ToF Day 3 - Kircaldy 1 Mile TT

Just what you need after coming off East Lomond, sore quads all around. However, it's the same for everyone who raced and don't think it's a night for PB's.

The first decision was where to park? We decided the start would be best as it will allow us to run the course, turn and run back. There were markers every quarter mile, so you could keep track of your pace. Me, I was running naked as I never managed to pick up a battery for the timex. Maybe a good thing! On the way back to the start, Joanne wanted to do something called "bursts"... not for me as my start time was about 20 minutes behind her. Before too long Joanne was off with 2 evenly matched runners, the bloke shot off and was gone, leaving the 2 girls to battle it out all the way, they finished 1 sec apart...Joanne on 5.54. Joanne had never ran a flat mile before so it was a PB whatever happened.

My turn, 2 blokes and me. We're off and the bloke with the Fife vest is away, that leaves me in the middle with the other runner behind. It was tough going and I was just running my own race. It seemed to get easier about half way, then I realize that it was because the guy from Fife was actually slowing and I was maintaining the same gap, I seized my opportunity and moved past him. Managed to chase a few others down and finished 6.22.

They are supposed to be considering moving the Ravencraig 1 mile series here, so it would be good to go back with fresh legs and give it another try.

George

July Auldhouse 5k Time Trial

Fourteen Harriers enjoyed probably the best conditions of the year so far for the July edition of the Auldhouse 5k Time Trial. This was already a tough week with the Vertical Mile on Monday. However, that did not prevent Andrew J Buchanan from not only setting his course best but also a 5k personal best, starting last and finishing first in a time of 17:48, a whopping 40 seconds faster than he has run on this particular course.

Fastest lady was Julie Beveridge just missing her course best by 3 seconds to finish in 19:50. Andy Henderson set a season's best of 22:20, having recovered well from the Vertical Mile. Stuart Waugh would have had a season's best but for the fact that he met two tractors passing each other blocking his path and requiring him to stop for a good 10 seconds. Stuart recorded a time of 22:23, just 1 second outside his season's best. Sharon Gregg and Holly Rankine were both doing the time trial for the first time and set excellent benchmark times of 22:59 and 26:05 respectively.

Full results of the July TT are here and all the previous results can be accessed from the Auldhouse Summary menu on the left.

Only two Auldhouse TT's left this year. Let's see what another month of training can do.
Alan

ToF Day 2 - East Lomond

The old favourite! Claimed to be 6k? The route was roughly the same at the Devils Burdens 4th leg. However, you started at the duck pond which meant you were climbing straight away. Plus, the finish was much better as we went down a kinda path instead of over the long grass heading for the trees. This gets you down much faster. Finally going left at the bottom and winding round to the finish in the woods.

My watch chucked it before the race which was an omen to what lay ahead. It was horrible climbing up Maspieden and I was out of my depth. It's fine doing short hill races which are a bit stop start, but its good consistent training nights that make the difference. 46.08 for my efforts.

The finishing places in the ladies race were all over the place. 7th on the beach was first here, 2nd on the beach was 8th here and so on. Joanne managed to run consistently with 38.02 and now sits 6th overall. It's the mile race tomorrow, off in 2's at 30 sec intervals. Followed by a 5k road on Saturday, so it's back to the speed merchants!

George

ToF Day 1 - Chariots of Fife!

Race 1 - 4 mile St Andrews, West Sands
This is run mostly on wet sand and is more of a speed test. My recent efforts in training were exposed and I struggled with a 32.38. Joanne on the other hand was competitive finishing 5th with only 20 seconds splitting the first 5 ladies (or 35 sec the first 7). That's racing!

East Lomond on Thursday night, somehow I don't think it will be so tight there.

23 89 Claire Houston Central AC F Sen 00:26:48
26 117 Kristin Lownie Carnegie H F Sen 00:26:58
28 52 Louise Andrew Dundee and Angus Cani-Cross F Sen 00:27:03
29 50 Elaine Omand Dundee RR AC F Sen 00:27:05
30 67 Joanne McEvoy Calderglen H F Sen 00:27:08
33 29 Jennifer Cruickshanks Fife AC F Sen 00:27:14
35 129 Maya Stone Fife AC F Sen 00:27:23

--
George Stewart (photos will be added tonight)

Trail Race 10k Photo Album

For those without access to the club Facebook page, Alison has forwarded the following link to an album of very high quality photos of the 10k taken by Mary Lotter, I believe.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/127070946@N06/sets/72157685785146456 

Vertical Mile - The Grand Prix Decider

Andrew Buchanan receives the Vertical Mile plate from the club president

An average sized field of Harriers made their way down to the bottom of Auchentibber Road for the annual finale to our Grand Prix race series, The Vertical Mile. Conditions were mild and relatively windless, so pretty good for running flat out up a very steep hill! Furthermore, the bottom section of the course had a nice fresh layer of tarmac on it, effectively raising the bottom of the hill by an inch. Every little bit helps!

All the main Grand Prix contenders were there except for Jim Holmes who I trust was seeking out a hill of similar dimensions on Corfu to simulate the burn of the Vertical Mile. With the assistance of Davie Searil to drive me from the start to the finish, the race started with a mad sprint up the steepest part of the course, eased a little in the middle before a final steep climb to the finish beside the war memorial.

Julie Beveridge finishing

In form Andrew Buchanan was firm favourite for this event and, doing his best Davie Herbertson grunt which we could hear a quarter mile from the finish, powered to the line in an excellent 6:35, a pb by 28 seconds! This also confirmed Andy as the club scratch championship male winner.

Julie Beveridge continues to get faster with every race and flew up the course within sight of Andy to finish second overall and first lady in a time of 7:19, also securing the club scratch championship for ladies.

Not far behind, Joanne McEvoy kept something in reserve as this would be the first of 6 races she is competing in over the next 7 days with the 5 races of the Tour of Fife starting on Wednesday evening. Joanne finished in 7:40, which even so was 4 seconds faster than last year. Club president, Kenny Leinster, is in excellent form right now and was next to cross the line in 8:04. Richard Lawton had been a strong contender in the Grand Prix until injuries side lined him two or three months ago. However, Richard is on the way back and finished strongly in 8:13, significantly faster than last year.

Grand Prix winner, Kay Conneff leads Kirsty Wilson and Frances Maxwell to the line

A very competitive ladies Grand Prix series was won in style by Kay Conneff for the first time, who crossed the line next in 8:15 chased all the way by fellow Vertical Mile first timer Kirsty Wilson (and first race in the Grand Prix) in 8:21 with fast finishing Frances Ferguson just behind in 8:23. Frances secured third place in the Grand Prix with Julie second.

Gordon McInally completes the 16 race GP series and wins it!

After a succession of injuries, finally Billy Buchanan is back running injury (but not pain; that's not possible in the Vertical Mile) free. Billy crossed the line in 8:43 after his characteristic 100% effort.

The man under most pressure was Gordon McInally who could snatch victory in the Grand Prix from absent Jim Holmes if he finished high enough tonight. Gordon finished in 8:54, 17 seconds faster than last year and secured a first time Grand Prix victory in the process. Not only that, Gordon was one of only two Harriers to compete in all 16 races in the series; a fantastic display of consistency and dedication.

Andy Henderson had not realised the Vertical Mile was on tonight, having recently returned from holiday and so found it a bit of a shock to the system, finishing in 9:05. Sandy Hayden had been doing more swimming than running recently. As there are not many hills in the pool, this was also a shock to Sandy's system. However, she looked strong as she crossed the line in 9:51. An injured Russell Couper did enough to complete his 16th race of the series in 10:10, securing third place in the Grand Prix, just behind Jim Holmes. The Grand Prix veteran winners were Richard Lawton for the men and Joanne McEvoy for the ladies.

Both the men's and ladies' Grand Prix were well supported this year with 13 women competing in at least one race in the series and 31 men. This is probably the greatest number of ladies we have had competing and illustrates the strength in depth we are now developing. It was also great to see first time winners of both Grand Prix series. Now we have a break until the Autumn when the Grand Prix starts, hopefully in more summer-like weather than this Grand Prix ended!

A special thanks to David Searil for documenting the Vertical Mile in photographs (complete album is here) and George Stewart for helping with the timing on the finish line.
Alan

TRAIL RACE PRIZE WINNERS

Here are the prize winners from Calderglen Harriers Trail Races held on 30/06/2017
Only one prize per person except team prizes and only one team prize per club per race per gender.

1K  1st  male Sam Edward McGrory   EKAC                 1st female  Jessica Donnelly Law & District
      2nd male Steven Cooper Calderglen Harriers            2nd female  Isla Donnelly Law & District
      3rd male  Ben Buchanan Calderglen Harriers            3rd female  Emma Clark Larkhall YMCA harriers
       Male Team    Calderglen Harriers    Steven Cooper, Ben Buchanan, Jack Duffin                                                                     
Female Team  Law & District          Jessica Donnelly,   Isla Donnelly, Lucy Murdoch

U/12 3K   1st male  Craig Shennan  Giffnock North AAC     1st female  Amber Wade Whitemoss AAC
                2nd male  Jake Graham   U/A                                  2nd female  Millie Nichol  Ronhill Cambuslang Harriers
                3rd male   Calum Charters  EKAC                          3rd female   Leah Rose Muirhead EKAC
          Male Team    EKAC    Calum Charters,  Sam Hosie,  Ross Baillie
       Female Team   Giffnock North AAC   Isla Scott,   Kate Paul,   Nuala O'Donnell


U/15  3K   1st male  Brodie Aitken  Ronhill Cambuslang Harriers  1st female   Jessica Robson  Law & District AC
                  2nd male  Robbie Woods  Ronhill Cambuslang Harriers   2nd female Niamh Riggins  Ronhill Cambuslang Harriers
                  3rd male   Liam Angely Ronhill Cambuslang Harriers       3rd female   Louise Hastie Kilbarchan AAC
          Male Team     Ronhill Cambuslang Harriers   Brodie Aitken  Robbie Woods  Liam Angely
        Female Team    Ronhill Cambuslang Harriers  Niamh Riggins, Susie McLaughlin. Shona Carey

5K     1st male     Neil Renault   Edinburgh AC                          1st female    Elaine Jamieson Motherwell AC
          2nd male    Aidan Gilbride   EKAC                                  2nd female   Mae McIssac Motherwell AC
          3rd male     Craig Jardine  Ronhill Cambuslang Harriers  3rd female   Margaret Newell  Law & District
     1st male vet    Don Reid    U/A                                        1st female vet   Stephanie Lillie Giffnock North AAC
     1st male junior  Martin Lynas  EKAC                              1st female junior  Mhairi Davidson U/A
     1st male team    EKAC   Aidan Gilbride,   Martin Lynas,    Jamie Clements
     1st female team  Giffnock North AAC    Stephanie Lillie, Liz Salter, Angela Hammond

10K    1st male    Robert Gilroy  Ronhill Cambuslang Harriers    1st female    Ruth Fraser Moodie U/A
           2nd male   Neil Renault   Edinburgh AC                          2nd female   Jill Smylie     Giffnock North AAC
           3rd male   Andrew Bonner Giffnock North AAC    3rd female  Jacqui Thomson Fusion Tri Club
           4th male    Justin Carter  Ronhill Cambuslang AAC            4th female   Yvonne McNairn Giffnock North AAC
           5th male    Jamie Clements  EKAC                            5th female   Pamela McCrossan Clydesdale Harriers
           6th male    Craig Ferguson Kilmarnock Harriers       6th female   Sheila Lewis Giffnock North AAC
         1st M40    Scott Henderson Glasgow South RR                   1st F35   Nina Farmer Giffnock North AAC
         2nd M40   Scott Wilson    Giffnock North AAC                  2nd F35   Evelyn Struthers Hamilton Harriers
         3rd M40    Colin Williams Moorfoot Runners                    3rd F35    Kirsty Milton Moir Glasgow South RR
         1st M45    Dennis Williams Shettleston Harriers                1st F40     Elaine Somerville Bellahouston RR
         1st M50    Ted Gourley  Giffnock North AAC                     1st F45    Margaret Allison Strathaven Striders
          1st M55    Donald Petrie  Kilbarchan AC                            1st F50    Maria Doherty Glasgow South RR
          1st M60    Sandy Eaglesham  Ronhill Cambuslang Harriers  1st F55    Marion O'Connor    U/A
          1st M65    Stephen Bell Bellahouston RR                           1st F60    Irene Zingone    Giffnock North AAC
     1st male junior   Thomas Wilson Garscube Harriers           1st female junior   Emma Wilson  Garscube Harriers
     1st male team   Giffnock North AAC   Andrew Bonner,   Scott Wilson,   Ted Gourley,
     1st female team   Giffnock North AAC   Jill Smylie,   Yvonne McNairn,   Sheila Lewis
     2nd male team   Ronhill Cambuslang Harriers   Robert Gilroy,  Justin Carter,    Daniel O'Connell
     2nd female team    Bellahouston RR   Elaine Somerville,  Pauline Bradley,  Maree Shepard
     3rd male team    EKAC        Jamie Clements,     David Gorman,     Ryan Gorman
     3rd female team     Bellahouston Harriers    Emily Jackson,  Karen Speirs, Claire Fitzsimmons

Place prizes and spot prizes have already been awarded
Vouchers will be posted on Monday and should arrive by Wednesday