NATIONAL SHORT COURSE XC FINAL DETAILS

 This Saturday were off to Lanark for the Short course XC

Ladies start at 13.30 and Men at 14.00                                 U/17   at   13.05 ( collect own number from registration by 12.35 at the latest )

Please be there for 12.40 to allow number distribution and warm ups

Can someone please arrange to bring the tent

Those running are   U/17    K Wheeler    Ladies   J Pechlof,   A Lessells,   L Buchanan,    Men    A Buchanan,   A McLellan,  G McInally,   G Ferguson,   M Howell,   G Connelly,   K Leinster,   S Phimister,   A Derrick,  D Watt,   R Couper and D Searil   

If anyone is not going to make it please let me know so im not decalring non runners

Club Training Monday 30th October

Monday's session is similar to last week's Brancumhall session but on the road. The session is at the Sainsbury's loop and consists of 4 x 1600m at 10k race effort followed by a 2 minute jog recovery. With these sessions, we are targeting a peak at Brampton. The pace is faster than 10 mile race pace but the intention is to make 10k pace comfortable such that 10 mile pace seems even more comfortable and you have the reserves of pace to pick it up in the final few miles. Warm-up via Strathaven Rd, similarly with the cool down.

Thursday will be a longer run.

Alan

Grand Prix & Club Championships Updated after Race #3

The GP and Club Championships have been updated following today's GU Road Race. The Grand Prix link on the left of the blog is now working and will take you to a web page where the current positions can be viewed.

Alan

Club Training Thursday 26th October

For Thursday we are back to the 4 Hills, however this week it is in the form of a threshold/fartlek session rather than an easy run. Warm up via the Kingsway and the village. From Market Hill (in the village), run every hill as a threshold effort (even the short, sharp hills such as Market Hill). The last hill to do an effort on is from the Crooked Lum to the NEL roundabout. There are considerably more than 4 hills on this run. Between the hills run easy. Agree with in your pack if the next slope counts as a hill or not. Regroup during the easy section after the top of each hill.

Alan

A new era, exciting news from our Running Club! Meet the New Co-Junior Coordinators

As the outgoing Past Junior Coordinator, I am pleased to announce husband and wife, Andrew and Lorraine Buchanan have volunteered to be the new Co-Junior Coordinators.  Lorraine is already a part of the coaching team having been volunteering as Coach Assistant for at least 2 years and at one time all their 3 children were members of the junior section with now only Sophie and Charlotte remaining. Andrew has youth coaching experience from coaching football teams and has been running for a long time so can bring knowledge and experience to the role.  Officially they take over on Wednesday 1st November but are currently taking charge with managing the team and athletes on a Wednesday.  Get to know your Co-Junior Coordinators:

Name: Andrew Buchanan

Joined club: 2014

Favourite race: Chester Marathon and Cross-Country races

Name: Lorraine Buchanan

Joined club: 2014

Favourite race: Chester Marathon and Brampton 10 Miler

West District Cross Country Training Session Saturday 28th October on WD XC Course

We have been informed by the West District Convenor that East Kilbride Athletics Club, who are the host club for the West District Individual Championships on Saturday 2nd December, are holding an open cross country session for all age groups starting at u11 and upwards.  The session will give runners and coaches a chance to check out the venue.

"Hi All

There will be an open Cross Country training session this coming Saturday 28.10.23 meeting at 11am. All are welcome to attend (check with your own coach re your suitability to attend). Please be warmed up and ready for session to start at 11:30am. Cross Country spikes should be worn.

The venue will be Kirkland Park, Strathaven. East Kilbride AC are hosting this year’s West District Cross Country Championships on this course and the session will be ideal for making you aware of the course you will be running at the West’s. Although the West’s only allow athletes from U13 upwards the training session will be for U11’s as well.

Parking for the training session will be at Strathaven Leisure Centre, Bowling Green Rd, Strathaven ML10 6DR.

The lead coach for the session will be Niall Walker (East Kilbride AC) and the session is 6-minute reps with a 2 minute recovery.

Under 11 & 13’s 2 reps

U15’s 3 reps

U17’s 4 reps

U20/Sen’s/Masters 5/6 reps

If any other info is required please email sharon@maroculous.com or myself at kendoclem@hotmail.com

Kenny Clements, EKAC”

On behalf of the Calderglen Harriers Committee

Richard

Club Training Monday 23rd October - Brancumhall

As we have had a few good days weatherwise, it is appropriate to return to the Brancumhall schedule. Remember that training on grass is all about developing muscle strength and power as there is less rebound and tension in the muscles when running on a soft surface compared to running on a hard road with bouncy shoes. Whether your main aim is road racing or XC racing, XC training is an important component in the winter schedule.

The session on Monday is 4 x 2 laps at 10k race effort with 2 minutes jog recovery (where ever you finish your jog recovery is where the next 2 laps start/finish). Each lap is about 800m therefore this session is equivalent to about 4 x 1600m/1 mile at 10k effort, so very specific to the races we have coming up.

The warm-up/cool-down are from the club to Brancumhall football pitches and back again. Bring a change of footwear for the grass reps (someone will take their car down to Brancumhall with your offroad shoes).

Thursday is a longer run.

(ps see the previous post on Grand Prix rules for the latest Grand Prix scores following the National XC Relays)

Alan

Grand Prix Rules 2023-2024

Current Positions: Women GP    Men GP    Women Scratch    Men Scratch

For those new to the club, here is a summary of the GP rules.

For those all too familiar with the rules, the changes introduced this year are highlighted in red.

The GP comprises 16 races which are published in this list (updated when the race calendar is available). The races are spread from the start of the Scottish Athletics Winter season (late September/early October) through to the start of the Summer holiday period (late June/early July). Of the 16 races,  only each runner's best 11 points scores count. Restricting the competition to 11 races is supposed to give everyone the freedom to miss some races if ill or injured and still be in with a shout of winning. The scoring system for the men's and women's Grand Prix is the same.

Points are awarded from 12 to 1 point to each Harrier completing the race. 12 points are awarded to the first Harrier, 1 point to the 12th Harrier and all Harriers finishing lower than 12th. 

Each Harrier starts the season with a certain number of jokers (see later) and can earn more jokers by competing in Grand Prix races. Playing a joker doubles the points scored by that Harrier (e.g. a Harrier finishing 11th and scoring 2 points can double this to 4 points by playing a joker). Multiple jokers can be played at once, each joker doubling the score up to a maximum of 24 points (e.g. the Harrier finishing 10th and scoring 3 points and playing 2 jokers scores 3 x 2 x 2 = 12 points; playing 3 jokers scores 3 x 2 x 2 x 2 = 24 points; playing 4 jokers scores 3 x 2 x 2 x 2 = 24 points with the 4th joker wasted as the maximum points score of 24 has been achieved with 3 jokers). However, each competitor can play a maximum of 2 jokers per race with the exception of one race per season where you can play up to as many jokers as you actually have at that time. Given the average number of Harriers participating per race in recent years, this levels up the average points that each competing Harrier is likely to score; those faster runners with few jokers will usually score in the range 8 to 12 points whereas those Harriers usually scoring 1 to 6 points, with the benefit of jokers will score 4 to 12 points with the benefit of jokers. Occasionally, all Harriers may have the chance to score 14 to 24 points with jokers. 

A Harrier scoring 8 points or less (including the effect of playing jokers) in a race earns 1 extra joker to play at a subsequent race. A Harrier scoring 3 points or less (including the effect of playing jokers) in a race earns 2 extra jokers to play at a subsequent race.

Extra jokers are earned by completing a certain number of Grand Prix races:

• 1 extra joker after 5 races
• 1 extra joker after 8 races
• 2 extra jokers after 11 races

Jokers were assigned to each Harrier at the start of the season prior to the West District Cross Country relay as follows. Quite simply, anyone in training packs 1 to 7 starts the season with 1 joker, anyone in training packs 8 to 10 starts the season with 2 jokers. The jokers are frozen as of the first race of the season, so if a person changes pack through the season, the start jokers do not change. 

Anyone joining the club in the coming year gets the number of jokers relevant to the pack they are in at the time of the first GP race they do for the club.

However, anyone joining the club after the halfway point of the season (i.e. after race 8) gets only 1 joker to start with.

Alan

NATIONAL XC RELAYS TEAMS (PROVISIONAL)

 These are the teams for Saturday. I need Ladies there for 12.30 and men for 13.50

Teams as follows UPDATED

F40     leg 1   J Beveridge,  leg 2  A Lessells    leg 3  L Buchanan    no leg 4

F Sen  leg 1  J Pechlof         leg 2    free      leg 3   free   leg 4 free

M50    leg 1   D Watt      leg 2   G Connelly    leg 3   S Phimister    no leg 4

M40   leg 1   A Buchanan  2   A McLellan   3  J Mearns   4   G McInally

Msen   leg 1  G Ferguson  2 K McPhilips    3  R Couper   4   D Searil

M Sen  leg 1  free    2  free    3   free       4   free

There are 3 ladies spots and 4 Mens spots available if anyone wants a place let me know and i will tell you if your on the reserve list.

Russell

Club Training Thursday 19th October

Thursday's run is a pre-race run with some longish sections of strides. Given that Saturday's race is hilly and energy sapping, it is important not to dig too deep into the reserves of strength  and energy on Thursday's run, so be careful.

The course is out Strathaven Rd to Greenhills Rd and then all the way to Greenhills roundabout. From there, head down Lickprivick and back to the club via The Murray. From the downhill section just after crossing Whitehills Rd, do the first of 5 x 30 seconds efforts at 3k to 4k speed, so pretty fast. Jog for 2 minutes and then do another 30 seconds with a 2 minute jog recovery. Once all 5 reps are done, complete the run at an easy pace.

Alan

Grand Prix - Glasgow University 5 Mile Road Race

Surprisingly, the GU Road Race has appeared in the calendar at 12 noon on 28th October. This has been a popular race for the Harriers since the club was formed, even though the course (and date!) has changed in recent years. This is the 60th anniversary of the GU Road Race. Entries and further details via Entry Central at this link:

https://www.entrycentral.com/glasgow5mile2023

Alan

Club Training Monday 16th October

We gradually continue to increase the volume of our 400's/200's session to make the total volume ever more specific to10k to half marathon development. The session is at our usual "track" at Langlands Place with the warm-up around via Sainsbury's main entrance and up the hill to Langlands Place. Then do the following:

10 x 400m at 5k pace with 1 minute standing recovery. 8 x 200m at 3k to 4k pace with 200m jog recovery (jog to the end of the 400m straight). Consistency is the name of the game with every rep being within a second of each other (depends on weather conditions of course and may not be possible if there is a strong head and tail wind).

Thursday will be an easier, pre-race run with strides.

Alan

Club Training Thursday 12th October

As noted on Monday, Thursday's session is the 4 hills, a classic preparation run for Brampton. For those new to the club, it's about 9.5 miles and has (more than) 4 hills. The idea of Thursday's run is to run at an even, steady effort throughout, except for a very easy first mile or so to the BP garage on the Kingsway from where you should pick up the pace a little up and over into the village and onwards. Similarly, have an easy jog in from the NEL roundabout at the end.

Saturday is the GAA XC Session at Bellahouston Park. Be warmed up and ready to start the first rep at 1030. It is usually around the cricket pitch which is in the main park area a short distance from the swimming pool and carpark.

Alan 

NATIONAL SHORT COURSE XC ( LANARK )

This year the National short course XC will be held at Lanark racecourse on Sat 4th November.

This is 4k the same as the relays but instead a straight race with a mass start.

Ladies start at 13.30 and Men at 14.00.

Cost is £8.50 per head and should be paid in advance.

Please make sure your SA number is up to date.

I need names by Tuesday 17th Oct

If you wish entered please leave your name HERE. Those already registered are listed HERE.

BRAMTON TO CARLISLE 10 MILE ROAD RACE

The bus is filling up fast. Make sure you reserve your spot.

 The Harriers have gone to this event annually since 1986 and some have been to almost every event. We have booked a bus so for those that are new to the club and a change to the schedule from previous years for those who have been before. The bus will leave the Sports club at 7am on Sunday 19th Nov and travel to Brampton. This will get us there in plenty time for warm ups, team photo etc before the race starts at 10.00am. At the finish depending how long we take to run we will have a few 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 of 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 7pm. Note the earlier times from previous years as the race starts at 10am now.

£20 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 that 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 now only an online option so everyone will have to take care of there own entry. Details are on the sportsoft website and you will have to sign in for a login with sport soft and this link should take you to it  Sportsoft Online Entries   

Club Training Monday 9th October

Given the horrendous weather at the weekend and the fact that XC gear and Brancumhall will be sodden, Weare doing a road session instead on Monday.

The session is a threshold session (on a Monday!) consisting of 5 x 6 minutes with minute jog recovery. The level of effort is in the range of 2 or 3 word talking g effort or 1 hour race effort. The effort should remain consistent but the pace varies with hills and wind.

Start the reps on the Queensway after emerging from the Murray roundabout. Carry on down to West Mains Rd, East Mains Rd, Kingsway and the club. 

Thursday will be an easy 4-hills. Saturday is the GAA XC Session at Bellahouston Park for those who can manage. Hopefully conditions have improved by then. 

Alan 

TEAMS FOR WEST DISTRICT XC RELAYS ( PROVISIONAL )

 Teams for Saturdays West XC Relays as follows

Ladies start is 13.00 so please be there for 12.15 and Men at 14.15 so please be there for 13.30

Ladies W40 Leg 1  K Allen,  Leg 2 J Thomson,   Leg 3 A Lessells

Ladies Sen    Leg 1 J Pechlof   Leg 2  J Balmer    Leg 3  L Buchanan

M40   A team    Leg 1  A Buchanan      2  G Connelly    3   J Mearns    4   M Howell

M40   B team    Leg 1  G McInally      2    A McLellan   3   D Herbertson   4  K Leinster

M40   c team    Leg 1   R Couper    2  D Searil

There are 2 spaces available for the mens teams so if any of the reserves want a run let me know by Friday when i have to declare the teams. Reserves are listed below

T Mothada, R Dewar, J Grant, P Lucchesi, R Gibson, B Matthew, K McPhilips, G Ferguson, D McKellar, C Banks, R Lawton, S Phimister, A Derrick, D Watt.

Club Training Thursday 5th October

As we approach the shortest race for a while this weekend (4km XC legs at the West XC Relays), the purpose of Thursday's session is to get the legs spinning over without taking too much out of you and so getting the heaviness out of the legs such that Saturaday is not a shock to the system.

The session is at Langlands Place and consists of the following:

4 x 400m at slightly faster than 5k race pace with 400m jog recovery (i.e. jog back along Langlands place to the start). 4 x 200m at 3k race pace with 200m jog recovery (back to the start).

If it is windy, then do the reps in the wind assisted direction, jogging back into the wind for the recoveries.

Warm-up via Strathaven Rd and Sainsburys. Have a longer cool down via "Motorola", Kelvin Rd, the Crooked Lum and NEL.

On Saturday, make sure you fire the legs and lungs up before your leg by doing a good slow warm-up around some or all of the lap (finishing 30 -40 minutes before your leg) and then some fast strides to get the heart rate up 5 or 10 minutes before your leg is due to start.

Alan

HELP REQUIRED - Junior Harriers Coordinator Position

As most of you know at the last AGM Richard stood down from his role as junior harriers coordinator after doing this role for many years. Almost a year has passed and we have not been able to find a successor to him, Richard has kindly continued in this role but cannot continue to keep doing so and without someone to replace Richard the junior harriers will be unable to continue therefore we urgently need to find a replacement. I have listed out the key tasks involved in this position - note you do not have to regularly attend Wednesday night junior sessions to take this role on.

MAIN DUTIES:

1) To lead junior club development work including the coordination of junior club development plans

2) To lead and manage the junior club and manage team of coaches

3) Initiate and develop key club areas; Coaching & Coach Education, Communication, Administration, Club Kit and Recruit, sustain, support and develop volunteers in all aspects of the club (coaches & volunteers)

4) Partnership Working: Act as a liaison with external partners such as Local Authority, Schools, Active Schools and Scottish Athletics, East Kilbride Sports Club committee, Outdoor Hub, local athletic associations & clubs

5) Ensure that appropriate policies and guidelines are in place for junior members and those working with juniors

6) Represent the interests of junior members at Management Committee meetings

7) Manage problems and issues arising from the junior section

8) Promote the club events to recruit potential athletes, coaches, volunteers and officials

9) Facilitate general junior athletics queries for the club

10) Key point of contact for new athletes. Ensuring they go into appropriate training groups

11) Contact potential new members to inform when next induction is taking place

12) Arrange induction for new members

13) Deliver a presentation around the club, including polices/governance, competition opportunities, training information etc

14) Create a warm and welcoming environment

15) Ensure new members are directed and introduced to the coach and training group they will attend

16) Coordinate and organise race entries

17) Create session plans, coach athletes & act as Team Race Manager on race days

18) Facilitate financial and administrative procedures. Maintain accurate operational information pertaining to income/expenditure

19) Create race reports and upload on blog site, create newsletters and maintain clear contact with parents by email

If this is something you think you could do please speak to either Alison, Russell or Julia P at training one night or send an email to calderglenharriers@outlook.com

You will be supported in this role and Richard will be able to talk through the requirements and guide you through anything you are unsure of.

Thanks,

The committee

Club Training Monday 2nd October

Given the superb performances by so many in the club on Sunday, Monday is a post-race run. For those who raced, use this as an opportunity to ease the legs off and aid your recovery by getting the legs moving gently rather than letting them seize up through several days of no running.

The route is a gentle downhill on the Kingsway to the Whirlies and then down East Mains Rd. Turn left past the railway station along to Lidl and back up Churchill Avenue to the Strathaven Rd and the club. No efforts; nice and easy does it.

Thursday will be 400's and 200's.

Alan

LONDON MARATHON CLUB PLACE

 For those that didnt get in through the ballot for next years London Marathon we should be getting a club place.

We wont find out till the end of November if were getting a place but will work on the understanding were getting one and go ahead with a draw from those that didnt get in through the ballot. We will do this at dinner in Moffat after our trip to Brampton.

Please understand were better preparing for this just know rather than waiting and doing this in a short window once we get confirmation. (slight change of how London Marathon events calculate club places. Member numbers were taken in July and it depends on whether they count member numbers as just those with SA numbers or not and we were on the edge of getting an auto place or going into a draw with similar size clubs for a 50% chance of a place).

Anyone wanting in the draw should let any of the executive committee know before November 12th with evidence of your ballot rejection.

NATIONAL XC RELAYS

 This years National xc relays will be at Cumbernauld on Saturday 21st October.

Usual format of 4k each, teams of 4 or 3 for W40, W50 and M50

Cost is £6.50 per head and should be paid in advance.

Ladies start at 13.20 and Men at 14.45

Remember your SA membership must be up to date for the event at time of entry.

I need names by Tuesday 3rd October.

If you wish entered leave your name HERE. Those already registered are listed HERE.