Club Training Monday 31st October

Monday's session is at Carron Place and is a longer 10k pace/effort session  as follows:

6 x 1 lap of Carron Place at 10k pace/effort with 2 minutes recovery (stand still or jog about in the vicinity of the start/finish). The reps start/finish at the usual place near the post box.

Control your effort on the uphill, flat and downhills such that the pace varies depending on the slope but the effort remains pretty constant.

The warmup is via Murray Roundabout, Kelvin Rd, etc as per usual. Cooldown by running up onto Greenhills Rd and down to Strathaven Rd back to the club.

Alan

CALDEGLEN HARRIERS AGM 2022

 This years AGM will be held on 1st December at 8.15pm in East Kilbride Sports Club.

For those that can attend training will be at 7pm that evening for a shorter run to allow you to get changed before the meeting.

Any motions should be made in writing to the Secretary ( Frances Ferguson) by 17th November.

There will be some changes to the comittee so nominations will be required so anyone interested in being part of the comittee going forward please speak with any of the present comittee if you need information about whats involved. This will be for executive and non executive positions.

Please try to attend, this is your club and its important that you attend.

On behalf of your Comittee

Grand Prix Rules 2022-2023

For those new to the club, here is a summary of the GP rules.

The GP comprises 16 races which are published in this list (updated when the race calendar is available). The races are spread from the start of the Scottish Athletics Winter season (late September/early October) through to the start of the Summer holiday period (late June/early July). Of the 16 races,  only each runner's best 11 points scores count. Restricting the competition to 11 races is supposed to give everyone the freedom to miss some races if ill or injured and still be in with a shout of winning. The scoring system for the men's and women's Grand Prix is the same.

Points are awarded from 12 to 1 point to each Harrier completing the race. 12 points are awarded to the first Harrier, 1 point to the 12th Harrier and all Harriers finishing lower than 12th. 

Each Harrier starts the season with a certain number of jokers (see later) and can earn more jokers by competing in Grand Prix races. Playing a joker doubles the points scored by that Harrier (e.g. a Harrier finishing 11th and scoring 2 points can double this to 4 points by playing a joker). Multiple jokers can be played at once, each joker doubling the score up to a maximum of 24 points (e.g. the Harrier finishing 10th and scoring 3 points and playing 2 jokers scores 3 x 2 x 2 = 12 points; playing 3 jokers scores 3 x 2 x 2 x 2 = 24 points; playing 4 jokers scores 3 x 2 x 2 x 2 = 24 points with the 4th joker wasted as the maximum points score of 24 has been achieved with 3 jokers).

A Harrier scoring 8 points or less (including the effect of playing jokers) in a race earns 1 extra joker to play at a subsequent race. A Harrier scoring 3 points or less (including the effect of playing jokers) in a race earns 2 extra jokers to play at a subsequent race.

Extra jokers are earned by completing a certain number of Grand Prix races:

• 1 extra joker after 5 races
• 1 extra joker after 8 races
• 2 extra jokers after 11 races

Jokers were assigned to each Harrier at the start of the season prior to the West District Cross Country relay as follows. Quite simply, anyone in training packs 1 to 7 starts the season with 1 joker, anyone in training packs 8 to 10 starts the season with 2 jokers. The jokers are frozen as of the first race of the season, so if a person changes pack through the season, the start jokers do not change. 

Anyone joining the club in the coming year gets the number of jokers relevant to the pack they are in at the time of the first GP race they do for the club.

However, anyone joining the club after the halfway point of the season (i.e. after race 8) gets only 1 joker to start with.

Alan

Club Training Thursday 27th October

For Thursday, we are back to the 10k paced sessions at Langlands Place. The session is 10 x 400m at 10k pace with a 2 minute recovery followed by 2 x 200m at 5k pace with 1 minute recoveries.

Consistency is the name of the game with even splits for the 400's, Warm-up and cool down via the usual route from the club to Langlands Place passing the Sainsburys main gate.

Alan

Club Training Monday 24th October - Brancumhall

Easing back off the pace and intensity this week, the Brancumhall session is a threshold effort of 3 x 6 minutes at threshold with a 2 minute jog recovery. This is more like the sort of effort that will be used during the longer cross-country races that are coming. However, the main purpose is to help make the physiological changes which will help a long race effort to be sustained for longer, irrespective of whether it is a 10k cross country or a 10 mile road race.

Please follow the usual route to/from Brancumhall and bring your road shoes for the run there as well as your offroad shoes. If you are lucky, someone will drive your shoes to/from Brancumhall.

Alan

National XC Relay - Murky up the M80

 

After an absence of 3 years, the National XC Relays returned to their traditional venue at Cumbernauld with wet and murky conditions which were all too familiar to those of us who have competed here often over the past 20 years or so. However, this time there was no wind meaning the club tent was a safe haven. Scottish Athletics declared a record entry in both the ladies' and men's races and this was evident to the eye, particularly watching the early legs when there seemed to be a never ending procession of runners covering at least half the lap!

The early legs in the ladies race got the best of the conditions as the rain had not yet started and the course was not too cut up (just the usual place on the plateau up beside the houses and the descent from there). Making her cross country debut, Julia Pechlof led our incomplete ladies team off as the field was rapidly stretched out by internationalists at the front. Julia paced the run well and just missed the 20 minute barrier for the 4km lap with a time of 20:02. The rain started more or less as Lorraine Buchanan started leg 2 but this was no problem at all for Lorraine who is building back up to full fitness and using the races very effectively for that purpose. Indeed Lorraine was the only Harrier to run faster on this much tougher Cumbernauld course than on the Kings Park course 2 weeks ago, finishing 19 seconds faster in 22:58 whereas everyone else was 20 to 40 seconds slower than Kings Park. Well done ladies.

For the men we had a complete senior team of 4 led off by Duncan McKellar, a complete M50 team of 3 led off by Stephen Phimister and an incomplete senior team led off by Gordon McInally. For the second XC in a row, Duncan was the fastest Harrier with a fine time of 15:57. Stephen declared the course too hilly and muddy for a thoroughbred such as he but still managed a strong run of 17:19. Gordon McInally continued to demonstrate the huge improvements he has been able to make over the past few years now that he is injury-free and finished in 19:18. Andrew Buchanan took over on leg 2 for the seniors and, just like wife Lorraine, continues to make progress on his return to fitness and racing, finishing in 16:31. The M50's had Martin Howell on leg 2 in conditions that were now definitely not suitable for a spectacle wearer. Martin struggled to see the way forward, finishing with glasses in hand in a time of 19:24 in what would turn out to be a very tight grouping of Harriers. Russell Couper completed our incomplete team and found it a tough slog but was happy with a time that was by no means his worst on this course, crossing the line in 22:27. Kevin Farmer made his season XC debut on leg 3 for the seniors with a plan of using these XC races to build his form and confidence and this he did very well with a competitive 17:06. The third and final leg for the M50 team was taken by team captain Jim Holmes who over many years has seen all the conditions that Cumbernauld has to offer. This experience was put to good use with a finish in 19:04. Then it was our senior team who completed Calderglen's afternoon of racing with Jason Grant finishing as 5th fastest Harrier in only his second XC race in a time of 18:44.

On a day that was not great for spectating, thanks to Emma Phimister for turning out to support her dad and the club and a big thanks to the Harriers who brought and set up the tent which was a necessity on this wet day. The conditions were not great for photography and my phone screen and lens couldn't cope after the first few legs but there are a few watery photos in this album.

Alan

TEAMS FOR SATURDAY ( National xc relays Cumbernauld)

 Teams for Saturday are as follows

Ladies race is at 13.20 so should arrive in the park by 12.30 at the latest

Men start at 14.45 and should arrive in the park no later than 13.30.

Ladies       leg1    J Pechlof,       Leg 2   L Buchanan

Mens senior     Leg 1   D McKellar,     Leg 2   A Buchanan,   Leg 3    K Farmer,    Leg 4   J Grant

Mens senior 2   Leg 1   G McInally,     Leg 2   R Couper

Mens 50      Leg 1    S Phimister,     Leg 2   M Howell.     Leg 3   J Holmes  

If anyone cant make it please let us know asap.

There are reserves entered so if anyone not listed wants a run if you contact me i will let you know if your on the reserve list.

Russell