Sunday 13th September 2015 must be one of the busiest days of the year for athletics, with a cornucopia of races organised. The Round Cumbrae 10 mile race, a new 7 mile trail race in Helensburgh and the opportunity to run with Mo Farah (and a few others) in the Great North Run were all on offer today. Even the Bellahouston Road Runners Club Championship schedule had a choice of the Kilmacolm Half marathon or the Stirling 10k to choose from. Weather forecasts earlier in the week had us expecting hail and wintery showers this morning, but with barely a cloud in the sky, and the sun shining it felt more like July than September. 15 Bellas were running in Stirling and there were a number of big PBs. Well done everyone and thanks to those who came to support. Full results here: Sportssystems – Stirling 10k 2015 Photos: Helen Craig and Garry Porch
Yearly archives: 2015
This was the first distance race that I ran and what prompted me to join Bella last year. The event consists of a Marathon or Half Marathon for runners in the morning with a cycle Marathon and Half Marathon in the afternoon. The organisation is excellent and the circuitous route around the River Tay is pretty spectacular. We (my wife Angela and myself) travelled up on the Friday evening and registered at the Moness Resort where there was a pasta spread laid-on for participants. With child-care sorted and a wee cottage hired for the weekend my biggest challenge that evening was trying to ignore the wine in the fridge particularly with the sun making a rare appearance! Having missed 6-7 weeks of training over the summer due to my dodgy calf I decided to wait for a post-run tipple. The Marathon kicked off at 09:30hrs from the village of Weem just over the Tay from Aberfeldy and is a two-lap course. The HM mustered about 09:45hrs at the showfield camping / car parking area (both free) just over the Tay Bridge (aka Wade’s Bridge). From there its a 500m walk to the start line led by two pipers. The start itself is at the Aileen Chraggan Hotel just shy of Weem. The weather was good, a nice bright morning and about 12c, although there was a fairly stiff breeze blowing down from Glen Lyon. The gun started us 300 HM runners off at 10:00hrs and its a fairly steady 4 miles past Weem, Camserny and Dull to the iron bridge over the River Lyon. We were into the breeze at that stretch however it was fairly kind. From there its a left turn over the bridge and on the road to Kenmore. This is roughly a 2.5 mile undulating stretch with a water stop/toilet and past some pasture where the horses were clearly having a laugh at the two-legged humans trying to run! Entering the village of Kenmore is quite a site with Loch Tay straight ahead and a cross over the Taymouth Bridge. Its probably designed to take your mind off the impending climb through the grounds of Taymouth Castle and Golf Course. Thats where the only real hill springs up, just after the castle but thankfully through the woods which provided some shelter from the head-wind that had blown-up by that stage. Its a fairly long winding climb, probably similar to the hill in the Alloa Half. Having survived, I was glad to see a water station at the exit of the castle grounds and having briefly stopped to hydrate (I’ve lerned that I cant run and drink at the same time having nearly drowned last year) I started the gradual stage on the A827 back to Aberfeldy only to feel a large stone lodged in the sole of my left trainer. Having just stopped for a drink I didnt want to spoil my momentum again so like an audition for Riverdance, I tried to ‘remotely’ dislodge the […]
With Berlin at the end of September I was in the market for a race sharpening half marathon with 4 weeks to go. I had seen that the Barry Buddon race was advertised as a flat, fast race, that’ll do nicely I thought. So off I headed not too early yesterday for a 12pm start up in the the military range just by Monifieth. A very friendly registration area was enhanced further by a couple of musicians playing guitars and a violin, not the sort of thing you get at the GSR. The only downside at this point was the fairly stiff breeze and the sun splitting the sky. Anyway, I was joined at the start by fellow Bellas Tony, Shona and Mhairi, and off we went. After a headwind in the 1st mile we turned round and got the benefit of a tailwind for the next 3 miles, at this point I was wondering what my new PB was going to be, foolish boy. After a quick change of direction, miles 5-7 were straight into the wind and by the time we turned both myself and Colin Thomas from the Harriers had nothing left in the tank. It was a pretty sorry last few miles and the last mile itself was straight into the wind again, what a whiner I am. I finally limped over the line in 3rd place and Shona retained her F45 trophy. All that aside, the main reason for this report is to highlight the selfless actions of Mhairi, who sacrificed her own race when a fellow runner collapsed after 3 miles. She waited with him for 15 minutes until help came and she finally managed to resume her race, I would imagine that most people would just call it quits at that point. Another proud moment for the club, well done Mhairi! Bruce Carmichael 3 01:14:32 61 Bellahouston RR Anthony McParland 58 01:32:46 271 Bellahouston RR Shona Donnelly 105 01:42:23 96 Bellahouston RR Mhairi Hill 166 01:53:07 177 Bellahouston RR Photo: © Copyright Douglas Nelson and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence
Results for the Bellahouston Road Runners taking part in the 10k (a medium distance race in the Club Championship). Particularly well done to Debs Gray, Ann Robin and Louise Ross for winning 2nd team prize in Sunday’s race. full results here: paisley 10k 2015 – Full results
Well done to the 8 Bellas who were in Club Championship action, taking part in the Marymass 10k in Irvine last Wednesday night. Particular congratulations to Shona who was first FV40.
Race report from Brian O’Donnell I spent last week in the highest city in Europe, Davos in the Swiss Alps, which sits at 1506m above sea level. I’ve been here many times now and the beauty of the place draws me back every year to tackle one of the many Swiss Alpine races on offer. There truly is something for everyone here with the organisers offering no less than 11 races. The kids races of 0.5k ,0.9k and 1.4k run on the Friday but the main races are on the Saturday with a 10K Walk, 10K Run, 21K Walk, 21K Run, 30K Run, two 42K mountain marathons and the jewel in the alpine crown the 78K ultra distance race. The Davos area is truly magnificent and the race organisers do all they can to help get you there and around when you are there. Your race entry, although expensive, includes your rail ticket to and from Davos from your point of entry into Switzerland. Then when you are there use of all buses and railways in the area. If staying at a hotel you can also expect to receive a guest card which allows you travel on the many mountain railways, gondolas and cable cars. I first came to Davos in 2009, and ran the 30K race that year and the next. In 2011 and 2012 I ran the 42K mountain marathon, missing last year due to Commonwealth Games volunteering duty, this year I decided on the 30K race. With the 30K being fairly low level and only 450m climb it is speedy and the challenge here is definitely a race across the trails, compared with the mountain marathons which tend to require a bit more walking and less speed (but no less effort!) as they have 1800m of ascent. The 30K race starts ridiculously early at 0700 (0600 UK time) in the stadium in Davos, as it runs alongside the ultra distance 78K race. The race finish is down the valley in a place called Filisur. This meant I had to get up at 0430 and on reflection should maybe have been up even earlier, although I was balancing sleep time with waking up time as I usually like to be up 3 hours before a race. Breakfast was served in our hotel from 0500 so some cereal, bread and jam and some coffee were quickly consumed and then on our way to the stadium for the race start. The sun had only just come up when I left the hotel and the thought of running hard for almost 19 miles in an hours time felt like it would be quite a challenge. Once down at the stadium bags were dropped off and I went for a warm up and some strides. I headed into the stadium and lined up on the race start. As Vangelis’ ‘Conquest of Paradise’ rang out, and the TV/Camera helicopters hovered over the stadium we were off. The first 5K are in Davos town […]
14 Bella’s made the trip down to Irvine for the Irvine Running Club‘s 5 mile road race, which was the penultimate short distance race of this year’s Club Championship. Gathering clouds and a weather forecast to match that didn’t promise great weather, but an epic downpour 45 minutes before the event started seemed to clear the air perfectly, leaving good running conditions – the odd sea breeze excepted – for the event. An out and back from the centre of town, along cycle path on the way out, and a closed for the event Marine drive on the way back made for a great course (a few deceptive climbs over rivers and roads excepted), and excellently marshalled. Full results available on the Irvine Running club website, club member performances were: A total of 165 runners took part, and First male runner home was Neil Renault (Edinburgh AC) in 24:58 and first female Melissa Wylie (Dumbarton AC) in 31:05. A couple of prizes for the club: Claire Wharton was 3rd female home, and Mary senior 1st F40. A special mention too to Lyndsay Kennedy too for whom this was her last race with the club before moving south to Poole. Well done to everybody! A reminder that the Strathclyde parkrun on 8th August is the final short race in the club championship.
To distract myself from missing out on marathon running this year, and enticed by the thought of doing less weekly mileage, I reckoned I’d have a go at the exact opposite: track racing. Unfortunately it turns out it’s every bit as tough as road running, just more intensely tough for a shorter period of time. And the first session I tried of 10x200m (with 60s recoveries) looked like an absolute doddle on paper, but trying to do the reps in 30s soon took its toll – stinging lungs and a tweaked left hamstring. This was going to tougher than I thought. An early ‘tester’ race in the 800m was another eye-opener. After a slightly keen 64s first lap I well and truly paid the price on the second lap, with lungs that felt like I was breathing fire and spritely legs suddenly turning to lead. One of the toughest training sessions has to be 4 x (200/400/200) with 200 at 800m pace (i.e. flat out) straight into 400 at mile pace, then straight into a final 200 at 800m pace. Try it sometime. After the first one-and-a-half of these you’ll be ready for an early bath. Seriously, I would rather do 10 Sherbrooke loops than that session again! Despite the training being brutal, the taper for this 1500m race had gone well and the legs were feeling good. And it was to be a rare chance to run on THE track used from the Commonwealth Games (which had been taken up and moved to Grangemouth) it was all looking good. At registration I was told that I had to be at the ‘call room’ at least 20 mins before my event, which was all starting to sound a little bit serious! But that aside there was a friendly atmosphere and a few familiar faces from the road racing world. After 2-mile warm up jog, plus some strides and drills (I hope coach Paterson is reading this…) and we were ready to head out to the track for some nervous chit-chat at the start line, and everyone asking everyone else what age category they were in and trying to work out who was racing who. And before we knew it…. BANG! The first 300m were fine, I got there in 51s. The next lap was OK too, although a seriously dry mouth was making it hard to breathe, but was there in 2.04, so still on course…until… Uh-oh, the dreaded 3rd lap, and this is where things are starting to tighten up a bit. With the leader opening a decent gap ahead of me, there was nowhere to hide on the back straight into the headwind (which to be fair wasn’t that strong) and I was starting to struggle. I made the classic mistake and eased off slightly, thinking “I’ll just save my energy and run the last lap extra fast”. No. No you won’t. Come the bell for the last lap all those thoughts of a Mo Farah-esque 59s blast […]
11 Bellas took the trip down the coast to Girvan for this Club Championship Half Marathon today. The race was well organised and marshalled so a big thank you to Girvan Athletic Club for putting this on. It was a productive afternoon with Bruce Carmichael and Debs Gray 1st Male and 1st Female respectively and the ladies team prize went to Debs, Hayley McCrorie and Maree Shepherd. Congratulations and well done team! Well done to everyone who took part and congratulations to those who PB’d on a challenging course. Results below:
It was a 6am kick-off on Sunday morning as Robbie Hayman and I made 2 and half hour journey north to Braemar for the start of Lairig Ghru race.As I left the house it was Glasgow liquid sunshine! The rain was bouncing off my car. The weather for the race was to be cloudy with sunny spells, but this was hard to believe as the rain didn’t stop for the full journey. We reached Braemar just before 9am and headed along to the Village Hall to register for the race and I spotted the first bit of blue sky, this was looking good. Once registered Robbie and I headed back to the car to collect our running gear where we bumped into David Stakes who was also doing the race. All 3 of us headed back up to the start line for the briefing before the race started. The start line was between to lamp posts in the middle of the main street through Braemar. I don’t remember much of the briefing as the 3 of us were all wishing each other good luck for the race. After the briefing finished 30secs later the race started as there was a car waiting to drive up the street. So we were off! Robbie and I had planned to go at a nice steady pace as we know there was a fair distance ahead of us. I checked my Garmin at the first mile at it was showing 7.30 pace so I said to Robbie that this pace might be a bit fresh so early on and he agreed. Mile 2 then dropped to a 7.10 quickly followed by mile 3 hitting a 6.50. I think someone forgot to tell Robbie that we weren’t doing the London Marathon. 😯 We then hit our first hill climb on the trails and I looked at my Garmin and it was showing 7.10 pace, it was then I though this going to be an interesting run. As we made our way along the trails for a few miles Robbie mentioned if you looked up often enough the scenery looked brilliant and I couldn’t agree more. The views were stunning. A few rivers had to be crossed along the way before we hit the Boulder Field! The path at this point started to get a wee bit more twisty then we came up to the start of the Boulder Field. Robbie was leading the way and he looked a lot more comfortable about running over the top them than I did. At one point I looked to my right and seen another runner pass by me and he looked as if he was floating over the top of the boulders, and I also thought he was doing this wearing a pair of Flip Flops. My feet and toes on the other hand were killing me as I think I was playing boulder football. Looking ahead there was Big Robbie just striding over the top of them […]
Well done to everyone who turned out for the President’s Cup 5k Handicap race this evening and thanks to everyone who helped out. Congratulations to Norman Boyle and Lynne Goldie who won the men and ladies trophies, and kudos to Bob Reid who was closest to his predicted time. Bruce Carmichael was the fastest male on the night in 15:52 and Ann Robin fastest female in 19:16. Full results below which allow you to sort on any particular field by clicking the arrows in the column header. Email races@bellahoustonroadrunners.co.uk with any queries.
Hosted by neighbours Bellahouston Harriers, last Friday was the Brian Goodwin memorial 10k at Cartha Rugby Club. The course is two laps of Pollok park followed by beer and a burger at the finish. This Club Championship race is usually very popular and this year was no exception with a good turn out from the Club. Well done to everyone who took part and thanks to the Harriers for a well organised race. Bella results below: Photo by Rose McRobert
The second counter in this championship was held at Durisdeer in the Lowther Hills on Saturday. A record entry of 270 was a far cry from the 33 who did it last time. The crude statistics of 14.7km and an accumulative climb of 1240m told only half the story of a challenging course of steep climbs / descents, sheep trods and rock strewn grasslands. I ran with Derek Rigmand who bravely was only just recovering from a nasty “fever”. We arrived in the beautiful hamlet of Durisdeer in good time. The hamlet of about 12 houses and one huge church has the air of “Brigadoon” about it (it sleeps for 100 years between races). After Derek took some of the healing waters, we wandered into the gothic mausoleum to discover a stunning burial vault covered by a large marble canopy, carved cherubs, and macabre skulls. However enough, on with the race as they say. The first section is a steep climb up Black Hill (531m) followed by a sheer, sheer descent down the rock strewn “Pettylung”. After Dalveen farm the course follows two very steep valleys around Steygail. Line choices were critical here. I stuck to the burn for the first half which gave a bit of an advantage over those contouring around the hill. Once round the hill my fence “hurdle” left my foot caught in the wire, face in a thistle and calves in a spasm. The course then involved clambering further over rough ground to Lavern burn. This then led to the foot of Well Hill which is a total misnomer. The hill is an ill crawl. After that there was some good running for tired legs back round to Black Hill. It was on the route back up Black Hill that the “healing waters” kicked in for Derek and he flew passed me. Heading down to the finish, my time was well up on last year and I was feeling well chuffed. Unfortunately however hill running is a cruel mistress. Before hitting the funnel, Brian Brennan of Westerlands, flew passed me still clutching the sole of a shoe he had lost half way round the course. There was consolation for my soul in the wonderful array of post-race tea and cakes in the church. Tired bodies were strewn about the church yard with their picnics made me mindful of the Mexican Day of the Dead. The whole day was wonderful and topped by Scottish victories for Tom Owens (Shettleston) and Jasmin Paris (Carnethy). Next stop Wasdale. David Stakes Photo by Chris Wimbush [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons
By 11 and a half miles I was thinking “You’re havin a giraffe” On Fri 12th Lynn and I headed down South to run the St. Albans half marathon for the first (and last) time on Sunday the 14th June. The weekend started well with a wander round Borough Market to sample the tasy delights on offer washed down with some Pimms. The weekend continued in the same vein (eating and drinking) until Sunday arrived and with somewhat leaden feet I made my way to the start thinking “What possessed me to enter this half marathon”? One to do if you’re a bit of a masochist Now many of the reviews had mentioned frequently about how undulating this race was and I thought “Nah it can’t be that bad”. How wrong I was. The route twisted and turned it’s way through “undulating” country roads with hill after hill. By 11 and a half miles I was thinking “You’re havin a giraffe” as we hit yet another hill. The icing on the cake was near the finish when finally there was some downhill which promptly took you round some cones only to go back up the hill then into the park! Argh! I swear whoever planned this course route is a sadist. Despite both our moaning we finished in one piece with times of 1:33:24 for me and 1:57:51 for Lynn. St. Albans half marathon – one to do if you’re a bit of a masochist LOL Elaine
Well done to everyone who ran the Rouken Glen 10K, Thursday 11 June. On a tough course on a hot night there weren’t many PB’s to be had, but there were some prize winners. Bruce Carmichael finished 3rd overall, with Russell Whittington one place behind in 4th, and first vet. Deborah Gray was 2nd lady overall, with Ann Robin 4th and first vet, and Ciara O’Connell 8th, meaning the Ladies team trophy was retained. Deborah, Ann, Ciara and Bruce pictured. Full Results here