Six Bellas braved the brutal conditions in Kilmarnock to take part in the Scottish National Masters cross country event on Saturday 4 February. First things first, I have run in many cross country events over the years and conditions here were amongst the most challenging I have experienced. Rarely have I heard so many runners on the starting line question why they were taking part and rarely have I seen so many folk shivering so much half an hour after the race in the shelter of St Joseph’s Academy where hot food and drink were available. The soup and hot food were just what was required to provide some warmth. I hope this doesn’t deter folk from taking part in the future as rarely do you get such conditions, witness the following day at the Renfrew Road Race when we had fine spring conditions with the sun emerging for parts of the race. Back to the event itself, we had Julia Harris running in the ladies 6k event. She got around a muddy and slippy course and finished a creditable 19th position out of 58 finishers. We’re sorry that we couldn’t give Julia more support on her way round but the cold, sleet and windy conditions made you only want to take some shelter where you could. Unfortunately we didn’t have a full ladies team this time around so here’s hoping for next year. In the men’s event over 8km, our team was 7th position out of over 50 teams. Greig Glendinning had a fine run finishing in 14th position, with Russell Whittington in 34th, Gerry Scullion in 60th, Robert McEwan in 104th and Ewan McDonald in 167th positions of 178 finishers. Well done to all who took part, all deserve credit for bearing up to the conditions. If nothing else it is character building. What sort of character I am not sure! Results are on the Scottish Athletics website. Report from Gerry
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Great news from the weekend: The club had two representatives at the British and Irish Masters Cross Country in Bellahouston Park. Russell Whittington was running in Scotland’s V35 team (and came away with a Silver medal), and Julia Harris representing Wales in the V40’s. It was certainly a wet and windy Saturday afternoon, so huge congratulations to everybody who took part. Russell sent in this superb event report: On Saturday I had the amazing opportunity to run for the Scottish Masters team in the British and Irish Masters Cross Country in the home surroundings of Bellahouston Park. The race is split up into age categories in five year groups starting at V35 and going up to V70 for the men and V65 for the women. The event is made up of teams from Scotland, England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. I was put in a strong looking V35 team along side David Miller, Jamie Reid, Robert Gilroy, Joe McKnight and Iain Connell. The weather and course conditions were very challenging. The weather was wet and windy and the the course was muddy and hilly so all in all it was a proper cross country. The first race was for all the women and the male V65 and V70 categories and was made up of one big loop and one smaller loop. The Scottish women got the team off to a great start with stand out performances from Lesley Chisholm third overall and second V35, Melissa White 4th overall and first V45 for the second year in succession and Fiona Matheson 5th overall and first V50. The F35 and F45 teams were both one point behind England in second place and the F50, F55 and F65 teams all took bronze medals. Our own Julia Harris was representing Wales in this event and finished 75th overall in a time of 27:15. The male race for categories V35 through to V60 was two big loops of the course. The race started at 12.45 and started on the pitch and put area. From there we headed uphill through the wooded area of the park followed by the downhill heading towards the House for an Art Lover. This descent was the trickiest part of the course as it was very muddy and several runners fell over in this section. After the House for an Art Lover we headed into a strong headwind past the Palace of Art and then up the second of the tough hills. The loop finished with a lap around the back of the cycle track before setting off on the second muddy lap. I finished in 76th place in a time of 28:39. Peter Matthews was first home for Ireland in 24:54. First Scot was Jamie Reid who was 7th overall and 2nd V35. My V35 team finished 2nd overall one point behind the winners Ireland. The four to count for the team were Jamie Reid, David Miller, Robert Gilroy and Joe McKnight. Fortunately for me there were […]