Seven super Bellas were in Spain recently to take on two of the most exciting marathons in Europe. First off, on Sunday 7th December , were four of our members who ran the Valencia Marathon on a warm, sunny day in Catalonia. There was brilliant running from Bruce Carmichael (2:42:25), Neil McSeveney (2:46:34), Bryan Mulgrew (2:47:14) and Sarah McSharry (3:36:02). Next was the Malaga Marathon on Sunday 14th December, where we had three Bellas running, in good conditions in Andalusia. Again, there were great performances from Brian Kerr (2:37:57, PB), Laurence Prior (2:55:50, PB) & Chic Forsyth (3:19:30). A fantastic run from Bryan in particular, who finished in 75th place from 17,500 participants. Bien hecho todos!
Monthly archives: December 2025
3 posts
It was Barwwod Park in Erskine on Saturday 6th December 2025, for the latest Scottish Athletics West District Cross Country Championship event. We had a quartet of ladies and a dozen gents taking part on a decent day in Renfrewshire. Conditions underfoot were soft, with several tricky sections with an accumulation of some impressive mud! Our ladies set off first, with 3 laps of the course, covering around 4.2 miles. Cara Thom was the first Bella lady home in am impressive 30:30, continuing her impressive form this year. For the gents, the ever impressive Oscar Coetzee was the first Bella gent home in 24:52 to take MV40 bronze, and helping the gents senior team to 4th place, just outside of the medals. Next up is one for the masters at Tollcross Park on 31st January 2026!
Congratulations to our very own Poppy Bowie who ran the Marathon at the Tokyo Deaflympics on Tuesday 25th November 2025. This was the centenary games for this wonderful event that takes place every four years. Poppy was selected after a great 2nd place finish at the Windemere Marathon earlier this year and is the first Scottish woman to represent Team GB in the marathon in games history. Unlike the Olympics and Paralympics, Deaflympics GB athletes need to fund themselves and in Poppy’s case, arrange for their own training and coaching regime. Thanks to some wonderful generosity, Poppy managed to raise the £4,000 required to participate! She will be eternally grateful to everyone who supported this fundraising effort including her BRR club members, Family, friends and the wider public in the UK and Australia where she has been based since the summer. So after training in a very warm Australian climate, it was a grey and wet Tokyo that greeted Poppy on the day itself. The course consisted of a 5km circuit to be completed eight times, a mentally tough challenge for anyone notwithstanding the marathon distance itself. Poppy was also the sole GB representative, male or female, in the race. However, Poppy ran a fantastic PB time of 3:06:52 in what was only her third competitive marathon. This meant that she also broke the GB ladies record for the event! So, what a two weeks in Japan, from Opening Ceremony to tea at the British Embassy with her team mates at the conclusion of the event. You can watch the highlights of Poppy’s marathon at the link below. Congratulations again Poppy, we are a very proud club. https://deaflympicsgb2025.co.uk/daily-highlights/tokyo25-deaflympics-day-11?wvideo=vrksxok47a