West Highland Way Relay Pick-up Times

The pick up times are a bit earlier this year to ensure we get to Fort William in time for a quick swim and dinner.
The details are as follows:
2.45 Greenhills Rd :

Davie Searil, Russell Couper
2.55  Finger Post : 

Jim, Ruth, Davie Watt, Andy
3.00 Greenhills Rd :

Gordon
3.05 Kelvin Rd  : 

Jim Holmes
3.10  Our Lady of Lourdes Church :

Scott, Joe
3.15  Queensway :

Frances, Geo, Alan, Robert

Kenny

West Highland Way Relay - what to bring.....

Update - ever the optimist, remember to bring your swimming gear on the off chance we get to FW in time to use the hotel pool and spa (or pre breakfast for the early risers on Sunday). 

For those Harriers new to the WHW relay, here are a few pointers on the format and what to bring. We start very early on Saturday morning but even so, come dressed to run with leggings and warm tops on over your running gear as it will initially be quite chilly. Who is running which leg will be revealed on the bus. Everyone is assigned a leg and that person should wear their Calderglen Harriers vest when running their leg. Some of the more experienced runners may accompany some of the newer runners on their legs to take the pressure off on the navigation (just like Monday at Chatelherault......). However, don't be tempted to do too much before your own leg as all the legs are tough in their own way and every second counts towards us making it to Fort William before the hotel kitchens close (I'm not kidding!).

The minibus is quite tight for space, so pack a compact sports bag or rucksack for the weekend (think Ryanair cabin baggage allowance!). The forecast is for very hot weather over the weekend, so you won't need much in terms of running gear. Bring your normal running shoes that you would wear down the glen or Chatelherault. The WHW is not the place to experiment with new running shoes. A few t-shirts, your club vest, shorts and socks. Bring clothing appropriate for the evening dinner at the hotel and on the Sunday we usually go for a relaxing walk on trails somewhere on the road back, for which normal shoes or trainers will be fine. However, if you burn easily, do bring appropriate body cover, a hat and sun screen for the running and for the Sunday walk. If we are lucky, it will be too hot for the midges but if you suffer, bring your favoured repellent/net.

None of the legs are particularly long. 13 of the 18 legs are less than 10k. The more experienced Harriers are on the longer legs. Therefore you won't need massive amounts of food with you. A few sandwiches and snacks should be enough. Focus more on bringing liquids given the heat. There will be 10 litres of drinking water on the bus. There are a few locations (Inveroran, Crianlarich and Tyndrum in particular) where there are shops/cafes where you can top up with a quick coffee and snacks.

The final thing to bring is plenty of enthusiasm!

Alan

Club Training Thursday 15th May

Thursday's session starts off through the glen to Langlands junction. The reps start there at the junction. The session is 8 x 3 minutes at 10k pace with a 3 minute jog recovery. Regroup during the jog recovery. From there, head past the Langlands Club House and continue into Auldhouse. Turn left at Auldhouse cross and down the hill into the dip and back up to Leaburn Rd. Turn right and follow Leaburn Rd until it veers right down the steep hill. At the bottom of the hill turn right and come back through Auldhouse Cross back towards Langlands Club House. Return to the club via Sainsburys and the Strathaven Rd.

Alan 

Club Training Monday 12th May - Chatelherault

Monday's session is our fortnightly session at Chatelherault. This will be a lap at an easy to steady effort level. For those new to Chatelherault, we meet at one of the following two locations:

• at the venue (the car park on the right at the end of the drive when entering through the Fernigair main entrance to Chatelherault) ready to start at 19:30. Select "Training Venue" on the training registration form.
• at the Sports Club ready to leave at 19:00 and car share if possible. Select "EKSC" on the training registration form.

Alan

Club Training Thursday 8th May

It's a threshold Thursday (except for those who were racing on Wednesday, in which case it is an easy run on the same route as the reps). The session is 4 x 6 minutes at threshold effort (could only say 3 or 4 words after the initial few minutes of each rep) with a 2 minute jog recovery. The route is out the glen and up onto the Strathaven Rd at the Crutherland, cross the road and take the back road to the 90 degree left hand bend where we start reps. From there, run the first rep up towards Leaburn Rd, turn right and follow Leaburn Rd all the way until it turns right, steeply downhill towards Auldhouse road. At the bottom of the hill, turn right and then first left past the Kennels. Follow Shields Rd back to the fingerposts and Greenhills Rd. Carry on to Strathaven Rd and back to the club.

Alan

Strathclyde parkrun Calderglen Takeover - 24th May 2025 - Final Roles

Thanks to all who volunteered to assist with the Strathclyde parkrun Takeover on Saturday 24th May. Julie has assigned roles to all of the volunteers. See the link to the list at the end of this post. Could those who are doing the barcode scanning or timing roles please download the parkrun Virtual Volunteer app and install on your phone which you will need with you on the day. These links show how to use the app for scanning or timing.

The list of role assignments is here.

If you have any questions or are no longer available, please contact Julie as soon as possible.

Alan

Club Training Monday 5th May

Monday's session is out on the roads around Auldhouse as will become very familiar over the Summer. The session is 12 x 2 minutes with a 2 minute jog (regroup) recovery. The pace is 10k race pace (or effort rather than pace if going up hill) and as before, the intention is for the recovery to be slowing down to a jog without stopping completely. The faster runners should turn around and jog back to behind the slower runners such that everyone stays quite close together.

The route is out Greenhills Rd and then left into the Fingerposts at Shields Rd. The reps start here. Follow Shields Rd past the Kennels. At the junction, turn right and then left up the very steep hill. At the top of the hill, the road turns left onto Leaburn Rd. Follow Leaburn Rd along to the junction for Park Farm and turn left down past Park Farm. Return to the club via Sainsburys and Strathaven Rd as usual.

These sessions on very undulating terrain build (appropriate) speed endurance and improve the ability to judge the right level of effort to apply during races when the course is not flat.

Thursdays session will be a threshold session, also out on the back roads.

Alan

Club Training Thursday 1st May - Auldhouse 5k TT

Thursday is the first of our monthly Auldhouse 5k time trials. For those new to the club, this time trial is on the first Thursday of each month from May to September. It is an individual time trial with each Harrier being set off at 30 second intervals in roughly reverse order of expected time such that everyone finishes quite close to each other. The list of names/packs produced by the training registration system is the start list. Therefore it is imperative that everyone participating registers for training so that I have a complete list to upload to the timing software. I will be at the club beforehand to confirm who is running the time trial.

The course is a clockwise circuit, starting part way down the steep hill at Langlands, continuing past Park Farm, turning right on Leaburn Rd and then first right down the hill and up to Auldhouse Cross, right at Auldhouse cross and then back to Langlands. The finish is about 10m before the T-junction just after Langlands Golf Club.

See you tomorrow.

Alan

Club Training Monday 28th April - Chatelherault

Monday is the first fortnightly Chatelherault session of the year. The Chatelherault session is an approximately 7 mile trail run around an undulating trail loop in Chatelherault Country Park, Hamilton. We do this every other week during the Summer season when the daylight is good enough, ending mid to late August. Mostly, we do this as an easy paced run as the benefits of the challenging terrain are experienced best at an easy pace. However, some weeks we do the session as a sort of farlek, working hard on the hills. This week is an introductory, easy run to refamiliarise us with the lap and the underfoot conditions. Road shoes are fine for the route.

We meet in the car park on the right hand side of the main drive into Chatelherault off of the A72 at Ferniegair. The car park is marked by a pin on this Google Map:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/qpcQVuvsSzxMbpx

For those going direct, please select the "Training Venue" option in the training registration form and please be at Chatelherault ready to run at 19:30. For those needing a lift (or able to offer a lift), please meet at EK Sports Club ready to run at 19:00. Those going direct to Chatelherault will know to wait on those coming from EKSC before starting the run.

It is particularly important that everyone stays in their pack during this run as it is very easy to take a wrong turn and end up miles off course. Every pack will be arranged such that there is at least one person who knows where they are going!

Alan

Club Training Thursday 24th April

Thursday's session is a 10k paced session out in the country following the format of one of our usual Summer sessions. The session is 8 x 3 minutes at 10k effort with 3 minutes jog recovery during which you should regroup into your pack whilst still continuing to jog/run ie don't stand and wait for others to reach you; if you are ahead of your pack, turn around and jog back, if you are behind the majority of your pack members, keep jogging forward. Recovering whilst still moving along rather than standing still is an important part of the session given the generous recoveries. If you need to stand still to recover, then you have almost certainly gone too fast in the reps.

The route is a warm up to the bottom of the hill at Langlands via Strathaven Rd and Sainsburys. The first rep starts there. Then past Park Farm, left on Leaburn Rd and immediately right to continue climbing. First right and along the top, following the road down to the right back to Leaburn Rd. Turn right on Leaburn Rd then turn left down into the dip and up to Auldhouse Cross. Turn right back to Langlands and back to the club via Sainsburys and Strathaven Rd.

Remember that Monday is the first Chatelherault session of this year. 

Alan 

Club Training - Monday 21st April

As we enter Summer 10k race season, we carry on with a mixture of faster than 10k pace reps, slower than 10k reps (threshold for those running 10k's considerably faster than 60 minutes) and 10k pace reps (which will be threshold for those running 10k in about an hour). We will also introduce hill reps a bit earlier in the summer than usual. We have Chatelherault starting next Monday, which is good, strength and aerobic training. Most of our club night runs will be out on the country roads around Auldhouse.

However, this Monday, we are on the 5k pace 400m reps at Langlands Place. The session is 12 x 400m with 1 minute jog recovery. Consistency is the objective.

On Thursday, we will be out on the country roads.

Alan

Club Training Thursday 17th April

As the weather should be a little better and tge skies light until around 20:30 tomorrow, the session is further into the country. It's a threshold session of 3 x 9 minutes with a 3 minute jog recovery. Warm up via Sainsburys to the bottom of the steep hill at Langlands. The first rep starts at the 90 degree bend at the bottom of the hill. The route is Park Farm, turn right on Leaburn Rd, turn first right down the dip and back up the hill to Auldhouse Cross. Turn left and then first right past the Kennels and continue on Shields Road back to Greenhills Rd and back to the Strathaven Rd and the club. Moderate the pace depending on whether going uphill or downhill to maintain that controlled discomfort, 2 or 3 word effort level of threshold. Regroup into your packs during the jog recovery if you become spread out.

Alan 

Club Training Monday 14th April

Monday's session is a post-race run given that quite a few were racing on Sunday. For the first proper country run of this year, the route is one complete circuit of the Auldhouse 5k course, starting from the club, along Strathaven Rd and round by Sainsburys to the start of the 5k on the steep downhill at Langlands, then follow the 5k route, turning right at all junctions until you come back to Langlands. Then turn left and follow the road back up to Greenhill Rd (past the entrance to Langlands Place) and back to the club via Strathaven Rd. The pace should be easy and reasonably conversational.

Thursday will be back on to reps.

Alan

DAAA 10 mile Championship race

 For those running on Sunday this is a Grand Prix event for us and with a lot of our newer members running this might need a bit of explaining of what this means. The Grand Prix is a selection of races throughout the year (16 in total) of which your best 11 count. This event is race 10. It is a handicapped series which we use a joker system that can double your points in an individual race. The points are separated into Male and Female and start with 12 pts to the first male and female from the club to finish. 11pts for second all the way down to 1pt for 12th place and beyond. For those doing your first race with the club you will start with 1 joker and if you want to play it you need to do so before the start.

With the above in mind it might be difficult to see everyone before the start on Sunday so i would ask that you drop me a message on whatsapp if anyone is playing any jokers. Below is a list of those entered to see where you might finish in the club places. If anyones not running thats entered if you could let us know to help those running to get there jokers right. (this is where it becomes handy to have a degree in mathematics).

Those entered are   for the Ladies  J Beveridge, J Balmer and F Ferguson

For the men  R Couper, J Grant, S Hair, I MacLean, C Ferguson, G Connelly, J Coleman, R Pattinson, A Higgins, R Gibson and R Lawton

Russell

Club Training Thursday 10th April

As at least some Harriers will be doing the Dumbarton 10-mile road race on Sunday, the Thursday session is still a threshold session but it is cut right back in total duration. However, to remove the temptation to do the session too fast, it is one long threshold effort rather than multiple shorter efforts. Run the session on the Sainsburys loop (clockwise, starting on the pavement just after the main gate as usual) and consists of 1 x 15 minutes at threshold. For all except those capable of a sub-60 10 mile, threshold effort will be slightly faster than your sustainable 10 mile effort. i.e. if you are running 10km races in 55 minutes plus, then 10k effort is your threshold effort. By using the Sainsbury's circuit you need to listen to your body rather than look at your watch as there are long uphills and downhills where the pace will need to be adjusted accordingly to maintain the same effort. This session is short enough and far enough away from Sunday's race that it will not impact the race performance, except perhaps confirming what the right level of effort is. To that end, err on the side of caution and rather than go too fast, hold back to your 10-mile effort level (which may be at the bottom end of threshold for those taking 80+ minutes for 10-miles.

Alan

Club Training Monday 7th April

Monday's session is consolidation of the longer rep distances and is therefore the same as last week, 6 x 800m at 10k pace + 4 x 400m at 5k pace, 1 minute recoveries throughout. You have done the session well if you run the 800's to within a second of each other and also are consistent on the 400's. You should finish feeling you could do more reps and not finish bent over double!

Alan 

Club Training Thursday 3rd April

Thursday's session is a threshold session at Carron Place comprising 4 x 8 minutes at threshold  2:30 jog recovery. This is a great circuit for threshold due to the mix of flat, downhill and uphill sections, the aim being to keep the effort level constant by varying the pace according to the slope.

Apologise for any typos in this post. The Blogger app on my phone is not displaying text as I type, so this is raw, right (or wrong) first time typing!) 

Alan

Crieff 10k Mixed Terrain Race - Scottish Mid-Trail Championship

Further to the list of upcoming races published in the Oyster Catcher newsletter issued by Alison today, an event just too late to make the newsletter is the Crieff 10k (Sunday 13th July), a race that several from the club have done over the years. This year it also incorporates the National Mid-Trail Championships. Being a national championship, there is a full range of overall, age-group and team national medals up for grabs and the old saying is still true "you've got to be in it to win it".

There are about 140 places left as of today. Entry via Entry Central: https://www.entrycentral.com/Crieff10k

There is also a junior 5k: https://www.entrycentral.com/CrieffJunior5k which incorporates the National Junior Trail Championships for U15 and U17.

Alan

Club Training Monday 31st March

Except for those who were racing Tom Scott (who should do this run as an easy run if coming up to the club) the session is becoming more 10k to 10 mile specific as we approach the Summer racing season.

The session is at Langlands Place and consists of 6 x 800m at 10k pace, with 1 minute stand/jog on the spot recoveries followed by 4 x 400m at 5k pace with 1 minute recoveries.

Thursday's session is a threshold session at Carron Place. I will be overseas with work, so the session may get posted at a strange time.

Alan

Club Training Thursday 27th March

The return of threshold Thursday. This session is a repeat of the session from two weeks ago which is 5 x 6 minutes at threshold effort with a 2 minute jog recovery between reps. As before, use the Sainsburys Loop in a clockwise direction. Check back on your Garmin to see how consistent (or not) you were the last time we did this session. Did you start the first effort too fast and slow down as the reps progressed, or did you start too slow on the first rep. When done correctly, your heart rate should build up to a level and stay there from about the second minute to the end of each rep and each rep should achieve this same heart rate.

For those doing Tom Scott on Sunday, this session is far enough away that it should not impact your race performance. In fact, it would be a good idea to try to maintain the effort you plan to achieve throughout the 10 mile race. Unless you are running the 10 mile in 60 minutes, then your 5 x 6 minutes should be at the slower end of threshold.

Alan

Strathclyde parkrun Takeover Volunteer Roles

Calderglen Harriers are going to do a parkrun takeover at Strathclyde parkrun on Saturday 24 May.  This will be the third year of us doing this. For those that are new to the club this involves members of Calderglen Harriers filling all the roles at parkrun that Saturday. Parkrun will provide us with a run director.  You may be familiar with some of the roles but if you are not sure then ask about as there are many of us at the Harriers who are familiar with parkrun and we can explain what the role is all about.  A list of the roles we need covered are below. Please select all the roles you would like to do using this form and one will be allocated to you. parkrun also need your parkrun membership number (the number below your barcode), so please have that ready to enter on the form.

The roles to be covered are:

• Timekeeper- 2 
• Barcode scanning - at least 4 (but can add more on)
• Marshalls - 3/4
• Finish Tokens -1 + Finish Token Support - 1
• Funnel Manager - at least 5 (but can add more on)
• Number checker - 1
• Pre-event set-up - 1/2 (will be needed from about 7.30/8.00 but could go home once they have helped with the set-up). The race director will help the volunteer with this.
• First Timers Welcome - 1
• Tail Walker - 1
• Photographer - 1
• VI Guide - 1 (although dependent on whether they are required for this role on the day) 

Thanks

Julie B

Club Training Monday 24th March

Monday's session is another basic speed endurance session at 5k pace, the eventual outcome being that the slower paces required for longer races (10k, 10 mile, half and full marathon and beyond) will seem easier. Remember that training is not practicing racing (except for some specific race pace sessions intended to allow race pace to be achieved automatically based only on feel); training is intended to adapt the different physiological systems that are used in races and specifically, training is not racing so should not result in the same levels of deep fatigue that result from a race. Hence training is broken down into intervals with recoveries.

Monday's session is at Langlands Place again and is 12 x 400m at 5k pace with a 1 minute jog around/stand recovery. It is simple training, but it works!

Thursday is another threshold session.

Alan

West Highland Way Relay 2025 - accepting participants!

As announced last month, the Harriers' West Highland Way Relay weekend is from Saturday 17th May (early morning start) through to Sunday 18th May (afternoon return) and will cost £108 per person, dinner, bed & breakfast. The minibus cost will be covered by the club. We stay the Saturday night at the Ben Nevis Hotel in Fort William.

For those new to the club we hire a 17 seater minibus and leave East Kilbride about 3:30am (pick-up time will be confirmed nearer the time) on the Saturday morning and drive to Milngavie where Alan will allocate a section of the Way to be run by each person (although you can, if you wish, run with others on their legs). All but one of the legs are reasonably short and in any case we give the longer legs to the fastest runners such that we stand a chance of arriving in time for dinner. The plan is to arrive in Fort William early evening for a swim if there is time and dinner with some refreshments. Depending on the weather we may do an outdoor activity on the Sunday before arriving back in East Kilbride around 6pm. As places are limited it will be a first come first served basis upon giving Frances a deposit of £40 from Thursday 27th March at the Sports Club when entries will officially open. As Frances has to pay the hotel in full two weeks before the event, the balance of the payment is due by 30th April.

Alan

6+4 STAGE RELAYS TEAMS

 This Saturday were off to Livingstone for the National 6+4 stage relays.

Race starts at 11.30 so if everyone could be there by 11.00 am at the latest to allow the early legs a warm up. I will be there before this and collect the numbers.

Parking is at Livingstone FC   Almondvale stadium and the start is at the Acadamy on the other side of the river.

A Team   Leg 1 I MacLean     short,     Leg 2  S Hair   Long,    Leg 3  R Couper     short,    Leg 4   C Ferguson   Long,      Leg 5  V Sahasrabudde   short,    Leg 6    R Gibson     Long.

 

Club Training Thursday 20th March

Thursday's session is a pre-race run in advance of the National Road Relays at Livingston. The session is at Langlands Place and is 12 x 200m at 5k pace with a 200m jog recovery after each rep. i.e. run half of Langlands Place at 5k pace and then slow down to a jog to the end of Langlands Place before turning around to start the next rep. No sprinting just fast running!

Alan

Club Training Monday 17th March

Monday's session is another threshold session (unless you were racing over the weekend, in which case it is an easy run on the same route as the efforts). The session is 4 x 8 minutes at threshold with a two and a half minute jog recovery. For a slight change of scenery, do this session around Carron Place. The warm-up is up the Strathaven Rd onto Greenhills Rd and then first right into the Kelvin and on to Carron Place, starting the first rep at the usual location near the post box and running the reps around Carron Place in an anti-clockwise direction. With these slightly longer threshold reps, it is particularly important to start off at the correct level of effort and not to go too fast. The idea is to finish each rep feeling like you could have kept going at that effort level for much, much longer (theoretically up to one hour). Therefore, you should not be bent over double and straining at the end of each rep. This should be controlled discomfort.

Thursday's session is shorter, pre-race reps at Langlands Place.

Alan

Club Training Thursday 13th March

Thursday's session is back at Langlands Place and is keeping us in touch with faster paces and maximum oxygen uptake compared to Monday's threshold session. The session is 12 x 400m at 5k pace with 1 minute stand/jog around recoveries. As usual, keep a close eye on the pace, be realistic with respect to your 5k pace and be consistent with every rep. The pace chart is below for reference.

Alan

Club Training Monday 10th March

Monday's session is threshold efforts on the Sainsbury's Circuit (clockwise). The session is 5 x 6 minutes at threshold (comfortably hard, 2 or 3 word effort, sustainable for no more than an hour if you were in a race situation) with 2 minute recoveries.

For those who did the 10k race yesterday, do easy laps of Sainsburys loop. The training effect of the 10k race and the threshold reps is similar for those running 50 minutes plus for 10k.

Thursday's session will be back at Langlands Place at a faster pace to keep the VO2 topped up.

I lost track of the day of the week, hence the lateness of this post!

Alan

Club Training Thursday 6th March

Thursday's session is back to working at VO2 max effort. The purpose of these sessions is to maximise the ability to use oxygen which translates into better running economy at all slower paces over longer distances, whether it is a 10k race or an ultra. The session is at Langlands Place and is 6 x 800m at 5k pace with a 1 minute stand/jog on the spot recovery. With many having just run 5k at the Scally, 5k pace should be fresh in your minds! Try to make every rep as close to the same time as possible.

Alan

NATIONAL 6+4 STAGE ROAD RELAY

With 8 males listed ive entered 2 male teams so there are 4 spaces available to fill. As we dont need to declare the running order yet we are allowed to list reserves so below is the pool or runners we can choose from so if anyone on the list that didnt declare there entry wants to be added to the team selection let me know     Russell

Vivek Sahasrabuddhe   Peter Moyes    Craig Ferguson    Iain Maclean    Scott Hair
Jordan Stewart    Kai Wheeler   Kieran Rooney    Robert Dewar   Jason Grant
Paul Lucchesi    Robert Pattinson   Robert Gibson    Andrew Buchanan   Kevin McPhillips
George Ferguson   Martin Howell   Jim Mearns   Gerard Connelly    Colin Banks
Kenny Leinster    Stephen Phimister    Alan Derrick    David Watt    Gerard Mullen
Jim Holmes    Russell Couper     David Searil

 This years 6+4 stage relay will again be held in Livingston on the 22nd March

Start time is 11.30 for the men and 11.40 for the women

teams are 6 for men and 4 for women and legs are run with alternate distances of 3.15m and 5.8m

If we have more names we will run partial teams too so everyone that wants to run can

Entrants MUST be members of Scottish Athletics as this is a National championship

Cost is £7 per head and should be paid before race day

If you wish entered please add your name HERE. those already registered are listed HERE.

I need names by Tuesday 4th March

Strathclyde Parkrun Takeover - Choose your dates

Edit - Saturday 24th May is most popular vote and Julie Beveridge is liasing with the Strathclyde run director to check this date is suitable. When we hear back we’ll ask about preferred roles.

Following the success of the last couple of years takeover of the Strathclyde parkrun by the Harriers, we have decided to try the same again this year. What is the parkrun takeover? This is an opportunity for a club to take over all the volunteer roles (or the majority) for the parkrun for one weekend (with the assistance of the regular race director to keep us right), providing good publicity for the club and putting something back into the sport. The first step in the process is to find out to choose the most suitable weekend. To make this a success for us we will need members to come forward and volunteer. At this point in time we need to choose a Saturday that will suit the majority of our members. We have selected dates for April/May/June as hopefully the weather is better but it is before the summer holidays start. Note that the weekend of the WHW relay has been left blank, along with the 2 dates for the parkrun that are in the harriers grand prix.

The dates (all Saturdays of course) are listed in this form. Please select as many days as you could make and we will pick the most popular one.

Alan Scally Road Relay - Relay Enjoyable Event

 We had another great day of racing on Saturday at the Alan Scally Road Relays in Glasgow Green, there was some light rain in the morning and again in the afternoon after the event but it remained dry for the duration of the relay event. This year had a record entry of 301 teams!

On the day we had 3.75 mens teams and 1.5 ladies teams.

On the first leg for our senior mens team we had Jordan Stewart who is also in training for the Paris marathon, however the miles haven't affected his speed and even with being sick on the course with 100m to go this didnt stop Jordan dipping under 17minutes for the first time and gaining a new PB of 16:57. 

Jordan passed over to Andrew Buchanan, who also had a great run, running their fastest 5k in several years finishing in 18:51. Jason Grant was 3rd leg for our senior team and also in marathon preparation, using this race as part of a longer training run, running to and from Glasgow Green along the Clyde Walkway from Cambuslang, Jason was another on PB form running an excellent time of 19:15. on the final leg of the senior team was our U20 athlete Kai Wheeler who has been running PBs in just about every race lately, well Saturday was no exception and Kai stormed round in 19:02 (much to his dads disappointment at no longer being fastest in the household!), bringing the senior team home in an overall 80th place.

Our mens V50 team and senior mens team were quite closely matched, Stephen Phimister was first off in the V50 team having a strong run but disappointed not to break 20, finishing in 20:08. Scott Hair was was first off for the senior team and had a great run, finishing not too far behind in a new PB of 20:25.

On the 2nd leg for the V50s was Martin Howell who hasn't been able to get in much training lately due to work commitments finishing in 23:16, Robert Gibson was 2nd for the senior team and was chasing Martin down all the way, closing the gap slightly to finish in 23:10. Iain Maclean was next off for the V50s and managed to stretch the lead away from the senior team running a strong 20:52, Craig Ferguson was next off after Robert and ran hard to finish in 22:18. Last off for the V50s was Richard Lawton who has had a long battle with injury lately so he was delighted to finish in roughly the same time as last year, running 24:33. The mens V50 team finished in 10th position in the V50 category. Peter Moyes took over from Craig on the last leg and is another who has been getting regular PBs, getting yet another, improved his 5k time down to 25:08.

Russell Couper was 1st leg in our incomplete V40 team, followed by Vivek Sahastrabhudde and Andy Rycroft (2 of our Tuesday night improvers club), Russell improved on last years time at the Scally and ran 27:37, Vivek was delighted to get a new PB of 28:30 and Andy had a strong run finishing in 28:42.

Our complete female team was made up of Clare McSorley, Lorraine Buchanan, Lizzie Dewar and Alison Lessells. Clare had a strong run, finishing in 22:42, getting the team off to a good start, Lorraine was next off and ran 28:37 to set a benchmark down for the season (pleased to get round injury free), after a lot of disruption lately to her training with injury. Lizzie was 3rd leg and had a brilliant run, setting a new PB of 26:21, Alison was last leg and finished in a time of 22:03 (slightly disappointed to not break 22, but happy that it was faster than recent years).

Our final incomplete ladies team was also made up of 2 of our Tuesday night runners, both had brilliant runs taking chunks off their previous 5k bests. Carolyn Donnelly was first leg and ran a brilliant PB of 28:26, handing over to Pam Rycroft who also ran a brilliant PB of 29:45.

Well done to all who ran and thank you to those who came down to support - Alan Derrick, Frances & Geo Ferguson, Colin Banks, Jim Holmes, Robert & Eilidh Dewar and Charlotte Buchanan.

Club Training Monday 3rd March

Monday's session is a post-race run, ending quite an intense block of training since the start of the year. The route is the old faithful Queensway to the Holiday Inn, all the way along the bypass to the Stewartfield Loch roundabout, turn right up the hill into Stewartfield and then turn left at the mini-roundabout at Stewartfield Rd, down the footpath parallel to Stewartfield Rd, left on West Mains Rd to Churchill Avenue and up Churchill Avenue to the NEL roundabout and back to the club. Take this as an easy run; no strides.

Thursday's session will be back at Langlands Place.

Alan

Grand Prix Races - the next batch!

At the committee meeting on Thursday, we have agreed the following races to conclude the Grand Prix. Some dates yet to be confirmed and some entries are not yet open most of the races do have Scottish Athletics permits so will be on. 

Land O'Burns date is still to be confirmed. Have assumed the same Wednesday (but better weather) than last year. 

A change of parkrun was decided as Victoria parkrun is becoming too crowded making the second lap difficult whereas Polkemmet is a similar distance/time away and is relatively quiet. As usual, there are two dates for the parkrun; you can choose either one, however, only the time from the first one you do counts. 

Entries are not open yet for Dechmont Law but it does have a permit and is in the SA calendar. There is also a 2.5km juniors race there which makes it good for all the Harriers. 

Chatelherault World Championships and Vertical Mile will be slotted into the schedule once we get nearer to the time with the Vertical Mile being the last race of the Grand Prix as always.

Alan

10	13/04/2025	Dunbarton AAC 10 mile Road Race	https://www.dunbartonshireaaa.co.uk/10mile/
11	11/05/2025	Loch Leven Half Marathon	https://www.entrycentral.com/LLHM
12	21/05/2025	Land O'Burns Ayr 10k (date to be confirmed!)	to be confirmed
13	26/04/2025	Polkemmet Country parkrun (1/2) and race 2/2 on 31/05/2025	parkrun
14	15/06/2025	Dechmont Law 10k Trail Race	https://www.lothianrunningclub.co.uk/trail-race/
15	tbc	Chatelherault
16	tbc	Vertical Mile

Allan Scally Road Relay - Some Photos

Feel free to add photos to this album. Thanks to Geo for adding his photos. Looking forward to a race report from one of the participants. Well done all.

Alan

THE ALLAN SCALLY ROAD RELAYS (TEAMS)

 This Saturday were off to Glasgow Green for the Scally relays.

Race starts at noon and i will pick up the numbers in advance and be at the start before 11.30am.

Park near the football centre in the Green and head down towards the Clyde for the Start.

Come ready to run with overclothes on as theres no changing.

Be there in plenty time so i can give out the numbers and get warmed up for my run.

Teams are as follows  Ladies A  C McSorley, L Buchanan, L Dewar, A Lessells

                                   Ladies B   C Donnelly,   P Rycroft   legs 3+4 spare

Mens senior A        J Stewart,   A Buchanan,   J Grant,   K Wheeler

Mens senior B        S Hair,   R Gibson,   C Ferguson,   P Moyes

Mens M50   A        S Phimister,  M Howell,  I MacLean,   R Lawton

Mens M40   A        R Couper,   V Sahasrabuddhe,   A Rycroft     leg 4 spare

If anybody is unable to take part its important that you contact me ASAP as i cant change the teams at the venue but can do them online up to about 10am Saturday.

Russell

Club Training Thursday 27th February

Thursday's run is a pre-race run as a large proportion of the club are doing the Allan Scally Road Relays on Saturday. As is usual for a pre-race run, the total distance is quite short and incorporates 6 x accelerations to slightly faster than 5k pace with the distance of the acceleration being about 70 to 80m.

The route is Strathaven Rd to Greenhills Rd, up to the water tower at the top of Lickprivick, over the top and down the footpath that leads onto the Murray Rd. From there, return to the club. Decide within your packs where each of the 6 accelerations will be. Choose flat or slightly downhill sections for that. Stay relaxed during the accelerations, no straining.

Alan

Club Training Monday 24th February

Monday's session is another Langlands Place 5k pace session to maintain or restore the sharpness ahead of the Scally. The session is 10 x 400m at 5k pace + 4 x 200m at 5k pace with 1 minute recoveries after all reps. The intention is to absolutely nail the consistency and not to go too fast at the start. The proof of correct pace judgement will come on Saturday. However, the conditions are quite windy today, so maintaining a constant pace in each direction may be difficult. This can be the same during a race though, so if there is a strong headwind and tailwind in opposite directions, adapt the pace accordingly. Work a bit harder into the wind but try to relax through the downwind effort to easily hit the target pace. Do not go flying off at too fast a pace with a tailwind using up all your energy as you will need that energy to run back into the wind.

Thursday's run will be a pre-race run.

Alan

National XC Championships – Saturday 22 February 2025

 Yesterday was my 1^st ever National XC Championships. At the ripe old age of (almost) 60, it’s taken me a bit of time to get there! I thought it might be of interest (particularly to the newer runners and the Tuesday Group), to hear a bit about my experience through a race report. You never know, it might encourage you to try out cross country next year…. 

Scott (Hair), Craig Ferguson and myself were all 1^st timers, so it was good to be able to drive to Falkirk with Jason as this gave us time to ask him some questions we all had about the event – so thanks for the advice Jason! 

Having arrived at the parking area and as we walked through to the Callander Park entrance, you are immediately met with a view over the park and the tented village which gives you a feel for the scale of the event. Having ran twice in XC (Cumbernauld National Relays and Linn Park West League), this event was of a scale much larger than I’ve seen before. Scott, Craig and I were all buzzing heading down to take in the atmosphere and to find the Harriers’ tent (not easy!). 

Walking down, you can see how much work goes in to staging this national event. … and arriving at our tent it wasn’t lost on us that a few club members put a lot of effort into supporting our ability to race at these events throughout the year. It was an early start for the Buchanan family, who arrived early to put up the club tent, supported by Frances who also helped our neighbours (WestEndRunners I think), one of whom had arrived solo - so he much appreciated Frances’ help with erecting their massive tent! Russell as usual was also around, having collected the numbers and handed them out with his usual dose of humour! Alan, Frances, Kenny and Billy have all experienced recent injury setbacks, but all took the time to come through to Falkirk to support the team; and Lorraine felt not well enough to race - so she also took on the role of lead supporter. Kai’s family, Joyce (McPhillips) Susan (Grant), and of course wee Heidi also all came through to support their family and the wider Harriers team. I’ll probably forget to say this later, so a massive thanks to everyone who came to support the runners and offered words of encouragement throughout the course. Scott, Craig and I all said that it HONESTLY makes a massive difference to hear these words of support, and it gives you a real lift when you are maybe feeling a bit flat. It will be nice to see other club members at future races, either as runners or supporters, particularly as the better weather approaches. 

Turning to the race(s), the Championships started with the under 13’s. Charlotte Buchanan was 1^st off in her 3.4k race, where she finished 34^th (out of 155) in a time of 13:41. Remember these results are for best in Scotland, so Charlotte finished 34^th in Scotland under 13 Female. Hamish Anderson finished the boys under 13’s race 33^rd out of 116 runners in a time of 13:18. Well done to both for a fantastic race and result. 

 

Next off was the senior women (10K), where Alison Lessells was last woman standing after Frances’ and Lorraine’s late withdrawals. Alison unfortunately seemed to get the worst of the wind of the day, which dropped off considerably by the time the men’s race came around. As the course had changed from last year, it’s difficult to benchmark Alison’s excellent time of 54:11, but she did remark that she was short of race practice this year with the recent race cancellations. 

Under 20’s were next (7.6k), with Kai Wheeler finishing 56^th in the under 20 Men in a time of 33:23, followed by Rachel McPhillips in the under 20 Women in 36:25 (46^th). 

Next, it was time for the Senior Men, running the same 10k course as Alison, but in much less windy conditions (thankfully). The course was apparently less hilly than last year, and there were no “Linn Park” type hills to contend with! Thankfully, there has been no “Madman’s Gully” the past few years either.  

The course climbed up from the start line, around the top of the course and sweeping back down towards Callander House, past the side / back of the House which led into a long snaking section which eventually takes you through the tented village, sweeping up a short(ish) hill before you have a final downhill section taking you towards the finish line (on the 3^rd lap). 

There were over 600 men at the start line, and all the Harriers took a (sensible) position towards the back of the field. I had noticed that Jason had ran 49 minutes last year, so my race strategy was to hang onto the back of Jason for as long as I was able. When the gun went off, that distance turned out to be around 100 metres!, before Jason ran off into the sunset, so I settled into my race, as did all the others, in an order which would eventually be the final Harriers order; Andrew, Jason, me, Craig, Scott, Kevin and Russell. 

My uneventful race lasted 1K, before I almost face planted in the mud! I landed on the ground, but was lucky that I was being closely followed by “The Tank” (Craig) who scooped me up with one arm and we both continued on without either breaking stride!! 

You are then across a bridge into the snaking section of the course where we had Lorraine, Charlotte and Alison all offering encouragement. This was a good part of the course as you could see the field stretch out in front (and behind), and over the 3 laps you could get a good sense of how well you were performing in relation to others. I could see Andrew and Jason in the distance, but could also see Craig, then Scott on my tail. As I had played my 2 Grand Prix jokers, I was determined to stay ahead of the other Harriers, knowing fine well I would never catch Jason who had an eventual 3 minute lead on me. 

 

When you leave the snaking section you come back through the tented village, which was busy with spectators, so this is the place where you need to try to look your best!. It was great to have Alan and Frances on one side, and Jack and Victor (Billy and Kenny) offering words of encouragement as you headed out of the village and up the final hill section. 

Being pretty inexperienced when it comes to race strategy, I was keen just to feel my way into the race and to try to maintain a steady pace. This worked out quite successfully, and I was pleased to see my Garmin stats showed my pace only varied between 4.54 and 5.03 per km until 9K, with the final 1KM being a slightly quicker 4.46. I will make the point here that Coach Alan’s training really helped me here, and as Alan had suggested I did have enough left in the tank to give a final effort and I picked off a fair few runners in the final km. So thanks Alan for all the 200m Langlands speed efforts (and for the Lickprivick hills which definitely helped me on the hills sections).  

I finished my race in a final time of 49:41, which I was delighted with. I think I only missed 1 Brancumhall session this year, and this has helped with my XC since I joined the Harriers last year. Looking back, my 1^stXC progression has seen my average pace improve from 5.13/km (October) to 5.07/km (December) to 4.56/km (yesterday, over 10k).  Long may it continue…. 

The other Harriers all finished as follows: Andrew Buchanan 45:24, Jason Grant 46:44, Craig Ferguson (recovering from a bad virus!) 51:47, Scott Hair 52:42, Kevin McPhillips 53:22 and Russell Couper 1:03:47, with Russell managing to finish in front of runners from Garscube Harriers, Edinburgh AC, Wee County Harriers, West Edinburgh, Dundee Road Runners and Larkhall YMCA Harriers. Well done Russell, and to all our racers yesterday. 

Hopefully, this report gives Harriers a useful report on our day yesterday, and gives our new runners and Tuesday group a flavour of what it’s like to race for the Club, or just to come to support.  

I’ve not added any photos to this report, but these can all be seen from our Facebook page. Please also take the time to take a look at all Kai’s cracking photos. What a talented guy, and he can run (fast) too! 

https://www.facebook.com/share/156WYQ242M/ 

 

https://www.instagram.com/kai_wheeler_photography?igsh=MWppZDN3a2hkc3hyYg== 

 

Alan's photos

Iain 

Just when you thought the cross-country season was over - British Masters XC Championships - Tollcross Park

Scottish Veteran Harriers are hosting the British Masters XC Championships at Tollcross Park on Saturday 15th March. The races are for all those aged 35 and above. There are two races as is usual for masters events: Race 1 at 12 noon is for all ladies and M65+ over a distance of 6k. Race 2 at 1300 is for M35 to M60 inclusive and is over 8km. National medals for top 3 in each 5 year age category and to the first 3 club teams (3 to count) in 10 year age categories (35 and 40; 45 and 50; 55 and 60, etc). Entries to be made individually at the following link. Calderglen Harriers (Scottish Athletics members) pay £20. However, if you also have a Scottish Veteran Harriers membership, then the cost is £15.

We could do well in this one, particularly in the team categories. For those looking for one final, local XC race this season (unless the West XC League Strathaven race is rescheduled), enter the race at this link: https://bmaf.opentrack.run/en-gb/x/2025/GBR/bmaf-xc/ Encourage your club mates to enter to get as many 3 person teams in each category as we can.

Alan

NATIONAL XC INSTRUCTIONS

 The following are running at the National XC Championship on Saturday. Please turn up in plenty of time for your race. I will collect the numbers from registration and be at the club tent with them. If anyone can no longer make it let me know so im not collecting numbers and chips

U/13 girls    Charlotte Buchanan     11.00am start    3.4k

U/13 boys    Hamish Anderson        11.16      start    3.4k

Senior women     A Lessells, F Ferguson, L Buchann     12.50   start     10k

U/20 men      Kai Wheeler               13.45     start     7.6k

U/20 women   Rachel McPhillips    13.55     start      7.6k

Senior men     14.40   start    C Ferguson,  I MacLean,   S Hair,  J Grant,  A Buchanan,  K McPhillips,   C Banks,  K Leinster,  A Derrick and R Couper        10k

If there are arrangements for some to leave as a group from the club i will update this on Friday evening.

Russell

Club Training Thursday 20th February

Thursday's run is a pre-race easy run with strides, given that it is the National XC on Saturday. The route is Strathaven Rd, Kingsway to the Whirlies, East Mains Rd, West Mains Rd, KFC, Queensway, Strathaven Rd back to the club.

From the petrol station on the Kingsway, start the first of 6 x 100m gradual accelerations up to faster than 5k speed. Only reach that top speed in the final 30 or 40m of each 100m. Be in complete control of the acceleration such that your speed is increasing only slightly with each stride and you don't reach the top speed until near the very end of the section. Do this another 5 times during the run on flat or downhill sections, to be decided within each pack. For example, each person in the pack take it in turn to decide where the next 100m stretch starts. Spread them out. The last one should probably be on the flattish section of the Queensway between the underpasses just after the BP station and the underpass at Debenhams roundabout. In between these efforts, run easy.

Alan

Club Training Monday 17th February - Brancumhall

Monday's session is the final Brancumhall session of this year and is a pre-National XC taper session. The session is 12 x 1 minute at 5k effort with 1 minute jog recovery in between. This will be faster than the pace at the National but is a useful sharpener to get ready for the first few hundred metres, which tends to be fast, such that you can run fast and relaxed and then ease back off that pace part way up the first hill. This is also useful to have in the tank for the final minute when the further out from the finish you can start a big push, the more people you will pass and the fewer will pass you. No point waiting until the final 20m!

Alan

West Highland Way Relay 2025 - Advance Announcement

Although names and deposits are not being taken yet, this is just some advance information to allow all who are interested to save the dates and to start saving up.

The event is from Saturday 17th May (early morning start) through to Sunday 18th May (afternoon return) and will cost £108 per person, dinner, bed & breakfast. The minibus cost will be covered by the club. We stay the Saturday night at the Ben Nevis Hotel in Fort William.

Search previous blog posts from past years (type WHW Relay or West Highland Way Relay into the blog search box above) to see reports and photos of this great Harriers running and social weekend. Here are a few random ones:

2008

2015

2016 - 25th Anniversary

2018

THE ALLAN SCALLY ROAD RELAYS

The Allan Scally road relays take place on Glasgow Green on Saturday 1st March at Noon.

Teams of 4 for Men and Women but we will enter part teams too. So everyone gets a run.

Cost is £10 per head and the race comprises 4 x 5k

Must be at least 15 years old on 31/08/2024

This is a fantastic event and well worth having multiple teams running so lets get as many of you running as possible. This is also a grand prix event.

I need names by Saturday 22nd Feb so don't delay get your name down before you forget.

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

Club Training Thursday 13th February

As mentioned last week, we are now starting to shorten the reps back down to 400's and to pick the rep pace up to 5k pace to target the Scally. The hard work for the National XC has been done over the winter months and these shorter, faster rep sessions will bring us to good, recovered race form for the National, for those that are doing it.

The session is 12 x 400m at 5k pace with 1 minute recoveries. The time/400m is only marginally quicker per 400m than your 10k pace, so don't go crazy with the speed. Consistent, precise times/400m is the aim of the session. If you can't sustain the same pace throughout, then your expectation for the Scally in a few weeks is too high. The pace/400m for different 5k times is as follows:

Alan

Club Training Monday 10th February

Monday's session is a race specific hill threshold session at Lickprivick. The race specific aspect of this session is that it is a continuous hill session with no recovery jog as such. The session is 4 laps of Lickprivick, all the way to the water tower, over the top, back down Owen Avenue, turn first left along by the lockups to the start of the hill and up again (I hope the lockups are still there; it's been too many years since I last ran round there!). Do 4 complete laps at threshold effort, which means a fairly steady effort on the way up and an increase in pace on the way down to keep the breathing at that 2 or 3 word level. Due to the length of the session and the fact that most probably did the 3 minute efforts a wee bit too fast in previous months, the uphill sections should be a little bit slower than in previous sessions.

Alan

Scottish Masters Cross-Country Championships - Dundee

Two Harriers, Russell and me, competed in the Scottish Masters Cross-Country Championships at Camperdown Park in Dundee on Saturday afternoon, joining almost 500 other veteran athletes in this full Scottish Athletics Championship event. On the road to Dundee, the conditions were not looking favourable. When I left Callander it was cold and sunny but about halfway up the A9, the skies closed in and the sleet started! As I was already nervous about running this race with an injured hip, the prospect of being frozen to the marrow did not appeal. However, by the time I reached the first of the roundabouts on the edge of Dundee, the blue skies were back and the temperature picked up a couple of degrees.

I had left it a little bit late to arrive and parking was tight. Russell was already there and had collected our numbers when I arrived on the course. With about a half hour to go before the start, I had time for a short warm up to see how the hip felt (sore) but mainly I wanted to recce a section of the course on a woodland trail to see if this would be OK with spikes. I decided it was too gravelly, with a few rocks and tree roots, for spikes and it would be less jarring on my hip with fell shoes with rubber studs.

We lined up on a crowded start line with warm sunshine on our backs. A typical Scottish four seasons in one day. Then we were off on a few hundred metre uphill straight on firm grass which already strung the field out. At the top of the hill we turned left on the only flat part of the course along the top of the park before gradually swinging left on a more gradual downhill back towards the start. This downhill was well trodden grass with a few muddy patches and was the only bit I struggled on a little with the fell shoes as the grip was not great. Passing the start, we had completed the first short lap. There were now two longer laps to do to complete the 8km course being contested by the M40 to M60 age groups. After the initial climb again, we turned right and doubled back down to the lowest part of the course through the woods on the gravel trail. Then it was the big climb, all the way back up through the woods and all the way up to the very top of the same hill we had started on, along the top and swung back downhill to end the lap. Finally, one more of those big laps.

I started off cautious but was passing people until about half way when I suddenly felt quite drained. This is just due to the drop off in training over the past 10 days due to the hip pain. Then a few that I had passed started to come past me again. On the climbing sections of the last lap I was struggling but just about holding position. I tried to save some energy for the flat top section and long downhill finish. At the top I consciously relaxed which had the effect of lengthening my stride and increasing my pace. I was passing people again. On the final, long straight to the finish I went past a few more and did the usual lung buster hinging on for the final 200m. I finished in exactly 100th position overall in 33:20 and 11th M55. Being only 2 and a half weeks short of the M60 age group, I was more interested in the fact that there were only 4 M60's in front of me and two of them were within 10 seconds of me, so the podium is the target for next year! Russell ran a very sensible race and did not go with the cavalry charge off the line and hung back. This paid off as Russell ended up catching, passing and putting many minutes between him and one guy in particular who had gone off too fast at the start. Russell finished in 50:17.

This was another well organised championship event put on by Scottish Athletics and hosted by Dundee Hawkhill Harriers. At 8km in length, it also provided a perfect stepping stone on the way to the full National XC in two weeks over the 10km distance. Needless to say, my hip is not great today, so I won't be running for at least a few days. We never learn!

Alan

Club Training Thursday 6th February

Thursday's session is back at Langlands Place. Over the next few weeks we shall be alternating between longer 10k pace reps and shorter 5k pace reps. Tonight is the longer version and consists of 6 x 800m at 10k pace with 1 minute stand/jog around recoveries. The total rep distance is the same as last week but without breaking it up into 800's and 400's.

Alan 

Club Training Monday 3rd February - Brancumhall

Monday's session is a time based threshold rather than distance. The session is 3 x 10 minutes at threshold with 3 minutes jog recovery. The total distance covered will be a bit less than in recent Brancumhall sessions but each rep will be a little longer in duration, requiring very good judgement of threshold effort (2 or 3 word effort, comfortably hard).

Alan

Shoe Bags

Andrew Buchanan is organising ordering spike/shoe bags for the juniors as per the below photo. The bag will also have the club badge embroidered on and will print your initials. Andrew wants to order by this Friday so we have the bags before the national XC. Seniors are also welcome to order one so if you would like to order one could you please leave your name here by Wednesday 5th February. Cost is £11.25.

ADDITIONAL INFO FOR SUNDAY

 Entry to the stadium will be via Level 3. There will be no admittance through the main reception area on Level 2 (ground floor).

Please note that there is no allocated seating for this event. Your ticket admits you to your selected block, with seating first come, first served with each section.

Bag checks will be in operation at the venue. Please note that no alcohol, glass bottles or professional photography equipment will be allowed into the arena. Prams and push chairs are not permitted into the arena, please leave in designated area as directed by staff.

There is parking available at the Emirates Arena. We anticipate it being busy, so please consider car sharing where possible and ensure you arrive in plenty of time to park before the event starts. All drivers must be considerate to local residents and venue users and park responsibly.

If parking at the Emirates Arena, please follow the directions of parking stewards at all times.

Club Training Thursday 30th January

We are back to Lickprivick on Thursday for one of the most impactful sessions we do; long, threshold effort hill reps. This session develops power in the legs and improved running efficiency (i.e. each stride takes you further and faster when on the flat).

There is a very slight progression this week with the addition of an extra 2 minute effort at the end. The total session is 4 x 3 mins + 4 x 2 mins with a jog back down recovery after each rep. The effort is threshold effort which is sustained discomfort, the effort at which only 2 or 3 words could be spoken after the first minute or so of each rep.

Alan

Club Training Monday 27th January

Oh well, the planned post-race run today is out the window along with the actual races! Thanks to all who had intended to represent the club at either or both races over the weekend. Road races at this time of year are usually a bit of a lottery but it really has to be bad for an XC race to be cancelled and indeed it was bad. Maybe these races will be rescheduled which may allow even more Harriers to take part.

As it looks like the EK temperatures are due to rise to 5 or 6 C tomorrow and to remain a few degrees above freezing, the session is back at Langlands Place on the Calderglen "400m track". This is the same session as carried out a few weeks ago and comprises 4 x 800m at 10k pace + 5 x 400m at 10k pace, all with 1 minute recoveries in between. As usual, aim for consistency of pace/time for each rep. The sign of improvement is if the reps can be done more consistently at the same average pace as the last time we did this session and that you feel strong right to the end of the session.

Alan

SVHC ROAD RELAYS (STRATHCLYDE PARK) TEAMS

Teams for Sundays race are as follows   Updated Friday 16.12

LADIES   leg1 J Beveridge,  leg2  F Ferguson,  leg3  C McSorley

M40A  1 P Lucchesi,  2  A Derrick,  3  G Lindsay,  4  J Grant

M40B   1  C Ferguson,   2  I Maclean,  3  K McPhillips,  4  R Gibson

M50     1  K Leinster      2 R Couper,   3,4  spare

If we get any late call ups we may reshape the teams to include a full m50 team

 This 2025 edition of this masters age group event takes place on Sunday 26th January starting at 11am. The event is open to those aged 35+ on the day of the race. Russell will make the club entry and gather entry fees. To be included in the club entry, please leave your name HERE. Those entered so far are listed HERE. The course is an out and back similar to the parkrun but with a bit extra at the start and finish.

Flat, fast running at Strathclyde Park.

Start 11am

Cost is £7.50 each

I need names by Tuesday 21st Jan

 

Club Training Thursday 23rd January

Thursday's run is an easy, pre-race run ahead of the weekend's two races. We have trained hard over the past few months with hardly any easy club runs. So take this opportunity to let your legs recover enough to be fresh for the weekend.

The route is Queensway to the Holiday Inn, along to Morrisons and then right down the lane parallel to Stewartfield Rd, follow West Mains Rd to Lidl, up Churchill Avenue and back to the club. Keep it easy and aerobic all the way.

Alan 

West XC League Race #2 at Strathaven this Saturday - Every Harrier Counts!

A final word of encouragement before Saturday's 2nd and final race in this season's West XC League being held at Strathaven. Unlike any other event we do, every Harrier counts directly or indirectly to our final league position. How is that you may ask? Well, it is as follows:

There are separate league tables for each age group (U11, U13, U15, U17, U20, Seniors and Masters) for male and female and combined league tables for male + female and for U20+Seniors+Masters. In each category the first three from each club score and your score equals your position in the category e.g. 10th place scores 10 points, 34th place scores 34 points etc. The club with the lowest total score for their top three runners wins. If a club has less than three finishers, then for every missing finisher a penalty score equal to the total number of runners in that category is added. So if there are 102 runners in the male masters category, for every incomplete team, 102 points is added for every missing runner in that team. If we have more than the minimum 3 runners per team, then we are adding to the total number of runners in the age category and adding additional penalty points to clubs who have incomplete teams. Furthermore, no matter where you are in the field, every position you can make up in the final sprint for the line might be pushing another club's first, second or third counting runner down a place and possibly helping our top three counters to finish ahead of that club. So, every Harrier who runs has the potential to boost our league position. There is no other race where this is the case.

After the first race, the league positions for Calderglen are as follows:

• U11 Boys 6th
• U11 Girls 14th
• U13 Boys 5th
• U13 Girls 15th
• U15 Boys 11th
• U15 Girls 15th
• U17 Boys No team
• U17 Girls No team
• U20 Male 5th
• U20 Female No team
• Senior Male 18th
• Senior Female No team
• Masters Male 4th
• Masters Female 3rd
• Overall (U20-Senior-Masters combined) Male 11th
• Overall (U20-Senior-Masters combined) Female 8th

All the league tables can be viewed here. 

We have very good chances of challenging for top 3 league finishes in various categories if we have a full turn out on Saturday. This is a great position for a small club such as ours to be in, so lets make it happen!

Alan

NATIONAL XC CHAMPIONSHIP (FALKIRK)

 This years National XC Championship will again be held in Callendar Park Falkirk on Saturday 22nd February.

Start times u/13  Girls  11.00   Boys   11.16        (3.4k)

                   u/15   Girls   11.32   Boys  11.53      (4.3k)

                   u/17    Boys   12.13     Girls   12.18   (5.9k)

               Senior Women    12.50                           (10k)

                 u/20    Men     13.45      Women    13.55     (6.8k)

               Senior Men         14.40                          (10k)

Cost is u/17 and younger £8.00   and u/20 and older  £9.50

Please make sure your SA registration is up to date for the time of entry and the race date.

I need names by Tuesday 4th February.

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

Club Training Monday 20th January - Brancumhall

Monday's session at Brancumhall is a repeat of the last time to further consolidate the benefit of our weekly threshold sessions. The session is therefore 5 x 2 laps with a 2 minute jog in between. The intention is that for those who have been able to fit in the majority of the sessions we have done in the past months (and supplemented with plenty of easy runs and consistent weekly distance), then you should be feeling slightly more comfortable and consistent on these 2 lap reps than you were at the beginning of the cross country season back in October. Run to the correct level of effort (i.e. 2-3 word effort) and do not run to the limit such that you are bent over double at the end of the session and fading in the latter reps.

As many (hopefully most of the club) are racing once or twice this coming weekend at the West XC League in Strathaven on Saturday followed by the masters road relays at Strathclyde Park on Sunday, Thursday's session will be an easier, pre-race run. These regular winter races are as much a part of the training programme as the sessions on Monday's and Thursday. Such races help develop race fitness and race craft i.e. how to distribute your energy over a challenging course with perhaps challenging weather conditions to ensure you run your fastest possible time on that particular course on that particular day.

Alan

MASTERS XC CHAMPIONSHIP

 This years Masters XC championship will be held on Saturday 8th Feb.

Venue is Camperdown Park in Dundee.

Start time is 13.00 for Ladies and M65+,      13.45 for Men M40 - M64

6k for Ladies W40+ with M65 and 8k for M40+

Cost is £9.50 and i need names by 21st January

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