Fourteen Bellas headed to Tillicoultry on Sunday 28th December to race the PH Racing Clubs annual Tilli 10k. A great route from Tillicoultry to Dollar and back on the Devon Way, in the shadow of the amazing Ochil Hills. This race always sells out its 800 places very quickly, and is a great finisher to the year, and a great way to shake off that festive overindulgence. Its also one of our ‘medium’distance Club Championship events! It was a great day for it, slightly chilly, but dry and calm. Our star of the day was Stuart Laurence who ran a fantastic 37:05, with the amazing Cathy Wood rounding off a brilliant year with a PB of 41:20! No sooner had 2025 ended, when 2026 arrived with the first 10k of the year at the Beith Harriers annual New Year 10k on Friday 2nd January! Another great event, with a smaller field of 300, on a tough but scenic route around Beith. Kenny Osborne ran a great race to finish in 6th place, 1st MV40 in 34:15, with Cathy Wood 42:48 and Tom Thorne 45:37. So, another year of racing stretches out in 2026, and we can’t wait!
Racing
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!
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
On Saturday 15th November, Claire Wharton made her debut for Scotland at the 36th British & Irish Masters International Cross Country at Roundhay Park, Leeds. Claire qualified (FV55) via the Scottish Veteran Harriers Club trials at Tollcross Park in early October 2025. The Roundhay course is a long standing Cross Country venue, and is a tough test for anyone. Claire (Bib 55314) ran a brilliant 29:37 over the 6k course and her Scotland V55 team finished just outside the medals in that category, finishing in 4th place. Claire is a long standing, and highly respected member of Bellahouston Road Runners and it is fantastic to see her efforts being rewarded with a Scotland vest. Well done Claire!
Sunday 9th November 2025 saw the latest running of our annual 10k race at Bellahouston Park, the Jimmy Irvine Bella 10K! We had some significant changes this year with a new flatter course and our race HQ being located at Bellahouston Sport Centre. We have had to tweak our course in recent years due to works within the park and we will of course take on feedback regarding this latest version, as we will about our new HQ location. It was pretty wet in the days leading up to the race, and that rain continued on the day, right up to the start of the race (at midday). Thankfully, it eased off for the most part of the race! This year, we had over 800 runners sign up to participate and there were around 640 finishers on the day. We did of course put on our usual post-race buffet which was more accessible this year being house at the nearby sport centre. We also teamed-up with ‘Rerun It’ to collect used sports gear that the charity will ship over to Malawi for use by local athletes. And, as always, we were delighted to partner with The Prince & Princess of Wales Hospice to raise funds for the hospice. The race itself saw a new course record set by the winner, Jamie Crowe of Central AC in an amazing 12:41! There was also a fantastic run from Jill Cherry of Victoria Park City of Glasgow with 34:53, only 30s away from a new female record. Bellahouston Road Runners gents and Bellahouston Harriers ladies took the respective team prizes! Some other records fell too with Tony Connelly (31:37) being a new Bellahouston Road Runners course record; FV70 Margo Turner 56:29; Johnny Mair 47:46. Well done folks! The full list of winners reads: 1st female – Jill Cherry (Victoria Park City of Glasgow): 34.53 2nd female – Rosa Ryan (Perth Road Runners): 38.57 3rd female – Kristina Glynn (Bellahouston Harriers): 39.19 1st male – Jamie Crowe (Central Athletics Club): 29.41 2nd male – Lewis Hannigan (Kilbarchan AAC): 30.25 3rd male – John Bell (Inverclyde Athletics Club): 31.09 V40 female – Sarah McSharry (Bellahouston Road Runners): 43.20 V50 female – Allie Chong (Giffnock North AAC): 41.10 V60 female – Shelia Lewis (Giffnock North AAC): 45.22 V70 female – Margo Turner: 56.29 V40 male – Oscar Coetzee (Bellahouston Road Runners): 33.07 V50 male – Brent Brodie (Bellahouston Harriers): 35.29 V60 male – Gareth Walker (Clwb Run Wales): 40.04 V70 male – Johnny Mair: 47.46 1st female team: Bellahouston Harriers (Kristina Glynn, Joanne Frith, Julie Lynch) 1st male team: Bellahouston Road Runners (Tony Connelly, Ross Horgan, Steven Lamb) 1st female member of Bellahouston Road Runners – Cathy Wood: 41.35 1st male member of Bellahouston Road Runners – Tony Connelly: 31.37 Full results at: http://results.perfecttimingscotland.co.uk/Results.aspx?CId=20065&RId=1257 We are very grateful to Migo Sports for generously sponsoring the race again this year and providing the prizes. Thanks to everyone involved in organising the event, the volunteers, marshals, medics, timing […]
The latest Abbott World Major Marathon took place on Sunday 2nd November 2025 in New York City. Four Bellas travelled stateside to tackle this fantastic race that enjoyed great autumn weather. First home was Rhona Fraser, an age category qualifier, in an impressive 3:27:46, followed by Alex Sutherland in a PB of 3:46:47. Alex’ husband, David, also ran and finished in a brilliant 3:23:01! Next home was club legend, and former club president, Robert McEwan who ran with his son, Robert junior, both finishing in 4:31. Last, but by no means least, one of the nicest members of BRR, Robert Boag, completed the race, to be inducted into the Abbott Six Star Hall of Fame! What an achievement for Robert, who has completed Berlin (2018), London (2019), Boston (2022), Chicago (2024), Tokyo (2025), NYC (2025). A heroic effort by Robert, who dedicated his feat to his own hero, his late father. Well done everyone!
What a performance from Ross Gale at the Glen Ogle 33 Ultra on Saturday 1st November 2025! 33 miles from the start in Killin to finish in Strathyre, over a beautiful course with 3,000ft of climbing. And it was wet in the run up to this one, and on race day itself. Ross however triumphed to win in a quite incredible time of 3.54.01!
Congratulations to Kenny Osborne after two great performances and age category wins in consecutive weeks. On Sunday 2nd November it was the Strathaven Striders “Run with the Wind” 10k where Kenny finished in third place and first MV40 in a fantastic time of 35.12! Then on Saturday 8th November, Kenny headed to the Newton Road Runners 10k and placed fifth, and again, first MV40 in an even better 34.34! A great week for Kenny who is recapturing his best form.
On Sunday 19th October, it was the latest Amsterdam Marathon. There was a great turn out of Bellas and some fantastic performances too! Very well done to Ruairi Barfoot (2:42:05), Stuart Laurence (2:54:49), Oscar Wainwright (4:08:52), Gayle McKay (4:25:31), Mandy Morgan (4:35:51), Katherine Wainwright (4:43:57) and Pauline Bradley (4:58:39). On the same day, it was Yorkshire Marathon. A start and finish at the University of York and outstanding performances by Grant Murphy 15th place in 2:35:49, David Jarrett PB 2:49:46 and Sue Campbell Senior PB 4:21:17. Well done folks! It was also a great performance at the Yorkshire 10 Miler by Veronica Fusaro in 1:13:40.
We had two Bellas running at the Glasgow to Edinburgh Ultra on Saturday 11th October. 57 miles from the Riverside Museum in Glasgow to the Edinburgh Athletics Track with the route largely follows the central belt’s canal network. Laurence Prior had an outstanding race to claim 10th place in an amazing 8hrs 25min! Lucy MacKay also had a great day, finishing on 12hrs 38min. The effort put into training for such events cant be underestimated, so congratulations to both!
What an event for Bellahouston Road Runners at this year’s very scenic Loch Rannoch Marathon! A beautiful day on Sunday 12th October for the event, with three Bellas participating. And it was success for all three! Jordan Davidson, carrying on his excellent form this year, finished in a PB of 2:44:29 to finish second in the race, first Male Senior! Then there was Tomoyo Fujiwara, in 3:34:52 to finish 3rd placed lady, first FV50! Lastly, Ian Watt ran 3:38:20 to claim first MV55! A brilliant treble of prizes for our brilliant Bellas!
It was the Great Scottish Run 10k & Half Marathon on Sunday 5th October. The stormy weather gave way to blue skies and a bit of a breeze for a great event. Excellent support and a new start at the top of St Vincent Street for a record field this year. We had around 100 Bellas running and marshalling! It was an early 10k start, but great running from our 6.2 milers, with our first 3’s being: Ross Horgan (32:35, 15th), Grant Murphy (33:10 PB, 20th), Ross Wood (44:44) – Lauren Rice (43:04), Rachel Fraser (44:41 PB), Alex Shaw (49:39). Then, it was the Half Marathon, where we had around 72 Bellas running. Some amazing PBs achieved and too many great runs to mention. Our top 3s were: Ruairi Barfoot (1:14:52 PB), Ross Gale (1:15:38), Jordan Davidson (1:16:05 PB) – Rebekah Russell (1:25:49, 3rd F35-39), Rhona Fraser (1:30:48, 1st F45-49), Cara Thom (1:31:56 PB). In addition, Al MacLachlan (1:33:56) was 1st M65-69. Elsewhere, Claire Wharton qualified for the British & Irish Masters Cross Country after trials at Tollcross Park! Lynn Stuart ran a brilliant PB at the Chester Marathon, Flora Henry was second lady at the Barry Buddon 10 Miler in Carnoustie, and Poppy Bowie was first lady at the Brisbane Road Runners 20k! Very well done ladies!!
On Sunday 28th, it was the ever popular Baxters Loch Ness Marathon 2025. A spectacular point to point route from the banks of Loch Ness to the finish in Inverness. Great weather conditions this year, and a new course record of 2:15:46. Not too shabby from our Bellas either with Oscar Coetzee (2:32:21 6th, 1st MV40), Bryan Mulgrew (2:43:38, 20th), Debbi Scott (3:34:46), Lucy MacKay (4:33:20). Lucy completed her 80th marathon including every Loch Ness event to date! Oscar retained his MV40 title too taking 8 mins off last years time.
The Kelpies Half Marathon ran on Saturday 27th September. A start & finish at the Kelpies, with two crossings over the Forth at the Clackmannanshire Bridge and then back over the historic Kincardine Bridge. There were perfect conditions and plenty of Bella horsepower too, especially from the race winner, our Grant Murphy, in a PB and Course Record 1:12:15! Another outstanding effort following on from Grant winning the Girvan HM in July. Great running too by Gavin McGowan (1:39:14), Lauren Rice (1:41:53), Anne Campbell (1:44:13), Wallace Gray (1:49:14), Laura Henderson (1:49:52) & Louise Gray (2:08:19).