We wanted to share something more widely that we recently announced to our club membership, which we hope will help keep them inspired in these strange times. So the COVID-19 situation, cancellation of club training, and the halt to all racing has been a huge blow to us all. The club’s annual club championship has been an important part of our club year since its formation. Whilst clearly not significant in the context of the wider public situation, we do know as runners we enjoy and need challenges, competition, and things to push us to achieve our goals. These were all things the club championship sought to foster, and we thought could continue, in altered form, to help us through this difficult time. So rather than cancelling it entirely – which was a serious possibility as we’ve lost nearly half of this year’s qualifying races, we revised it as (hopefully!) a one-off, to work within the current circumstances and guidelines. We hope in its adjusted form it continues to help motivate members with their running and training, their mental health, and help us all look forward with positivity, and to keep pushing ourselves. The club has created three Strava segments in Glasgow’s parks (the full details are on our members’ forum): a short 5k in Bellahouston park, a 10k at Glasgow Green, and a 10 mile loop in and around Pollok park. Members, of course adhering to all the appropriate guidelines and rules in effect just now, take on the segments as many times as they like, when they like. We’ll then use the best times members achieve for these segments, as qualifying ‘races’ in this year’s championship. We’re hoping there will be enough events left in the year for members to go on to complete the usual criteria to complete this year’s championship, but we’ll be keeping it under review. Our club is already present and popular on Strava, and we’re looking forward to seeing members work their way up the virtual leaderboards as they take on the challenge over the next few weeks. Very best of luck, and we look forward to seeing your attempts on Strava!
Club Championship
Saturday night saw the club celebrate with its annual awards night, marking the completion of its 2018-19 championship, and a chance for members to relax and party into the small hours. A selection of highlight pictures below, but plenty more on our social media feeds! We were delighted to have had a bumper attendance, which also reflected a huge number of completers in the championship itself. All members who complete receive a much coveted completion prize, which this year is a long-sleeve club colours racing top. It was a fun evening, and we’re delighted by how well the club has done over the last 12 months, with so many excellent performances, new distances or events being undertaken, brilliant achievements, tally of medals, team pictures and race reports and stories! We’re very excited about the forthcoming championship year, and look forward to our next race! A selection of pictures below, more on our Facebook members group. Thanks to Gordon Goldie for taking the pictures. We’re very grateful to everybody who helped with the event, but a very special thank you, from everybody at the club, for hard work by club Social Secretary, Kevin Queenan. Member’s vote Sarah Goldie memorial award for Club Member of the Year : Leanne McIntosh Most improved Male: Stuart Laurence Most improved Female: Catherine Allan Open Championship Men’s club champion: Grant Murphy Ladies club champion: Cat Macdonald Men’s Runner up: Stuart Laurence 3rd: Bryan Mulgrew Ladies Runner up: Ann Robin 3rd: Louise Ross Vet (V40) Championship Ladies vet winner: Emer Campbell Men’s vet winner: Andy Campbell Ladies vet Runner up: Claire Wharton 3rd: Tomoyo Fujiwara Men’s Vet Runner up: Garry Porch 3rd: Kevin Queenan Supervet (V50) Championship: Men’s Supervet winner: Gerry Scullion Ladies Supervet winner: Rhoda Yarmahmoudi Men’s Supervet Runner up: John Mackenzie 3rd: Kenny Crawford Ladies Supervet Runner up: Lucy Mackay; 3rd: Jane Galt Off Road/Cross Country championship: Ladies winner: Cat MacDonald Men’s winner: Alan Moss Ladies Runner up: Romy Beard 3rd: Ann Robin Mens Runner up: Gerry Scullion 3rd: Anthony McParland Winter Handicap Men’s winner: Dave Ferguson Men’s Runner up: Grant Murphy 3rd: Bryan Mulgrew Ladies Winner: Cat MacDonald Runner up: Lisa Taylor 3rd: Heloise White Alternative awards Most completed club championship races: Ladies: Rhoda Yarmahmoudi Men: Anthony McParland Best Race Report Leanne Mcintosh Bowling Champion Ladies: Terry Nimmo Men’s: Liam Conway
Well done to the 48 Bella members who competed in the second club 3k track race on Wednesday 24 April. Even though many of us are busy preparing for Spring marathons right now, there were some fantastic performances on the track in windy conditions. The runners were enthusiastically cheered on by fellow Bellas before everyone went inside for a post-race debrief over sandwiches and cake. We were delighted to welcome Jimmy Irvine at the event who, together with his wife Sandra, were awarded honorary life membership of the club. Jimmy remains as enthusiastic about running and generous in his support for the club as ever. Congratulations to all the runners who took part and a big thank you to everyone who helped with the organisation. Please let us know if you have any ideas for future club race evenings.
Bellahouston Mob Match 2019 – Road Runners triumph for the 3rd year in a row 🏆 Both clubs had a fantastic morning at Pollok parkrun with a magnificent 60 Bellahouston Road Runners and 56 Bellahouston Harriers taking part. It was the closest contest yet, with one runner making all the difference. Thanks to all who came along to run, volunteer and support both clubs, and also to everyone at Pollok parkrun for making us feel so welcome 💜💙 The full results for Pollok parkrun event #521 are available. You can read more about the rules and organisation of the Mob match on our post “Organising the Bellahouston Mob Match“, which has now been updated with the stats from the 2019 incarnation! The breakdown: 60 Road Runners v 56 Harriers, so a total of 116 members. So the Road Runners ‘won’ attendance. 1st, 2nd and 3rd males were Harriers, so the Harriers won the mens on a 3-to-count basis (Harriers 6pts vs RR 30pts). (This is using positions from the published parkrun results at 2.30pm) 1st female was visiting Jennifer Wetton from Central AC (who won the 2018 Jimmy Irvine 10k), The Harriers first female was 3rd overall female. The Road runner ladies were closely packed thereafter, so the Road runners won the ladies on a 3-to-count basis (Harriers 25pts vs RR 20pts, using Ladies finish positions). Ditto published results. Based on overall finishing position scoring for smallest club attendance (Harriers had 56, so 53 counting positions), the Road Runners ‘won’ (defended) bragging rights, and the main trophy. However it was by any measure the closest result yet, with just 24 point difference, which is really just a one runner difference in terms of points.
An amazing turnout of 60 Bellas raced at today’s Renfrewshire AAA 5 mile Champs in Greenock and again we were in amongst the medals. Emer Campbell and Andy Campbell both won Gold in the V40 category while Shona Donnelly and Gerry Scullion won Gold and Silver respectively for the V50s. The ladies senior team of Emer, Shona and Claire Wharton also won the Bronze team medals. Congratulations to all our medal winners and the several members who earned a shiny new PB 👏👏
Twenty Bellas raced this morning in windy and surprisingly humid conditions at the Stirling 10k which also doubled up as the Scottish 10k Champs. Several scored PBs and season bests, but it was our ladies who once again brought back the silverware. Louise Ross and Emer Campbell picked up National Silver and Bronze medals in the V40 category and Shona Donnelly won the V50 Bronze. Well done ladies! 🥈🥉🥉 Results available here, and our thanks to Central AC for hosting a superb event! Photos courtesy of Graeme McNay and Robert Macleod.
Some great results in the last few weeks at the club that we wanted to highlight. 2018 John Lucas Round Strathaven 50 Mile Relay Huge congratulations to to Euan, Andy, Graeme, Russell and Craig (Euan, Andy and Graeme pictured) for winning the men’s relay event. Well done too to Ann who took part at the same event, in the mixed team event. Many thanks to Marc Bromwich for organising the men’s team entry, and was all set to run, but had to pull out because of injury. 2018 Paisley 10k A great clutch of results and individual runs from the always popular Paisley 10k, part of our annual club championships. Shona Donnelly was 1st female v50, Gerry Scullion 1st male v50, and Cat, Ann and were the 2nd female team home. Cross country training returning in September Our informal Saturday morning cross country focused training sessions resumes from 8th September in Bellahouston Park. More details on the club forum: Chi will be posting specific details in advance. Always a great way to start the weekend! Cross country and relays are a big part of the club’s autumn and winter focus, and pretty much all the races are included as part of our membership. Justensure your Scottish Athletics and club membership is up to date, and that you’re setup on the forum in order to get your name down when entries open! Jimmy Irvine Bella 10k entries open Entries to our popular 10k, the Jimmy Irvine Bella 10k, have now opened, and are already selling fast. Pop along to entrycentral.com/bella10k to sign up.
66 Bellas competed in another hotly contested President’s Cup on Wednesday 20 June. The 5K handicap race around Bellahouston Park was won by Julia McDonald for the women and Andrew Haddow for the men. Each runner sets off after a time handicap based on their recent race performance. So every club member has a good chance of winning and the finish is always exciting. More than three quarters of runners crossed the finish line within one minute of each other. Even so the team of volunteers at the finish funnel coped brilliantly. Club president Richard Leyton led the winners to victory on the lead bike before presenting the prizes afterwards over sandwiches and cake at Nethercraigs. Congratulations to all the runners and well done for all those new PBs. Full results for the race are available on the club member’s forum.
The club has had a busy few days for club championship races, with the Dumbarton 10k and the rearranged Down by the River 10k both featuring as medium distance races this week. The Dumbarton 10k was a fantastic evening for the 35 members taking part, and highlights from the results include Claire Wharton (41:57) and Jane McNeilly (42:35) as 1st and 3rd V40 Ladies (separated in 2nd by our friend Mary Senior, formally of this parish). Gerry Scullion continued his fine running form with a superb 37:00 as 3rd V50 Male. Cambuslang 10k took place earlier today, and we understand Romy was 3rd Lady overall, Emer 4th lady (and 1st V40), and Romy, Emer and Mhairi scooping the 1st ladies team prizes. Away from the champs, Wednesday evening saw perfect conditions for the Antonine trail race with their coveted finishers rock, Saturday saw the popular Dick Wedlock 10k taking place in Pollok park, where Bryan Mulgrew stormed to 3rd place. Well done to everybody who took part!
Robert Macleod just sent in this race report from yesterday’s Tom Scott 10 mile road race: If you had asked me 5 or 10 years ago would I take up running in the years to come I would have just laughed at you, the most running I ever done was running from people wanting to batter me in school, I officially ran my first race in June 2016 doing the men’s 10k in my Adidas sambas and the reason that was I didn’t intend to continue running after that, I struggled with that race and I stumbled over the line in just over an hour, fast forward to April 1st 2018 otherwise known as April fools day well I certainly wasn’t planning on being a fool today as I prepared myself for my very first ever long race, the 56th Tom Scott memorial road race which was a 10 mile race around Strathclyde park, Earlier in the week my 5 year old daughter Mirrin asked me Daddy why do you never win races, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry but I answered because there are faster people running than me that’s why, I had the added bonus of the children being away for the weekend with their Auntie so there was no added distractions, We set off in plenty of time and arrived at Strathclyde park just before 9 to get my race number, I definitely underestimated the coldness and I only had a top over my running top, we went inside and then later I nipped out for a wee warm up, the start of the race was quickly approaching so I quickly took my top off and threw it to Elizabeth, the race started quickly and I probably started off a bit quick, that would catch up with me later, I set myself a target of 1 hour 20 minutes which is 8 minutes a mile and I thought I’m more than capable of that, I was unsure of what route this race was taking me but following who’s in front of me I can’t go wrong, on the other side of the loch I seen Graeme Paterson and he told me to stay steady all the way round and that’s what I intended to do, as I was about to start the last lap the winner Luke Traynor was finishing his race which is very impressive and hopefully he will go to the very top and I certainly believe he will, when I got round to the other side I was overtaken by Lynne Hamilton, I asked her if she would wait for me but I don’t think she heard me, I occasionally looked behind me and I noticed Lynsey wasn’t far behind me so I managed to catch a second wind, this was my first visit to Strathclyde park and I could just about see where the finishing line was so I made a run for the finish I seen the clock ticking at […]
Conditions couldn’t have been better for the annual Renfrewshire AAA 5mile road race at Battery Park in Gourock today. A flat calm and bright sunshine are unheard of for this race as anyone who took part in 2016 will tell you! The Purple Posse had a bumper turnout, and carried home a good haul medals with Cat MacDonald, Claire Wharton and Shona Donnelly 2nd overall ladies team, with Claire 1st FV40 and Shona 1st FV50. In the men’s race it was a Bella clean sweep in the MV50 category with Colin Hughes 1st, Gerry Scullion 2nd and Al McLachlan 3rd. Congratulations to them, and to all who took part, and many thanks to the great support out on the course! Pics from the day courtesy of Caroline Turner are available on our facebook page. A copy of the provisional results were sent through to us, and available here (please direct any queries at the organisers)
The Road Runners vs The Harriers! Saturday 17th February. RSVP on Facebook, or just rock up on the day in your purple top! Following on from last year’s brilliant event, we’re bringing it back again for 2018. This time it’s part of our club championships so we’re hoping it’ll be even bigger and better this year! You pitch up at Pollok parkrun on 17th February (you are registered at parkrun, right?). Run 5K, fast. Finish as high up the field as you can. Scan your barcode. Then join everyone back at the Cartha for the after run fun. How does it work? • Turn up ready to run. Wear your club vest so that you can be easily identified. • Run the Pollok parkrun. Trying to finish as high up the field as possible. Your only job is to beat the Harrier in front of you. But watch out behind, there’s a Harrier chasing you! • After finishing parkrun, show your finish token to the Bellahouston Road Runner volunteer (who will be standing near the barcode scanners), they will take note of your name and placing. • All placings will be added up. • We will count the lowest club attendance, minus three. So, if we have 50 runners and the Harriers have 45, then the first 42 places will be counted in each team. (That’s the Harriers attendance (45), minus 3. Equals 42. You still with me!?) • The club with the least number of points will win the prestigious Mob Match Trophy……until the 2019 return of the mob match. After the race we will join the Harriers at the Cartha Rugby Club for food, drinks and prizegiving where we can all make our excuses for not running down that final hill as fast as we could have. If you can, please come along. Every runner counts. There’s no gender, age, or entry requirements. If you are a club member turn up and give it a go. You just have to beat the Harrier in front of you while not losing to the Harrier behind you. This event is designed to be all inclusive. It’s a race. A good ol’ mob match. And hopefully something to give everyone in both clubs some motivation to really attack that parkrun course.If you can’t run, please consider volunteering at the parkrun. Family & friends are more than welcome, both to run with us, and to join us back at the Cartha. Every club member who runs, volunteers or turns up to support will receive a commemorative gift! Event: Mob Match Bellahouston Road Runners vs Bellahouston Harriers Where: Pollok parkrun which starts and ends at the Burrell When: Saturday 17th February 2018 at 9.30am After party: The Cartha Rugby Club, 92 Dumbreck Road, Glasgow, G41 4SN Who: All members, family and friends.
The club had a fantastic turnout at this year’s Great Scottish Run Half Marathon. A total of 51 runners raced the event, as well as providing a set of marshals to help with start line duties (before helping cheer runners along the way), and a number of pacers helping a great many runners achieve Personal Bests and race targets. So a big ‘well done!’ to everybody who took part in some way on the day, and many thanks to the many Bellas out on the course giving a cheer to everybody too! A particular congratulations for three of our Ladies – Catriona McDonald, Romy Beard and Katie Mathieson – who took home a fantastic Gold in the Scottish Half Marathon Championships. Brilliant achievement, and culmination of a lot of hard work. Well done!
Well done to everyone who took part tonight in the President’s Cup. Congratulations to our winners Stephen Harris and Gillian Hamilton. Fastest times on the night were Bruce Carmichael (16:15) for the men and Shona Docherty (18:34) for the ladies. Shona Donnelly ran exactly her predicted time. Many thanks to all the volunteers tonight who made the event go smoothly, it’s very much appreciated. Full results can be found in the table below. Photo credit Gordon Goldie
The most recent Club Championship races were the Rouken Glen 10k on Thursday 8th June and Roon the Toon 10k in Kilmarnock on Sunday 11th June. At a very wet Rouken Glen, congratulations to 2nd place Ciaran Dougherty, 4th place and 1st vet Bruce Carmichael and 1st v55 Jim Robinson. The mens team narrowly beaten to the team prize by Giffnock North. On a windy Kilmarnock Sunday, yesterday was the ladies turn to bring home the bling. West District Medals and team prizes for the Ladies team of Louise Ross, Cat MacDonald and Shona Donnelly. Louise was first v40 and Shona first v50. Congratulations! Well done to everyone who took part in both races particularly those who PBd. Next Club Championship races are the Brian Goodwin 10k this Friday 16th June and the Presidents Cup 5k Handicap on Wednesday 21st June. [Photo Tom Ferris]