A cracking 46 Bellas braved the slippy weekend conditions taking part in the latest Scottish Athletics Challenge and once again finishing as the highest participating club in the country 🥳 We organised Covid friendly 10K club runs at Glasgow Green and Renfrewshire, and as it was a Club Championships event another 22 Bellas took part over the weekend, adding up to an awesome 68 members in total 🤩 Here’s a little collage featuring our hardy bunch 💜
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Today would have been our 11th Jimmy Irvine race, marking a full decade since the event first kicked off As our 2020 couldn’t go ahead, we thought we’d create a wee retrospective to mark the occasion, with club members sharing some some of the reasons 💜 Why We Run!💜 Thanks to all the club members who sent in selfies and ideas, and to the many brilliant event photographers who’ve captured the energy and atmosphere of our races over the years, so we can look back and look forward to the next ones as well! If you’re inspired to get involved, we’d love to see you along at the club, check out our website for more.
Our annual awards are a big part of the club year. Whilst racing was heavily impacted by the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, the club updated its club championship to incorporate virtual challenges and Strava segments, enabling a whopping 75 members to complete the championship criteria, and compete for our prizes. Whilst we unfortunately couldn’t meet in person, we staged our awards ceremony virtually via Zoom last weekend on Saturday 24th October. The awards night featured a few specially created videos and songs, fun socially distanced award presentations. You can find the highlights below! Well done to all our prize winners, including all our brilliant Lockdown Legend award, our Member of the Year (Gerry Scullion), our Most improved members (Alan Digweed, Anne Campbell), our Club Champions (Grant Murphy and Cat Macdonald) as well as all our age category winners, our Winter handicap winners, and our Cross Country/Off Road Champ winners. Full details below! Bella Twists 2 – Bella Strikes Back! A follow-up to our popular Bella Twists lockdown video. Bella Lockdown Legends Our awards night recognised members who made a big contribution during lockdown with the ‘Lockdown Legend’ award, which our brilliantly talented members Alan Digweed and Marty Campbell, but to music, and Laura Henderson created a great video for: Championship completers A whopping 75 members completed the championship, and we always like to reflect their achievement at the awards ceremony. Award winners Member’s vote Member of the Year 2020: Gerard Scullion Most Improved Male 2020: Alan Digweed Most Improved Female 2020: Anne Campbell Club Champions Men: Grant Murphy Women: Cat Macdonald Age Category winners Senior Men Winner. Grant Murphy Runner Up. Bryan Mulgrew 3rd Place. Stuart Laurence Women Winner. Cat Macdonald Runner Up. Christie Ford 3rd Place. Isla McIntosh V40 Men Winner. Bruce Carse Runner Up. Alan Digweed 3rd Place. James Shepherd Women Winner. Louise Ross Runner Up. Emer Campbell 3rd Place. Ann Robin V50 Men Winner. Gerry Scullion Runner Up. Colin Hughes 3rd Place. John Mackenzie Women Winner. Rhoda Yarmahmoudi Runner Up. Roz Wilson 3rd Place. Louise Gray V60 Men Winner. Allon Galbraith Runner Up. Al Maclachlan 3rd Place. Frans Roelofse Lockdown Legends Kelly Ludwig Oscar Wild Rhoda Yarmahmoudi Gerard Scullion Gordon Goldie Alan Digweed Marty Campbell Laura Henderson Leanne McIntosh Louise Ross Emer Campbell Richard Leyton Kevin Queenan Winter handicap Championship Men Winner: Allon Galbraith Runner Up. Alan Moss 3rd Place. James Shepherd Women Winner. Isla McIntosh Runner Up. Catriona Macdonald 3rd Place. Louise Ross Cross Country/Off Road Championship Men Winner: Grant Murphy Runner Up. Stuart Laurence 3rd Place. Bryan Mulgrew Women Winner. Catriona Macdonald Runner Up. Louise Ross 3rd Place. Isla McIntosh
We’re delighted and honoured to report that we’ve won the Scottish Athletics Impact and Innovation Club of the Year award 💜🥳💜🎉💜 – Congratulations to everybody at the club who have been spectacular right through the year. Thank you too for the lovely messages we’ve received, a few of which we have shared below. Our website is regularly updated with the things we’ve been getting up to during Coronavirus, but through the course of the last twelve months the award considered, we also celebrated our 20th birthday, staged perhaps our most successful Jimmy Irvine Bella 10k, saw medal winning performances, national XC and half marathon titles, and lots more besides. We’re very grateful to Scottish Athletics staff and volunteers too, who’ve been fantastic right through lockdown, and the last year. We’ve also learnt so much from other clubs, including the other shortlisted clubs Nairn AAC and Linlithgow AC, and the many others. The state of grass roots running is in great shape just now, thanks to the hard work of so many right across the country. If you’re interested or inspired, we’re delighted to be operating a waiting list, but so are many other clubs across the country via the #keeponrunning campaign, of which we’re a proud part. So pleased that the hard work put in by @bellaroadrunner has been recognised by this award tonight. The club has pulled out all the stops keeping its members going through this difficult time. https://t.co/AdW0m8CtTj — John Mackenzie (@john8mackenzie) October 10, 2020 Tuned into @scotathletics #4jawards to cheer on @bellaroadrunner and all others who work and perform so hard for Scottish athletics. Joined our club 2 years ago and it has had a huge impact in my life – would recommend to anyone. #MentalHealthAwarenessDay pic.twitter.com/qYa2IoKH1x — Thomas Burridge (@TomBurridge) October 10, 2020 Absolutely brilliant 👏#morethanjustarunningclub #MentalHealthAwarenessDay — Anne Campbell (@annecayrshire) October 10, 2020 For various reasons, I've not been able to train and take part with the club as I'd have liked in the past couple of years. The club were so innovative during the pandemic – especially in the early days, making every club member feel included. You're amazing @bellaroadrunner!💜 https://t.co/ZLeIAe0nvZ — David Lockhart (@DJL78) October 10, 2020 Congratulations! — Cambuslang Harriers (@CambuslangH) October 10, 2020 Fantastic to follow the @scotathletics awards last night! We have great memories of our own night on the shortlist a few years ago! Special congratulations to @JigglyJoggers for flying the @jogscotland flag and also to local club @bellaroadrunner for your successes! #4Jawards pic.twitter.com/DJzFpdtYKB — The Runbetweeners (@runbetweeners) October 11, 2020 Amazing guys – well done !! — GallusRunning (@GallusRunning) October 11, 2020
Ahead of World Cerebral Palsy Day tomorrow, Club member Andy Tomlinson’s featured in this inspiring article in today’s Herald Scotland: Meet the inspiring novice runner with cerebral palsy whose next target is a marathon. [Andy] believes for someone with cerebral palsy, running does bring health benefits. he said: “Running has had multiple health benefits. I’m happier when I run so it’s improved my mental health. My muscle tone is much better as well when I run, I’m not as tight and less pain, apart from sprained ankle at the moment, and hopefully opens up a whole world to me – Covid permitting. … He added: “The best advice I’d give is join a local club they are plenty of amazing clubs. Running has also allowed me to talk to runners all over the world as well including runners with Cerebral Palsy that will be running Berlin 2021 like me. Running is inclusive: every age, body shape, pace, distance, paired running, race running, and wheelchair events.” … Stephanie Fraser, chief executive, of Cerebral Palsy Scotland, said: “Andy is an inspiration because he does not let his CP limit his aspirations and he participates fully in so many different things. Too often CP is seen as only a childhood condition and people are told what they can’t do, not supported to achieve what they want to.” Well done on your running Andy, and this superb article. We’re delighted to have you as a member, and looking forward to seeing you achieve and surpass your targets and goals, and continuing to inspire our members, and many others! Read the full article on The Herald Scotland Website: https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/18770410.meet-inspiring-novice-runner-cerebral-palsy-whose-next-target-marathon
We’re extremely pleased to be able to report that club member Oscar Wild was recognised earlier this month with the ‘Achievement of the Month‘ award by the Sports Council for Glasgow. Oscar’s achievement was running regular virtual circuit classes on Zoom for members since lockdown first happened back in March. It’s been – and continues to be – immensely popular with members, and a hugely important part of the amazing response by members to the Coronavirus pandemic. Oscar’s also raised (so far!) over £450 for the Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice, by encouraging participants who wanted to support his efforts to donate. Everybody at the club is delighted to see Oscar recognised for his hard work. 👏👏👏 Oscar said: “Tonight I had the honour of attending the Sports Council of Glasgow Awards presentation at Decathlon, Braehead. I was nominated by the club for doing the virtual circuit classes from the start of lockdown and using them as a way of raising money for the Prince and Princess of Wales hospice. Thanks to the club for the nomination and I am delighted to showcase the club and thank everyone who contributed to the charity fundraiser.” Many thanks to the Sports Council for Glasgow, and to Decathlon Glasgow. You can still contribute to Oscar’s fundraiser in support of the Prince and Princess of Wales hospice at: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/oscarwilde 💜💜💜
Delighted to report that we have been shortlisted for a National Award! The ‘Impact Club of the Year’ is a big annual club award from our Governing body Scottish Athletics. In a very contested field – there’s really so much going on in clubs right across the country – it’s brilliant to even be on the shortlist, particularly in a year of record nominations. The other clubs short-listed are Nairn AAC and Linlithgow AC. It’s a fantastic testament to the brilliant work by our members who have, right through the year (particularly during Coronavirus) been driving initiatives, pitching in to help, and supporting each other in person and virtually. Everybody at the club is proud to see us short-listed, so fingers very much crossed! The awards event is online on youtube, so subscribe to Scottish Athletics channel and mark the 10th October in your diaries! Well done again to everybody at the club for their hard work, and for making it such a special place! REVEALED! Club and coach short-lists for our 4J Studios Annual Awards
Update, 25th September – Our latest plan (#5!) has exciting news! We’re back to groups of 15! Access our full plan here: BRR_ Coronavirus Club plan and members info #5_ Late September 2020 Changes announced earlier this week meant this update could return us to training with groups of 15, as Glasgow specific guidance was brought in line with the rest of Scotland. There’s also now a route for members to bring informal groups into the club’s auspices. Interested members should get in touch with the Board or Lead Coaches to discuss the steps required. Full details on the club forum. Update, 5th September – Because of updated guidance for Glasgow area clubs, issued by Scottish Athletics on 4th September we have issued an updated coronavirus plan, which you can read in full here. This currently supersedes the plan detailed below. Original announcement (28th August) follows We’re pleased to today publish our newly updated plan for our continued resumption of group training, after our successful trial in August. Our updated club plan uses the recently updated framework from Scottish Athletics, allowing groups of up to 15 members to implement a ‘training bubble’ at organised club sessions. It builds on our successful trial in August, with groups continuing to meet in separate locations by training group, members booking sessions and a declaration prior to attendance. We’re also very excited to be planning to resume welcoming new members along to the club, to try us out for a while to see if they’d like to join us. We’ve had a waiting list for a little while now who we’ve already started reaching out to, and hope to begin inviting them to our expanded sessions in early-September after our new plan has settled in. If you’re interested in finding out more about our club and what it can offer, please check out our website, then drop a note to info@bellahoustonroadrunners.co.uk and we’ll look to add you to the waiting list, and book you in. We are again hugely grateful to the Coronavirus sub-group, led by Emer (who took time-out from a much deserved holiday to update our plan), and presented it to our coronavirus group and coaches this week. Many thanks to everybody involved at the club who helped with that review/approval process. Many thanks, once again, to Scottish Athletics for their framework, support and guidance: it has been invaluable in helping our volunteer coaches and Trustees to put this together. Download the club plan here: BRR_Coronavirus Club plan and members info_ August 2020
We’re delighted to publish our plan to return to group training in August, using the framework provided to us by Scottish Athletics. We are starting carefully, with a series of trial sessions available for current members to book via our website, with sessions starting on 3rd and 5th August. We will be reviewing these events, but are hopeful we’ll be in a position to increase the number of sessions we are able to offer if it goes well, later in the month. We are grateful to the Coronavirus sub-group, led by Emer, who has worked hard to draw up this plan, supported by our lead coaches and Board of Trustees, as well as our wider group leads and coaches. Many thanks to Scottish Athletics for their framework, support and guidance: it has been invaluable in helping our volunteer coaches and Trustees to put this together. We’ll also continue to engage in virtual events: We’ve consistently been the largest club by participation at all of the Scottish Athletics virtual events so far, and a closely run thing to just miss out on largest UK club at the recent British Masters 5k relay challenge. We’re also delighted many members are organising informal sessions amongst themselves, carefully observing guidelines when they do. We’ve been getting together virtually with lots of group videos. Lots more detail on our ‘The club during Coronavirus’ page. We look forward to sharing more news in the coming weeks. Whilst we’re prioritising our existing membership just now, if you’re interested in joining the club as soon as we’re able to welcome new members to our sessions, do please get in touch with us via membership@bellahoustonroadrunners.co.uk Download the club plan here: BRR_ Coronavirus Club plan and members info.pdf
We’re delighted to invite club members to an online meeting and Q&A, on July 27th at 6.30pm, where we’ll present the club plan to – we hope – start a small trial resumption of group training in August. Members can find access details/agenda on the members’ forum: https://forum.bellahoustonroadrunners.co.uk/t/club-meeting-ahead-of-a-proposed-trial-resumption-of-group-training-july-27th-6-30pm/3687 For members who can’t make it, or for non-members, the meeting should also be live-streamed and available for review, via our youtube channel (although commenting/Q&A won’t be possible here)
The club is delighted to welcome Robert McEwan, Jane Wild and Oscar Wild as our new Honorary Lifetime members, after unanimous support from members at our 2020 AGM. They have all made a huge and lasting impact at the club over its 20 year history. A summary of their valuable contributions can be found on our Honorary Lifetime member page. Many congratulations to Robert, Jane and Oscar, and thank you for your hard work for the club, our members, and our local community over the years.
Many thanks to the many members who joined us for our 2020 AGM, the very first one we’ve ever held virtually. We had at great turnout, and with all our content available to view on our YouTube channel, we’re delighted by the engagement and interest shown by club members into our governance. We hope by being open about our governance process, and outcomes, it’ll even interest and engage more of our members, and even a few potential members. A few of our presentations were pre-recorded, and we are delighted to share these with you here if you wanted to watch them. They’re also embedded below. Club President Richard Leyton’s report and club update is here (and embedded below), which contains a fantastic section with our lead coach Gerry, and Team Manager Leanne looking back over the last year of club training and racing, and gives a real taste of what the club has got up to. The ‘Bella Twists’ highlight reel is here (and embedded below), and we’ve shared it on our public social media – We hope it captures the enthusiasm club members have shown for continuing with club activities, just differently, right through the lockdown. If you like it, do please give it a like or better yet, an onward share. The Financial update from treasurer Kenny Crawford is here. There’s detail too in our Trustees’ Annual Report. If you want to watch the entire AGM(!), you can catch the full live stream recording here. Our previous annual reports are all available via bellahoustonroadrunners.co.uk/charity/ A few key takeaways to report from the motions that were discussed, and voted on: The membership supports, in principle, a change of training venue: As the President’s report detailed, this is something we’d been working on for some time, which will hopefully continue when restrictions allow. The membership, and club, fully endorses and supports the Run Equal campaign. Whilst gender equality in Scottish running events is well ahead of the UK, there are still unequal events (National Masters XC, and some county events as of 2019/20 season). We’ll be making more public statements about that in due course, and to encourage other clubs in Scotland to take a similar stand. Club members supported continuing the membership fee freeze (and longer-term deferral for impacted members), which the Board will keep under review pending a resumption of training/substantive costs. The fees themselves remain unchanged from last year. Members approved three new Honorary Lifetime Members, in Jane Wild, Oscar Wild and Robert McEwan, who have been important members in the development of the club. We’ll be posting a separate news item to welcome them officially as Honorary Lifetime Members. Thanks again to all our members, and we’d encourage them to get in touch with us on any point. Whilst the AGM is an important point in the year, club Governance is a continual process and really depends on members getting involved and helping out where they can: the Board can only do so much. Plus the club is […]
Club members should now have received formal notification of the club’s rearranged 2020 Annual General Meeting. We are hosting it virtual (using Zoom) on Thursday, 18th June, 2020. If you haven’t received the email, please check your membership, or contact the membership secretary – or another Trustee – if you’re uncertain. There is full copy of the agenda, and background to the AGM, on the club members’ forum. For background, a full copy of the 2018-19 Trustees’ Annual Report and accounts is available, and (with addresses redacted) is available our website. In summary, as well as a few standard AGM items, such as the financial update from the Treasurer, and the President’s report, the Board are proposing some important motions for members to review, discuss and consider, and cast their vote on: Reviewing and confirming our annual membership fees. This was scheduled to happen in any event, but the advent of the Coronavirus crisis means we wish to fully confirm with members. Supporting, in principle, relocation to a new training base within Bellahouston park Supporting and endorsing the Run Equal campaign, with a view to campaigning for full equality of gender at cross-country races. The Board proposes the club adopts the suggested Run Equal motions. Outlining the past and present relationship the club has with the Renfrewshire AAA, and how that may work in future. Supporting the efforts of the Board to engage with, and help creation of, a cross-country League in the West District of Scotland. Reviewing and approving the Board’s nominations for members to receive the title of “Honorary Lifetime member“ Review any member submitted motions that are received (together with two seconders) on or before the 15th March, 2020 Reviewing and appointing the Board of Trustees We’re hosting this virtually due to the Coronavirus crisis. We are endeavouring to use practices from our own experiences from working-from-home, but we really want to make sure this works both as a formal meeting we need to host as part of our charitable status, but also as a fun way to come together. Members who are unable to attend, but wish to be recorded in the Apologies, should contact the club secretary. The Board look forward to welcoming members on the 18th April to engage with this important annual event for the club.
The Glasgow Times recently had a great article about our virtual challenge participation success, and social media efforts! Do check it out if you missed it. Find it at: https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/18472139.bellahouston-road-runners-race-difference/
🥳Congratulations and a huge well done to all our Bellas who took on the Scottish Athletics Virtual Challenge – The one mile time trial – which took place from 8th – 11th May. 🤩 We were again the largest club by participation! A whopping 77 Road Runners took to the streets over the weekend to see how fast they could record one mile and there were fantastic performances all round 💜👏 We say it every time but it’s really hard racing yourself – amazing effort from EVERYONE!🤩 💜Among a host of great performances, our ladies masters team finished 2nd in their category with our other teams just outside the placings. Awesome job Bellas!! Not only has it been a busy weekend of running, we’ve all had a busy weekend getting on with our housework 😜. Some of our talented members got together to create a fun video of everyone doing their household chores. We really can’t wait until lockdown is lifted so we can ‘Break Free’ !!! 💜 Enjoy!! 🤩🎥 🧹 🧼 🎶💜