On Sunday 19th April, it was the 2026 adidas Manchester Marathon. The event is the second largest of its kind in the UK and widely regarded as the flattest. Three Bellas made their way south to tackle the race. Thankfully, there were good weather conditions and as usual, it was very well supported. Congratulations to Chic Forsyth PB 3:11.03, Robert Smith PB 3:23:05 & Angela Eadie PB 4:25:44. Three Bellas, three PBs, not too shabby!
Racing
339 posts
Monday 20th April 2026 was the 130th running of the Boston Marathon. The race was held on it’s traditional spot on ‘Patriots Day’ with over 30,000 participants. It is also one of the abbott world major events. We were fortunate enough to have two ladies running. It’s a tough undulating course, extending from Hopkinton to Boylyston Street in Boston, but did they run well! So, congratulations to Sarah McSharry who ran a PB 3:27:29, and Pauline Wright who ran a brilliant 3:45:06! And since its Boston..”Cheers!”. Enjoy the recover ladies, and safe journey home.
It was the Dunbartonshire AAA Clydebank 10 Miler on Sunday 12th April. The route is a flat, out-and-back and begins at Clydebank Leisure Centre, following the Clyde River along the scenic Forth & Clyde Canal to The Bowline at Bowling Harbour, before returning to finish under the shadow of the iconic Titan Crane. It’s a great event and one of our ‘long’ championship races, with some strong wind to contend with on the day. Nevertheless, there was great running by Jamie Wieland PB 1:04:15, Al MacLachlan 1:09:22, Gerry Scullion 1:10:04, Kenny Crawford 1:11:34, Tomoyo Fujiwara 1:15:56 (1st FV50), Alice Howe PB 1:18:50, Stephanie Boyle 1:22:53, Wallace Gray 1:22:58, Lynne Hamilton 1:27:30, Sue Campbell Senior 1:27:44, Roz Wilson 1:29:30, Claire Galloway 1:29:45, Louise Gray 1:32:15 & Graeme Pert 1:47:35. Another great FV50 win for Tomoyo as she gears up for the London Marathon! And well done to Wallace Gray, having ran 20 Along the Forth, the Alloa HM and Clydebank 10 in the past four weeks!
It was Drumchapel parkrun on Saturday 11th April for our latest off-road championship event. Its a great parkrun event and a tough, challenging, hilly course. There was a great wee turnout of 10 Bellas and we had the top 5 spots with Ben Nurse 18:39, Jordan Davidson 18:52, Sam Ramsay 20:55, Alan Moss 21:16 & Calum Brown 21:43. We also had second and third placed ladies in Claire Wharton 23:50 & Tomoyo Fujiwara 26:20. Many thanks to all at Drumchapel for hosting us, and making us feel so welcome.
We had three of our men away from Scotland over the weekend racing in events. Poland, Italy, England, in that order. First off, on Saturday 11th April, there was a nice performance from Piotr Kopec with 1:38:17 at the ArcelorMittol Poland Dabrowa Half Marathon. An excellent run by Piotr while home visiting family. Then we had our current reigning men’s club champion, Tony Connelly, in Italy, producing an outstanding run of 2:38:20 at the Milan Marathon on Sunday 12th. Tony just continues to perform at an excellent consistent effort and holds almost all of our club records! Lastly, we had Ross Gale (pictured) at the Boston Marathon (the English version!) on Sunday, recording an excellent PB performance with 2:44:55 to place 10th in the race!
Oscar Coetzee has been back home in South Africa of late, and still getting in those challenging races! After finishing first Male Vet (51:41) at the Ravensmead 15k in Cape Town last week, he took on the much tougher Two Oceans Ultra around Table Mountain National Park, Cape Town on Saturday 11th April. This 56k (35 mile) race is said to be the most beautiful of its kind in the world, sitting between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Oscar ran an incredible 3:58:53 to break the four hour mark. His first 30k saw him up with some of the best in the race, including the ladies eventual winner, Gerda Steyn (in the attached image, Oscar is on the far right with Steyn third from the left). So, he continues to go from strength to strength, and is a real credit to himself, his family and luckily, to his adopted Glasgow running club. Well done Oscar!
Congratulations to Stuart Dougall, who ran the Moray marathon on Sunday 5th April 2026, finishing in 13th place with a fantastic PB time of 3:12:14. The Moray Marathon is an historial running event in Scotland. It was the oldest running marathon in Scotland until 2016 when it was cancelled. It was brought it back to life with an updated, improved route in 2024. The route itself begins and finishes at the Morriston Playing Field running track in Elgin. Here you line up to start on the river path to the side of the playing field. The route takes you onto Brumley Brae and out of Elgin before descending onto the flat and fast country roads towards Burghead at Mile 8. You then continue along the coastal road passing Cummingston, Hopeman and Covesea before running through the beautiful beach town of Lossiemouth at mile 15, running alongside the harbour and sea front. On leaving Lossiemouth, it’s on the road through Oakenhead with the forest on your left (mile 17-19), all the way down towards the A96 before cutting right onto the cycle path at Mile 23. The its Cooper Park, before the final mile to finish at Morriston a victory lap of the track. On the day, there was a real mixed bag of weather with wind and rain, permeated by glorious sunshine and blue skies. So, a great effort by Stuart on the back of his Neil McCover Half Marathon PB in late February!
We lost an hours sleep on Sunday 29th March 2026 at the 62nd Tom Scott 10 Mile Road Race at Strathclyde Park This is always a favourite annual event run by Law & District AAC, and again, it served as the Scottish Athletics 10 Mile Road Race Championship. It was also one of our won ‘long’ club championship events. Over 300 starters lined up, including 22 Bellas, on what was a cold, wet and very windy day in Motherwell! The race started at 1000hrs sharp, with the first mile spent battling a strong cross-wind that seemed determined to push someone into the loch! The exposed parts of the course were tough all the way around in pretty relentless conditions. So, it was tough going, but as always, great running all round from our Bella contingent. Our top threes were (M) Tony Connelly (53:27, 5th), Callum Borthwick (55:22, PB, 14th), Paul McNairn (57:02) (F) Cathy Wood (1:07:08, PB, 10th lady), Ann Robin (1:09:59, PB). Claire Wharton (1:14:37, 3rd FV50). Cathy, Ann & Claire also finished 3rd ladies team! A big thankyou to the organisers, and particularly the volunteers, first aiders, photographers, Perfect Timing Scotland, etc, for battling really brutal weather conditions. Full results below: https://results.perfecttimingscotland.co.uk/Results.aspx?CId=20065&RId=3125
Five Bellas lined up for the inaugural Paisley HM on Sunday 22nd March 2026. A route from the centre of town, out past Ferguslie to Linwood, then a loop round towards Elderslie before heading back to finish in town again. Very well done to Kenny Osborne (1:14:53, 5th, 2nd MV40), Rhona Fraser (1:31:16, 5th lady, 1st FV45), Sandy Macdonald (1:34:28), Mandy Morgan (2:00:40) & Pauline Bradley (2:13:29).
Our members travel far and wide, whether that’s living abroad, visiting home or just short breaks with some races thrown in! On Saturday 21st March, on the Gold Coast, Australia, the unstoppable Poppy Bowie ran the T100 10k event and smashed her PB to register 39:58. Not too shabby in the midst of training for the Gold Coast Marathon later this year. On the same day, in cape Town, South Africa, the equally unstoppable Oscar Coetzee took part in the Tyger 15k race, almost straight off the plane from Amsterdam. And he didn’t hang about, finishing in 54:23 for 9th place, 3rd Male Vet! On Sunday 22nd, it was Bièn Hecho to Ross Wood (1:36:19 PB) & Lauren Rice (1:49:29) who ran the tough Madrid Half Marathon. Great running by both with Ross smashing his PB and Lauren getting back to fitness after recent injury.
It was the 42nd Alloa Half Marathon on Sunday 22nd March 2026. Another big event, with around 2,300 runners involved, including 35 Bellas, tackling one of our ‘long’ club championship races. This year the committee organised and funded a coach to ferry 30 of our members to/from the event. Thanks to Abbey Coaches for getting us all there and back safely. As always, it was a very well organised event, with an early start at 0900hrs from Lornshill Acadamey. This is a great local facility with access to a big running track, facilities to escape the cold, toilets and the gym hall to store gear. The weather was pretty good, cool, overcast and a light breeze to start with, although a stiff headwind picked up coming along the long stretch that runs parallel to the Ochil Hills. The route ran from the school, turning sharp left onto the main road into Alloa itself, with a loop around the houses before heading north on an undulating section to Sauchie, Fishcross then Tillicoultry. From there, it’s a left turn onto that long stretch right through Tillicoultry to Alva, with those magnificent Ochils to the right the whole way. With a great view of Dumayat, it’s then a sharp left again onto the flat section prior to the Menstrie Brae climb. Hitting this at 11.5 miles is tough. It has been vicariously described as ‘Heartbreak Hill’ and ‘Life Affirming’ even making you question your life choices. But once at the top, there is some short-lived relief realising there’s just over a mile to go! Short-lived however, as its a tough wee climb through Tuiilbody back to the school and a great welcome back! Again, as always, there was brilliant support all the way around, and the volunteers involved did a great job. Our Bellas registered lots of amazing PBs and Course Bests this year. Our top 3s were (M) Ross Horgan (1:13:23, 11th), Bryan Kerr (1:13:49, 15th, PB), Paul McNairn (1:14:47, 2nd MV40) (F) Cara Thom (1:32:46), Veronica Fusaro (1:33:02 PB), Claire Wharton (1:34:21, 3rd FV50). Over and above we had Bruce Carmichael (1:17:36 1st MV50), Colin Hughes (1:26:56 2nd MV60), Al MacLachlan (1:32:47 3rd MV60) & Shirley Wieland (1:51:42 3rd FV60). Full results are at the link below. https://live.sportsystems.co.uk/results.aspx?CId=20246&RId=12296 And an extra well done to Wallace Gray, who ran ’20 along the Forth’ 20 mile race the day previous and finished Alloa just 24 hours later! Well done everyone, and thanks to the organisers, officials, volunteers, emergency services and of course the supporters.
Up in the Highlands on Sunday 8th March, it was the 2026 Inverness Half Marathon. This is a fantastic event that had over 5,000 runners this year, including the 5k participants. The weather was fine, with some decent spring sunshine. It’s a lovely scenic but tough course, as are almost all HMs!! We had four Bellas running this year. Our first past the post was the amazing Oscar Coetzee in 1:12:58, taking first MV40 position. Bryan Mulgrew ran a fantastic 1:15:09, his second fastest HM, as he sharpens up for the West Highland Way Race this summer. Angus Gray was just behind Bryan in 1:15:46, only a minute or so away from a PB. Claire Galloway was our sole Bella lady and ran a brilliant 1:57:47. Well done everyone!
On Sunday 8th March, it was the Springburn Harriers Jack Crawford 10k. It was a lovely morning for it on the route from Bishopbriggs, along the Forth & Clyde Canal. A great flat race for testing the winter training pace! We had great efforts by David Jarrett (34:52 PB ), Bruce Carmichael (35:06, 1st MV50), Cathy Wood (40:42 PB), Al MacLachlan (41:45, 2nd MV60), Dave Ferguson (42:01), Veronica Fusaro (42:53, 1st FV40, PB), Murdoch Rodgers (58:38, 1st MV70), Carla Telfer (1:08:01). A great event as always, so thankyou Springburn Harriers!
It was the 50k John Muir Ultra on Saturday 7th March, from Port Seton to Dunbar on the east coast. It was a perfect day for it, with some lovely spring sunshine, but given the wet weather of late, there were some tricky wet sections. especially on the second half of the route. Nevertheless, there was amazing running, pacing and endurance by our two Bella participants, Simon Wells (4:24:16, 50k PB) & Emma McCahill (4:41:53, 4th lady, 1st FSnr). Very well done you two, now get the feet up!
On Sunday 1st March, Kenny Osborne ran an amazing PB of 2:40:58 to win the Meadows Marathon in Edinburgh! This was a tough race consisting of 18 laps of The Meadows. A mental, as well as a physical challenge for Kenny, who produced such a strong performance.