OK the pain is starting to fade so I suppose it would be rude not to rustle up a little race report from last weeks 53mile Highland Fling race. I’ve been struggling to put this race into words but fellow Bella Chris Brotherston once told me the best way to write a race report is to pour yourself a glass of red wine and stick on some Elbow in the background. however it is 9 o’clock in the morning on a bank holiday monday so I am going with a bowl of muesli and Radio 4 as an alternative.

So the race:
The fling always seems to be ran in amazing weather and despite the rest of the country being drowned in rain conditions in Milngavie for the start of the race were perfect- sunny and cool and aside from the runners, not much wind. Davie, Brendon and Tommy had kindly offered to join Elsie on support duties. They dropped me at Milngavie for registration and headed off to plan how many cake shops they could visit on route to Tyndrum.

After a one line briefing from the race director we were off. The first section to Drymen is fairly flat and uneventful, these early miles flew by and before I knew it I was in Drymen to see the happy faces of the support crew. Brendon had them drilled like a well oiled F1 pit crew, water and unwrapped clif bars were thrust into my hand without me having to break my stride. As I left Drymen a fellow runner mournfully looked back at them and commented “my crew haven’t turned up today” I was about to feel sorry for him and offer him a bar when he sped off into the distance and I didn’t see him again.

The next big obstacle in the race is Conic hill, given that I faceplanted 3 times coming of Conic Hill in a hill race a few weeks ago I was a bit nervous coming down in road shoes. However this time I stayed on my feet and made it down to the 20mile checkpoint at Balmaha in one piece. Here more food and water was thrust in my hand and I set of for Rowardennan. I had been keeping up a decent pace till this point however my stomach was starting to gurgle a bit and I had to slow the pace a bit over the next section to avoid a bottom explosion. Unfortunately on the descent into Rowardennan a runner had fallen and broken an arm, Davie Weatherhead had sprung into action and was diverting runners around the fallen runner while she was attended to. I continued on and pushed through the checkpoint grabbing some food from Elsie and Tommy without stopping. There is some lovely hilly but runnable forest track coming out of Rowardenan I tried to keep the pace up here knowing the dreaded rough section out of Inversnaid was still to come.

The checkpoint at Inversnaid is too difficult to get to by car so I had no cheery support team here and for the 1st time I was on my own at a checkpoint. So instead of breezing through in seconds I lost minutes fumbling about changing water bottles and grabbing some food. It’s amazing how easily little things can bother you at this stage in a race. I knocked my bottle of coke over and am pretty sure I stamped my foot in a childlike tantrum and nearly burst into tears.

Up until now I had been on target for an 8:45 finish. But as I left Inversnaid my body felt like it was falling apart and the next 4 miles over the rooty, rocky, scrambly section were hell. The main problem was my stomach which had been an issue since Balmaha. I was really struggling to get down any solid food, so I just resorted to flat coke, unfortunately most of that was on the ground back at Inversnaid. I thought I had lost so much time over this section that all thoughts about finishing in a particular time went out the window and it was just about making it to Bein Glas. However as I finished the lochside section some life started to come back to my legs and for the first time in a couple of hours I felt like I could run freely.

I came into Bein Glas suddenly feeling ok, looked at my watch and realised despite the struggles from Inversnaid I was still only a few minutes down on my target time. As long as I didn’t fall apart in the last 12 miles I should be ok for a sub 9hr finish.

Elsie and Tommy joined me to run with me on this last section, it was a big lift to see them and I tried to put on a little spurt on the hill as we left Bein Glas. Running fast was clearly too much for me as I promptly tripped over my feet gashing my knee in the process- maybe this wouldn’t be so straightforward after all. There were to be more surprises on this last section, I’m pretty sure I saw Davie and Brendon in a dress as I passed the A82 but he claims this was just a hallucination brought on by exhaustion. Hallucinations and bleeding knees aside, I actually felt reasonably ok on the last 12 miles, maybe feeling terrible at Inversnaid was a blessing, it may have just slowed me down enough so that I had enough in the tank to get me to Tyndrum.

I was very happy to cross the finish line in 8hrs46minutes. A big chunk of that time is thanks to the help of Elsie, Brendon, Davie and Tommy. They did such a good job I may have to come calling on them for the full West Highland Way race next year…

Report from Grant

Results

Beautiful spring weather welcomed 500 runners to Fort William for the Lochaber Marathon on Sunday, 15 April.

An out and back course along the shore of Loch Linhe was the challenge and 6 runners from Bellahouston Roadruners were up for it.

The course is fairly flat, undulating in places. Basically you run towards Corpach and continue on until you reach 13 miles, then turn round and run back. The snow capped mountains give a scenic backdrop and the fact there are only 500 runners and few cars means you get a clear run. Although there is a sneaky wee steep hill in the last mile.

Bellahouston highlights included PBs for Greg Glendinning ( 2.41 and 1st MV40) and 2.59 for Nea Macinnes.

Thanks to Danielle, Brendan, Susie and Peter for their excellent support around the course.

Bellahouston Times
Greg Glendinning 3.41
Nea Macinnes 2.59
John Gilhooley 3.09
Frans Roelefse 3.14
Tomoyo Fujiwara 3.33
David Boyle 3.39

Full results

Above report from David

And some additional reporting… from Tomoyo

I enjoyed running this race, beautiful view and plenty of water station there.

It was my 19th marathon and I had my first experience “I took a wrong turn” at 25 miles, as I did not see any runners in front of me. However the guy who was running behind me (actually he was walking when I passed), he shouted and rescued me!!! I wonder if this guy ignored me….am I still running now?? Lucky me, I guess!

I will try hard again at the Edinburgh marathon next month to get sub 3:30!!!

Thank you for all your support.

And more from Nea …..

Phew, that was close!

Ran 2:59:46, new PB by 10 mins. Perfect running weather on lovely flat course, until the last mile when little hills come out of nowhere and feel as if you are climbing Ben Nevis itself!

I thought I had 90secs to spare and cruise to the finish until Brendan started running beside me in the last mile screaming at me and looking worriedly at the stop watch on his iphone. My garmin was showing that the finish must be round the corner, but alas it was round the corner, up the hill, round another corner and then the final straight (0.25miles longer than I thought!).

In the final straight just as the legs wanted to fall off I had Brendan screaming behind me and Peter screaming in front of me – there was NO way I was not going to finish under 3 hrs!!

Great support from Danielle, Suzie and the Sadistic Duo – Brendan & Peter! I know I could not have done it with out your support – BRILLIANT!!!!

Well done to all Bella’s on the day and Greg getting 1st V40!

While everyone else was off running Lochaber or tapering for London a crowd of us ran the Balloch to Clydebank half marathon on Sunday, 15 April. The conditions were perfect with sunshine, cool temperatures and no wind, so there were quite a few PBs bagged. I think Chris Bell might be able to claim the biggest PB, knocking an impressive 10+ mins off his previous time!

Debs Gray won 2nd Female, Rebecca was 3rd female, the ladies won 2nd team prize (although that might have been upgraded as they hadn’t counted it right….) and I scraped a prize for 5th male.

Bella results below, full results attached.

Position Race No Competitor Name Gender Category Cat Pos Finish Time Chip Time
6 272 Bruce Carse Male SNR 5 01:16:22 01:16:22
24 337 Tommy Oconnell Male SNR 14 01:22:45 01:22:45
38 338 Deborah Gray Female VET40 2 01:25:50 01:25:46
44 402 Jim Robinson Male VET50 4 01:26:07 01:26:05
48 195 Rebecca Johnson Female VET40 3 01:26:33 01:26:32
50 404 Robert Mcewan Male VET50 6 01:27:33 01:27:31
51 405 Neil Mcewan Male SNR 27 01:27:33 01:27:32
68 183 Chris Bell Male SNR 32 01:30:18 01:30:09
97 410 Grant Edmondson Male VET40 30 01:34:27 01:34:16
102 417 Tom Mcmillan Male VET50 13 01:35:08 01:35:02
110 285 Alex Lawther Male SNR 53 01:36:09 01:36:02
129 333 Norman Coyle Male VET50 14 01:38:34 01:38:25
131 373 Jane Wild Female VET40 8 01:38:47 01:38:38
173 140 John Sandbach Male VET40 46 01:42:29 01:42:10
184 346 David Lafferty Male SNR 78 01:43:24 01:43:18
217 305 Jane Galt Female SNR 24 01:46:54 01:46:45
221 242 Louise Gray Female VET40 19 01:48:01 01:47:53

Report from Bruce

Six Bella’s headed to Livingston on Saturday, 31 March, for the Scottish Road Relay championships. This is the most important of the road relay events in the running calendar and so it is important for our club to be taking part.

Conditions although overcast at first turned into an afternoon of fine weather and excellent for running.

The men’s event comprises 6 stages, 3 runners covering a short loop of approximately 3.2 miles and 3 runners covering a longer loop of 5.8 miles. For this sort of race you need a bit of self motivation as, beyond the first runner, you can be heading out on your own without anyone to keep pace.

Our team put in a fine performance. We were 22nd out of 46 finishing teams, covering the course in a total time of 2:36:37

Brian O’Donnell 18:59
Bruce Carse 33:45
Rankin Lawther 20:01
Cieran Dougherty 32:55
Gerard Scullion 18:06
Craig Reid 32:51

It’s interesting to note that, last year our first team finished in a time of 2:34:14, just over 2 mins quicker than this year but finished in 8th position out of 43 teams. Entries from some clubs must have been a lot stronger this year.

Results

Report from Gerry

This is an off-road sprint distance triathlon, (distances are roughly 400m swim/20k bike/5k run) and is aimed at the novice and not-so-serious triathletes (the tone was set by Frazer the race director at the briefing: ‘anyone caught taking this too seriously will have penalty points added’ and ‘activities such as stretching will be frowned upon!’) It’s a very popular event, and with Saturday already full I turned up on a gorgeous sunny highland Sunday morning to race my first tri of the season.

The swim took place in the newly refurbished and swanky Lochaber Leisure Centre, where competitors ranged from very accomplished freestylers to more leisurely breaststrokers; heats were run in lanes (none of the usual rough and tumble of open water swim starts) with a very civilised break between swim and bike. Times duly noted, (I finished 14th, 4mins30 behind the fastest swimmer) we got changed and cycled to the bottom of the Glen Nevis road, ready to set off according to our swim times.

It is truly agonising to watch 13 cyclists get a head start on you and disappear off into the distance, but over the 20k mix of tarmac, fire road and single track (including a couple of climbs that had me reaching for the granny ring and one white knuckle descent) I managed to catch a few and by the time we got back to transition I was in 6th place. Using my signature move of overtaking one person who was changing her shoes, (I’m not proud of it but it all counts!) I set off back up the Glen, this time on foot. By this time the sun was out and the views were stunning across the Mamores, taking my mind off the akwardness of running straight off the bike.

Some ‘interesting’ offroad climbs and a furious forestry descent later, I now found myself in 3rd place with number 2 in sight; with the gentle easterly wind at my back I managed to reel him in slowly and finished in 2nd place, 1st SVet. Congrats to Race leader Martin Steven who won by nearly 5 minutes, and to Saturday’s winner Ewan Thorburn who was over 7 minutes quicker still. Very glad not to have been in that race!

Once again, No Fuss conjured up really nice atmosphere, a great course, big medals and bobbly hats. If anyone fancies it, they run another triathlon in September, although it’s slightly more challenging: a 1.9k swim in Loch Lhinne, a 90km offroad bike ride, finishing with a 21k run to the summit of Ben Nevis and back. Details. Go on, you know you want to

Report from Hamish

Saturday saw the 1st race in the 2012 Scottish Ultra Marathon Series, the D33 in Aberdeen. The D33 is a friendly, low key, no frills, race described on the website as:

“No entry conditions apply, if you think you can then enter and do it. If you get half way and find you can’t, phone registration with your race number, tell them you are a loser and take the bus home.

Support, there is none required but if you want your mum to meet you half way with a jam sandwich then thats ok with us.”

The course is a flat scenic route along the deeside way path from Duthie park to Banchory and back. It is an easy to follow path and there are plenty of flapjack wielding marshals on route so the perfect ultra for the hungry or navigationaly challenged.

4 Bellas made the trip up for the race. Jane Galt and Jane Wild running in their 1st and hopefully not last ultra posted excellent times of 5hrs47 and 5hrs24 respectively. However the ladies performance of the day came from Rebecca Johnson who set an eye watering early pace and managed to hold on to finish first lady in a course record of 3hrs59. I failed in my intention to treat the race as a training run for the Highland Fling, what with the incredible support on the course I got a bit excited and ran round in 3hrs53 finishing 4th. Hope I’m not too broken for the fling…

The race also gets top marks for having Brewdog beers at the finish line and some classy medals “hand branded from wood reclaimed from Hurricane Bawbag”.

If you are thinking of dipping your toe into the murky water of Ultras I would highly recommend this race.

Do it.

Results

Report from Grant.

This afternoon saw the first running of a new addition to the Scottish marathon scene, the Meadows Marathon in Edinburgh. The idea of two Edinburgh students to raise funds for charitable causes, there has a been a fun run and a half marathon in previous years. However this year included the 26.2 miles for the first time.

Organised by students from the University, the course ran alongside the half marathon, 7 laps of the Meadows park & Bistro Square for the 13.1 milers & 15 laps of the same route for the marathoners.

Registration was held at the ‘Potterrow Dome’ in the southside of the city, & was well organised and efficient.

At 1225, after a pre-race gentle aerobic workout, the races commenced. My first Scottish marathon was underway. I ran this event as a long training run prior to the Madrid Marathon next month.

The 15 laps were easy to follow, with stewards from the Uni giving noisy encouragement to the participants as well as directing the runners. However there was a sting in the tail. The laps in the park were straightforward enough, but the cobblestones up to Bistro Square & back down again, 2 per lap, were a real shock to the system. And painful too.

Throughout the course, a real effort was made to add to the atmosphere, with live music in the square, and the Uni blasting out songs from their PA system. Also, loads of encouragement from the crowds of spectators. There was also live music in the park, though the performers did a runner during a hailstorm.

15 laps sounds rather repetitive, but I quite enjoyed it! There was no hidden surprises (apart from the cobblestones) and you knew what to expect in the latter stages.

The only other grumble was the distance of the race. 26.87 miles is the longest marathon I’ve ever ran. I was led to believe 26.2 miles was the norm. To be fair, the organisers did say this in an e-mail issued, due to the logistics of the course.

I ran the event in 3:34:55/8 minutes per mile, so in summary a good workout. No medal to the finishers. Just a cerificate and an awful ‘goodie bag’ full of leaflets.

I would recommend this event. It is excellent preparation for the London or Edinburgh marathons, and its good to run the distance psychologically prior to these events.

However, it is essential the organisers sort out the distance aspect. Why not put the finish line in the park? On a lighter note, why not tarmac over those cobblestones?

Report from Mark

7 ladies and 16 men from Bella took on the challenge of the longest cross country race on the race calendar – the National XC championships at Falkirk on Saturday, 18 Feb. As ever, this race attracted pretty much all of the best runners in the country, so competition was fierce throughout the pack.

The ladies had the pleasure of a snow storm as they lined up for their start, but that was quickly forgotten one they got stuck into all the hills and mud. The race was won by defending champion Freya Murray and the Bella ladies came in 11th team overall out of 28 teams:

68 Romy Beard Bellahouston RR 36:03
70 Claire Wharton Bellahouston RR 36:10
83 Elsie Downham Bellahouston RR 36:53
98 Emma Bryson Bellahouston RR 37:08
101 Ciara Baxter Bellahouston RR 37:18
111 Julia Harris Bellahouston RR 37:51
141 Sarah Gillies Bellahouston RR 39:46
11th Bellahouston RR (319) 68,70,83,98

The men’s race was also won by a defending champion – Derek Hawkins. Bella men’s team managed 9th place overall out of 33 teams:

42 Kieran Docherty Bellahouston RR 43:34
70 Greig Glendinning Bellahouston RR 45:19
96 Russell Whittington Bellahouston RR 46:25
104 Craig Reid Bellahouston RR 46:37
115 Mark Johnston Bellahouston RR 47:02
142 Scott Kennedy Bellahouston RR 48:10
159 Gerard Scullion Bellahouston RR 48:48
165 Bruce Carse Bellahouston RR 49:02
179 Grant MacDonald Bellahouston RR 49:18
205 Thomas O’Connell Bellahouston RR 50:05
291 Gordon Clements Bellahouston RR 53:01
295 Andrew Hardman Bellahouston RR 53:05
305 Barry Edwards Bellahouston RR 53:35
364 John Newlands Bellahouston RR 56:04
393 Alex Lawther Bellahouston RR 57:24
443 Chris Brotherston Bellahouston RR 1:00:37
9th Bellahouston RR (569) 42,70,96,104,115,142

My personal favourite bit was the Trench of Doom(?) at the far end of the golf course, which was not unlike falling into a big hole and trying to scramble out the other side, times three.

And to top it all off, our own Bryan Burnett provided the live commentary on the day, displaying his usual shameless bias to cheer on all the Bellas taking part – thanks Bryan!

A great day out with some brilliant performances – well done everyone.

Results

Report from Bruce

Last Saturday saw the 42nd (I think) running of the classic wintry Carnethy 5 hill race over the scalloped Pentland hills south of Edinburgh. The popularity of the event (it fills up online before it opens) didn’t stop a large squad of nimble fingered southside road runners from entering the event. The race was notable for the quality of the field, the placidity of the weather (the week before we were battered off the hill during a recce) but also for the individual achievements.

Whether it was Greig Glendinning dipping under an hour for the first time, Gordon Clements’s remarkable first timer bulldozing run, Grant and Elsie Macdonald’s continued excellent form, Barry ‘the jeggin’ Edwards daring to step on a hill, Sandy ‘hill-lover’ Brindley embracing the hills oncemore or David ’funny-man’ Stakes showing his darkhorseness [add to dictionary], the joy of running was all around us.

Whether puffing up hills or charging along roads, running form and fitness are fickle and fleeting; it is on days like these with a tingle in your spine, you know truly that your running days are golden…

Report from Chris

Results

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