Round the Houses 10k Race Report

No doubt impacted by the Easter holiday weekend and a few injuries/illnesses, we had only 6 Harriers running in Grangemouth today (well actually 1 x GU Hare & Hound + 5 x Calderglen Harriers as the university had first claim over Chris today). This event was also the British Masters 10k Championship and hence there were also championship medals up for grabs for those over the age of 35.

First Harrier across the line was Chris McCarron in the guise of a GU Hare & Hound in an excellent time of 36:45. Chris told me he was aiming for sub-36 and was just on for that at half way but faded a little in the second half. Still a good step forward and 6th in the Scottish University Championships.

Next across the line and returning from illness so not race fit and sensibly not pushing to the limit was Julie Beveridge in a time of 44:16 which not only led our ladies F35 team to silver in the British Masters championship but also the W40 bronze in the British Masters championship. Well done Julie.

The four remaining Harriers were extremely well matched from the start but Frances Ferguson and Gordon McInally were particularly close throughout with Gordon doing his usual close shadowing of Frances. Unfortunately, Frances tweaked a calf muscle on the short, sharp ascent over a footbridge and this somewhat slowed her during the second half. However, it was only within the final km that Gordon caught and passed Frances, recording his second fastest 10k time ever of 46:20. Meanwhile Frances was rolling back the years with a 20 year rejuvenation at the registration desk to qualify as a counter in our F35 to F44 team and all without the aid of a plastic surgeon. Makes the entry fee look like very good value!  Frances finished in 46:23 and was second counter in our silver medal winning F35 team and also achieved a 10k silver performance standard to add to an already impressive season.

Jim Holmes is not yet back into full, consistent training and was disappointed in how he faded in the second half of the race. Still, the race would be another good training session and Jim will benefit from that. Jim's time was 46:51. Alison Lessells is also not back into full training and used this race as a reality check. Still, not a bad reality check when it comes with a British Masters silver team medal, an individual W35 silver medal and a time of 47:50 which Alison will take many minutes off when she gets back into consistent training.

Russell Couper resisted the temptation to run for now and joined me in cheering the Harriers on.

Well done all. As I said in the post announcing this race, you've got to be in it to win it and our ladies proved that once again. both individually and as a team. So be confident, be competitive, support your club and get your names down for our future Grand Prix races.

There are a load of photos in this album.

Full open race results here.

Full BMAF Championship results here.

BMAF individual and team medalists here.

Alan