We’ve recently been looking at some options for cross country courses in Bellahouston park, and thought it would be fun to look at some of the historical courses that have been used, as well as some of the history of the park itself. The biggest cross country event by far was the 1978 World Cross Country Championships, and we are immensely grateful to Graham Macindoe, and Hugh Barrow of Victoria Park, for having unearthed a couple of absolute gems from this big event. Firstly, the map of the course from the event. It’s interesting to see the change in layout of the park, and the old sports centre (refurbished in the late 1990s). There is plenty more on the park’s history on Wikipedia. For a more close-to-home section, including some quotes from our very own Jimmy Irvine, scottishdistancerunning.scot has a section on Bellahouston, featuring a history of the running track in the park. There’s an interesting piece, featuring ourselves, on the Nethercraigs page. Secondly, a copy of the programme, and admission prices. Last, but by far from least, here’s a super section of video from the John Treacy archive. John was the eventual men’s winner, and very successful Irish Olympic athlete. The winner crosses the line at 8:40, and it runs until 12:27 when it switches over to another event. We hope you agree it’s a lot of fun to see the park as it was, in 1978. Maybe some of that course might feature in a future XC event!?
Yearly archives: 2019
We’re delighted to report that the grand total raised at this year’s Jimmy Irvine Bella 10k for The Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice this year was £881.66p. This was through an optional entry contribution, and from donations buckets at the post race buffet. Thank you to all our runners and supporters for giving so generously!
The club has been busy with cross-country events over the last few weeks, and with the last big race of 2019 the West District Cross Country Champs at Balloch Country park yesterday, we thought it was time for a results catchup! At Balloch there were tough conditions with driving rain, a tough course and very muddy underfoot making for a a very challenging two loop circuit, Everybody who took part did well to complete the course. In particular, well done to: Catriona MacDonald for winning Bronze in the individual ladies race The Bronze winning ladies team of Catriona MacDonald, Louise Ross, Ann Robin and Isla McIntosh Grant Murphy led the Bella men home with a superb time of 34:11, helping our men’s team to 8th overall (out of 19). Our Masters women narrowly missed medals with 4th (out of 12), and our Masters men in 10th (out of 21) the Big Bella Bakeoff saw club members baking cakes galore for post-race treats. The overall winner was Isla McIntosh for her delicious Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes 🧁🏅😋 Well done to everybody who took part. For a taster of the day, Henry has put together a super video which you can find over on our facebook page. A couple of weeks before was the Renfrewshire AAA Cross Country Champs at Gourock, and there were some great performances on a tough and hilly course. Some super pics over on facebook too. Well done to: Rhoda Yarmahmoudi for Silver for V50 Women 🥈 Tony McParland for Bronze for V50 Men Allon Galbraith for Bronze for V60 Men And on the weekend of our 10k, Louise Ross and Ann Robin were proudly sporting Scotland vests at the 2019 British and Irish Masters in Liverpool: Louise Ross and Ann Robin helped secure the Scotland V40 women team Bronze medal Well done to everybody who took part in a cross country over the last few weeks: It’s amazing and inspiring to everybody at the club to see club colleagues we train with right through securing medals, but it’s every bit as good to see big club turnouts and everybody having fun in the process, and getting the most out of their club membership. We’re really very grateful too to the many people who volunteer in order that these events happen. Many thanks to Gordon Goldie for many of the pictures.
Congratulations to all our runners today and a big thank you to all the very many volunteers who gave up their time to make the event possible. We hope you all enjoyed the day as much as we did. There are lots of pictures to come which we will post in due course. For now, here are the provisional results: JI2019Results(Provisional) Thanks again to Katie, Bryan and the team at achilles heel for sponsoring the event. We hope to see you all back at next year’s Jimmy Irvine Bella 10k! 2019 Prize Winners: 1st Female – Lorna Young (Leeds City) 2nd Female – Sheena Logan (Fife Athletic Club) 3rd Female – Kristina Greig (Bellahouston Harriers) 1st Male – Alasdair Campbell (Cambuslang Harriers) 2nd Male – Gregor Yates (Bellahouston Harriers) 3rd Male – Robbie Ferguson (Kilbarchan AAC) Female V40 – Jane McNeilly (Bellahouston Road Runners) Female V50 – Maria Doherty (Glasgow South Road Runners) Female V60 – Sandra Aitken – (Fife Athletic Club) Male V40 – Iain Carroll (Giffnock North) Male V50 – Mark King (Kirkintilloch Olympians) Male V60 – Bryce Aitken (Fife Athletic Club) Female Team – Bellahouston Harriers Male Team – Bellahouston Harriers
Saturday night saw the club celebrate with its annual awards night, marking the completion of its 2018-19 championship, and a chance for members to relax and party into the small hours. A selection of highlight pictures below, but plenty more on our social media feeds! We were delighted to have had a bumper attendance, which also reflected a huge number of completers in the championship itself. All members who complete receive a much coveted completion prize, which this year is a long-sleeve club colours racing top. It was a fun evening, and we’re delighted by how well the club has done over the last 12 months, with so many excellent performances, new distances or events being undertaken, brilliant achievements, tally of medals, team pictures and race reports and stories! We’re very excited about the forthcoming championship year, and look forward to our next race! A selection of pictures below, more on our Facebook members group. Thanks to Gordon Goldie for taking the pictures. We’re very grateful to everybody who helped with the event, but a very special thank you, from everybody at the club, for hard work by club Social Secretary, Kevin Queenan. Member’s vote Sarah Goldie memorial award for Club Member of the Year : Leanne McIntosh Most improved Male: Stuart Laurence Most improved Female: Catherine Allan Open Championship Men’s club champion: Grant Murphy Ladies club champion: Cat Macdonald Men’s Runner up: Stuart Laurence 3rd: Bryan Mulgrew Ladies Runner up: Ann Robin 3rd: Louise Ross Vet (V40) Championship Ladies vet winner: Emer Campbell Men’s vet winner: Andy Campbell Ladies vet Runner up: Claire Wharton 3rd: Tomoyo Fujiwara Men’s Vet Runner up: Garry Porch 3rd: Kevin Queenan Supervet (V50) Championship: Men’s Supervet winner: Gerry Scullion Ladies Supervet winner: Rhoda Yarmahmoudi Men’s Supervet Runner up: John Mackenzie 3rd: Kenny Crawford Ladies Supervet Runner up: Lucy Mackay; 3rd: Jane Galt Off Road/Cross Country championship: Ladies winner: Cat MacDonald Men’s winner: Alan Moss Ladies Runner up: Romy Beard 3rd: Ann Robin Mens Runner up: Gerry Scullion 3rd: Anthony McParland Winter Handicap Men’s winner: Dave Ferguson Men’s Runner up: Grant Murphy 3rd: Bryan Mulgrew Ladies Winner: Cat MacDonald Runner up: Lisa Taylor 3rd: Heloise White Alternative awards Most completed club championship races: Ladies: Rhoda Yarmahmoudi Men: Anthony McParland Best Race Report Leanne Mcintosh Bowling Champion Ladies: Terry Nimmo Men’s: Liam Conway
Well done to everybody who took part at the 2019 National XC Relays in Cumbernauld yesterday! We had a cracking turnout from the club, lovely weather on the whole, and conditions were ideal for the familiar, but always challenging 4k XC circuit around Cumbernauld House Park. The club fielded a total of 10 teams (4 from the Ladies, and 6 from the Men). Some superb performances throughout! We’re delighted to report that our Ladies Masters team of Ann Robin, Louise Ross, and Jane McNeilly secured the Women’s Masters Gold Medal, making it three straight years on the podium in this team competition! Cat Macdonald ran an impressive individual leg in 14:48, 10th fastest on her leg. For the gents, our V50 team worked to take a solid 8th overall in that competition, with excellent runs by Tony McParland, Liam Conway and Gerry Scullion. Some standout individual runs from the gents included a brilliant 14:01 by Andy Campbell anchoring our men’s A team, and an excellent 14:57 from Craig Ross, returning to XC after a 9 years! Great support out on the course for our runners, and of course everybody taking part. Everybody was delighted to watch some brilliant racing in all the events, but a highlight for everybody was of course seeing Olympian Callum Hawkins tear by chasing Central AC in the senior men’s event. Scottish Athletics race report is available, with a link to the provisional results. We’re very grateful for the work by Scottish Athletics, all the volunteers and marshals for making the event another great success. Many thanks too to the Bellas who helped with setup, home baking, cleanup, team management and support on the day. The trombone was an interesting innovation from Henry too. We’ll pass on any feedback to him 🙂 A few pics below, plenty more on our club social media groups too. Thanks to Kevin Queenan, Alan Digweed, Elle Tea and others for the pics.
Thanks to everyone who made today a great afternoon out at Netherpollok!! From everyone who took pictures for us, marshalled, cheered us on, helped set up/dismantle and contribute to our fab cake table!! Great running performances all round…. andddd it just wouldn’t be the same if we didn’t bring home the bling!!! 🥈🥈🥈 A huge well done to our fabulous ladies team of Cat, Ann and Mhairi picking up Silver for 2nd Ladies team. 🥈🥈🥈 Well done everyone 💜💜💜💜 More pictures and stories over on our members facebook group. Big thanks to hosts Bellahouston Harriers!
Bellahouston Road Runner Alan Moss has been tackling an important challenge in 2019, to take part in 44 races and runs through the year. Alan explains why this number is significant: I’m running 44 runs this year because 44 people die from cancer every day in Scotland, and this number has been growing in recent years. The challenge started in January and I have 4 runs to go. Of course it has included a few club events and the Bellas have been a great support. There’s a great article about Alan’s challenge on the Worldwide Cancer Research website, and a full list of the runs on his fundraising page on virginmoneygiving.com. Alan explains why he’s supporting this charity: 1 in 2 people in the UK will be diagnosed with cancer during their lifetime. Everybody is affected by cancer. We’ve all seen loved ones suffer from this terrible disease. It’s vital to support more research and I’d like to do my bit. Worldwide Cancer Research is a brilliant Scottish charity that has had a significant global impact. The charity has funded research projects that have helped twice as many people survive cancer after diagnosis. That means survival rates have doubled in the 40 years since its foundation. With 44 people dying every day from cancer in Scotland alone, there is still so much work to be done. I’d like to do something to help our loved ones, in memory of those who lost their battle and for the growing number of people being diagnosed worldwide. Support Alan’s challenge here:
What a great wee day at Kilmarnock for the start of the Cross Country season! Congratulations to Ann, Claire and Emer for winning the silver vets team medals, to Cat who had the 6th overall fastest split, and to everyone else who raced. Loads of pics over on our members-only facebook group. Thanks to Leanne and Bryan for organising the teams, Mhairi and Leanne for the home baking and chocolates, and to everyone else who helped set up and take down the tents and flags! Huge thanks to our hosts Kilmarnock Harriers, and to everybody who made the event happen. Provisional results have been posted on Scottish Athletics website.
For the third straight year, we’re delighted to report that Scottish Athletics have just announced that the Bellahouston Road Runner Ladies team secured the Scottish Half Marathon Team Gold at this year’s Great Scottish Run. A huge congratulations to Cat MacDonald, Ann Robin and Katie Mathieson! Well done to Edinburgh AC who were just in 2nd place for Silver, with Garscube Harriers taking Bronze. We’re delighted for our Ladies, who’ve won this prestigious prize for the third straight year, and bringing it to an amazing five years on the podium. Congratulations too to Ann Robin, who also secured Silver in the W40! Well done to everybody who took part on the day. The club had an amazing 60 members complete the Half marathon, and 6 taking part in the 10k. On top of that, 40 club members volunteered over the course of the weekend to help make the event a huge success.
This year’s Jimmy Irvine Bella 10k race will be held on Sunday 17 November starting at midday. It promises to be another popular event with entries already going quickly. We pride ourselves on our unique finisher’s t-shirt and our talented t-shirt designers have been busy again this year. Here is a sneak preview of the distinctive long-sleeved t-shirt that will be awaiting you at the finish. All runners and their supports are invited to our famous Bella post-race buffet for refreshments and a chat after the race. You can sign up now at https://www.entrycentral.com/bella10k. Full details of the race can be found at Bellahouston Road Runners Jimmy Irvine Bella 10K. Please get in touch if you have any questions. #seeyouattheJimmy
Well done to the 48 Bella members who competed in the second club 3k track race on Wednesday 24 April. Even though many of us are busy preparing for Spring marathons right now, there were some fantastic performances on the track in windy conditions. The runners were enthusiastically cheered on by fellow Bellas before everyone went inside for a post-race debrief over sandwiches and cake. We were delighted to welcome Jimmy Irvine at the event who, together with his wife Sandra, were awarded honorary life membership of the club. Jimmy remains as enthusiastic about running and generous in his support for the club as ever. Congratulations to all the runners who took part and a big thank you to everyone who helped with the organisation. Please let us know if you have any ideas for future club race evenings.
The membership of the club unanimously voted to introduce honorary Lifetime membership at the 2019 AGM, in order that it may recognise individuals who have made a significant and valuable contribution to the club, community and sport of athletics in Glasgow. We are absolutely delighted to welcome Jimmy and Sandra Irvine as our inaugural recipients of this award. We now have a dedicated page on our website for recipients, and are delighted to add their names to the list. A presentation was made to Jimmy, on behalf of them both, before the 2019 3k track race, details of which will be following shortly. Many congratulations, and many thanks, to Sandra and Jimmy, for all their hard work.
Around 50 Bellas turned up at last weekend’s (10th March, 2019) Balloch to Clydebank Half Marathon, in pretty grim weather. As always, our ladies team won lots of medals with Louise Ross and Ann Robin finishing 2nd and 5th overall. Shona Donnelly and Emer Campbell placed 1st and 3rd in the V40 category with our ladies team of Louise, Ann and Shona finishing in 1st place overall. Congratulations everyone and well done to all who took part! Particularly if you managed to secure a PB in those conditions! We’ve loads of photographs over on our public Facebook page! There’s a specific album here too. Many thanks as ever to Gordon Goldie for turning out to take so many!
Club members have recently been sent formal notification of the club’s 2019 AGM, which will take place at 7.30pm (straight after training) at Glasgow Club Nethercraigs, on 20th March, 2019. As well as a few housekeeping items (the full agenda is here, on the members forum), and a presentation of the Trustees Annual Report, members will be invited to vote on a motion to create a new honorific of “Honorary life member”, in order that the club may recognise members who have made a lasting contribution or impact at the club. We will also be thanking a number of Trustees who are stepping down, and a motion will be presented to approve the new Board. If members are interested in getting involved, one or two roles are open, and details are also available on the members forum. We look forward to welcoming as many members as possible to the meeting. For any members unable to attend, apologies may be sent in advance to the secretary via email to info@bellahoustonroadrunners.co.uk. Thanks and Regards, Lynne Goldie (Secretary) Richard Leyton (Chair)