Posts Tagged “race report”
Grant MacDonald sent in this excellent race report from this year’s running of the Clyde Stride 40 mile ultra marathon:
I had been toying with the idea of an ultramarathon this year so when I found out there was one that started a few yards from my front door I thought it would be rude not to really.
So, the Clyde Stride. A 40 mile jaunt from Partick train station to the slightly more scenic New Lanark via the not very well signposted Clyde walkway.
About 100 of us gathered at the back of the train station and were set off running down the clyde battling against confused cyclists and dogs coming in the other direction. The 1st section goes along the clyde towards Glasgow Green and it was here I passed a few Bellas running in the opposite direction on their Saturday morning run, strangely none of them were tempted to turn around and join me. Otherwise it was an uneventful and almost pleasant run to the 1st checkpoint at Cambuslang. I shoved a banana down my gob and continued along the 2nd section towards Strathclyde Park. This section is mostly offroad trails and was a bit of a relief after pounding the tarmac. The only shock during this section was coming out of miles of serene woodland and suddenly finding yourself having to cross a massive roundabout with no marshals for assistance. After giving myself a pat on the back for not getting runover by a massive lorry I trundled on to the 2nd checkpoint where Elsie was helpfuly waiting to load me up with sugary things before shoving me in the direction of strathclyde park.
The race then follows the river through Barons Haugh Nature Reserve. It was around this point I suddenly heard the friendly voice of Matt W (who was doing the race in a relay team) say hello. Not someone I would normally expect to see at this stage in a race. He kindly slowed down for a chat before effortlessly bounding off into the distance. At this point I was still feeling really good and wondering how long it would last. The answer to that question was about 3 more miles. As I came into the final checkpoint i started to feel a bit sick and was starting to bonk a bit too. I tried to shove some food down me for the last 12 mile hilly section but was really struggling to swallow anything. I shuffled onwards and was confronted by a near verticle series of steps. At this point the most rational thing to do seemed to be to lie down and have a good cry, but probably due to dehydration the tears wouldn’t come so I had to carry on. After a seemingly endless series of ups and downs I eventually came into New Lanark, but here the race has a sting in the tail. Just when you think you are finished you are diverted back into the woods for another mile or so- I believe there may have been some fruity language coming out of my mouth at this point. But having a good swear lifted the spirits and I staggered over the line and was pleasantly surprised to have finished 9th in 5hrs 50mins. At the finish line a beer and a cup of tea was thrust into my hand and I thought- wasn’t such a bad day after all really.
I had been toying with the idea of an ultramarathon this year so when I found out there was one that started a few yards from my front door I thought it would be rude not to really.
So, the Clyde Stride. A 40 mile jaunt from Partick train station to the slightly more scenic New Lanark via the not very well signposted Clyde walkway.
About 100 of us gathered at the back of the train station and were set off running down the clyde battling against confused cyclists and dogs coming in the other direction. The 1st section goes along the clyde towards Glasgow Green and it was here I passed a few Bellas running in the opposite direction on their Saturday morning run, strangely none of them were tempted to turn around and join me. Otherwise it was an uneventful and almost pleasant run to the 1st checkpoint at Cambuslang. I shoved a banana down my gob and continued along the 2nd section towards Strathclyde Park. This section is mostly offroad trails and was a bit of a relief after pounding the tarmac. The only shock during this section was coming out of miles of serene woodland and suddenly finding yourself having to cross a massive roundabout with no marshals for assistance. After giving myself a pat on the back for not getting runover by a massive lorry I trundled on to the 2nd checkpoint where Elsie was helpfuly waiting to load me up with sugary things before shoving me in the direction of Strathclyde park.
The race then follows the river through Barons Haugh Nature Reserve. It was around this point I suddenly heard the friendly voice of Matt W (who was doing the race in a relay team) say hello. Not someone I would normally expect to see at this stage in a race. He kindly slowed down for a chat before effortlessly bounding off into the distance. At this point
I was still feeling really good and wondering how long it would last. The answer to that question was about 3 more miles. As I came into the final checkpoint i started to feel a bit sick and was starting to bonk a bit too. I tried to shove some food down me for the last 12 mile hilly section but was really struggling to swallow anything. I shuffled onwards and was confronted by a near verticle series of steps. At this point the most rational thing to do seemed to be to lie down and have a good cry, but probably due to dehydration the tears wouldn’t come so I had to carry on. After a seemingly endless series of ups and downs I eventually came into New Lanark, but here the race has a sting in the tail. Just when you think you are finished you are diverted back into the woods for another mile or so – I believe there may have been some fruity language coming out of my mouth at this point. But having a good swear lifted the spirits and I staggered over the line and was pleasantly surprised to have finished 9th in 5hrs 50mins.
At the finish line a beer and a cup of tea was thrust into my hand and I thought – wasn’t such a bad day after all really!
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Elsie Downham ventured a bit further afield to our usual race reports…
I thought I would write up my latest (and now not so recent) racing experience as it was a bit different and very fun. And muddy. On 18th September I went to Norway to run an off-road/x-country/hilly half marathon race. I have a friend living in Oslo who told me about the event and twisted my arm to enter it back in the spring when running in the Norwegian hills for 13.1 miles seemed like a good plan.
The race is famous amongst Norwegians, and they are very proud that 8000 people run it each year (given that the Norwegian population stands at only about 7 million, I guess this is quite an achievement!)
So, the race is called, take a deep breath, the Birkebeinerløpet and takes place just outside of Lillehammer (a 2.5 hour train journey north of Oslo). There is a website to visit which has information about the race I did, as well as other running events (on the same day there is the Halvbirken, 11km and the Ultrabirken, 73km) and cycling and skiing races which take part at the same location http://www.birkebeiner.no/ – you can translate the page to English if your Norwegian is a bit rusty 
I flew to Oslo on the Friday. We woke up very early on Saturday morning for porridge and sandwich making (Norway is super expensive so you always need to make sure you have a good food supply on you so as not to blow your credit card on a banana (£1.59 I paid for ONE banana on the morning of the race, not amused). We then got on a train (nice trains in Norway) to Lillehammer with lots of other runners. There was a very complex but well organised system for leaving your bags at the finish (the stadium in Lillehammer), and for dropping any extra layers just before the start which were then shipped back to the finish for you. We were then bussed up the mountain to the start at Sjusjøen, just less than 900m above sea level.
It was cold when we got off the bus, and being a true northerner I’d already stripped down to my shorts. Lots of funny looks from sensible Norwegians in full length tights, long sleeves, hats and gloves. What a bunch of wusses! I was very glad to be sporting my new INOV8 Mudclaws – lots of boggy and muddy sections, very steep downhills, rocky and rooty singletrack, and some sneaky uphills too. I managed to more or less stick to a 5 minute kilometre pace and finished the race in 1hr48min28sec, which they seemed to think put me above average for my age group and I got a small silver cup  (average finishing time for women aged 25-29 was 1hr59min02sec). There was a good spread for race finishers – soup, bread, cinnamon buns, bananas, and even showers!
So, all in all a long way to go for a race, but I’d definitely recommend it to anyone who likes a bit of variation in terrain, a good post-race feed, and Scandinavian blondes of course.
Hope to be back at training sometime soon…
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After last year’s gale force winds, the weather gods were slightly kinder to the 95 runners at the Bella Ben Venue Hill Race today, with a torrential downpour on the start line and only 30mph winds on the ridge to contend with.
But the weather did not stop some fast racing, with the lead changing hands many times between the top group before Matt Sullivan (Shettleston) & Peter Devenport (Bellahouston) used local knowledge for a good line on the final downhill on the open hillside from the ridge into Gleann Riabhach, and managed to pull away from the others. Matt held off Peter to win in a time of 1 hour 10 mins for the 8 mile course, but if Peter had not been forced to stop and tie a shoe lace in the run-in, the finish could have been even tighter. Finishing close behind this pair were the Shettleston duo, Tom Owens and Jethro Lennox.
In the ladies competition, Jacqui Higginbottom (Carnethy) used her speed (& long legs) on the steep trail section to overcome Shona Robertson of Westies, while Ellie Homewood, also of Westies finished in third.
In a tightly fought male vet race, the eventual winner was Bruce Smith (Carnethy) from Will Manners (Strathearn) and Alan Gilkison (Westerlands). In the ladies vet competition Fabienne Thompson of Carnegie held off the Carnethy pair, Joanne Anderson & Joan Wilson.
The teams prizes were split to the east & west of the country, with Shettleston winning the men’s (Matt Sullivan, Tom Owens, Jethro Lennox) and Carnethy winning the ladies (Jacqui Higginbottom, Fiona McKinnon & Joanne Anderson).
Being a new race, not everyone took the optimum route today, and I’m sure everyone knows of places where they can shave off a few seconds in the big race next year, but spare a thought for the runner who took a very non-optimum route, and ended up at Kinlochard, resulting in a 12 mile taxi ride back to the finish!
Ben Venue is one of the SHR championship races in 2011, so with this being the first race over the full course, we are keen to learn from your experience, so please send any comments or suggestions for improvement to benvenue@bellahoustonroadrunners.co.uk
The race doubles as a fundraiser for the Lomond Mountain Rescue Team, so many thanks to all the runners, marshalls & helpers who helped raise £500 for team funds.
Hope to see you all next year!
Results available as either a PDF (link) or Excel (link)
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Sunday 8th August was a fine day for the Achilles Heel Bella 5k race, with the sun making a pleasant appearance for the first time in a while.
152 runners took part in the event, 35 from the host club Bella Road Runners. Achilies Heel Bella 5k Results 2010
Winning the mens race in fine style was Paul Sorrie from Shettleston Harriers in an excellent time of 14:59, a new course record.
Eilis McKechanie from HBT won the womens’ race in an equally impressive time of 18 mins.
Paul was followed by David Millar, Irvine AC who took the M40 prize and third was Bella’s own Kenny Richmond. In the ladies race Garscube Harriers runners Lesley Chisholm and Kirsty Husband took second and third place respectively and Lesley first FV35.
First Male Team prize went to Bella Road Runners: Kenny Richmond, Ciaran Dougherty and Craig Ross. First Female Team was Garscube: Lesley Chisholm, Kirsty Husband and Jill O’Neil.
A fine selection of food was on offer after the race in the Palace of Art for runners and helpers to savour and enjoy the excellent sunshine. Many thanks to all of the volunteers who helped provide such excellent support to the event.
Photos will follow soon. Thanks to Gerry Scullion for the race report!
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Bellahouston Road Runners was well represented at the annual National Cross Country Relays, in Cumbernauld. Out of 100 men’s senior teams (plus 20 part teams) and 63 women’s senior teams (plus 11 part teams), we fielded a whopping five men’s teams, and two women’s teams.
The rain kept away for the duration of the races and the Bella Brollies (this years prize for completing the club championship) were in attendance, but not required until the post race walk back to Cumbernauld High School. With the conditions so much better than last year there were PBs aplenty as the purple posse put in some credible performances. Emma and Matt recorded the fastest Bella times and Club Captains Jane and Brian did a sterling job but everyone did well in a great turn out from the club.
Women’s
13 Bellahouston RR “A”
Claire Thompson 17 17:18 17:18
Emma Birnie 10 16:52 34:10
Jane Simpson 13 17:20 51:30
42 Bellahouston RR “B” (V)
Jane Wild 57 20:20 20:20
Jacqueline McGuire 50 20:10 40:30
Julia Harris 42 19:21 59:51
Men’s
19 Bellahouston RR “A”
Alasdair McLeod 39 14:58 14:58
Marcos Sanz Gomez 34 15:26 30:24
Matthew Williamson 28 14:41 45:05
Liam Conway 19 14:55 1:00:00
31 Bellahouston RR “B”
Neil Farnell 44 15:10 15:10
*Grant Edmondson 40 15:36 30:46
Craig Ross 34 15:08 45:54
Russell Whittington 31 15:16 1:01:10
48 Bellahouston RR “C“
Brian O’Donnell 60 15:55 15:55
David Weatherhead 51 15:53 31:48
Andrew Birnie 47 15:54 47:42
Brendan Moriarty 48 16:08 1:03:50
77 Bellahouston RR “D”
*Peter Goodwin 76 16:34 16:34
Robert McEwan 70 16:29 33:03
Ewan McDonald 78 18:31 51:34
Ian Goudie 77 18:49 1:10:23
Bellahouston RR “E“
Norman Boyle 118 19:53 19:53
Douglas MacGregor 114 20:46 40:39
Mike Devlin 105 23:09 1:03:48
Thanks to Ian for the race report, and well done to all the participants. Full results available at the Scottish Athletics website.
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As the day wore on, and the clouds got lower & lower, Bella emerged as top Scottish team (& 11th overall) in this years British Fell/Hill Relay Championships at Kirkland Leaps in West Cumbria on Sun 18th Oct.
The championships are a 4 leg relay with legs 1 & 4 run as solo, and 2 & 3 run as pairs. Maps & checkpoints for Legs 1,2 & 4 were provided beforehand which allowed us to run the routes on the Saturday (in beautiful sunshine!) to find the best lines & identify some landmarks. Leg 3 is the navigation leg, with map supplied 500m after the leg start, so with 20 metre visibility adding to the joys of the deep bogs, high heather & tussocks it was a real test.
In total 7 Scottish clubs entered teams making up a total field of 148 teams. The teams consisted of some of the top hill runners, road runners & triathletes in Britain. But fast runners don’t always know where they are going, resulting in drama at the end when the top 3 clubs were disqualified for missing a checkpoint on the last leg.
But no such drama for the 2 Bella teams, as everyone climbed well, descended well & navigated (almost) flawlessly. The boys team are still kicking ourselves, missing out on a top 10 spot, with slight navigation errors on legs 3 & 4. But thats what will have us going back for another shot next year, in the Lomonds of Fife.
A final mention for the best sprint finish of the day has to go to Stuart on the last leg for the Mixed Team, after flying down the final steep descent, crossing the field and lunging for the electronic dipper box on the line. The photo evidence shows the monumental effort – and the Race Face Award for 2009/10 is already closed!
I cannot recommend these events highly enough, the sense of team spirit is 2nd to none, and the bad weather only added to the fun and to the decibel level of the supporting Bella team members. The Devils Burden Hill Relay at the end of January uses a similar format, and your next chance to come along to an event like this, go on, you know you want to….
Representing Bella were:
Bella Boys Team (11th) – 1. Matt, 2. Mark/Marcos, 3. Andy/Dougal, 4. Kenny
Bella Mixed Team (73rd) – 1. Katie, 2. Brendan/Davie, 3. Emma/Dave, 4. Stuart
Full results here:
http://www.sportident.co.uk/results/2009/BritishFellRelay/BritishFell&HillRelay2009Results.pdf
Cheers to Andy Birnie for the Race Report
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Bella were, as ever, well represented at parkrun. The weekend saw the 44th running of the Glasgow parkrun event, and the first running of the Edinburgh parkrun.
A great day for the Bella Posse at the Glasgow parkrun today, Sat Oct 17. Scott Kennedy who seems to have caught the parkrun bug, in between running marathons, took a further 8 seconds off of last week’s course PB to finish third in 17:44. Jane Simpson continued the fine form which made her Bella Member of the Month by going one better than her second place last week to win the women’s event in 19:30, taken a further 24 secs off of last week’s course PB!
Club President Robert McEwan retained his place as best age grade %, by achieving 79.01% with a time of 19:08.
Bruce Carse also earned a new PB and John Sandbach and Sandra Houldsworth both took part in the Pollok Park event with excellent first runs.
Position Athlete Sex Run Time Age Grading % Age Category Personal Best
3 Scott KENNEDY M 17:44 76.41% SM35-39 New PB
5 Bruce CARSE M 18:15 70.87% SM30-34 New PB
10 Al MACLACHLAN M 18:42 78.88% VM50-54
13 Robert MCEWAN M 19:08 79.01% VM50-54
16 Jane SIMPSON F 19:30 75.90% SW30-34 New PB
45 John SANDBACH M 21:45 64.67% VM40-44 1st run
53 Linda KENNEDY F 22:01 69.19% VW35-39
66 Murdoch RODGERS M 22:49 69.69% VM55-59
80 Sandra HOULDSWORTH F 23:58 61.89% SW30-34 1st run
Last week’s winner Carnegie Harrier Andrew WRIGHT was the first athlete across the finish line today. He completed the course in 15:49 and posted an age grade score of 83.35%. A total of 193 runners completed the course.
Over in Edinburgh:
Some 204 runners completed the inaugural Edinburgh parkrun in a Baltic, sunny and surprisingly wind free Cramond foreshore…………. and of course Bellahouston Road Runners were represented at the historical event.
Strong performances from Richard Leyton and myself earned us both all time PBs. Richard took 16 seconds off of his best 5k time to finish in 48th position in 20:43, an age grade % of 64:04%. I proudly displayed my Bella vest as I finished four places ahead, in 44th place with a time of 20:19 (wava 73.75 %) some 19 seconds better than my previous best 5k time.
Running legend Neil Renault (Edinburgh AC) led from the start and was first over the line in a time of 14:59, an age grade of 86.1% and in a day when loads of cyclists and triathletes took part, it was fitting that the first woman home was Rachel Ramsay of Edinburgh Road Club who completed the course in 20:48, 71.31%.
Thanks to Ian Goudie for the race reports, and a huge thanks to the teams of volunteers that made both the Glasgow and Edinburgh parkrun events such a success on Saturday.
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Great report on the recent Melbourne marathon, from Alan Scott, proving that Bellahouston Road Runners is a club with a decent range!
Perfect conditions for the marathon at 7am this morning. We started next to the Rod Laver Tennis Arena (home to the Australian Open) and headed up and into the city centre before heading south along St Kilda Road. We then turned into Albert Park to complete a circuit of the Melbourne Grand Prix Course. I had set off with the 3hr 30min pace runners but from here found myself gaining on the 3hr 20min bus as we headed north along the bayside. Sally was perfectly placed to give me my second gel and we headed out to the furthest point of the course. I then started to pull away from the 3hr 20min mob, a mistake as I would later learn. Round about the 30km mark we merged with the slower participants in the half marathon. We then spent the next 10/15 mins weaving through them. The two groups briefly seperated as the marathoners headed up the only ‘hill’ on the course alongside the Tan (think Melbourne’s equivalent of Glasgow’s Bellahouston Park, London’s Hyde Park, New York’s Central Park or Tokyo’s Imperial Palace). At this point I was struggling and was swiftly passed by the 3hr 20m guys. But from here it was less than 4km to the finish at the MCG where we had to enter the stadium and complete a lap on the hallowed turf. According to my watch I managed to duck just under 3hr 21mins, much quicker than I had ever imagined and almost 35mins knocked off my previous PB. With such perfect weather conditions I would definitely recommend this marathon to anyone.
Alan
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I’m happy to report that I made my long awaited return to competititive representation to the purple machine at the Round Arran Relay at the weekend. This had coincided with me concentrating on coaching and coming back from a semi-serious knee injury but the team needed me at the weekend so rather than go and have a round of Golf on Arran I made myself available to run.
An early start to get the ferry and away we went. what with the number of call offs we still didn’t know the exact line up for the teams and this was sorted out by S.M.M. (that is Sergeant Major Milligan) on the ferry over. He had a lot of call off’s over the week and I must say he did a good job of ensuring that we had a full complement for the three teams we had out, including a stand-in on the ferry as a last resort should someone else not make it. I was dumped, without too much complaint I may add, from the Alfa males team to fill a place in the second girls team which then became a mixed team. I was given the short easy leg South 1, aye right! Setting of up a short sharp hill we settled into a 400 m flat section before what seemed like 6 miles of climbing and about 1 mile of flat or slight downhill. It was hot and hard but I did my best for the purple vest thinking that although I wasn’t fast I was well pleased that I ran and worked hard for the full distance.
I can honestly say that it was good to be back racing again, well I could say that 5 minutes after I had finished anyhow. It was good to cheer other Bella’s home and then meet up with the other 17 runners and a couple of spectators at the end for prize giving. Brilliant to see Claire get a stage winning award and to see the ladies team defend their title from last year.
Excitement was building before the placing came out as we thought that the girls had won but weren’t 100% sure. S.M.M. was delighted to see that the Boys team finished ahead of the girls team by a few minutes as he wouldn’t have been able to contemplate not doing so. He even made a point of saying to me that Claire Blue pulling out at the last moment had really helped him out. I asked why and he said well if she hadn’t then you would have been running for the guys, not the mixed team, and Peter who stood in at the last moment was a lot faster than me. Can’t argue with that and maybe just sometimes you say something your thinking before you have chance to think about it first? On the other hand we are talking about S.M.M. Yep great to be back running for Bella, even S.M.M. hasn’t put me off.
Oscar
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Emma has sent this excellent race report from the The Inter-Counties Fell, on Saturday 23rd May at Hutton Roof Crags near Kendal:
Bella was represented by Kenny Richmond, Iona Robertson and Emma Birnie all running for the Scotland West team.
The course was a tough 7 mile slog up to Hutton Roof crags then a long undulating cross country course to the near vertical acsent up Farlton Knot and back for a fast grassy descent back to Hutton Roof village.
The West teams led the way in the Scottish stakes with the West girls team (Fiona Maxwell (Shettleston), Iona and Emma) bringing home bronze medals for third place and the mens west team (Matthew Gillespie & Tom Owens (both Shettleston) & Kenny Richmond the 3 counters) securing 4th place overall.
Other Scottish team results are as follows: Women – Scotland East 4th (just beating Greater Manchester on first-team-home), and Scotland Central in 8th. Among the men’s teams, the honours were in the same order with Scotland West 4th, Scotland East 6th and Scotland Central 9th. The Scotland North teams were incomplete.
A great day out with fabulous cakes on offer at the village fete afterwards!
Full results are here: http://www.race-results.co.uk/results/2009/hutton.htm
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