Highland Fling Relay

A smattering of Harriers distributed themselves across the bottom half of the West Highland Way on Saturday participating in the Highland Fling Race and Relay over the 53 miles between Milngavie and Tyndrum. Ian Rae and Benny Rooney were competing in the full race and we await a full stride-by-stride report from them as soon as they have recovered enough strength to write one! Our intrepid president Frances Maxwell sends the following report:

" I got a call from Benny Rooney on Thursday night asking if I would like to run in his mixed relay team at the Highland Fling. I agreed. Then I thought, what have I let myself in for. He was short of 2 runners. He got another female from Bellahouston Road Runners (Clare - don't know her surname). He assured me that I would get the first leg as there was less chance of me getting lost due to the mass start. Late on Friday I spoke to Benny again and he told me there had been a change of plan and that Clare from Bella would be running the first leg. I was now doing the last leg. Beinglass to Tyndrum!! You know how I just loved that a couple of years ago! I was taking over from David Gray who took over from Grant. My run was steady and I managed to pick off a number of relay runners and to my absolute amazement we got first mixed team. I really can't believe it. I only encountered one problem and that was the herd of cows on the path behind the farm before your get to the Harriers change over point. I think my time was around 1 hour 50 mins. I 've told Ian to let you have a report as he and Benny completed the 53 miles in very respectable times."

Meanwhile, Joanne McEvoy was making her regular appearance in Benny's ladies team. Joanne was assigned the 14.7 mile leg from Drymen to Rowardennan (only a few hills to deal with there!). Not an easy task if you have been out injured for a month or so as Joanne has. A great team effort earned them second place in the ladies team event.

Well done to all who took part in one of the great Scottish running events.

Alan

Bridge of Allan "Toughest" 10k

Ian Hughes is making a habit of doing races where the clue is in the title! Two weeks ago it was the Heaven and Hell Half Marathon and now it is the self proclaimed "Toughest 10k". So not surprisingly, it was not a course for pb's. Ian reports on the event as follows:

It was described as the toughest 10k in the UK and it felt like it! The climbs were tough, they added up to 11000ft. the equivelant distance on the flat was 6.9 miles. There was a small field of runners. I managed 6th place with a time of 41.31. I actually thought my time would be closer to 50mins. My next race will be Monklands and then the Chris Moon Half in June. This starts from the Windfarm and finishes in Strathaven, only 200 places available. The website for this is entrycentral-theonlinestartline for anyone else interested in a local race.

Well done to Ian on completing another mental event. You are not really selling it to us though! (I think there could be a slight typo above and it maybe should be 1100 feet over 10k as 11000 feet climb would mean 1000 feet per km up and 1000 feet back down again within each of the ten km's and I don't recall any Alpine passes in Bridge of Allan, just big hills. However maybe it was km reps up and down the Ochils!!).
Alan

Chris Hoy Edinburgh Half Marathon

I headed over to Edinburgh on Sunday morning for the Chris Hoy Edinburgh Half-Marathon as a pre-race recce for the Edinburgh Marathon in May that follows 12 miles of the course.It was a miserable morning with the rain and wind not letting up through the whole 13 miles. The course is pretty flat and a good race for PBs. It was a well organised event but due to the weather a pretty grim experience with few spectators en-route. My chip time was 1:39:56. Watch time 1:39:58. (This required a final sprint on the finishing straight!!) Very happy with that as this was a PB for me by 6 minutes.

Well done to Graham on a massive pb and thanks for the race report.

Alan

Lochaber Marathon

The conditions were about as good as you will get in Scotland for today's Lochaber Marathon. The event was hosting the British and Scottish Masters' Championships and as such was full of athletes of a certain age, including our own Eddie Reid. Preparations had gone well for Eddie on the lead up to this one and recent race form over shorter distances suggested that this was going to be the one for a pb.

The plan was to get to 18 miles in 2:03 to give a margin for sub 3. Eddie was comfortable and slighlty ahead of schedule at the 18 mile mark, going through in 2:01:33. However, the marathon has a nasty habit of springing surprises and at 22 miles the quads cramped up reducing Eddie to "baby strides" for the remaining 4 miles. This unfortunately pushed the 3 hour mark out of Eddie's reach and he crossed the line in 3h 5 minutes, still earning Eddie a very comortable M45 bronze standard (maybe even a silver once we see the official results).

In the championships, Eddie was 5th in the British Masters and 3rd in the Scottish Masters. Very well done to Eddie and thanks for relaying the report to me. Some photos will follow in a few days.
Alan

Weekend Race Report

On Saturday Stuart Waugh made his way to Strathclyde Park to try the new parkrun but probably found it testing as there was a strong breeze around central Scotland on Saturday
Even with this Stuart still posted a good time of 19:52 breaking the 20 min barrier with a performance rating of 81.46% and finishing in 12th place.
In the afternoon Jim Holmes and Russell Couper made their way to Bishopbriggs for the Deafblind 10k again to find a strong breeze which made an already tough course that little bit tougher. Jim ran a strong race to finish in 42:15 similar to last year but a better performance considering the conditions while Russell ran at a much gentler 52:28 a delightful 6 mins faster than last year to continue the long road back finishing with his fastest km of the race and feeling the benefit from a good last 2 weeks of training. Jim and Russell were happy to see a cheering Martin Duthie just after 3k to keep them going.
On Sunday Graham Ramage headed east for the Chris Hoy half marathon finishing in 1:44:04
unfortunatly ive no report on this but no doubt he can fill us in at the club this week

Also on Sunday Eddie Reid made his way to the Lochaber Marathon look out for a race report to follow

anyone else racing at the weekend let us know

Young Athletes Training

Just a reminder to everyone that the clubs young athletes training commnces this Wednesday at 6.30 pm. All coaches and helpers hopefully will be able to attend although some of them like myself may be stranded abroad as at the time of posting this notice I am in Lanarote as a 7 day holiday has now become 10 days. See you all as soon as possible.

DeafBlind 10k

As announced at the club over the past few weeks, the DeafBlind Scotland 10k takes place at Bishopbriggs sports centre this Saturday. The race starts at 2pm but registration closes at 1pm for those who are entering on the day.

Not only is this event in support of a good cause but it reminds us of a very special person, Margaret Anne Duthie. I know that a few Harriers have already entered and Martin (injured) is going to help out at the event but it would be great for Martin to see as many Calderglen vests as possible there if you are free.

Alan