207/401 = Calderglen's Part in an Amazing Endeavour

Ben and his merry band approach 9 miles

On Friday 25th March we were not only blessed with beautiful (but cold) East Kilbride weather but were privileged to be able to assist the remarkable Ben Smith on his way towards running 401 marathons on 401 consecutive days. "Our" marathon would be Ben's 207th since starting at the beginning of September 2015. We welcomed Ben to the Sports Club the evening before having arranged access to the club showers, overnight parking and electrical power for his camper van in the car park.

After an enjoyable evening of conversation (and a few ciders for Ben) we already knew that this was a very humble and charismatic guy raising money for charities close to his heart. Despite the fact he must have answered the same questions hundreds of times by now, he was only too keen to satisfy our curiosity too. We also found out that the current world record for consecutive marathons is 52 and therefore his target of 401 consecutive marathons is stupendous. There are 36 rules and regulations he has to adhere to in order to satisfy the Guinness World Record criteria and he is being constantly monitored and verified by Guinness via his Garmin Connect, Strava and Facebook accounts. The Challenge was several years in the planning and is being carried out solo on the road but with a remote support team. His dad, Pete, is logistics coordinator and it was Pete who contacted club secretary Hugh Simpson a month or two ago to see if Calderglen Harriers would be willing to arrange for marathon number 207 in East Kilbride. This sort of thing is right up Calderglen's street and we were only too happy to help (amazingly, many club's have knocked back the request for assistance. Pete now tends to look at club web sites and blogs before contacting them to see the sort of things they get up to and hence now focuses on clubs who have a wide and varied competition and social calendar; sounds just like Calderglen!). We were also told that if we had 8 or 9 people running with him on the day, we would have a Scottish participation record so far.

Lined up and ready to go.

So on Friday morning we were glad to see 15 to 20 runners from the Harriers and various other clubs and Facebook Friends arrive in time for the 9:30 (ish) start. Ben advised that he was going to be running about 11 - 12 minute per mile pace and would probably have two long stops to eat. He needs 6500 calories per day to sustain this effort and must eat solid, proper food (not gels). Our first 9 mile loop was the Kingsway, Kingsgate, Stewartfield, Queensway circuit ably navigated by Sandra Reid with Charlie McDougall, George Stewart, Graham Ramage, Anne McLelland and Paul Rooney providing the Harriers' team for the first stage but supplemented by 3 or 4 from Springburn Harriers and numerous other individual runners (and the Buchanan children for the first few hundred metres!). This first stage enjoyed a stop for a bacon roll or two at Stewartfield Morrisons, not something we usually do on that loop!

The pack heads out of town on Shields Road

Stage 2 took us out on a big Auldhouse loop, taking in most of our old 10 mile race route plus some extra detours to get the miles in. There was a partial change in Calderglen personnel with Eddie Reid taking over navigational duty from Sandra whilst Charlie McDougall and many of the others carried on. Heading towards Shields Road, Charlie had an argument with a kerb resulting in a skint lip. A few hundred metres later Ben had his first injury scare of the entire challenge when something felt like it tore in his right quad. Fortunately one of the runners (Karen Leslie I think) is a physio and was able to administer road side treatment which amazingly completely solved the problem. Crisis over. At this point Jim Holmes arrived in his car direct from work and quickly joined the pack. However, Jim has become a slave to his Garmin and soon discovered that he had forgotten to put his Garmin on, so dropped out the pack, sprinted back to his car to get his Garmin and then leap frogged the pack in his car to join in again. Oh how Jim has changed in the last month since getting that watch for his birthday! By now the pack also had a lead bike in a yellow (Calderglen) jersey as the Howell children and dad Martin were in the pack.

Lead bike in yellow jersey brings the pack to lunch

Lunch stop was planned for about mile 15 and Sandra had agreed to pick up coffee and plain sandwiches for Ben. With perfect (unplanned) timing, Sandra arrived at the Kennels/Milwell junction where I was waiting with even more sandwiches and Tunnocks wafers (courtesy of Graham Ramage) just minutes before the pack came into view. A very high energy lunch was quickly consumed by all and there were a few more photo opportunities and discussions with passers by who were in complete awe of what Ben was doing. Then they were off again on the steep Milwell climb. Meanwhile I abandoned my car in Auldhouse, decided to forget my hamstring injury temporarily and ran back to meet the pack on Leaburn Road. Andrew Buchanan had also run out from Auldhouse to join the pack before they reached Leaburn (and Charlie was still going strong).

Lunchtime photo opportunity

We wound our way back around to Langlands via Auldhouse and picked up the trail race route along the end of Langlands Moss before doubling back to join the top end of the Glen. Ben was delighted to be running on a trail and promptly took off at surprising speed stinging the Harriers into action! The pack of 10 or so fully regrouped when we entered the old Glen trail. We still had a couple of miles to go to hit the required 26.2 miles and we were about to enter a very busy bank holiday Calderglen Country Park with dugs and weans everywhere! Rather than doing two circuits of the busy and narrow Torr Trail to finish, Eddie suggested we do one lap and then run out the park and around Colonsay Field to get the final mile in relative peace, so this we did, with young Ben Buchanan setting the pace, completing the 26.2 miles just as we emerged from the Glen onto the main park entrance. However, as Ben wanted to add a Garmin safety factor, we kept going for another 0.2 miles, finishing at the back of his van in the club car park.

A large spread of more high carb grub, teas and coffees had been prepared by Sandra, ably assisted by Kay, Anne and Lorraine. So we all retired to the Sports Club for a well earned refuel. A huge thanks to bar manager Laura for opening up early on her day off to give us access to the hall.

Ben was out on the route for about 5:50 but actual running time was around 4:50; that would be a fantastic pace on this tough trail even if you had not run 206 marathons in the preceding 206 days! Our own Charlie McDougall also ran the complete distance as did 5 or 6 of the other runners. Ben was as much in awe of Charlie as Charlie was of Ben. There was lots of mutual respect going on there. A special mention for one girl (Jan I think) who had set out to run about 6 miles, had never run anything like marathon distance before and ended up running the full route!

It was a privilege and an inspiration to meet Ben and be involved in a small way with this challenge. I know many more Harriers would have liked to take part but could not due to work and other commitments. However, Ben will be back in Scotland in the Summer so we do hope to join him on another of his marathons somewhere else around the country. In the meantime, please check out Ben's progress on his web site (http://www.the401challenge.co.uk/), Facebook and Twitter and don't forget to make a donation to the charity (see the web site for details) if you can.

Finally, thanks to all the runners for the many comments praising Calderglen Harriers and their contribution to the day.
Many more photos taken by Jim Holmes and Eddie Reid are in this album together with the few I took.

Alan

Detailed Maps for 401 Challenge Marathon on Friday 25th March

For those helping out with Ben Smith's marathon run on Friday (the more the merrier), I have compiled a detailed map book. Just follow the numbers on the maps (note number 2 is at Kingsgate, just missing from the detailed map).

Download the map book here. For those at circuits on Wednesday or the club on Thursday, we can discuss which specific sections you are able to run. Everyone can run whichever section they want, as long as we have someone with Ben the whole way to keep him on the right track.

Please look at the maps and leave a comment on this post indicating which parts of the route (use the numbers from the maps to identify the parts of the route. e.g. between numbers 13 and 20) you think you will be available to run. We also recommend carrying your mobile phone and we will send group txts to all to update on progress along the route.
Alan

Alloa half marathon

A fantastic turnout of 2,327 runners started the 34^th Alloa half marathon on Sunday last no doubt encouraged by the best weather of the year so far.

Ian Rae and myself were certainly in a sunny mood driving to the Wee County that morning, sunglasses on and  car sunvisors pulled down. After a brief stop at McDonalds we were in the town itself where Ian, having got it into his head there would only be around 400 runners, was more than a little surprised to see the sheer volume of traffic for a Sunday morning. After a fruitless fifteen minutes trying to find a parking spot we eventually left my car in the Asda car park, meaning to buy something from the shop later. As things turned out we never did although Ian did leave a small deposit there prior to the race!  

We had some pre-race chit-chat with former clubmates Graham Lindsay and David Wardrope and then it was handshakes all round and we were off. I watched the others as they gradually pulled away then exchanged brief words with John McBride, Joey Shields and Julie Beveridge (not sure she heard my words of encouragement, so in the zone was she) as they in turn trotted into the distance. Never mind, someone has to make the rest of the club look good.

For my part I ran carefully for the first three miles or so, aware of both the 33 miles in my legs from last weekend and a 14 mile WHW recce with Ruth just 2 days before – probably not the best form of half marathon preparation. Mentally bracing myself I patiently did not respond to the steady stream of runners coming past me but by the village of Fishcross felt able to pick up the pace from the start of a series of downhill stretches leading to Tillicoultry.
   

Although quite a benign day weather-wise there was still a breeze which, as always, was in the runners faces as we negotiated the four-mile long straight through the hillfoot villages of Tillicoultry, Alva and Menstrie. I noticed a distinct drop of pace around me as we finally neared the turn off the A91 and realised my fellow runners were subconciously saving some energy for the assault up the infamous Menstrie Brae. Having run this race many times before I knew from personal experience that the following, more gradual, drag into Tullibody was the more taxing so started to overtake a few at this point.

Feeling stronger as the race went on I continued to pass runners all the way up both hills and all the way to the line only to be re-passed by a couple of twenty-somethings in the finishing straight. Remembering a day when I used to have that much energy I was more than happy to let them go but was pleasantly surprised to see the finishing line gantry show 1.53 something as I passed underneath. Having stated before the race that I would be more than happy to come home in under two hours this was an excellent result and perhaps points to a recent improvement in endurance, a timely boost with two short-ish ultras coming over the next three weeks and the Fling another three weeks later.
Big John must have given his all as he completely forgot to collect his finisher's medal, possibly distracted by wondering what colour the t-shirt would be after 2015's shocking pink effort. (a very conservative black on white, since you asked) 

Ian, Graham and I met up up beyond the line briefly where Ian offered us both some post-race sustenance of Midget Gems.

There were 2,298 finishers (only 29 DNFs, unfortunately Julie would appear to be one of them)

Results;

Joe Shields                          1.36.08

Julie Beveridge                    1.36.14
Ian Rae                               1.36.34

John McBride                     1.49.36

David Searil                        1.53.12

Julie Beveridge                    DNF (not confirmed but provisional results show this)

Stop Press - Julie has been in touch to say she did indeed finish, somewhere around 1.36.10, but her chip didn't work. It has been reported to the organisers and she is awaiting an update from them. Delighted to hear it Julie! A tense wait now to find out the identity of the leading harrier, Julie or Joe. Watch this space...

Thursday 24th March, a further update - Julie's chip time has now been confirmed as 1.36.14 some six seconds behind Joe. Their gun times are eleven seconds apart, also in Joe's favour.  The first three harriers were thus seperated by only 26 seconds on chip timing and by 35 seconds on the gun, an extremely close result over 13.1 miles. 

Some other results;

Louise Beveridge                 1.29.27

David Wardrope                  1.40.09

Graham Lindsay                   1.44.11

Laura do Nascimento           2.03.15


  

CHATELHERAULT EASTER TRAIL RUNNING FESTIVAL

On Saturday 26th March South Lanarkshire Leisure and Culture are hosting a new event at Chatelherault Country Park in Hamilton.

The 10k starts at 10.30am and the 5k starts at 10.40am.  Entry fees are £12.00 for 10k and £8 for 5k.

You need to enter via Entry Central: http://www.entrycentral.com/festival/674

See links to junior blog reports to get further details:
http://calderglenjuniors.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/chatelherault-easter-trail-running.html

Richard

NATIONAL 6 & 4 STAGE RELAYS

The National 6 & 4 stage relays will again be held in Livingston on Sunday 3rd April.
The race starts at Noon with declarations closing at 11.30.
This race will follow the usual format of alternate legs of 3.1 miles and 5.8 miles.
Cost is £4.50 and should be paid in advance.
I need names by Wednesday 16th March.
If you wish entered please leave your name HERE.
Those already entered are listed HERE.

Falésia 5k 2016

Once again, the event we all have a love/hate relationship with midway through the Algarve training camp took place this morning; the Falésia 5k Road Race. We were all specifically instructed not to ease back training in preparation and to treat it as a hard session, which we all duly did (in fact those preparing for the London Marathon did the race flat out, had a 10 minute break and then did the whole 5k again but at marathon pace!).

A large field consisting mainly of the hundred or so on our training camp plus a smattering of internationalists also out here training (mainly Latvians) lined up at the top of the hill at 10am. This was the first cloudy day since arriving making conditions perfect and virtually windless too. The downhill start of the 3 lap course was fast as usual and I found myself dropped, holding back a bit to protect a tight hamstring. I was still going at 3:10/km though which was plenty fast enough. All too soon the downhill was over and the long, relentless climb starts. By the climb I was picking people off and was up to about 13th. As the climb steepened, I passed a few more and the first lap was done.

Caution on the descent allowed one to re-pass me but by the top of the climb at the end of lap 2 I passed him again and was up to 7th place. The third lap finishes with the relentless "Stella" climb and I just could not close the gap on 5th and 6th in that final 500m uphill. However, I was very pleased with the time (17:35), some 29 seconds faster than last year and first M50. The race at the front was hotly contested by all accounts, a pair of young Latvians battling to the line to finish in an amazing 15:15 and 15:18. As always there was considerable vocal support around the course which adds to the atmosphere and helps keep the pace up.

Nutrition is key when piling in the volume and quality of training we do here, so I made a special effort to find an appropriate source of fuel, as shown in the photo!

Alan

Deeside Way Ultra Saturday 12th March

A brief report on the seventh running of the D33, as it's better known, where for the first time there were three Calderglen Harriers on the start line. On a perfect day for running, cool and slightly damp with a light breeze which was mostly from behind during the second half of the race Jim Mearns finished in an excellent 5.12.30, apparently dying on his feet in an effort to get in under the five hour mark. I was next harrier home, in the best time of my five finishes at this race, 5.34.25 followed by Ruth Kelly, looking very strong, as she finished in 6.22.50. Ruth and Jim were taking part in their first D33, injury having prevented both their debuts last year and were pleased to have finally made the journey from Aberdeen to Banchory and back.

Photos above before the start, leaving Duthie Park heading to Banchory and the unusual, hand-made finishers 'medal' (which reads D33 just in case you miss it, I hadn't noticed thirty-six hours later until someone pointed it out to me!)