There are just some days when it is good to be alive and Saturday was one of them. Blaenau Ffestiniog was the setting for this year’s first counter in the British Hill and Fell Running Championship: a ten mile race with an accumulative height of just under 9,000m. On Friday night I had rested in a trailer park in the Denbighshire flatlands. That left me with a short drive in the morning through the Conway valley into the unfolding drama of Snowdonia. Blaenau itself is a small former quarry town hemmed in by massive slate tips and the Jerusalem Congregational Church. After a few hellos to Glasgow runners (including Kenny Richmond, formerly of this parish), the race started in the main street to the sounds of a Welsh heavy metal band and cow bells. A sprint through the town led 360 souls to barge over the railway footbridge and in to the wilds. A combination of paths and quarrymen tracks weaved in and out of old workings. Further up, the ground shifted between being sound, brutal bog and slate surf. The beautiful sunshine didn’t prepare me for the strong winds cutting across the first peak at Moelwyn Mawr (770). The prize for getting out of the wind was jumping big drops and a scrambling round the ridge to Moelwyn Bach (710). That was absolute fun. The descent form the Bach was a steep one, and refreshments at Llyn Stwain Reservoir were a relief. Trouble with relief however is it makes you relax, and I then had to dig in and climb steadily up Craig Stwaln and Moel-yr-hydd (648). A few folk passed me at this point, and I clutched to the old hymnal for inspiration. The final descents were a chance to savour the echoes of industry and dreams of a nice bath. There were a few stubborn undulations to punish my lack of training near the end but nothing was going to stop me enjoying such a wonderful day. For the record, Finlay Wild of Lochaber secured a Scottish victory in 1.13, yours truly was 316th in 2.08. Durisdeer next. David Stakes Youtube Video by Huw Jenkins – read his report: Campbells Cottage – Huw Jenkins blog
Yearly archives: 2015
There was a great turnout of 25 from the Club completing the Tom Scott Memorial 10 mile Road Race on Sunday. Well done to everyone who took part – the results are shown below. Let us know if you’re missing a PB () trophy: Full results are available here: Tom Scott 10 Mile race – full results Photo by Graeme Paterson
The sun was shining for the Clydebank 5k on Saturday, and together with a strong field from across Scotland, conditions were perfect resulting in strong performances across the board. This fast, flat 5k always produces a host a PBs and this year’s race did not disappoint. Thanks to all the supporters who turned up to cheer and all who took part. Full results can be found here: Clydebank 5k 2015 – full results
Well done to everyone from the club who took park in the race yesterday. Conditions were pretty good & there was plenty of support out on the course. Special mention to Bruce Carmichael for storming round well under 75 minutes (1.14.08) Sorry I didn’t get the chance to see everyone at the finish but from the size of some of the smiles I saw it looked like quite a few people had a brilliant race (clock the number of PB in the Bella results table below – Ed). Highlight of the day for me was seeing the smile on Alison Brown’s face at the finish. I think she might have won the lottery. It was also good to catch up with the Terminator from Conundrum. Last time I saw him he was mumbling something about how he’d be back so nice to see he was true to his word. Keep up the good work. Graeme Personal Best: Season Best : Full Results can be found here: Alloa Half Marathon – Full results
Congratulations to Bellahouston Road Runner, Grant Macdonald, who came 3rd in yesterday’s Lindsay’s Borders Marathon. All part of his preparation to represent Scotland in the Anglo-Celtic Plate 100km race in May. Grant’s incredible story is also featured in the April 2015 edition of ‘Runners World’. ‘Available from all good retailers’ as they say.
There was a cracking turnout of 30 Bellas today at the Balloch to Clydebank Half Marathon. Conditions were pretty much perfect, so ideal for some good racing and some fast times. The Bella crew did not disappoint: Louise Ross won the prize for 4th Female Mary Senior won the prize for 2nd FV40 Louise, Romy and Mary won 1st female team prize Coach Paterson got the prize for 5th Male (as well an awesome London Marathon ‘Championship Start’ sub-75 qualifying time) The first three Bella men were also awarded 2nd team prize – woohoo! But on closer inspection, Greenock Glenpark were clearly 2nd and we were 3rd. Doh! Most importantly though was a whole raft of PBs today, which is always great to see all that hard work in training paying off. Asterisks have been dished out below, but let us know if you’ve been missed out from the PB hall of fame….. Well done everyone, you did yourselves and your club proud. Bruce Carse Men’s Captain Full results are available here: Full Balloch Clydeank Half Marathon Results Race website is here: Balloch-Clydebank HM website Photo by Oscar Wild
I’m pondering where the report for the National Cross Country championships at Falkirk’s Callendar Park is, given a whole week has passed since the race. My first conclusion was that everyone is trying to blank out the memory of the sleet, hail, wind and mud, and the last thing we need is a further reminder of the cold, wet and mud with a race report. But then the more likely explanation struck me. Ordinary Bella club members just feel their writing skills and narrative of the cross country race in Falkirk are just too unworthy to follow that eminent, animated, and inspired Conundrum race report from Peter. So here’s a dull race report. It was freezing. And very wet, with runners contending with rain, sleet and hail throughout the day. The wind blew most club tents away, and really ripped through the tape marking the course. There was lots of mud to run through. And a lot of hills. Not sure I have reconciled the trail shoes v spikes debate: a good part of the course is on rocky trails which were great for my trail shoes and I took a fair few runners on this stretch; but trail shoes meant I pretty much had to walk up one steep muddy hill as it was impossible to get any grip so I just went backwards at this stage. This was my first cross country, and my main objectives were to stay on my feet and not get injured. I did achieve these, but I will be adding not getting hypothermia to my key aims for the next one. I was sent home early to thaw out, so I missed cheering the boys on in their race. Everyone who ran in such conditions deserves applause, but the performance of the day goes to our club for keeping the lovely Bella gazebo upright to give us a bit of shelter before and after the races. by Mary Bella results are here Scottish National XC 2015 – Bella results
The final standings for the Bellahouston Roadrunners Winter Handicap Championship 2014/15 are shown below. Well done to our winners Helen and Tony, both are prime examples of what the handicap is all about, with both rewarded for showing vast improvement over the winter. Well done also to everyone who took part and completed the Winter competition.Brian O’Donnell-Club President Women Final Standings Mens Final Standings
Bellahouston Road Runner Results from the Scottish National XC -22 Feb 2015 are in the tables below. (Winner of each race is also included at the top of each table). The Women’s team placed 20th – Ciara Baxter (114), Shona Donnelly (131), Mary Senior (141) & Helen Craig (163) The Men’s team placed 11th – Bob Reid (87), Greig Glendinning (137), Graeme Paterson (156), Andrew Campbell (164), Bruce Carse (174) & Iain Burns (180) Full results are available here Photo by Hamish Barbour
Good weather and running conditions made for a smashing day for Carnethy 5 hill race on Saturday 14th Feb. With a field of 500+ runners the atmosphere and camaraderie was great. Grant MacDonald, David Stakes and I tackled the hills, heather and scree. Grant and David came in with a time of 1:00:57 and 1:19:47 respectively and me 1:19:23. The school dinner after was a long forgotten culinary experience right enough! Great race, would thoroughly recommend it. by Elaine Race info:Carnethy 5 Hill race – 6 mile hill race with 2500 feet total climb over 5 summits, Photo: Descending Carnethy, Pentland Hills (Jim Barton) / cropped from original CC BY-SA 2.0
So, Sunday 15 February was the final race in the Borders Cross Country Series. This was the day the boys finally got their hands on the coveted horseshoe. You see, Greig had promised us the best momento of any race possible and given it was the 25th anniversary series excitement was tangible as to whether the horseshoe would be polished silver this year to mark the date. Graeme had mentioned that he had already cleared a space in the living room to exhibit the prize. The final race was at a place called Conundrum near Berwick. Now, I have never been good at the conundrum on Countdown, possibly because I am so focused on Rachel Riley. I was hoping today, in the town of Conundrum, and as a disassociation tactic, to solve the ultimate conundrum. A question so tough that even Stephen Hawkins has failed to resolve: “Why is Davy’s hair more orange than oranges?” My race tactic was to focus on that question and maybe it would spur me on to success in the race too? The weather was as usual tropical. I arrived slightly late and realised I’d lost my number. Not to worry, the tattoo parlour in Conundrum was delighted to scribe my number on my chest and after a quick change I was ready to go. During our warm up I was scanning the other runners to see if I could see Deep Sea Diver. They either had decided to take the day off or were having problems with the replacement canisters of helium strapped to the suit rather than the oxygen. An inspired feat of psyching your challenger out ( well kind off!). It was during this process that I saw The Terminator. This beast was truly magnificent…..a real professional. Dressed in matching shoes, socks, shorts, racing vest, hat, gloves and sunglasses, he looked mean and ready to kick ass. When I grow up, I thought, I want to be just like you! I mentioned to the boys that he was clearly the winner and that Grieg was now racing for the lower places…….no problems for me as I am always in that position. The whistle summoned us to the start line. This gave Greig just enough time to take his last sip of EPO. I stared in awe as the majesticness of the Terminator muscled his way to the front. The starter gave us precise directions: “You run up there, across there, through there, across the road, down there, up there, through a few fields, watch the electric fences, run down there, it’s quite muddy over there and you finish right there” Brilliant….where can we go wrong? The race started. We ran across a very flat section for about 100 metres and then bang…up a big hill. I settled in behind a group of boys watching Greig, Davy and Graeme running into the distance ahead. I just thought dig in…..oranges, oranges, oranges. At the top of the hill I noticed I was right behind […]
The Carnegie Harriers Devilla Forest 15K took place yesterday with 13 Bellas taking part. The cold, dry weather last week meant the trail sections were firm under foot and the sunshine on the day made for perfent running conditions. Bellahouston Road Runners results are shown below and the full results available from the Carnegie Harriers Website here. Well down to all our runners. 40 Kevin Queenan 01:02:59 70 Gerry Hanlon 01:05:59 78 Brian O’Donnell 01:06:26 94 Elaine Somerville 01:07:33 123 Henry Merriweather 01:09:29 156 John Sandbach 01:11:38 218 Christopher Doak 01:15:41 238 Judith Macgregor 01:17:16 251 Derek Smith 01:18:08 256 Chris Kay 01:18:27 306 Walton Pantland 01:22:00 315 Jackie Mcguire 01:22:31 326 Roz Wilson 01:23:06
Bellahouston Road Runners had an impressive turnout of 12 men and 7 women for this flat race in bright conditions along the esplanade in Greenock. As expected, the first half of the race was great but then we turned round and all of a sudden that nice gentle tail wind became a gale-force headwind. The injustcie of it all! After a battle with the wind it was back to Battery Park for a final lap-and-a-bit of the park, complete with an exciting crossing of paths with the other runners. Yet again it was the women (Elaine, Mary and Shona) who stole the show, winning bronze team medals. The men however missed out on a team medal by just ONE point! Must try harder guys… Seriously though, there were quite a few PBs getting posted today and some valuable club championship points earned, so well done everyone. And big thanks to the enthusiastic support from the Bellas who weren’t racing. Results attached below. Full results: Renfrewshire AAA – Road Relay Results 2015
The conditions were surprisingly good yesterday at Strathclyde park for the Scottish Veteran Harriers Club (SVHC) Road relay event. One lap of the loch made each leg an unusual distance of 3.8miles. Well done to everyone who took part in a race with a strong field, and congratulations to Russell, Greig, Graeme and Andy who took 3rd place. The men’s teams were 3rd and 9th out of 41 teams and the ladies placed 7th out of 17 teams. Full results on the SVHC website: SVHC Road Relays 2015 – results