Club Training Monday 9th June - Chatelherault World Championship - Calderglen Grand Prix Event

Monday's training is at Chatelherault but instead of normal training, it is the Chatelherault World Championship! In fact, Richard reminded me that this is the 10th anniversary of the first Calderglen Chatelherault World Championship, the race report for which is here.

Please register for training as normal (selecting "training venue" if going direct to Chatelherault or "EKSC" if going to the sports club first and sharing cars to Chatelherault). The registration list will form the start list. Let Russell know at any time before we start running if you wish to play any jokers as this is a Grand Prix event.

Depending on the range of abilities, we will most likely start the event in waves, with the fastest packs starting last so that everyone finishes reasonably close to each other. We run the normal, 7 mile lap.

Alan

Club Training Thursday 5th June - Auldhouse 5k

Thursday is the June edition of the Auldhouse 5k time trial. As we approach mid-Summer, the weather deteriorates as usual, so tomorrow may be a battle with the wind (but hopefully not the rain). The purpose of the Auldhouse 5k is mainly to teach judgement of effort on a difficult course. It is not about looking at the watch and trying to nail every km at the same pace; at Auldhouse it is about knowing how to distribute your effort to take account of the uphills and downhills and to get the satisfaction of judging it well so you finish strong rather than on your knees. This is the skill that is needed for most of the road and cross-country races we do in Scotland; few of them are pan flat and windless and even effort rather than even pace is usually the fastest way around such courses.

Register on the training form as usual as this list will be the start list for the time trial. I will be at the club to confirm starters beforehand.

Alan

Polkemmet Parkrun Grand Prix Race

Saturday was the 2nd half of the Parkrun Grand Prix race (2 dates are chosen to give a better chance of being able to take part) and 11 harriers made their way through to Polkemmet Country Park for the run. The first half of the Grand Prix race took place on 26th April where we had Iain Maclean (21:39), Joseph Coleman (25:33), Richard Lawton (26:12) and Russell Couper (31:10) taking part, so everyone knew what times they were aiming to beat. It was pouring first thing on Saturday morning but thankfully it had dried up by the time I arrived to find Charlotte Buchanan well underway with her warm up preparations and had been told she was determined to beat dad Andy.

At the first timers briefing the course was described to us and to me it sounded quite complicated as was 2 laps with each lap having 2 about turns but in fact when running it wasn't complicated at all and was well marked out with cones to direct you. As it was 2 laps and had the sections doubling back on yourself it also meant there were lots of opportunities to see where your fellow harriers were and how they were getting on.

Charlotte Buchanan charged off at the start of the race with coach Alan Derrick also admitting to going off too fast after her, but they both settled their pace down and the first section where I saw them had Alan the first of the harriers followed by Charlotte then Andy, Jason Grant then Julie Beveridge not far behind, then me, Scott Hair, Gordon McInally, Peter Moyes followed by Frances Ferguson and Lorraine Buchanan running together. Frances was taking it easy and trying not too aggravate her pelvis injury too much and she was certainly the most cheery of all the harriers racing round. The next section where I saw everyone Andrew had caught Charlotte and they were running together with everyone else remaining in the same order, by the final section both Andy and Jason had overtaken Charlotte and Frances had pulled away from Lorraine (or I think Lorraine had asked her to run on instead of being so happy on the uphill sections...).

Alan was first harrier home in 7th place, sneaking under the 20minute barrier in a time of 19:57, Andrew Buchanan was 2nd harrier home in 9th place in a time of 21:00, Jason was 2 places behind in 21:11, followed by Charlotte in 21:35. Charlotte was also first female and had a brilliant run for her very first 5k. Andy better watch out as with a few more 5ks under her belt she'll not be long in being the fastest in the family! Julie Beveridge was 3rd female and finished in a time of 22:14, Alison Lessells was next harrier in 24:15 with Scott 2 places behind in 24:34. Gordon McInally is continuing his fitness comeback and finished in 26:32 with Peter Moyes next in 27:20, complaining of too many pints at Laurens engagement party the night before, Frances Ferguson enjoyed her run finishing in 30:19 and Lorraine followed in 31:23, pleased not to aggravate her knee injury anymore.

We all agreed that even though it was a tough course and not one for a good time (its mostly on trail, and mostly either downhill or uphill - the hills are long and gradual as opposed to being steep - except the final 50m which was the steepest uphill) that it was an enjoyable parkrun and we would all like to do it again so thanks Russell for the suggestion of putting it in the grand prix this year. 

Thanks to Susan and Heidi Grant for the support :)

With 3 races to go in the grand prix, Andrew Buchanan is leading the way, with Russell Couper in 2nd place, Scott Hair in 3rd and Jason Grant only 1 point behind in 4th place. Andrew is also leading the scratch.

In the ladies Grand Prix Lorraine Buchanan is leading with Alison Lessells in 2nd place, Julie Beveridge in 3rd and Frances Ferguson 6 points behind in 4th. Alison is leading the scratch.

Post Race Team Photo

Running Survey

 Survey Invitation

We’ve been contacted by Dr. Neil Baxter, a social researcher with a special interest in running, who’s conducting a new study of running in Britain. 

He’s asked whether any of you would be kind enough to take 5-10 minutes to complete his survey, which focuses on your racing and running experiences.

The research is self-funded by Neil – he is not being paid for the work or doing it on behalf of a company - so he is heavily reliant on the generosity of the running community to allow him to complete the project.

You can find out more about his research and participate in the survey here:

Survey - Running Studies  

Once the data has been collected and analysed, reports will be available on the website, www.runningstudies.co.uk(where you can also find out more about his work). 

Kilbryde Hospice - Stryde Walk

 A lady from Kilbryde Hospice dropped in before training last night to tell us about their charity fundraiser midnight walk this Saturday 7th June. Event entry is £20 plus a minimum sponsorship of £20. You can enter on the night, however they would appreciate any entries as soon as possible to help with their planning as there is a burger, T-shirt, flashy headband etc included for your entry money.

Full details are on their website:

https://kilbrydehospice.org.uk/events/stride-for-kilbryde/

Club Training Monday 2nd June

Monday's session is 12 x 2 minutes at slightly faster than 10k pace/effort with a 2 minute jog recovery during which there should be enough time for everyone to regroup. The route is through the glen and out onto the road at the Crutherland and onwards to our usual corner on the backroad where the reps start. On reaching Leaburn Rd, turn right towards Leaburn. Follow the road through Leaburn and then turn left up the hill towards Ardochrig. Turn right at the cross roads along the top road and follow that all the way back down to Leaburn Rd. Turn right and then left down the dip and up to Auldhouse Cross. Turn right through Auldhouse, to Langlands and back to the club via Sainsburys and Strathaven Rd.

Thursday is the June Auldhouse 5k time trial.

Alan

Mull of Kintyre Half

 

I’d fancied doing this race for a few years, since I’d seen a picture of it and saw that it had previously been voted most scenic in UK in Runners World magazine but the distance away had put me off. However, after getting a campervan last year, decided that this year would be the year to do it and we could make a family weekend of it as it also coincides with the late May bank holiday weekend.  With the kids also having the Friday off school I took the day off work and we set off on Friday morning, stopping in Luss for some water fun on Loch Lomond and staying overnight at the campsite there to break the journey up. With the great weather we had had for all of May I knew it couldn’t last and sure enough the rain came on about 6pm-ish and stayed on until after we set off for Campbeltown the following morning. We arrived in Campbeltown about lunchtime in plenty of time for the kids races that I had entered Rebecca and Max in. It had also stopped raining by now and the sun even came back out too. The kids races were well organised and had been split into separate races for boys/girls and different age groups. The kids were delighted with their goody bags and finishers medals. The half marathon and 10k event was the following morning at 10:30. As forecast the wind picked up during the night and I cant say it was the most restful night sleep with the noise of the wind and rain however at least the rain stopped in the morning, unfortunately the wind didn’t die down. I had heard it was a tough course so was targeting a time of around 1h45ish but with the wind I re-evaluated this to between 1h45-50. The race started and finished in the park near the harbour and sport centre in Campbeltown and had a pipe band playing at the start/finish area. There was almost 800 runners taking part with 585 of them doing the 10k and 201 doing the HM. The start is combined and after about 500m the 10k runners turned off and the Half Marathon went straight on running up the A83 before turning onto a smaller road heading towards Macrihanish Dunes, where you eventually turn onto an undulating grassy trail section before dropping down through the sand dunes onto the beach.  For this first half of the course it was a headwind all the way and it was relentless. I had been aiming for around about 5min/km pace but in hindsight this was probably too fast for me as this was also mostly uphill aswell as being into the wind, I lasted with this for about 3 miles before it dropped slightly, dropping even more on the beach section.  

Race winner - on beach

The beach part was absolutely stunning, you drop down through the dunes onto the wet sand and run up to a turning point about 500m away before heading back the way and up the dunes. It was hard work climbing back up the dunes but it was a welcome relief for the wind to finally be behind me. The race headed back the way we came in for a couple of miles before turning off past Campbeltown airport and back to Campbeltown. I was aiming to pick the pace up here now that the wind was behind me and it was mostly downhill and I managed it for a couple of miles but started to struggle again between miles 10 and 12, the final mile was significantly downhill so I did manage to pick the pace up here and was delighted to be finally finished in a time of 1:51:06, slightly over my target time, in 68^th position overall (15^th female/4^th FV40).

Close to the finish!

The race was very well organised, with chip timing, 4 water/Lucozade stations throughout the race, plenty of portaloos available pre-start, well marshalled and a goody bag at the end with caramel wafer, Lucozade, bag of sweets, wooly hat, T-shirt, draw string bag and a pottery medal. The kids goody bag had slightly different contents but was equally high quality. The race weekend also incorporated a ceilidh on the Sunday evening, that you could buy tickets for (we didn’t), and in the end decided to go home after a family swim on the Sunday afternoon, not fancying another night of wind and rain in the campervan.

I would recommend this race to anyone who wouldn’t mind the long journey to get there, the finisher in front of me was from Boston so he had a longer journey than most!

The highlight for the kids was seeing a group of 8 ladies, running the 10k in a joined up caterpillar costume, raising money for the Mairi Semple fund (a local charity to Campbeltown), I was informed that the wind did tear their costume before the end but it was impressive.