CHRISTMAS HANDICAP FUN RUN

 We will hold our Christmas handicap run on Sunday 12th December. Please arrive by 10.30 for an 11am start for the first runner. For new members this is a 5 lap run (about 3.8miles) based on a handicap system so you will get your start time before the first runner starts. Fancy dress is encouraged and it may help with your handicap. As usual if you bring a prize along you will receive a prize after the event (about the value of £5 is a good guide). If unsure just ask any longer standing member.

WEST DISTRICT XC

 Well this Saturday were heading back to Balloch Country Park for the West District XC. You will be happy to know the big hill at the start and finish is not included this year and the start and finish is at the top of the hill following a similar course to 2 years ago.

Those running are Anna Lindsay u/15 girls with declarations by 11.30 and race start at noon.

F Ferguson, A Lessells, J Thomson and K Wilson Ladies declarations by 12.30 and race at 13.15.

R Couper, A Derrick, G Ferguson, J Holmes, K Farmer, G Lindsay, G McInally, D Wardrope and C Wright Men declarations by 13.30 and race at 14.15.

Can someone pick up the tent and bring it along and the tented area is up at the top of the hill. If everyone thats going can be there by noon for the Ladies and 13.00 for the men and i will speak direct with Graeme about Anna's entry. It would also be great if as many of us as possible arrive in time to support Anna. Anyone that can no longer make it please let me know as early as possible.

Club Training Monday 29th November

This session is a fast paced session prior to West XC with the intention of spinning the legs over without sapping the energy, which will be needed for the Balloch course.

The session will be at Langlands Place and is:

8 x 400m at 5k pace with a 90 seconds recovery and then 4 x 200m at 3k pace with a 200m jog recovery

The 400's are the usual length of the street at Langlands Place whereas the 200's are half the length of the straight and then continue jogging on to the end of the straight as the recovery.

Due to the various roadworks and closures on the Strathaven Rd, run to/from the venue via the Murray Rd and Kelvin Rd, past the end of Carron Place and up towards Greenhills Rd. Thereafter, make it up as necessary to get through any roadworks and down to Langlands Place.

Alan

Club Training Thursday 25th November

Thursday is another recovery run. Head up to the NEL roundabout and then turn right towards the Kingsway. Follow the Kingsway all the way to Kingsgate (run down the left side of the Kingsway and take extreme care crossing all roads on the way to Kingsgate). Turn left along Stewartfield Way as far as Stewartfield Crescent and turn left up the hill. Continue to Stewartfield Rd and take a left down the back, pedestrian path to West Mains Rd. Follow West Mains Rd all the way back to Lidl and then take Churchill Avenue back to the NEL roundabout and back to the club. This run should be easy conversational pace.

Alan

GLORIOUS DAY TO RACE

Well after an absence of racing for over a year we got the longest annual race on Calderglen Harriers calender back. The Brampton to Carlisle 10 miler. Great to see many events coming back. Bus booked, Dinner booked and entries done so off we headed to Brampton on a cold Sunday morning. On arrival the great debate was t shirt under vest or not but as race time approached the majority went for no t shirt. Warm ups done then the annual photo. A strange start to this year as the Sands centre at the finish is being refurbished the start and finish have been moved back about 80metres. Chaos ensued as they struggled to get the runners behind the new start line but eventually without any clear notice we were off. The usual calvary charge down the hill to the sharp turn at the bottom then heading out of Brampton. As we settled in after what for me was too fast a start for current fitness levels i could get to see how the race was going to pan out as small groups of Harriers came past. Karen, Ross, Ian and Chris were well ahead and would surely take our leading positions. David Wardrope had also moved away with a fast start but then Julie and Alison came past and looked like they would have a good race as they've been very competitive recently, then Kenny looking a bit more like his old self after recent injuries. It took 2 miles but the trio of Carly, Billy and Gerry came past and looked as though they would run as a group for at least the first half. That just left Julia behind at this stage but i knew she would run at a more even pace than i was likely to do. Up the first hill to 3 miles and although i lost some of the early time gained it wasnt as much as i had expected. Approaching 4miles and i could hear and feel a lace flapping about. Had to stop and tie it and really never got my pace going again. I wasnt losing loads but was experiencing a gradual drop off each mile. The rest where out of sight by midway but Julia had me in her sights although a long way off. Great work from Julia to gradually pull it back with that solid steady pacing eventually coming past at 8.5m on the uphill section. Time for the racing head to kick in and try to keep in touching distance till i get to the last mile push. Got to the finish just over a minute ahead of my target time so take that as i have ran slower on a few occasions on my previous runs. So how did they all finish. Breaking the 60mins with a PB Ross Mullen 58.17, Ian Tomb 60.14, Chris McCarron 60.57. We then had our leading Lady Karen Allen 71.31, David Wardrope 74.01, Kenny Leinster 77.37, Alison Lessells 79.34 pipping Julie Thomson 80.02, Claire McSorley 81.38, Gerry Mullen 82.10, Billy Buchanan 83.53, Carly Reid on her debut and getting a PB 84.22, Russell Couper 93.54 and Julia Whittle on her debut and getting a PB 94.14. We also had Stuart Gibson down with us running for Cambuslang and despite some recent injuries ran a great time of 58.14. After a few refreshments we made our way to Moffat for our post race meal then headed back to East Kilbride for 8pm. Roll on next year.

Club Training Monday 22nd November

Monday (and Thursday) are recovery runs for those who did Brampton. To avoid confusion with the 2 week Brancumhall schedule, we shall however stick to Brancumhall for Monday.

For those not running Brampton and with an eye on the West District XC, the session is:

6 x 1 lap at 8k XC race effort with 3 minute jog recovery. Each lap will start/finish where the preceding 3 minute recovery finishes. Note that each lap is approximately 800m long.

For those recovering from Brampton, please just run easy laps of Brancumhall whilst the others are doing reps. Running easy on soft ground will help the muscles recover from the race.

Alan

Club Training Thursday 18th November

Thursday is a pre-Brampton easy run with some downhill strides. The route is:

Strathaven Rd, Kingsway, East Mains Rd, West Mains Rd, Queensway, Strathaven Rd

Fit in 4 or 5 gradual accelerations to 5k pace over a distance of about 50m on the downhill sections of the Kingsway and East Mains Rd. Otherwise, run at a nice and easy conversational pace.

Alan 

CALDERGLEN HARRIERS AGM

 After a years forced break im pleased to announce that we will be going ahead with the AGM this year.

We will hold it on Thursday 9th December at 8pm in the main hall. Training that night will be a shorter run starting at 7pm to allow as many to attend as possible. Motions should be in writing and given to Frances Ferguson by Monday 6th December. Please make every effort to attend as this is your club and your input is valuable.

REMINDER OF TRAINING BOOKING FORM

 Over the last few weeks there has been occasions that some have been trying the training booking form after the cut off time of 18.30. This fires through notifications to Alan which he doesnt have time to enter into the system to manually update. This creates an innacurate record of those at training and puts us in jeopardy of sanctions from our governing body. This culminated in attempts from 3 tonight after the cut off time. Can i remind everyone that even if its only a few seconds late it breaks the recording system and creates work for Alan to fix it. Please abide by the process its for everyones benefit.

Club Training Monday 15th November

This week consists of lighter training in the taper towards Brampton. The session is at Langlands Place and is as follows:

8 x 400m at 5k pace, 90 seconds standstill recovery

The pace is quite a bit faster than 10-mile race pace but the intention is to feel light on the feet rather than plodding at a relatively slow a pace. This should make 10-mile pace feel easy (so long as you remember to hold back and don't take off at 5k pace!).

Warm up via Strathaven Rd to Greenhills Rd and then around in front of Sainsburys and up the hill to Langlands Place. Cool down via the reverse of this route.

Alan

WEST DISTRICT CROSS COUNTRY ( BALLOCH )

 This years West District XC will be held at Balloch Country Park on Sat 4th Dec

This is a straight race over 8.5k

Timings are 13.15 for the Ladies and 14.15 for the Men.

Cost is £7.50 each and should be paid to the club before race day.

Remember to make sure your SA membership is up to date at time of entry and race date otherwise the system doesnt allow entry.

I need names by Monday 15th Nov

If anyone knows if any of the Juniors want entered in the Junior races can you ask them to add there names to the below list too. Parents will need to take there kids to the venue but if we have any i will try to be there to pick up numbers at declarations. Timings can be found on Scottish athletics event page and cost is £6 and distances vary depending on age.

If you want entered leave your name HERE.

Those registered are listed HERE.

Club Training Thursday 11th November

This Thursday is a medium long run for all. The pace should be about a 1 minute per mile slower than your anticipated 10 mile race pace (on average across the whole route; slower on the uphills a bit faster on the downhills).

The route is Kingsway to Kingsgate, Stewartfield By-pass to the Holiday Inn/Centre One and then all the way back up the Queensway.

Alan

Harriers XMAS Dinner Menu Choices

The Christmas dinner is on Friday 17th December 7pm to 1am at Carrigans. Menu choices are now required. Please refer to the following menu for details (note in particular that there is an extra charge for some of the main courses) and then record your choices in the form at this link. Click or tap on the photo of the menu below to open it full screen, zoom in or out, etc.

Choices made so far are here. Any questions, then ask Eddie.

Alan

Four seasons in one race

 

Lanark XC Short course 4k Championship was the venue on Saturday where six Harriers raced against Scotland’s top runners. Yes, they were all here; Muir, Butchart, Wightman, Ferguson, racing in challenging conditions. At the pre-race strategy meeting Jim Holmes provided valuable advice on the best way to run into the wind, heid doon.

As usual, the women were first off. Morgan and Frances had a quick warm up, with one of them feeling slightly overshadowed by the fabulous shorts of the other. I don’t know if you could see them from the Moon but in a field of over 200 participants there was no mistaking our Morgan! They started in a brief moment of sunshine, then hailstones, followed by rain, back to sunshine and then more rain. All in less than 25 minutes! Portugal, eat your heart out........

Frances charged home in 18:48. Not her Garmin time of 1 hour 16 minutes.......yes, she forgot to stop her watch.........and Morgan was a strong 20:35.

Off went the men and Geo was left to hold onto the tent as there was a very good chance it would turn into a kite. The wind was becoming a problem!

Callum led the way with an impressive 15:56 (see headline photo) Jim Holmes battled through to 18:00 dead, Gordon “toe” McInally gave 19:24 minutes of strong running and Russell Couper came in at a very respectable 20:50.

With the weather conditions, there was little in the way of a post race moan, and a new world record was set for tent packing. A good, if short day was enjoyed.........

Geo

Club Training - Monday 8th November

An easier cross country session at Brancumhall tomorrow which each pack should adapt the pace of depending on whether the pack members have been racing on Saturday or Sunday. The session consists of 1 side of the circuit at a harder pace followed by 2 sides at a "float" pace i.e. not a jog but just a steady run. Each pack should treat the harder paced rep as a sort of Fartlek with no specified pace or effort to aim for but each person in the pack should take a turn at leading out that effort at a pace they feel comfortable with given the length of the rep. Do this for 6 complete laps of the circuit. The circuit is illustrated below for those not familiar with the lap.

As always, some kind Harrier will take their car to Brancumhall with your off-road shoes in it.

Alan

BRAMPTON TO CARLISLE 10 MILE RACE

 Well after missing out last year for the first time in the races long history its back and so will we be. The Harriers have gone to this event annually since 1986 and some have been to almost every event. We now have a bus booked so for those that are new to the club and a reminder to the others the schedule is as follows. The bus will leave the Sports club at 8am on Sunday 21st Nov and travel to Brampton. This will get us there in plenty time for warm ups, team photo etc before the race starts at 11.30am. At the finish depending how long we take to run we will have a couple of hours in Carlisle and time to have a refreshment or two and a good chat about how our runs went. We will then leave for Moffat for a meal and the presentations our our Brampton trophies to our first Lady and Gent and the all important reveal of the sweep winner. Back on the bus and back in East Kilbride for about 8pm.

£15 will secure your place on the bus and should be paid asap. If you opt to pay this direct to the bank acc then drop Russell a message to say its done and your place is then secure. At this point i dont know what the meal cost will be but probably about £15 and this will be collected on the day.

Guests can come on the bus too so if you know anyone thats wants to run then let them know the details.

As this is a long day you probably should bring something to eat on the bus for before the run and after to see you through to our dinner in Moffat

Entries are different this year with only an online option so everyone will have to take care of there own entry. Details are on the Border Harriers website and you will have to sign in for a login with sportsoft and this link should take you to it https://www.race-results.co.uk/onlineentries/user/login.php?raceid=4154(online    

Club Training Thursday 4th November

Thursday's club run is another run with a shorter option for those racing the National 4k on Saturday. This is the Fortnightly Four Hills run in the usual direction (i.e. starting off with Market Hill, then College Milton, etc). For those racing on Saturday, rather than diverting straight up the Queensway, cross the Queensway and head through the factories and across the railway but turn left on Hairmyers Rd and then turn right up the Queensway. Take the pace very easy indeed.

Alan

NATIONAL SHORT COURSE XC ( FINAL INSTRUCTIONS )

 This Saturday 6th Nov were off to Lanark race course.

Ladies start at 13.30 and men at 14.00 in a straight race over 4k

I need the Ladies there by 12.40 at the latest and men by 13.10 to allow number hand over and warm ups. I will be there before 12.30 to register the runners and collect the numbers and chips. Please arrive in plenty of time. The following are listed to run but if you cant make it let me know as soon as possible.

J Thomson, F Ferguson, M Beaton and K Wilson.

R Couper, A Derrick, R Beaton, G Ferguson, G McInally, R Lawton, J Holmes and C Wright.