park.
Anyone over the age of 35 on the day can take part.
Teams are 3 for Ladies and 4 for Men.
Cost is £7.50 each and should be paid in advance.
I need names by Tuesday 14th Jan.
If you wish entered please leave your name HERE.
Those registered are listed HERE.

Our numbers have dropped in this event in recent years. Lets try and get loads of teams out there.

MASTERS XC CHAMPIONSHIP

This seasons Masters xc championship will take place in Johnstone on Sat 8th Feb.
Its 6k for Ladies and M65 and 8k for Men.
This is for 40 and over on the day.
Ladies race at 13.45 and Men at 14.30.
Cost TBC
I need names by Tuesday 21st Jan.
If you wish entered please leave your name HERE.
Those already registered are listed HERE.

Club Captains and Vice-Captains

A motion in writing was presented and adopted at the AGM on Thursday to establish Club Captain and Vice-Captain roles for the men and ladies. The captains and vice-captains will work together to ensure that Calderglen maximises its participation in team events, particularly county, district and national championships and they will select the teams and running order for relays. The winners of the preceding season's Club Championship and Grand Prix are the Captain and Vice-Captain respectively.

This year your captains are Alison Lessells and Andrew Buchanan and the vice-captains are Lorraine Buchanan and Russell Couper. Please give all four your full support when they come to get you!!
Alan

Club Captain - Alison Lessells

Club Vice-Captain - Lorraine Buchanan

Club Captain - Andrew Buchanan

Club Vice-Captain - Russell Couper

Wet Wet West!

Alison and Lorraine embedded in the uphill charge.

The great thing about the District championship events is that they move about from year to year bringing up new challenges and always a great level of competition. This Saturday we made the short trip to Balloch Castle Country Park on the banks of Loch Lomond. Conditions on arrival were merely slightly damp but rapidly deteriorated to full on monsoon conditions. Were it not for the efforts of Kenny and Jim bringing through the club tent, we would have been drier in Loch Lomond.

A quick look at the setting for the event confirmed that this was a "proper" cross country course with severe elevation changes and twists and turns spread out over a 4k lap, which the men and women would complete twice, with a 250m uphill lead-in to the lap and the same steep 250m descent providing a very fast finish for the brave and a total race distance of 8.5 km.

Alison early on and remarkably mud-free

Newly appointed club captain and vice-captain Alison Lessells and Lorraine Buchanan were our only two ladies out today. Lorraine thought this would be her first "real" cross-country experience given the conditions whilst Alison would be using this as a wind down to an already busy Saturday spent at a Christmas Fair. After a congested charge up the hill towards the castle, the field spread out a bit which was just as well as a good view of where to put your feet was needed as the course rapidly turned into a quagmire. The photos don't do the severity of the slopes justice. This course was a real test, especially as parts of the course traversed the slopes which was a recipe for lots of slips and falls. Lorraine had one such slip but managed to bounce off another runner which kept her on her feet. Alison almost made it all the way around unscathed until sprinting down the final hill to the finish her feet slid from under her and down she went sliding down the hill. As Alison said, this turned out to be faster than actually running down the hill as the girl she was head to head with did not get past during the fall! Lorraine also unleashed the trademark Buchanan sprint at the end showing fine form as she sprinted for the line. The finishing times were 46:12 and 51:51 respectively. Well done both!

Lorraine sprints to the line.

Despite the conditions, almost 300 lined up for the start of the men's race, including 6 Harriers. Newly appointed club captain and vice-captain Andrew Buchanan and Russell Couper were joined by Kevin Farmer, Jim Holmes, David Wardrope and Kenny Leinster. The men had somewhat reluctantly left the relative comfort of the tent to do their warm ups in torrential rain and were already pretty wet by the time of their race. Alison and Lorraine passed on last minute words of advice about under foot conditions and particularly about the risk of slipping traversing the adverse cambers. Russell in particular relished the conditions and claimed that he was a "camber expert" and would probably be in with a shout of winning the race if everyone else fell. And so the men made their way to the relative warmth of the huddled field on the start line.

Andrew stretches away from a group

After the initial charge to the top of the hill, the runners veered right and then disappeared from spectator view for 10 minutes or so. By the time the field came back into view it was obvious the conditions were tricky as there were  runners covered from head to foot (quite literally) in mud. Andrew was our clear leading Harrier and running strongly as always.

Kevin makes a welcome return to racing

Kevin was initially our second Harrier but had a bit of an issue somewhere on the first lap and had dropped back to 5th. Jim, Kenny and David remained pretty close to each other and in that order for most of the race although David had a bit of a slip and took it cautiously to the finish as he has the Malaga Marathon next weekend (probably not very similar conditions to Balloch!). Russell was slogging around the course and looking incredibly muddy. He later told us that he had fallen 5 times on the first lap, so even the camber expert found it difficult.

Jim stretching away from Kenny

Kenny flying!

Andrew was our first Harrier in 38:59, with an ideal finish to use his sprinting ability on. It was then a surprise to see that Kenny had not only caught and passed Jim but was sprinting in fine form away from Kevin to finish as second Harrier in 45:50. Kenny is ace on descents in hill races and that sure footedness was a perfect skill to have at the end of this course. Kevin had recovered from his earlier problems and finished very strongly at the end to get all the way onto Kenny's tail, finishing in 45:52. Jim also mustered a fast finish, crossing the line in 46:31 and admitted to be glad that the race distance had dropped down from its usual 10k to 8.5k (I think everyone was glad of that, including the spectators). David was next in, completing his final hard run before the marathon in 50:30. A very muddy Russell finished strongly carrying a tonne of mud across the line in 54:11. Well done to all for  a fine effort that will have done wonders for strength development.

David cruises across one of the drier bits of the course

Earlier in the day, Ben Buchanan had been our only competitor in the U13 boys race, finishing in 15:52, getting the Buchanan family and Calderglen off to a great start. Well done Ben.

Russell on one of the steepest ascents

After rapidly packing away the tent, we were off home at the end of another memorable West District XC. A big thanks to the guys for bringing the tent and to Kevin's dad for joining me in the spectating duties.

A load of my wishy washy photographs are in this album.
Alan

Presidential Prizes!

At last Thursday's AGM Anne McLellan was elected as the club president as Kenny Leinster stood down after a very active 4 or 5 years in the role. Anne was straight down to business, presenting the final set of prizes to those prize winners not at Brampton to receive them. Performance awards were won by Gerry McParland, Frances Ferguson and Julie Beveridge, whilst Julie stayed on the floor to pick up her prize for the Grand Prix along with Richard Lawton. Well done to all.
Alan

WEST DISTRICT XC

This Saturday were off to Balloch Castle country park.
The Ladies start at 13.15 and the men at 14.15.
Kenny and Jim are leaving from the Sports club at 11.30am if anyone wants to travel together.
Can I ask everyone to be there for 12.30.
I will pick up the numbers and be on the course.

Russell