Club Training Thursday 31st October

Thursday's session is easy to describe but less easy to run: its the 4-Hills. As this is a race-free weekend, do the route as a fartlek where all the efforts are on the uphills, running easy between the hills. Each pack decides what is a hill but in any case, there should be more than 4 uphill efforts on the run. The level of effort should feel like threshold, which means uncomfortable but not on the absolute limit. The first uphill effort should be the short climb after turning left off the Kingsway and the second is Market Hill. Thereafter, decide in your packs.

Alan

Club Kit

 After stock problems over the summer with our previous club clothing stockist we have moved supplier and the new range of club items can be bought here:

https://www.thefootballnation.co.uk/calderglen-harriers/

Note this is training clothing or over-wear to/from races. Club vests/the official striped racing tee-shirts are to be worn for racing and you should speak to Russell if you require one.

Note that on the site if you require size XS these should be purchased via the junior option.

Club Training Monday 27th October - Brancumhall

Monday's Brancumhall is a fartlek session with the reps at 5k race effort. The session is 6 reps where each rep is 2 sides of the Brancumhall circuit at 5k race effort with a 1 side jog recovery. In this way, the reps will progress around a different two sides for each of the first four reps and then repeat the pattern again for the final two reps. Some reps will be longer than others and the underfoot conditions will also change.

The warm-up and cool down is the usual run from the club to Brancumhall and back. Thursday is going to be the 4-Hills.

Alan

National Cross Country Relays

It was a sunny but fairly cold day at Cumbernauld yesterday for the National Cross Country Relays with reasonable conditions underfoot. Only the top of the course was a bit squelchy in places. The junior females were off first with us having 2 incomplete teams due to no U17 athletes.

Charlotte Buchanan and Lucy Rooney were off first on the U13 legs. Charlotte ran strongly to finish in 11:29 after an injury disrupted year with Lucy also running strongly to finish in 14:51. Nina McMonagle took over from Charlotte on the U15 leg even although she is also U13 and also ran strongly to finish in 13:00. Well done girls.

The junior boys were the next race off where we had 1 full team and 1 U15 athlete running a solo leg.

 Luca MacArthur ran first and had a great run finishing in 12:21, Hamish Anderson took over and stormed round the course overtaking many to finish in 10:13. Robbie Rooney was on the last leg and finished strongly in 11:08. Finlay McMonagle running the U15 solo leg was set off 13 minutes after the U13 start, also had a brilliant run to finish in 10:27.

The next race of the day was the senior ladies race where we had 1 complete team.

Alison Lessells was on first leg and finished in 19:24 (same time as last year!), Frances Ferguson was on the next leg and ran strongly to finish ish in 20:02, Lorraine Buchanan was on the next leg and despite being ill battled round to finish in 25:50 to hand over to Rachel McPhillips who had a great run, running the fastest female harrier leg of the day to finish in 18:29.

The final race of the day was the men’s senior race where we had 2 complete senior teams, 1 complete V50 team and an incomplete team of 2. 

Jordan Stewart, Jason Grant, Iain Mackean and Geo Ferguson were all off on the first leg. Jordan is definitely on a return to form after his injury problems and finished in 14:37, fastest harrier by a clear margin, Jason and Iain both had good runs with Iain hanging on to Jason all the way round with Jason finishing in 17:15 and Iain in 17:20 (a massive couple of minutes improvement from last year). Geo who was part of the incomplete team had a strong run to finish in 21:26. Andrew Buchanan took over from Jason in the men’s A team and completed the course in 17:43, Robert Pattinson was 2nd leg in the men’s B team and had a great run finishing in 18:09 (4K must of seemed like nothing compared to his ultra races), Gordon McInally was 2nd leg in the Men’s V50 team and ran well finishing in 19:42. Russell Couper was the 2nd and final leg of the incomplete team and finished in 24:19.

Kai Wheeler was 3rd leg on the men’s A team and despite injuring himself on the way round and visibly being in pain at the finish was the 2nd fastest harrier of the day completing his leg in 15:55. Francis Santangelli was the 3rd leg runner for the B team and was making his debut as a senior harrier having been an U17 last year had a great run to finish as 3rd fastest harrier and finish in 16:17. Stephen Phimister was another to unfortunately injure himself on the course but despite this got round to the finish in a time of 18:12 to bring the V50 team home in 19th position. Andy Higgins and Kevin McPhillips we’re both on the last leg of the men’s A & B team. It was Andy’s first time racing here and ran a great time of 17:14 to bring the men’s A team home in 72nd position. Kevin McPhillips ran his fastest time on this course and finished in 19:51. Well done Kevin.

Happy anniversary to Frances and Geo who decided to celebrate their wedding anniversary by running at the cross country 💛🖤 Thanks to all supporters and those who arrived early/stayed on to cheer everyone on. It was also good to see us represented from U13 all the way up to 60+ and especially good to see us with 3 U20 athletes taking part in the senior races 😁

National xc relays (team selection)

 TEAMS    Updated

Ladies start at 13.10 and should be in the park for 12.30 at the latest

Men start at 14.40 and should be in the park for 14.00 at the latest

Juniors will have been advised by their coaches

One place available for the Mens teams if anyone wants a run.

Young Females A    Leg 1   C Buchanan    Leg 2  N McMonagle

Young Females B   Leg 1   L Rooney

Young Males   A    Leg 1   L MacArthur    Leg 2   H Anderson    Leg 3   R Rooney

Young Females B   Leg 1 Incomplete    Leg 2   F McMonagle  (seperate start)

Ladies     Leg 1 A Lessells,  Leg 2  F Ferguson,  Leg 3  L Buchanan,  Leg 4  R McPhillips

Mens Sen A  Leg 1  J Stewart,  Leg 2  A Buchanan,  Leg 3  K Wheeler,  Leg 4  A Higgins

Mens Sen B  Leg 1  J Grant,  Leg 2  R Pattinson,  Leg 3  F Santangeli   Leg 4  K McPhillips

Mens Sen  C  Leg 1  G Ferguson,  Leg 2  R Couper,  Leg 3  Available,   Leg 4 Available

Mens M50   Leg 1  I MacLean,  Leg 2  G McInally,  Leg 3  S Phimister

The following names are listed for selection for Saturdays National XC Relays. As the selectors are going over teams and running order it would be helpful if anyone no longer available lets us know asap. Also if anyone wants to be a reserve in case of withdrawels drop a message to Russell in the whatsapp.

C Buchanan, L Rooney, N McMonagle,

H Anderson, L McArthur, R Rooney, F McMonagle

A Lessells, F Ferguson, L Buchanan, R McPhillips

J Stewart,  A Buchanan, K Wheeler,  A Derrick, A Higgins, J Grant, R Pattinson,  F Santangeli,

R Lawton, K McPhillips, G Ferguson, R Couper, I Maclean,  G Mcinally, S Phimister

We have 2Young females, 2 young males, 1 Ladies, 3 senior males and 1 M50 teams entered.

Russell

Grand Prix Updated

The 2025-2026 Grand Prix is off and running after the West XC Relays at Kilmarnock. The league tables for the Grand Prix and Scratch Championships are available using the Calderglen Harriers Grand Prix link in the menu to the left of the blog. You may have to refresh your browser to clear previously cached versions of this page from last year.

The Grand Prix rules were explained in this post a few years ago and remain unchanged for this year. 

There is now a change to the scheduling of the West XC League races which are now all happening in January and February 2026 with races at Strathaven and Balloch confirmed and both in the GP. There may be a race between those two at an as yet unconfirmed venue. The GP races are listed here and on the GP web page.

Alan

Club Training Thursday 23rd October

Thursday's session is a medium length, pre-race run with strides given that we have quite a large turn out for the National XC Relays on Saturday, which will be energy sapping!

The route is Kingsway to Whirlies, East Mains, West Mains, Queensway back to the club. From the Kingsway BP garage, start the first of 6 x approximately 100m gradual accelerations to 5k pace. The acceleration should take you at least 50m to get to 5k pace. Be very aware of the gradually increasing level of effort as you accelerate to 5k pace. Decide within your packs where you do them but keep them all on downhills or flat sections of the route.

Be very careful of potholes and other trip hazards, particularly as a lot of these hazards are covered by fallen leaves at the moment (says he who had just such an incident on his run tonight).

Alan

Club Training Monday 20th October

Monday's session is at the Calderglen "track" at Langlands Place. The warm-up is via Strathaven Rd and Sainsburys as per usual. Then the session is 12 x 400m at 5k pace with a 1 minute stand/jog recovery. Cool down is the reverse of the warm-up. Hopefully the weather improves!

Thursday will be a medium length pre-race run with strides.

Alan

Club Training Thursday 16th October

Thursday's session is targeted towards the longer races that we have through the winter season and is in contrast to the 5k pace sessions which still remain our focus. The purpose of the session is strength endurance which means being able to produce power in the latter stages of a long race.

The session is an easy run to the Queensway and then a steady run (at about 10-mile race effort) down the Queensway, West Mains Rd, past the railway station to Lidl and then turn up Avondale. When your pack reaches the bottom of Avondale, do 6 x 45 second efforts with a jog down recovery and then return to the club. The hill efforts should be at 5k effort.

Alan

NATIONAL SHORT COURSE XC (LANARK)

This year the National short course XC will be held at Lanark race course on Sat 8th 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 £9.50 per head and should be paid in advance.

Cost of junior races is £8.00 per head

U/15 girls and boys compete over 2k with races starting at noon and 12.20

U/17 girls and boys compete over 3k with races starting at 12.40 and 13.05

Please make sure your SA number is up to date.

I need names by Tuesday 21st Oct

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

Club Training Monday 13th October - Brancumhall

Monday's Brancumhall session is further consolidation of short XC race effort (5k pace) on the grass and is a repeat of the previous Brancumhall session, although the underfoot conditions should be much firmer.

The session is 5 x 1 lap at 5k effort with 1 minute stand recovery. As always, the aim is to be consistent with every lap with a similar time for each repetition. For those who were racing at Kilmarnock on Saturday, hold back a little from 5k effort.

Alan

BRAMPTON TO CARLISLE 10 MILE ROAD RACE

 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. The bus will leave the Sports club at 7am on Sunday 16th 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 (please bring £1 cash for the sweep). 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 club 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 £20 and this will be collected on the day. If your coming on the bus please leave your name HERE. If youve added your name it will appear Here.

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 their 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 RACING T SHIRTS

 

A couple of years ago we ordered some racing T shirts as some of the members had requested them. We are going to place another order but need to know who wants to buy one. We are unsure of the cost at this point but based on the cost the last time there probably going to be somewhere in the region of £25. 

The minimum order is 3 per size in multiples of 3 per size & a total of at least 12 garments across the sizes/gender.

To establish if there would be enough interest from our members for the club to buy a small stock of these in, if interested could you please add your name to this form with the quantity of each size which you would like to buy (the form allows multiple choices).

Sizes are as follows:

Mens        Chest Size

Small          36"

Medium        38"

Large          40"

XL             42"

XXL             44"

Ladies      Chest Size

8/XS           32"

10/Small        34"

12/Medium      36"

14/Large        38"

16/XL           40"

Juniors (Sized by Age)

5 to 6 years

7 to 8

9 to 10

11 to 12

13 to 14

15 to 16

WEST DISTRICT XC RELAY TEAMS

 Teams for this Saturday are as follows

Young Females 11.00am   Leg1  C Buchanan  Leg 2 L Rooney  Leg 3 O Rooney

Young Males  11.45am   Leg 1 L MacArthur  Leg 2 R Rooney   Leg 3 H Anderson

Ladies  1.00pm   Leg 1  C McSorley   Leg 2  E Carroll    Leg 3  F Ferguson

Men A  2.15pm  1  J Grant   2  A Higgins  3  I MacLean   4  K Wheeler

Men B  2.15pm   1  R Pattinson   2  S Hair   3  G McInally   4   R Couper

Juniors will have arrival instructions from Andy/Lorraine. For the senior teams please arrive at least 40mins before the race start to allow number distribution and warm ups

I will pick up the race numbers and be at the club tent

We have places available with another male and female team due to withdrawels if anyone wants to run let me know asap and i will check we can get you entered.

Russell

Club Training Thursday 9th October

Thursday's session is a threshold session but with relatively short reps and short recoveries compared to our usual threshold sessions. This makes the session less tiring than the usual long threshold reps but only if you do the session correctly! If done correctly then those doing the West XC Relays on Saturday will be fully recovered by Saturday whilst getting the training stimulus of the session.

The session is 12 x 2 minutes at threshold with a 30 second jog recovery. The pace is threshold which will be slightly slower than 10 mile race pace for the faster runners and 10k pace for those whose 10k time is in the vicinity of 50 minutes to an hour. If you set off at 5k pace for this session, then you will not get the training effect but you will be knackered. 

For a change, the session is laps of Colvilles Place (Futura laps). Warm up via Strathaven Rd and Greenhills Rd and then turn right into Singer Rd and right into Colvilles Rd and along to Colvilles Place. Be extremely careful with the road crossings and watch out for uneven pavements and pot holes. Do the laps in an anti-clockwise direction. The cool down is the reverse of the warm-up.

Alan

Club Training Monday 6th October

Monday's session is split between those who were doing GSR and those who were not. For those who were not doing GSR, the session is at Langlands Place as follows:

12 x 400m at 5k pace with 1 minute stand/jog around recovery. Hopefully the wind has died down making consistent times per 400m possible to achieve. If it is windy, then just try to make the down wind reps consistent with each other and the up wind reps consistent with each other (but slower than the up wind reps).

For those who were running GSR and who are training, the run is a recovery run. Do easy laps of the Sainsburys loop until the others have finished their 400m reps.

Alan 

Grand Prix Races 2025-2026 - initial batch

The first batch of races for the forthcoming Grand Prix are listed here. Depending on what the final details of the West XC League races are, one of those races will be in the GP. Provisionally it will be race 2 or 3 of the league as those allow us to space the GP races out a little bit whereas race 1 is right in the congested part of the XC season.

Alan

Club Training Thursday 2nd October

Thursday's session is an easy, pre-race run with strides. For those not doing the GSR or any other race at the weekend, this will be an opportunity for an easier run, building the low intensity, aerobic volume that should form the majority of our training.

The route is not very imaginative unfortunately. Run up to the NEL roundabout and then straight through to pick up the Queensway. Thereafter carry on to West Mains Rd, follow that back past the railway station to Lidl and back up Churchill Avenue to the Strathaven Rd and the club. Fit in 6 x approx 100m gradual accelerations to 10k pace and hold that 10k pace for the second half of each 100m. Do this on the slight downhill or flat sections of the course, starting the first one when you reach the first downhill stretch of the Queensway. Thereafter, decide within your packs where to do each set of strides.

We have had a few trips and falls on club runs in recent weeks. Spread yourself out within your pack so that you can see what is coming up ahead and stay focused!

Alan