The Club held its inaugural 3K track race on 18 April, the sunniest and warmest evening of the year so far. No fewer than 53 club runners competed in three heats, cheered on by fellow club members, and supported by an enthusiastic team of volunteers who worked hard to time each runner individually. It was a great chance for everyone to practise racing on the track in a friendly environment, and a nice excuse to enjoy some food and drink together after the running was over. We hope that this sort of racing evening will become a regular part of the club’s activities. Let us know if you have any ideas for next time! The club is extremely grateful to Doleen and Jim who gave invaluable help on the night, and to Pollok Parkrun and Giffnock North for lending equipment. Congratulations to all the runners who took part and a big thank you to everyone who volunteered. Here is a brilliant video of the event that Kevin Turner has put together.
Monthly archives: April 2018
This article was originally posted on 7th April. 2018, but is kept up to date to reflect the results each year. Saturday 17th February 2018 saw the second Bellahouston Mob match at Pollok parkrun between Bellahouston Road Runners, and Bellahouston Harriers, with a fantastic 134 club members completing the distance, many more supporting their club or helping with the event. The first took place on 4th March, 2017, with 98 runners. Whilst inter-club races, and “mob matches”, are not new, they do appear to have fallen by the wayside a little, certainly in the Glasgow area and elsewhere in Scotland. We’re hoping that the great reception to the event in both years so far, and the hugely positive comments from club members that we’ll be able to encourage other clubs to give the format a try, and hope that what follows here can help with that. The actual result felt secondary to the atmosphere and camaraderie on the day: We’re hoping it painted a positive and welcoming picture of what belonging to a running/athletics club and local community can bring, and that prospective new members might be encouraged to join our respective clubs. We’re mindful though that given the event we are taking part in is staged by parkrun volunteers, it’s important that we recognise the work they do to put the event on, and work with them to minimise the impact the mob match can have. Our club also has two of the current Pollok core team, as well as the previous Event Director, amongst it’s members, which helped with considerations/awareness of issues.
Robert Macleod just sent in this race report from yesterday’s Tom Scott 10 mile road race: If you had asked me 5 or 10 years ago would I take up running in the years to come I would have just laughed at you, the most running I ever done was running from people wanting to batter me in school, I officially ran my first race in June 2016 doing the men’s 10k in my Adidas sambas and the reason that was I didn’t intend to continue running after that, I struggled with that race and I stumbled over the line in just over an hour, fast forward to April 1st 2018 otherwise known as April fools day well I certainly wasn’t planning on being a fool today as I prepared myself for my very first ever long race, the 56th Tom Scott memorial road race which was a 10 mile race around Strathclyde park, Earlier in the week my 5 year old daughter Mirrin asked me Daddy why do you never win races, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry but I answered because there are faster people running than me that’s why, I had the added bonus of the children being away for the weekend with their Auntie so there was no added distractions, We set off in plenty of time and arrived at Strathclyde park just before 9 to get my race number, I definitely underestimated the coldness and I only had a top over my running top, we went inside and then later I nipped out for a wee warm up, the start of the race was quickly approaching so I quickly took my top off and threw it to Elizabeth, the race started quickly and I probably started off a bit quick, that would catch up with me later, I set myself a target of 1 hour 20 minutes which is 8 minutes a mile and I thought I’m more than capable of that, I was unsure of what route this race was taking me but following who’s in front of me I can’t go wrong, on the other side of the loch I seen Graeme Paterson and he told me to stay steady all the way round and that’s what I intended to do, as I was about to start the last lap the winner Luke Traynor was finishing his race which is very impressive and hopefully he will go to the very top and I certainly believe he will, when I got round to the other side I was overtaken by Lynne Hamilton, I asked her if she would wait for me but I don’t think she heard me, I occasionally looked behind me and I noticed Lynsey wasn’t far behind me so I managed to catch a second wind, this was my first visit to Strathclyde park and I could just about see where the finishing line was so I made a run for the finish I seen the clock ticking at […]
We’re pleased to announce that the club is now in a position to claim back Gift Aid on membership fees, and any donations you have made (or may make in future) to the club, at no additional cost to yourself. This is worth an extra £5 per member from the annual £20 membership fee. You can find the form available on the website at bellahoustonroadrunners.co.uk/gift-aid A few more details about what we’ll plan to do with the money on the member’s forum here.