National Road Relays - The Frozen Few!

The trend of record entries in recent national championship events seemed to be reversed today with only a very small field lining up for the National Road Relay Championships in Livingston. The clash with the Easter holiday weekend was clearly the very predictable reason for this. It seemed that there were more ladies' teams than men's teams running today, which would also be a first and very encouraging to see.

However, Calderglen fielded only men's teams today; an M50 team of 4 with a strong chance, an M35 team of 6 and an incomplete M35 team of 2. The M50 team was led off by Martin Duthie on the 3.1 mile leg. Despite just coming back from a calf injury and arriving 5 minutes before the start (plenty of time!) Martin had a great run (18:24), bringing the team home in 3rd place and within sight of 2nd place Fife AC, with Cambuslang a little further ahead. Davy Watt had a stunning run on leg 2 (5.8 miles), finishing in 33:47 and pulling the team through to a 150m lead. Andy Henderson had a cold the previous week and perhaps did not need to be put under such pressure on his first race back. Further pressure was added by not being fully stripped off to his shorts when Davy appeared in the home straight! However Andy was moving very well indeed once he got going, despite some rough breathing, slipping down to 2nd place behind Cambuslang in a time of 21:33 . Finally, the oldest member of the team, Charlie McDougall, launched himself enthusiastically into the final 5.8 mile leg and was only overhauled by Fife AC in the final stages to bring the team home an excellent third in this fiercely competitive national championship. Charlie's time was a stunning 36:40. Well done to the M50 team! Disappointingly, national championship medals were given out to the winning M50 team only.

George Stewart led off the M35 team. Despite a 45 minute hill run in Fife the day before, George ran well, finishing in 21:32. He did admit to lacking race sharpness, not having done any road races this season yet but would have been in contention for an M50 team place but for the hill race the day before. Alan Derrick also made his road race debut for 2013 on leg 2. A cold and still tired legs from the Algarve training camp of a week ago took its toll, with a substantial personal worst of 35:47 for the 5.8 miles. However, a few places were gained in the men's race and George had left me plenty of ladies to pass! Richard Lawton is usually injured at this time of year and had never run at Livingston before. He covered leg 3 in a very encouraging 23:48, so next year he gets a shot at the long leg. Gerry Mullen is well into his marathon training and is running very well at the moment as a result. Gerry completed leg 4 in 39:47 and would also have been in contention for an M50 team place. Billy Buchanan had been warned that despite the fact there was snow on parts of the course, he could get away with shorts this week and this he duly did, completing the 3.1 mile leg in 21:30, also laying claim to an M50 team place! Finally, after a long day hanging about in the cold, Jim Holmes was set off in a mass start (of 8 remaining teams) and put in a polished performance (at least I think he said something about a shine), covering the distance in 40:10.

Colin Banks has had a long time off with injury and as this was his first race back, he was given a first leg to help him judge the pace in the incomplete M35 team. Colin said this was just what he needed and was happy with his time of 23:24. Russell Couper got the long leg for the third year in a row (you have to be cruel to be kind) and ran much better than last week, completing the course 8 minutes faster than the Grangemouth 10k in 49:42 despite the course only being 0.4 miles shorter.

Well done to all.
Alan

National Road Relay Teams

Teams for Sunday are listed here. For those needing a lift,  be at the Sports Club ready to leave at 10:15. We have had plenty of cancellations and hence 4 places are available to complete a further men's team, so if any of the many reserves named in the previous post below are available to run, then please leave a comment or get in touch with me or Russell as soon as you can. Similarly, if any of those named in a team cannot compete, then please let us know asap as teams have to be declared in advance and we cannot change the running order once submitted.
Alan

6 + 4 STAGE RELAY

The race this Sunday starts at noon and declarations close at 11.30
Alan will select the teams from the following names.
We have 3 male teams one of which will be a 4 stage M50 team and one female team entered
If anyone can no longer make it let us know and if any of the reserves want a run let us know and if places become available we will let you know.
Those entered are:-
R Couper, A Derrick, B McDougall, C McDougall, M Duthie, A Henderson, I Hughes, R Lawton, D Herbertson, J Holmes, C Banks, H Simpson, D Watt, G Stewart, B Buchanan, G Mullen.

R Kelly, J McEvoy, K Allen, A Lessells.

Reseves:-
K Leinster, G Lindsay, P Marshall, J McBride, A McCaffery, J McMonagle, S Phimister, I Rae, G Ramage, S Reilly, D Searil, C Steven, D Wardrope, S Waugh.
F Maxwell, J Beveridge, M Goldsmith.

Cost is £3.50 and if those that have still to pay please do so before the race.

Alan will pick the running order before Sunday.

GRANGEMOUTH 10K

A better turnout of Harriers this week for the Grangemouth 10K.
It was a bitterly cold day with a very small flurry of snow and biting wind for the duration of the race.
Nevertheless there was some very good performances with 1st Harrier home Stephen Reilly in a time 39.24. Not far behind we had a battle going on with Eddie Reid and Stephen Phimister both passing each other in the last 1/2K with Eddie coming out on top 39.57 and 40.00 respectively. Next in and probably the performance of the day was Karen Allen 40.58 which ive been told was a PB by about 1min. Clocking up another top performance was Julie Beveridge 41.30 before our next close head to head with Gerry Connelly and Jim Holmes with Gerry coming out on top 42.36 and 42.40 respectively. Times for remaining Harriers were Kenny Leinster 43.29, Billy Buchanan 44.08, Alison Lessells 45.16, John McBride 46.20, Hugh Simpson ? 47.57, Richard Lawton 49.03, David Searil 49.38 and finally Russell Couper with another awful Grangemouth 57.07, a slower average pace than managed at Alloa last week. The Question mark next to Hugh is because he is not listed as a Calderglen Harrier on the results so we need confirmation its the same Hugh, if he or someone that seen him finish can confirm this. Again these are chip times but the actual race times give the same finishing order
Not to be outdone by the senior Harriers one of our youths Mark Phimister ran the 2K race. Sorry but time not available at this time but well done to Mark for running in such cold tempretures.
Photos will follow soon.

This is a different Hugh Simpson on the results ive checked the entry list and there was a V35 Hugh Simpson entered and this is the one ive listed above does anyone know if Hugh finished and if so where as Alan wont be able to update the GP until we know.

This 35 year old Hugh Simpson is now confirmed as "our" somewhat older Hugh Simpson and that is indeed the time he ran.

Thanks to Andy and Billy Buchanan for the photos, the rest of which are here.
Alan

Grand Prix Updated

In between tough training sessions such as this, I have managed to update the Grand Prix and Club Championships. Positions available at the usual links. Now, back to another session. All the best at Grangemouth tomorrow. Wish I was there (this time I am joking!).
Alan

Nigel Barge 10K Cancelled.

I received an email today stating that due to the conditions today's race has been cancelled.

ALLOA HALF MARATHON

8 Harriers made their way to Alloa for the 31st Alloa half today.
It wasn't as cold in Alloa as it was when we left snowy East Kilbride but was still a day to keep wrapped up. Ian Hughes making one of his few GP appearances was 1st Harrier home 1:22:32.
Behind him their was a close tussle going on with Andy Henderson and Eddie Reid with times 1:29:43 for Andy and 1:30:00 for Eddie. Next in was John McBride running a great race in 1:43:55 narrowly beating an out of sorts David Herbertson 1:43:59. Hugh Simpson was next with a good solid run 1:49:57. Good considering he felt the need to wear a jacket and leggings. Russell Couper was next in with his fastest half marathon for 7 years and 17.31 quicker than last year but a little miffed he couldn't find a few more seconds 2:00:04. Next in and making her debut in the half marathon for Calderglen was Ruth Kelly who must surely have been closing me down 2:01:22.
These are chip times although the gun times have the same finishing order.
Orginisation was a lot better this year with no big queues for numbers and chips.
Next week is the next race in the GP with the Grangemouth 10k and we have a lot more entered for this so hope everyone can get over the various illnesses and injuries and see a big Calderglen turnout.
Alan will update the GP and Club Championship when he gets a chance but by my reckoning Eddie has taken the lead in the male GP with Stephen Reilly still leading the Championship. In the Ladies there will be no change with Joanne McEvoy leading the GP and tying with Karen Allen in the Championship. Wait for the updates to confirm this.