Well done to the four hardy Bellas who ran the 21+mile Ardgartan Trail Race on Saturday 22nd February 2025. It was a rearranged event after the recent storms. The route was 90% off-road, following a loop of the Ardgartan Peninsula, with some tarmac, forestry trails and an open hill section across to Lochgoilhead, before the climb back up to the ‘Rest And Be Thankful’ and a final downhill section to the finish. No ‘Strawberry Fields’ or ‘Norwegian Wood’ on the course for our ‘fab four’ of Bryan Mulgrew (2:53:51, 5th), Marty Campbell (3:46:27), Jonny Moran (3:49:56) & Gerry Hanlon (4:07:37). A tough day on the trails and notably, a fantastic effort by Bryan with a course PB. Well done gents!
Monthly archives: February 2025
8 posts
It was the big Cross Country event of the season on Saturday 22nd February at the Scottish Athletics Lindsays National XC, Callander Park, Falkirk. It’s always a great day, and thankfully the awful weather of Friday and Sunday was replaced by a sunny Saturday sandwich. Still, enough mud and undulation for anyone over a challenging 10k course. Over 1,600 athletes ran in the various categories, including 27 Bellas. Our results were as follow: GENTS: Oscar Coetzee (35:46, 5th MV40), Josh Evans (35:47), Calum Borthwick (37:07), Iain Murphy (38:53), Stuart Laurence (39:37), Paul McNairn (39:52), Alan Moss (39:58), Bruce Carse (40:25), Jethro Browell (40:48), David Jarrett (40:55), Jamie Robinson (40:56), Jay Cowan (41:52), Ryan Macready (44:14), Rich Evans (45:39), Dave Ferguson (46:18), Kenny Mcdonald (49:57). Our gents team (top 6) finished 28th. LADIES: Cat MacDonald (38:41, 10th), Jen Conway (44:54), Cara Thom (45:52), Sophie Jenkins (46:22), Flora Henry (48:06), Emma Peters (48:09), Claire Wharton (48:44), Veronica Fusaro (49:45), Katie Blackett (51:07), Alice Howe (56:10), Megan Parkinson (56:55). Our ladies team (top 6) finished in a brilliant 9th place! Cat MacDonald produced our performance of the day to finish in 10th placed lady overall, with Oscar Coetzee yet again shining in the MV40 category with a 5th place. So, just about the end of the cross country season. Well done everyone for participating and loving the mud!
Sunday 16th February saw a number of races for our Bellas. The Barcelona Half Marathon was first off, on a sunny day in the stunning port city. A new HM World Record was set at 56:42 by Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda but aside, there were fantastic performances from our Bellas in Barca with Charlie Whall (1:23:36), Lauren Rice (1:31:26, PB) & Anna Whall (1:50:30). Força Bella! The Glentress Trail Races were also held near Peebles, on a dry but cold day in the hills. Well done to Brendan McGuiness, who smashed the marathon in a brilliant 4:19:49, tackling around 5,400ft of elevation gain in the process. The HM had Mike Wilkes (2:02:10), Rich Evans (2:02:40) & Siobhann Dunn (2:11:59), while Jen Conway (54:17) finished 3rd lady in the 10k! Great running folks. It was also the Acorn Castlemilk 10k Trail Race on a hilly route from Linn Park along the eastern periphery of Castlemilk.Well done to Ruairi Barfoot (52:28, 3rd), Jamie Wieland (1:10:43), SJ Kissock (1:28:12), Louise Nimmo (1:31:22) & Terry Nimmo (1:40:31, 3rd FV60). Great running on a very tough course.
Saturday 15th February 2025 saw the 9th running of our annual mob match against our friends and neighbours, Bellahouston Harriers. Pollok parkrun graciously hosted again, and this year saw a record turnout for the event of 172 runners in a parkrun field of almost 550. And it was congratulations to the Harriers on defending last year’s win, to take the total standings to 7 – 2 in favour of us Road Runners. It was another great morning of running and catching up with friends in the blue and purple corners! And to make it more special this year, the event fell on the 90th birthday of our founder and former Harrier, Jimmy Irvine. There was record attendance from both clubs, with 97 Harriers and 75 Road Runners, with the Harriers winning margin coming down to 4 runners. Over 100 members of both clubs and their families attended the after party at Clydesdale Cricket Club, which topped off a fantastic morning! Thanks to the organisers in both clubs and of course to Pollo parkrun, the volunteers and the staff at Clydesdale Cricket Club.
Some of our amazing vets have been celebrating significant events of late! Lucy MacKay celebrated her 60th birthday recently and decided to spend the morning of her big day completing a marathon around Pollok Park! It’s no surprise really, as Lucy has completed dozens of marathons and other endurance races, and she is one of only two people to have finished every running of the Loch Ness marathon since it began in 2002. Lucy enjoyed the company of some Bella buddies on her 8 laps of the park. Good preparation for her (so far) four planned marathons this year. What a woman! Meanwhile, Alistair (Al) MacLachlan completed his 600th parkrun at Elder Park towards the end of January! An incredible feat, with no stopping Al, who continues to race the MV60 category at various distances, with gusto and repeated success. And last, but far from least, out founder, Jimmy Irvine, celebrated his 90th birthday this week. Jim is a huge inspiration to the club, and the wider running community in the southside of Glasgow, and was an international class athlete in years gone by, having ran competitively for 65 years. An absolute legend.
It was off to Dundee’s Camperdown Park on Saturday 8th February for the Scottish Athletics National Masters XC. It was an 8k course in near perfect conditions, and even the sun made an appearance! Four Bellas participated and ran great races with Oscar Coetzee (28:09, 14th place), Alan Moss (31:04), Rich Evans (33:20) & Alistair MacDonald (34:58). Well done gents, brilliant running! The following day, Bryan Mulgrew & Alan Chalmers ran at the Falkirk 7 Hour Ultra Trail Race at Callander Park. The aim was to cover as much distance as possible on the muddy, hilly 4.089 mile course (800m loop for the last hour). There were decent, if cold, conditions for this epic, with Bryan finishing in a brilliant 7th place in 6:59:00 for 78.4km. Alan, in his first ultra event, covered 56.4km in 6:56:27. Great effort guys!
The Kirkintilloch Olympians Neil McCover Memorial Half Marathon ran on Sunday 9th February, in damp, chilly weather, but this didn’t stop our Bella contingent on what is a tough, undulating course. This was our first Club Championship ‘long’ race of the season. Bryan Kerr was 3rd in a fantastic PB time of 1:15:58. Poppy Bowie finished 2nd lady in 1:35:17, proving that her recent 2nd place finish at the Buchlyvie 10k was no fluke. Our remaining finishers produced fantastic results too: Grant Murphy (1:16:16, 4th), David Jarrett (1:26:36), Cathy Wood (1:38:23, 3rd FSnr), Veronica Fusaro (1:40:17, 2nd FV40, PB), Tomoyo Fujiwara (1:42:32, 1st FV50), Pauline Wright (1:45:05), Andy Tomlinson (1:47:15), Wallace Gray (2:10:52) & Louise Gray (2:13:43). Our top three of Poppy, Cathy and Veronica won ladies team prize and similarly, it appears that Bryan, Grant and David took the mens team prize. Very well done everyone! It was also simultaneously the Kirkintilloch Olympians 12.5k race, with Stuart Macdougall (45:16), Brendan McGuiness (50:35), Anne Campbell (1:00:20) & Kirsteen Waddell (1:22:32) all running. Another great outing for our athletes!
There was a brilliant turnout of Bellas at the Renfrewshire AAA 5 Mile Road Race at Greenock on Sunday. We had 39 finishers from the 108 strong field! It was surprisingly mild for Greenock in early February, and thankfully no snow, hail, flooding or driving rain, just some grey drizzle and the challenge of a cold blustery wind, particularly at Battery Park. There was great running as always from Team Bella, with several medals claimed for: Kenny Osborne (26:49, 2nd MV40) Colin Hughes (32:08, 1st MV60) Louise Ross (32:31, 3rd lady, 1st FV40) Deborah Gray (33:11, 3rd FV50) Al McLachlan (34:20, 2nd MV60) Jane McNeilly (34:29, 2nd FV40) Shirley Wieland (40:40, 2nd FV60) Emma Queenan (41:50, 2nd FU20) Murdoch Rodgers (47:01, 1st MV70) In addition, our gents team (top 6 of Tony Connelly, Ross Horgan, Kenny Osborne, Bryan Kerr, Angus Gray, Stuart Laurence) placed third, while our ladies team (top 3 of Louise Ross, Deborah Gray, Jane McNeilly) placed second! With thanks to Inverclyde AC for hosting another great event, and of course to the brilliant officials and volunteers for making it possible. Over at the Glasgow Winter Warmer 5k at Glasgow Green, also on Sunday, Rachel Fraser finished first lady with a great PB of 20:34!