31 Bella’s headed to Kilmarnock on Saturday for the popular West District cross country event, and the recent rain ensured it was a properly muddy affair, so a real test of resolve for everybody who took part. We’re delighted to report that our Ladies did another amazing job, securing overall team bronze, and the Masters team Gold! There are some cracking photos available from Scottish Athletics, courtesy of Bobby Gavin, and plenty from members, a selection of which are on our facebook page and instagram (@bellaroadrunner) Overall team bronze medal counters were Cat Macdonald, Ann Robin, Romy Beard and Louise Ross. Well done too to Cat who was 7th home overall. Our Gold masters women were Ann (4th master home), Louise (9th) and Claire Wharton (11th). Some standout performances from the men too, well done to Bryan Mulgrew who was the first Bella gent home. Huge congratulations and thanks to all our runners and supporters for making the race one to remember, and helping work up a thirst for our Christmas night out, which followed later in the evening! Lots of pics from the day on our members facebook group, courtesy of Gordon Goldie. Provisional results area available from Scottish Athletics race report. Huge thank you too to Kilmarnock Harriers for hosting, to all the marshals and officials who made the event and races happen, and a huge well done to everybody who took part.
News
The club was delighted to hear that members Romy Beard and Louise Ross were recently selected to represent Scotland at the British and Irish Masters XC International, in Swansea on 17th November. A fantastic achievement in itself, they returned from the event with bronze team medals in the W35 (Romy) and W40 (Louise) categories. A huge congratulations to them both, from everybody at the club! Well done to everybody who took part, at what sounds like a great event. Romy also sent in a great race report, which we’re delighted to share here: The team bus leaves Glasgow at 9am. Everybody is chatting. The journey is fine until we go cross-country through the Welsh mountains. In the dark. The bus becomes quiet. One lady is very sick. By the time we arrive it’s nearly 8pm. We wonder how Swansea can be so far away. We have dinner at the hotel with some other ladies including our rivals from Giffnock North. We decide to be friends for the weekend. Not much sleep much because they’re working right outside the hotel and in the morning the seagulls are loud. Some people report music and shouting, which I missed, so I must have slept after all. We put our Scotland shorts and vest on, and tie the tartan ribbons in our hair. The excitement begins! Short bus ride to Singleton park. The sun comes out just in time for the Scotland team photo. We do an easy jog of the course. It’s 3 laps of 2k. The second part of the lap is up and down one big slope. It doesn’t seem too bad. Photos. More warm up stuff. Getting very, very excited now. Lining up with all the other Scottish, Irish, Northern Irish, English and Welsh runners in our race (ladies plus the 65+ men). I feel fantastic on the first lap. I am running for Scotland. Hurrah! I can’t stop smiling. I’m also going too fast. I can see Mary McCutcheon from Giffnock North in front and know that I am too close to her. Fuck it. I am running for Scotland! It’s only 3 laps. The hill is worse than I thought. I get a stitch at the start of the second lap. I pull back a little. Only two laps to go. The hill is a killer on the second lap. I’m just looking at the piece of grass in front of me and keep putting one foot in front of the other. Whenever someone shouts Scotland I smile. I tell myself that I am strong and that I can do this. Third lap. I don’t care what race this is I just want it to end. Louise goes past just before the hill. I have nothing left to chase her. I lap a lady in the 70+ group and shout a well done to her. She is amazing. I feel a bit sick when I get over the hill for the last time. Down the hill and then around […]
The club held a very successful training day on Saturday 17th November, for club members. A jam packed schedule, devised by our lead coach Gerry Scullion, included: Cross Country training session, led by Graeme Paterson. 6, 2, 2, 4, 2, 2, 6 minute efforts, with a 1 minute recovery. ‘Nutrition for Runners’, by Emma Birnie, a Dietitian and Sports Nutritionist Tips and discussions on good running form, and the club’s training sessions, with Gerry ‘Marathon Training’, by club member Bruce Carse, who went from a 3:44 marathon at his first attempt, to 2:35! ‘Running and Injury’, by Matt Williamson, outlining injuries, and how to reduce the risk of them, and how to aid recovery. Yoga session, led by club member and yoga instructor, Kelly Ludwig And we’ve not even mentioned the free lunch! We were ‘live streaming’ a few pics on our twitter feed @bellaroadrunner, some pics and tweets attached below from the day. We’re really very grateful to everybody involved in making the day happen, particularly for those who led and spoke during the day. Many thanks to the 50 or so members that made it along through the course of the day, and we hope you found it useful and informative. All of the presentations are now available to members via the club forum. Club training day in full swing @Glasgowclub Nethercraigs. XC session earlier this morning. Now Gerry is talking about good (and bad!) running form. pic.twitter.com/n7Dj58hChB — Bella Road Runners (@bellaroadrunner) November 17, 2018 Now former club president Emma is talking about sports nutrition pic.twitter.com/76r2Knqntk — Bella Road Runners (@bellaroadrunner) November 17, 2018
The 2018 Jimmy Irvine Bella 10k took place on 11 November 2018. The event was a sell out again! Many thanks to everybody who took part, to our amazing marshals and race team, our sponsors Achilles Heel, plus Tunnocks, Sainsbury’s for the bananas and water, and Glasgow City Council staff (Pollok park for the cones, Bellahouston park for the course and support), and Craigton Primary School for the race HQ venue. An amazing effort by everybody, for which we’re really very grateful. Thanks too to the donations for our Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice: We’ll update you on the total raised very soon. Final results from stuweb, our race timing provider, are available here, and a full race report for the day will follow in the next day or two. Congratulations to our winners: First Male: Stuart McGeachy (Cambeltown Running Club) in 33:23, 2nd Male: Gordon Robertson (Cambuslang Harriers) in 33:31, 3rd Male: Jonathan Roebuck (unattached), in 33:45 First Female: Jennifer Wetton (Central AC), in 37:03, 2nd Kirstian Macruary (Corstorphine AAC) in 38:11. 3rd: Emer Campbell (Bellahouston Road Runners) in 40:26 In the age category prizes, firstly sincere apologies for not having the Ladies results available at the awards ceremony: The explanation for this is the club decided some time back to equalise the age categories (ie. same age ranges for men and women), but the Ladies provisional results we were given were for V35, V45, V55 (ie. not correct). This also appeared on the timing slips and website for a while. We felt it was better to award them later when we were certain and they had been update. Prizes will be posted to the winners soon. First Male V40: Andy Campbell (Bellahouston Road Runners), in 35:24. First Ladies V40: Jennifer Macfarlane (East Fife Triathlon Club) in 42:31 First Male V50, and Peter Cunningham cup winner: Wattie Mackay (Strathearn Harriers), in 37:24 First Ladies V50: Pamela McCrossan (Clydesdale Harriers) in 42:23 First Male V60: Graham McGrattan (Greenock Glenpark Harriers) in 42:25 First Ladies V60: Erica Christie (Achilles Heel Run Club) in 43:29 In the very-important-to-local-clubs team prizes, the first Men’s team was Bellahouston Road Runners, and the first Female team was Bellahouston Harriers. Thanks again to everybody for making today a great success.
We’ll shortly be sending final instructions to participants email addresses. If you don’t receive your copy this evening, please check your spam folders, and mark any email from bellahoustonroadrunners.co.uk you find there as not spam, to help our emails reach you, and others, in future. Note too if you registered two people with the same email address, you will only receive one copy of the instructions. Please review the entrycentral.com/bella10k entry list or get in touch with us if you’re unsure. Please do also follow us on social media for any last minute announcements or changes relating to the race. We’re at facebook.com/bellahoustonroadrunner and twitter @bellaroadrunner
Hot off the press: Read all about our GOLDEN Bellas; our yellow Bellas, our saltire Bellas; our green Bellas, Our Royal Bella; our Blistering Bella and our improved Bellas! All in your Bletha 6! Read on line or pick up your very own copy at the club!
Here it is! Jimmy Irvine himself was delighted earlier today to show off this year’s finisher’s t-shirt. Every runner will get one of these technical, long-sleeved t-shirts after finishing the race. The t-shirt image is from the Edinburgh to Glasgow relay race 60 years ago. Jimmy overtook the fancied Victoria Park runner, J. Taylor to win the third leg with a 38 yard lead. “When you go past, leave them no hope,” is one of Jimmy’s pithy mottos. The race will take place on Sunday 11 November in Bellahouston Park and has been very popular in recent years. You can sign up now at https://www.entrycentral.com/bella10k Enter as soon as you can to avoid disappointment! For more details go to https://www.bellahoustonroadrunners.co.uk/?p=711 We are very grateful for the support over many years from our Main Sponsor, achilles heel.
Congratulations to our magnificent ladies team who have today been announced as the Scottish Half Marathon Gold medalists at Sunday’s Great Scottish Run! Louise Ross, Cat MacDonald and Emer Campbell all finished in the top 20, and retained the title won last year. Well done ladies, we’re so proud of you! Congratulations to Dumbarton AC and Metro Aberdeen on taking Silver and Bronze team prizes, and to Inverclyde AC for winning the men’s Gold, with Shettleston, Edinburgh AC for Silver and Bronze.
What a day at the Great Scottish 10k and Half Marathon! At least 85 Bellas were involved in marshalling, pacing and racing this morning. That must be a record, and that’s not even including our fantastic supporters along the route! Congratulations too to Louise Ross for winning the Scottish Masters Bronze medal, finishing with a huge PB of 1.24.57. We were defending our Scottish national Ladies team Gold from 2017, and hope to find out later this week if we were successful! Thanks to everyone for making it such a memorable day!
💜 People Make Bella 💜 Big thanks to everyone who had a great time volunteering at GSR Super Saturday this morning, you did your club proud 👏👏 All the best to all our runners and volunteers tomorrow! Hope everybody taking part has a great time! Pictures courtesy of Kevin Queenan, Robert Macleod. Used with permission.
Twenty Bellas raced this morning in windy and surprisingly humid conditions at the Stirling 10k which also doubled up as the Scottish 10k Champs. Several scored PBs and season bests, but it was our ladies who once again brought back the silverware. Louise Ross and Emer Campbell picked up National Silver and Bronze medals in the V40 category and Shona Donnelly won the V50 Bronze. Well done ladies! 🥈🥉🥉 Results available here, and our thanks to Central AC for hosting a superb event! Photos courtesy of Graeme McNay and Robert Macleod.
Some great results in the last few weeks at the club that we wanted to highlight. 2018 John Lucas Round Strathaven 50 Mile Relay Huge congratulations to to Euan, Andy, Graeme, Russell and Craig (Euan, Andy and Graeme pictured) for winning the men’s relay event. Well done too to Ann who took part at the same event, in the mixed team event. Many thanks to Marc Bromwich for organising the men’s team entry, and was all set to run, but had to pull out because of injury. 2018 Paisley 10k A great clutch of results and individual runs from the always popular Paisley 10k, part of our annual club championships. Shona Donnelly was 1st female v50, Gerry Scullion 1st male v50, and Cat, Ann and were the 2nd female team home. Cross country training returning in September Our informal Saturday morning cross country focused training sessions resumes from 8th September in Bellahouston Park. More details on the club forum: Chi will be posting specific details in advance. Always a great way to start the weekend! Cross country and relays are a big part of the club’s autumn and winter focus, and pretty much all the races are included as part of our membership. Justensure your Scottish Athletics and club membership is up to date, and that you’re setup on the forum in order to get your name down when entries open! Jimmy Irvine Bella 10k entries open Entries to our popular 10k, the Jimmy Irvine Bella 10k, have now opened, and are already selling fast. Pop along to entrycentral.com/bella10k to sign up.
We’re delighted to announce that entries are now open for the 2018 edition of the Jimmy Irvine Bella 10k, taking place at midday on 11 November 2018. Sign up now to secure your place at entrycentral.com/bella10k
A great time was had this morning at Drumchapel parkun, for a bit of a social visit to Glasgow’s “most undulating” parkrun. Over 20 Bellas ran, volunteered or supported the event. Thanks to the organisers for putting on a great event, and for delaying the start until a group of 7 of us running over from the southside arrived a touch late after going on a diversion around Blairdardie due to… navigational… challenges! It was fantastic catching up with everybody, and some familiar faces at the event. First Bellas home were Gerry Scullion and Louise Ross who each won a massive slice of Strawberry gateaux, kindly donated by Robert Macleod. Thanks to Kevin for organising!
Back at our February AGM, our membership voted to adopt a new membership fee structure, and we’re delighted we’ve now invited our existing members to renew their membership under the new structure. Members should check their email (be sure to check your spam folder too), and follow the instructions. We’re still updating our website to reflect it everywhere, but we’ve replaced the old cash based system with a modern and, we think, excellent value for money setup that’s easier for members, and us. We’re also delighted that we can offer concessionary rates at last. The fees can be paid for annually or monthly, and we’re encouraging members to pay by direct debit (although we also support payment by card and bank transfer for annual membership). The total fee is made up of membership (equivalent to £25 per year), and a training/racing fee – which members select based on how often they train with us (or take part in our subsidised races), which broadly seeks to cover the core operational costs of our club. Our fees are now: £65 (or £5.62 per month), for regular training/racing (3 or more times a month) £45 (or £3.95 per month), for occasional training/racing (2 or less a month) £35 (or £3.12 per month), is our concessionary rate for members in full-time education, low-income/unemployed, or senior (60+ years). £25 (annual charge only) for Basic membership, for members who aren’t training with us just now. This doesn’t include a club vest or club subsidised races. Except for the Basic membership, all the new membership fees are entirely inclusive, and include all our training sessions, support of our awesome coaches, access to our club forum and social media groups, all the cross country races you can handle, a discount to the best club organised 10k in Glasgow, super social events through the year, all for between £3 and £6 a month! You’re also helping support us as we grow and develop the club into our charitable status, aiming to be a substantive part of our community. Existing members just need to follow the link they were sent as part of the renewal process at the end of July 2018, before the end of August when existing memberships run to. If you’re a current member, and have not received your renewal note, please get in touch with us so we can check your email address. Once you’ve signed up to the new setup, you can also stop popping a £1 coin in the tin! If you’re stuck, we’ve a guide/FAQ on our club forum. If you’re looking to join us, or are you a lapsed member considering a return, your first four sessions are free, so come along and check we’re right for you before signing up (we just need your emergency contact details on file). You can have a read about what’s involved at our training nights on our ‘Join Us’ page too. Once you’re happy, pop over to our membership page at bellahoustonroadrunners.co.uk/membership and sign up. Our […]