Short and sharp race at the Emirates Arena this afternoon. I think a few others from the club would have fancied this but some had niggles and others were doing the final race of the Borders XC series or the Kirkie 12.5k. On such a fine winter day it almost seemed a shame to be running indoors. If only this race had been last Sunday and the Greenock 5-miler today! I’d noticed some much faster guys on the start list for the V35 race and thought they’d quickly establish a lead. Instead we ended up in a tight bunch. I looked at the clock at about half-way and the pace was just a shade slower than I’d have needed to repeat last year’s time. I couldn’t say it felt comfortable at all, but just not quite as uncomfortable as it should! No-one wanted to make a move. Reluctantly I took the lead with about 3 laps to go but I knew I wouldn’t be there for long! There was an injection of pace and three guys went by me one-by-one, at a speed I couldn’t live with. It felt like I was going backwards but I managed to hang on for 4th place out of 7. A bit slower than last year but happy enough with it. This one as well as the 3000m at the start of January are good opportunities to run at such a marvellous venue. Hopefully we can get more Bellas involved next year. Iain
News
The Renfrewshire AAA 5 mile road race took place at Battery park in Greenock on 7 Feb 2016. The wind is always a challenge for this Club Championship race, but this year high winds and heavy rain had caused the approach road to Greenock to be blocked causing long travel delays. Just getting to the start line was therefore a major achievement and unfortunately not everyone made it, with several turning back or arriving after the race had started. Battery Park had its own flooding problems with 30m long puddles, knee deep in places, a major obstacle for runners not expecting “cross country on the roads” as one competitor put it. In the latter stages of the race, submerged kerbs in these water features were tripped over causing a number of runners to fall and one competitor even broke his ankle. Although the rain held off for the race, the wind was particularly brutal this year. On re-entering the park after the out-and-back along the esplanade the gale force wind was like a solid wall slowing everyone’s progress. Well done to everyone who took part but particularly well done to Ann, Claire and Katie who took Bronze medals in the ladies competition, with Claire coming 2nd V40. The men’s team were 4th for the second year running. Full results Runbritain Rankings Photo by Gordon Goldie
A record number of Bellas turned out for the first marathon pace training session of 2016 in Glasgow Green on Wednesday 13th January. Cold but dry – well done everyone!
Over the Christmas and New Year period Craigholme is closed. We have therefore arranged for the club to be able to use the facilities at Glasgow Club Nethercraigs on the following evenings. Monday 21 December Wednesday 23 December Monday 4 January Unfortunately Nethercraigs is also closed between Christmas and New Year but the training schedule will have an alternative meeting area for Mon 28 Dec and Wed 30 Dec. At Nethercraigs, there is a car park, toilets, changing, showers and lockers (£1 returnable). When you enter the centre the meeting area for our use is behind the reception area on the right. For storage of bags etc please make use of the lockers. There will be NO CHARGE for training for the duration of Craigholme’s closure. The address: Glasgow Club Nethercraigs 355 Corkerhill Rd Glasgow G52 1TQ
Results from today’s Scottish Athletics West District XC can be found on the Scottish Athletics website here: West District XC 2015 results
A wet and windy Glasgow University Hares and Hounds 5 mile race took place on Saturday, with 16 Bellas running as part of the Club’s Winter Championships. The race was one by Deeside’s Robbie Simpson in 24:34 with Garscube’s Lesley Chisholm first lady home in 29:09. Provisional results are available here A video of the event by Gordan Curran is available here:
Course maps and competitor information for the Scottish Athletics West District Cross Country Championships on Sunday 6th December 2015 in Bellahouston park can be found by clicking the button below and are also on the Scottish Athletics website.
Today I joined my fellow Bellas in Gourock for 3 hilly laps of a very Muddy park. Lynn R very kindly collected me and Maz at our old ski centre haunt and off we went to deepest darkest Inverclyde. Lynn was a fellow XC virgin and we weren’t too sure what to expect. I was most afraid of the weather- Hurricane/tornado/Storm Abigail has been showing us her worst for a few days and I was fully expecting howling winds and driving rain. Maz had warned me to bring loads of warm clothes, so as I can go often blue I packed silver blankets and a heated sticky patch thing just in case. To be honest, the reason why I have never entered a XC race before was because I thought they were for “proper runners” and I’m not sure I’m one of them…But I’ll try most things once so I was aiming to get myself round in one piece. The ladies did 3 laps and the boys were doing 5- initially I thought this was a dreadful sexist travesty but by the time I got to lap 2 I was so relieved and thought it was after all very sensible. Oops- no-one tell Beyonce, I don’t think she’d approve! Although Lynn R was having such a great time, she nearly went round for a fourth… The start was signalled by a gun , which gave me a fright and then off we went. The course appeared to me mostly uphill, had some very tight turns and some sections were like running in very cold chocolate mousse. Maz managed a very impressive slide onto her back after just a few metres and retains her title of “runner most likely to fall- and no, she wasn’t pushed!” Kirtseen was then at a disadvantage as this made it harder for her to run because she was laughing so hard! Apparently one of the men got hit on the head by a football too which knocked him down- Gordon Goldie was on duty with the camera and captures this and many other golden moments! About halfway through I had my usual thoughts of “this is crap, who’s idea was this and I hate running” and then came the final wee hill which George pushed me up and I had finished! Hurrah- I didn’t fall over, I wasn’t last and the rain stayed off! All in all not a bad first XC experience It was a pity our poor gazebo ( may he/she rest in peace) wasn’t around to provide us with shelter, but thanks to my Bella mates for the cracking race day banter! Bring on the next XC race.
Well done to everyone who completed the Jimmy Irvine Bella 10k yesterday in dreadful weather conditions. Particular congratulations to our winners: Congratulations to the 2015 prize winners: 1ST MALE Neil RENAULT – Edinburgh Athletic Club 00:31:32 2ND MALE Robert GILROY – Ronhill Cambuslang Harriers 0:32:12 3RD MALE Paul KERR – Edinburgh University Triathlon Club 00:32:36 1ST FEMALE Shona MCINTOSH – Hunters Bog Trotters 00:36:20 2ND FEMALE Megan DAVIDSON – Falkirk Victoria Harriers 00:37:03 3RD FEMALE Donna McHUGH 00:39:34 MV40 Chris WALSH – Bellahouston Harriers 00:34:55 MV50 Wattie MACKAY – Strathearn Harriers 00:36:03 MV60 David KINGHORN – Jog Scotland 00:43:35 FV35 Karen KENNEDY – Carnegie Harriers 0:40:23 FV45 Susie HUBBARD – Ayr Seathforth AAX 00:42:17 FV55 Lorna COYLE – Greenock Glenpark Harriers 00:47:47 MALE TEAM: Bellahouston Harriers :Colin THOMAS, Jack HEATHWOOD and Darren MCQUADE FEMALE TEAM Bellahouston Road Runners : Debs GRAY, Louise ROSS, Ann ROBIN Provisional results are available here: Jimmy Irvine results
Bella Results from the Jimmy Irvine Bella 10k on 8th November 2015 are shown below. Full results available here
I really wanted to do the Dublin marathon. Seeing as it is the home city and I remember being brought in as a child to watch my Dad and uncle run it, I thought if I only do one more marathon, that’s the one it’ll be. So I signed up. With only three months to go. Not ideal preparation time. But I had an ok base and looking at the calendar, I could just about fit in the long runs and a few build up races. But then life got in the way and as it happened, by the time it came to taper I had only done 16 miles as my longest run. Eek! So I was a bit anxious heading into it not properly trained. Lining up at the start, I was helped keep calm by a man’s voice over the tannoy. I don’t know who he was but I was enthralled by his ramblings over motivation, pride, inspiration, personal bests, descriptions of the crowd, such as people wearing “high-falutin lycra suits”, musings over what brought people here, in all shapes and sizes, the great and the good, the veterans and the first-time, on and on like a priest saying mass. Such a lovely experience and in stark contrast to the usual high energy pop that’s belted out at race starts. He called it “an emotional experience in a material world”. We got an indian blessing of “Namaste” then a garda sang the national anthem. It was all very surreal and I loved it. Off we went through the streets of Dublin and it was wonderful to see city landmarks and old haunts from this perspective. The route starts on south side of city centre, heads past Christchurch cathedral and onto the quays of the River Liffey. Crossing over to the north side and into the Phoenix Park. A great expanse of autumnal views across Europes largest city park. All along was great support and crowd energy. There are some gradual hills but nothing severe. The route exits and enters the park again, down into the liffey valley and back across south side. It crosses the canal and loops through residential areas, taking you back to the city centre finish. It was a very well organised race with plenty of water stops (flip top bottles) and Lucozade and energy gels at the latter stops. Easy bag drop and start area, but not so easy to find travel information on the website. The crowds were really amazing. I have never experienced anything like it. Very funny shouts and signs. Lots of “Fair play to ye” and “yizzer great” and my favourite “Yer not really bollixed, ye only think ye are!” I optimistically thought I might get 3:45 if I kept it under 8 and a half minute miles, which I did easily for the first half, then I slowed down after that and struggled to get back up to pace. I was scoffing the energy gels too which I […]
Congratulations to Debs Gray, Louise Ross and Claire Wharton on their Women’s Team Bronze Medal winning performance in the Scottish National Half Marathon Championships on Sunday at the Great Scottish Run in Glasgow. Debs ran a seasons best 87:11, while Louise’s 89:59 equalled her half marathon PB set at last years GSR. Claire ran within 11s of her PB set way back in 2004 to finish in 91:33. Well done – great to see all that hard work in training paying off. Scottish Athletics article with Results
There was a fabulous turnout of 79 Bellas at the Great Scottish Run events today. 49 took part in the Half Marathon, 10 were in action in the 10k and a further 20 volunteered to marshal the start. Conditions were ideal for running and there were a number of big PB’s. The Half marks the last race in the Club championship for this year. Well done to everyone who took part and a big thank you for all the support.
We had ideal running conditions for today’s hill race on Ben Venue. Well done to everyone who took part and a big thank you to all the helpers. Full results can be found here.