A fantastic 19 Bellas ran at the first ‘public’ Bill Elder 10k in Greenock on Sunday 10th August 2025.
It was an excellent new event put on by Greenock Glenpark Harriers (GGH), with great organisation and they even supplied lovely weather!
The event had an almost sold out 300 limit, with 231 starting on the day. There was ample parking space around the area, with a smooth registration process at the boat club, with toilet and changing facilities here too.
It was a flat, out/in course from the boat club, east along the esplanade/quayside and back. It was a wee bit warm at 17 degrees with only a light westerly breeze, so pretty decent conditions. Most of us regularly run the Renfrewshire AAA 5 Miler in Greenock each February in the cold and wet, so this was a nice change!
The start was on the esplanade just east of the boat club, with the starting gun going off at 1100hrs sharp. There was some congestion moving off, as with most sizeable events, but things eased out very quickly, while avoiding the benches and bins on the right side.
It’s a flat one mile stretch right down the esplanade before some right, left turns around some of the quayside buildings, before hitting the quayside proper again past Customs House Quay, East India Quay and Virginia Quay, before a 180 degree turn just past Garvel Point. Then it was back in the opposite direction.
On the return, the race winner, John Bell of Inverclyde AC, was opening a sizeable lead of almost 2 minutes from our Tony Connelly, with Josh Evans and Kenny Osborne (on home turf) following closely behind. Also showing strong were the vastly improved Jamie Wieland, with Rhona Fraser pushing on in the second half, and Cathy Wood, continuing her injury recovery, closely behind.
It was again a full stretch of the esplanade to finish, into the breeze with only that very gentle incline towards the finish. Overall, we had great running from our contingent including:
Tony Connelly – 32:15, 2nd
Josh Evans – 33:51, 7th
Kenny Osborne – 34:37, 8th, 1st MV40
Jamie Wieland – 39:01, PB
Rhona Fraser – 42:25, 3rd Lady, 1st FV40
Cathy Wood – 44:05, 3rd FSnr
Brian McQuade – 47:21, PB
Shirley Wieland – 50:27, 2nd FV60
Brilliant efforts from our podium crew, and carrying on their fantastic recent form, big well done’s to Jamie and Brian with excellent PBs. We had 4 ladies (Rhona, Cathy, Katie Blackett & Louise Ross) in the top 10, and 3 gents (Tony, Josh & Kenny) likewise top ten finishers!
GGH put on a great after race BBQ on the beach at the boat club too!
A great new event and one to put in the diary for 2026. With thanks to GGH, the marshals, volunteers, officials and Protay Timing. See you all next year!
Full Results: https://protay.co.uk/billelder10k2025/results.php
