Glasgow University Road Race - Centenary

 

It was great to see the Glasgow University Road Race, one of the long-standing races in the Scottish road running calendar, celebrating it's centenary on Saturday. The Harriers have run in this race over variations of this course for most of the past 37 years, originally starting from the vicinity of the old GU Westerlands Sports Grounds (now where the Anniesland Morrisons is) over one 5 mile lap and more recently from the new Garscube Sports Complex over 2 x 2.5 mile laps. The hill at Dawsholm Park has always been a feature; originally up the steep section, nowadays down (twice). Given the hills (up and down), this has always been a hard race but falls at the right time of year when we are working on strength by doing cross-country and building towards 10 mile road race and 10k cross country endurance.

It was therefore nice to see so many Harriers turning out (some later than others) on a cold Saturday morning to join a field of more than 160. This was the second race of the Harriers' Grand Prix season and there is already a sense that this is going to be a very competitive GP. It was very fitting that Glasgow University Hares & Hounds occupied the first 3 places, the winning time being 25:33. First Harrier to finish with a very confident run was Kevin Farmer in 31:46 (57th) who had gradually opened up a gap on Callum Wright (32:42) throughout the race. Julie Beveridge was next Harrier across the line (33:59) and 15th lady. Julie led a very tight Harriers race-within-a-race, heading Kirsty Wilson (an excellent 34:01) and a bewildered Stephen Phimister (34:05), who thought he had the sprint finish covered.

Davie Wardrope's legs are just beginning to recover from the London Marathon and he felt pretty good, finishing in 35:46. Jim Holmes ran very strongly and finished very well, resplendent in number 118, in a time of 36:23. Demonstrating the benefits of many years of Harriers' training, Richard Lawton made his first race since pre-pandemic and knocked nearly 2 minutes off his previous best time from 2009, finishing in 37:33. Richard Beaton slipped past without a Harriers vest in 38:43. However, I was surprised and delighted to see Geo Ferguson back in a Harriers vest after a long, long injury and a steady run in 39:16, with no injury recurrence. Robert Gibson was another big improver, gradually making up ground throughout the race and finishing in 39:50. Next on the return from injury (or in this case, return from surgery) trail was Gordon McInally who will soon be back to great form on the basis of his time of 40:48. It's a while since Davie Searil did this race but great to see Davie back racing very regularly, finishing comfortably in 44:25. Russell Couper rounded off the Harriers' finishers with a time of 44:44. 

Of course there were other Harriers in attendance. As I was walking back to the start line some 4 minutes after the race started, I saw a Harriers vest running towards the line. Given that 2.5 miles in 4 minutes would be stretching human performance limits, this was unlikely to be the leader starting lap 2 and was instead the very late Martin Howell starting lap 1! Martin gave chase for a few minutes and then eventually abandoned as he was too far behind (and would have to collect his number on lap 2). Then we had two hindered by the lurgy. Both Morgan Beaton and Jim Mearns had been under the weather the past week or so and sensibly pulled out after the first lap. It was good to see Stuart Gibson making his gradual return from a long injury, finishing in 28:31 and 22nd position overall.

Some sensible joker playing has brought Kirsty Wilson into the lead in the women's GP and Stephen Phimister has leapfrogged to the front of the men's GP.

The main thing I noticed was how strong the majority of the Harriers looked at the finish; a reflection on the consistent hard work they have put in over the summer. Some photos of all Harriers racing are in this album.

Alan