A sunny, if slightly windy day in Glasgow today saw the conclusion of the Babcock 10k series at the expertly organised Shettleston 10k on Glasgow Green. A great turnout from members – many of whom were completing the series of three – and some super pics too (a selection below) from the Bella support crew! We’re delighted that Romy Beard, Laura Henderson and Mandy Morgan secured team bronze in the West District championships competition within the race. Full results here, and the team results are on the Scottish Athletics report. Well done Ladies, and well done everybody who took part! Well done too to Stephen McQuade securing a 13 minute PB at the Edinburgh Marathon today (in a time of 3:05:47), and Garry Smith following on from his debut Highland Fling a few weeks ago tackling the Edinburgh Half Marathon. Many members just took advantage of the lovely bank holiday weather to enjoy a ride or run in the sun, whether a parkrun, the Dunblane 12k, or their local park/streets. This week’s training we’re looking forward to track speed sessions, and tempo efforts in Pollok park, all looking forward to next month’s Brian Goodwin 10k. If you fancy getting along to develop your running or improve your 10k time, have a poke about our website, and come along around 6.20pm. Pictures courtesy of Camilla Cunningham and Mhairi Moir. Plenty more on our club member’s facebook group.
Racing
The club has had a busy few days for club championship races, with the Dumbarton 10k and the rearranged Down by the River 10k both featuring as medium distance races this week. The Dumbarton 10k was a fantastic evening for the 35 members taking part, and highlights from the results include Claire Wharton (41:57) and Jane McNeilly (42:35) as 1st and 3rd V40 Ladies (separated in 2nd by our friend Mary Senior, formally of this parish). Gerry Scullion continued his fine running form with a superb 37:00 as 3rd V50 Male. Cambuslang 10k took place earlier today, and we understand Romy was 3rd Lady overall, Emer 4th lady (and 1st V40), and Romy, Emer and Mhairi scooping the 1st ladies team prizes. Away from the champs, Wednesday evening saw perfect conditions for the Antonine trail race with their coveted finishers rock, Saturday saw the popular Dick Wedlock 10k taking place in Pollok park, where Bryan Mulgrew stormed to 3rd place. Well done to everybody who took part!
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.
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 […]
Matthew Campbell sent this report in shortly after taking part in the Rome Half Marathon The race started on the outskirts of Rome and finished on the coast in a town called Ostia. The weather on the day was ideal a few light showers and fairly overcast although I still managed to get slightly burnt! The course didn’t take in any of Rome’s tourist sites and for the most part was ran on one big long straight road, it was a fairly flat courses although between mile 6 and 7 there was a quite steep incline that eventually leveled off at about the 8 mile mark. The rest of the race was gradually downhill. At the three mile stage I was regretting the amount of walking I did the days before sightseeing as my legs were already starting to feel a bit heavy but I found a second wind (I knew there was a good reason to eat all that pasta) and reached the 10 mile mark, the last 3 miles were a bit of a struggle but I dug in and managed to finish in under my 2 hour target (1.56.53) Looking forward to my next one.
Conditions couldn’t have been better for the annual Renfrewshire AAA 5mile road race at Battery Park in Gourock today. A flat calm and bright sunshine are unheard of for this race as anyone who took part in 2016 will tell you! The Purple Posse had a bumper turnout, and carried home a good haul medals with Cat MacDonald, Claire Wharton and Shona Donnelly 2nd overall ladies team, with Claire 1st FV40 and Shona 1st FV50. In the men’s race it was a Bella clean sweep in the MV50 category with Colin Hughes 1st, Gerry Scullion 2nd and Al McLachlan 3rd. Congratulations to them, and to all who took part, and many thanks to the great support out on the course! Pics from the day courtesy of Caroline Turner are available on our facebook page. A copy of the provisional results were sent through to us, and available here (please direct any queries at the organisers)
BELLA MEN WIN SCOTTISH VETERAN HARRIERS ROAD RELAYS! LADIES FINISH THIRD! The men’s team of Bruce Carse, Bruce Carmichael, Graeme Paterson and Andy Campbell ran out of their skins to become Scottish Champions at the SVHC Road Relays, beating 51 other teams to the trophy. Our ladies team of Romy Beard, Emer Campbell and Claire Wharton won a fantastic bronze medal! Congratulations to you all, the club are very proud of you! Well done to everybody who took part and supported our members on the day. Well done!
Many thanks to everybody who took part today, or helped volunteer to make the event such a success. We hope everybody enjoyed their day out in Glasgow’s south-side! Provisional results are now available at our timing provider at stuweb.co.uk/race/1J2/. For the small number of runners who didn’t have a technical t-shirt available in their size, we should have taken a note of your details so we can post one to you in a few weeks time. If we didn’t take a note of your details today, please get in touch with us via races@bellahoustonroadrunners.co.uk by 16th November. Prizes We’d like to express our thanks and gratitude to our sponsor Achilles Heel for their support, providing the prizes and goody bags. Overall winner prizes Male 1st, Robert Gilroy, Cambuslang Harriers, 00:32:28 2nd, Jozsef Farkas, Stirling University Athletics Club, 00:32:32 3rd, Alasdair Campbell, Cambuslang Harriers, 00:32:45 Female 1st, Claire Moffett, Falkirk Victoria Harriers, 00:37:21 2nd, Katie Bain, Edinburgh Athletics Club, 00:38:36 3rd, Laura Wallace, Ayr Seaforth AAC, 00:38:46 Age Category Prizes 1st Male V40, Cris Walsh, 00:35:10 1st Female V40, Ann Robin, 00:38:56 1st Male V50, Chris Upson, 00:36:50 1st Female V50, Jacqui Thomson, 00:41:58 1st Male V60, Brian Hughes, 00:39:07 1st Female V60, Linda Selman, 00:51:22 Team Prizes Male: Bellahouston Harriers (Jack Arnold, David Mackintosh, Darren Mackintosh) Female: Bellahouston Harriers (Janine Dickie, Kristina Greig, Clair McCormick) Most runners were present to collect their prize, but we’ll be in touch with participants who couldn’t make it along to Nethercraigs.
For runners taking part in tomorrow’s event, we hope you’re looking forward to taking part in the 2017 edition of our event. Bellahouston Road Runners certainly looks forward to welcoming you! Final instructions were emailed out to participants on Tuesday, so please check your inbox (and spam folders), for your personalised email with all the details you need. We’ve also put details on our event website at bellahoustonroadrunners.co.uk/events/bella-10k. If you have already received your number, please be at the start line (adjacent to Cycle track in Bellahouston park) by 11.50am for the 12pm start. Your race number should be clearly attached to your front. Safety pins are available at the start area or at Nethercraigs. To ease congestion on the course we’ll be asking runners to assemble in approximate race pace order, so please find the appropriate pace group for your expected time. If you have not received your number, or require changing facilities or secure lockers, registration is at Glasgow Club Nethercraigs (G52 1TQ) from 9.30am to 11.30am. This is 1 mile from the start, so please allow plenty of time. We look forward to welcome you tomorrow. After the race, and after collecting your technical t-shirt and goody-bag, we invite you to the post-race buffet in the dance studio at Nethercraigs (donation requested). The race presentation will take place at approximately 1345 at the Nethercraigs dance studio. Hot Beverages will be available to purchase in Bellahouston Park. Full details are on our event website at: bellahoustonroadrunners.co.uk/events/bella-10k.
Club founder Jimmy Irvine has unveiled the t-shirt design for the 2017 running of the ‘Jimmy Irvine Bella 10k‘, which takes place this Sunday in Bellahouston park. The T-shirt was designed by Bella Road Runner, Greame Pert who said: “I hope the t-shirt shows Jimmy’s enthusiasm and enduring commitment to running. Jimmy does not make it to club as often as he’d like but is still running.“ Graeme added, “I spent time with Jimmy and Sandra, looking through their old photos and found a great one of Jimmy starting a leg of the London to Brighton relay in 1959. His club mate is exhausted as he passes the baton to a sprightly eager Jimmy who is just raring to go. Jimmy is a great ambassador for running, our local hero and worth celebrating. His photo is centre of 2017 club T-shirt” Current club President, Richard Leyton added “Everybody who’s seen the design, and heard Jimmy’s story behind it loves it. We’re all really looking forward to seeing it out and about on the streets of Glasgow over the coming weeks and months.” For entrants on Sunday, details are on the event website at bellahoustonroadrunners.co.uk/events/bella-10k/ – We’d remind the runners who didn’t receive their number in the post, or who wish to use the changing facilities, that registration and changing are at Glasgow Club Nethercraigs (G52 1TQ), approx 1 mile from the start. The event is sponsored by Achilles Heel, and supported by Tunnocks.
Delighted to report that our Ladies Masters team of Ann Robin, Shona Donnelly and Louise Ross won Gold at the 2017 Scottish Athletics National XC Relays yesterday. An absolutely fantastic performance by all three. Delighted that they could share their brilliant result with fellow club members at last night’s annual awards evening. Well done to the many other Bellas that took part at Cumbernauld house, and provided support and encouragement to each other as they ran the testing Cumbernauld course. Provisional results are available. Further congratulations to both Shona and Ann who were recently selected to represent Scotland in November at the British and Irish Masters International XC in Derry. Photo via Scottish Athletics twitter.
We hosted the 2017 Renfrewshire AAA XC Relay, at Netherpollok, on Sunday 22nd October 2017. Many thanks to everybody who helped make the event such a success. Photos from the day are available on our Facebook page) (Albums here and here), and please find the full results for each of the races below: Senior Women Senior Men (updated) U11 Boys U11 Girls U13 Boys U13 Girls U15 Boys U15 Girls U17 Boys U17 Girls
The club had a fantastic turnout at this year’s Great Scottish Run Half Marathon. A total of 51 runners raced the event, as well as providing a set of marshals to help with start line duties (before helping cheer runners along the way), and a number of pacers helping a great many runners achieve Personal Bests and race targets. So a big ‘well done!’ to everybody who took part in some way on the day, and many thanks to the many Bellas out on the course giving a cheer to everybody too! A particular congratulations for three of our Ladies – Catriona McDonald, Romy Beard and Katie Mathieson – who took home a fantastic Gold in the Scottish Half Marathon Championships. Brilliant achievement, and culmination of a lot of hard work. Well done!
Calderglen Country Park in East Kilbride on Friday saw 14 Bellas brave the midges to tackle the 10k trail race. Congratulations to Elaine Somerville was first Bella home and first FV40, Stevie Bell first MV65 and the 2nd place ladies team prize was won by Elaine Somerville, Pauline Bradley and Maree Shepard. Despite the undulating, uneven nature of the course with barely any tarmac in sight, the race has proved popular with Road Runners over the years and well worth putting in the diary for next year if you’ve still not given it a try. Well done to everyone who took part and thanks to Calderglen Harriers for hosting a great event. Full results here: Click to access 10kResults2017.pdf photo credit: Colin Hughes
Well done to Bruce Carmichael on winning the Isle of Arran Half Marathon yesterday. Also congratulations to Bruce Carse on winning a silver medal in the 1500m at the scottishathletics National Masters Championships in Grangemouth on Saturday. Great work guys.