Balloch to Clydebank Half Marathon, 9/3/2014

For anyone who has never done this race, it is about 1500ft of descent and there is a 20mph tail wind all the way from start to finish. At least that is what you might believe looking at the results from todays race and some of the fantastic times achieved by Bella runners today. The biggest PB I heard of was 5 minutes but there were a few people who had taken 2-3 minutes off there PB times. Fantastic effort and well done to everyone who took part.

There was a massive turnout of purple vests gathered at Balloch – easily the most represented club at the event. There were a few technical problems which led to the start being delayed by 25 minutes but eventually we set off. Of course, I am joking above – the route is actually very hilly and there was a slight head wind all the way which made all the times even more impressive. As usual the Bella supporters were out in force, Brendan’s cowbell was heard in places and even though she was in Madrid, Tammy Ward could still be heard in places!!

This year the race had been moved back to March from its normal time in April resulting in a very strong field with people using this as an early chance to prepare for Spring marathons. The official results have not been released at time of writing but I know that I finished 5th overall, including a PB, so was very pleased. The men also took the first team prize with myself, Bruce Carse (dipping under the 75 minute mark for the first of many times) and Russell Whittington being the first three counters. In reality the men could probably also have been awarded the second prize as well but whether we got this, again, I don’t know at time of writing.

All in all, it was a very strong start to the season for so many runners. I think we might be hearing about a lot of PB’s as the season progresses!! Well done again to everyone.

Craig