The British Masters Athletics Federation Cross Country Championship ran at Tollcross Park on Saturday 15th March 2025, where Jen Conway was the sole Bella on duty for the 6k course on lovely sunny, spring day. Jen ran another brilliant XC race, as she has all season, with 23:41 to finish 3rd FV35. Hot on the heels of the Inverness HM last weekend, was the 41st Alloa HM on Sunday 16th March. It was a large field with 1864 finishers, and was well organised as always. 39 Bellas ran in near perfect conditions in the shadow of the Ochils. There were great results again, with a large number of fantastic PBs and 5 men in the top 50, with just about the same for our ladies. Our top 3 finishers were (M) Sean Coyle (1:14:37 PB), Bryan Mulgrew (1:15:11), Kenny Osborne (1:17:18) (F) Christie Lamb (1:30:49), Rhona Fraser (1:30:52), Poppy Bowie (1:32:09 PB). Full event results are at https://live.sportsystems.co.uk/Results.aspx?CId=20246&RId=15172 Huge congratulations to Bryan Kerr, who ran a fantastic PB of 2:40:32 at the Barcelona Marathon on Sunday too. Bryan’s impressive training regime clearly paying off again.
Race Report
The John Muir Way 50k Ultra Marathon ran on Sunday 9th March, on a beautiful spring day on the east coast of the country. The route extends from Port Seton promenade, up through Aberlady, Gullane and North Berwick, down to East Linton and onto the finish at Foxlake Adventures, Dunbar. A stunning route taking in coastal path, woodland and rural landscape on the historic John Muir Way. A huge well done to Brendan McGuiness with 4:24:49, on the back of his recent, excellent Glentress Marathon, Stuart McMillan with 6:05:34 in his first Ultra, and the legend that is Lucy MacKay with 6:57:18. An excellent, well organised event and as always, thanks to the volunteer marshalls, officials, and sponsors.
Well done to the four hardy Bellas who ran the 21+mile Ardgartan Trail Race on Saturday 22nd February 2025. It was a rearranged event after the recent storms. The route was 90% off-road, following a loop of the Ardgartan Peninsula, with some tarmac, forestry trails and an open hill section across to Lochgoilhead, before the climb back up to the ‘Rest And Be Thankful’ and a final downhill section to the finish. No ‘Strawberry Fields’ or ‘Norwegian Wood’ on the course for our ‘fab four’ of Bryan Mulgrew (2:53:51, 5th), Marty Campbell (3:46:27), Jonny Moran (3:49:56) & Gerry Hanlon (4:07:37). A tough day on the trails and notably, a fantastic effort by Bryan with a course PB. Well done gents!
The 2024 Tilli 10k, hosted by West Fife’s PH Racing Club, took place on Sunday 29th December, in the shadow of the beautiful Ochil Hills. The course is traffic free and follows the Devon Way cycle path, extending from Tillicoultry to Dollar and back. Registration was smooth and well organised, with a choice of a swanky beer or fancy soft drink for the race recovery! It was a fresh, blustery morning but the rain thankfully held off for the race. The first two miles were busy before the field stretched out, with a bit of shelter from the westerly wind. After the turn in Dollar, the headwind kicked in all the way back to Tillicoultry, but with an overall elevation gain of only 91ft, it was thankfully a fairly flat course! It’s a great event and there was an excellent turnout of 21 Bellas, with our results as follow: Tony Connelly (32:16), Calum Borthwick (33:06), Bryan Mulgrew (35:07), David Jarrett (36:24 PB), Stephen McQuade (36:52), Ryan Macready (38:16), Kelly Taylor (38:36), Dean Dempsey (40:49), Colin Hughes (40:55, 3rd MV60-65), Michael Daniel Rice (41:15), Cathy Wood (43:00), Marty Campbell (43:58), Ross Wood (44:58), Lauren Rice (45:11), Tom Ferris (46:04), Anne Campbell (46:41), Kevin Queenan (48:29), Joni Lindsay (49:36), Laura Wilkinson (50:31), Louise Gray (57:10), Wallace Gray (1:02:09). Well done everyone, and enjoy the beer! #Tilli10k
It was a busy race weekend in the midst of 10k season with over 60 Road Runners competing around the country. Firstly, it was the excellent Brian Goodwin Memorial 10k on Friday 7th June, hosted by our Bellahouston Harrier friends. Although there was some sunshine, it was a cold blustery evening around Pollok Park. Some 25 Road Runners tackled the course with an incredibly strong field, headed by local Olympian, Callum Hawkins, who won the race in 29:45. Tony Connelly (32:26, 10th), Calum Borthwick (33:25) & Kenny Osborne (34:39) led our gents home. Katie Blackett (44:23), Kirsty MacFarlane (44:42, PB ) & Charlotte Parkinson (47:48) were our top three ladies. A great run by Lucy Mackay (54:43) saw her take 1st V55. There were numerous PBs for our members too who celebrated with the traditional Goodwin burger and beer. On Sunday 9th June, the 10k racing moved to a sunny Kilmarnock for the increasingly popular ‘Roon the Toon‘ event. Over 1,800 started the race with 22 Bellas among them. Our top 3 gents were Paul McNairn (35:59, 3rd V40), Craig Ross (36:30) & Mark Young (36:38). For the ladies it was Deborah Gray (39:16, 1st V50), Emer Campbell (39:22, 3rd V40, PB) & Anne Campbell (46:03). This meant that our gents and ladies both took silver in the team competition! Connoisseurs of the longer events were out in force too with the ever impressive Colin Hughes putting in another great performance to win V60 (1:27:37) at the Isle of Skye Half Marathon on Saturday 8th June, finishing 17th overall and beating all of the V50s in the process! At the Strathearn Marathon on Sunday, Poppy Bowie, making her marathon debut, had an outstanding performance on a challenging course, to finish 7th lady in 3:35:43. And finally, with all this 10k racing on the go, remember that our own Jimmy Irvine 10k will run at Bellahouston Park on Sunday 10th November. Entries are now open at https://www.entrycentral.com/jimmyirvinebella10k
2024 was the 6th running of the 3 race babcock 10k Series, formerly the Polaroid Series. 12th May saw the first race at the Shettleston 10k, Glasgow Green. Over 20 Bellas ran on a lovely warm morning on a fast, flat course. Our first three gents were Tony Connelly 33:01 (6th), Oscar Coetzee 33:36 (10th, 1st V40) & Kenny Osborne 34:58 (11th) with the gents also taking a fantastic mens team gold! For our ladies it was the top trio of Rebekah Russell 37:23 (3rd FSnr), Grainne McGrath 40:20 (11th FSen) & Cathy Wood 43:41 (19th FSen). A great morning of running for all of our Bellas. Next up was Dumbarton on Thursday 23rd May, in entirely different conditions with heavy rain on a more undulating suburban route. 22 hardy Bellas raced, with the top three gents being Oscar Coetzee 32:58 (8th, 1st MV40), Calum Borthwick 33:05 (10th) & Bryan Kerr 34:34 (20th). So two straight MV40 wins for Oscar to help the gents team take bronze! Our ladies first three were Rebekah Russell 36:32 (4th FSen), Poppy Bowie 42:05 (14th FSen) & Alice Howe 51:02 (33rd FSen). So it was onto Helensburgh on Thursday 30th May for the final race of the series. What a contrast in weather from Dumbarton, with lovely Spring sunshine although a brisk headwind for the first half. 23 Bellas ran with our top three gents being Oscar Coetzee 33:15 (8th, 1st MV40), Ross Horgan 33:24 (9th) & Kenny Osborne 34:29 (14th). A clean sweep of MV40 golds for Oscar and team bronze for the gents! Our top three ladies were the formidable Rebekah Russell 36:48 (3rd FSen), Kelly Taylor 39:13 (7th FSen) & Cara Thom 45:11 (22nd FSen). Brilliant running from our ladies to also take team bronze! Helensburgh also served as the Scottish Athletics West District 10k Championship with the team competition rising to four members. With Bryan Mulgrew 35:23 (22nd) our gents were West District team runners-up. Lyndsay Kennedy 48:39 (30th FSnr) was our number four lady meaning West District ladies team 3rd. Congratulations to the outstanding Oscar Coetzee, the overall series and West District MV40 winner, 3rd placed gent overall and 3 team awards. The amazing Rebekah Russell had a fantastic series too, finishing ladies runner-up with two 3rd place FSen finishes as well as Helensburgh team bronze and corresponding West District awards! 11 members completed the full 3 race series with fantastic performances throughout from all of our Bellas. A real purple patch in another great babcock series. Well done everyone! https://babcock10kseries.co.uk/ Images courtesy of Daren Borzynsky
A massive well done to everyone who raced the Allan Scally 5k relays this weekend. What glorious weather for running! Everyone had a blast and there were some terrific times, plus lots of PBs. Wasn’t it wonderful to be racing in Bella teams again. The awesome Deborah Gray won 1st prize in the Ladies V50 race. Our men’s A team were an impressive 8th and the Ladies team finished in 9th place, both in a very strong field. We’re also delighted that a new club men’s 5k record was set by the flying Tony Connelly. Tony smashed the men’s 5k record in a superb time of 15:26. Absolutely amazing Tony, we knew you had it in you!! Well done! Great effort team Bella and it’s an exciting start to our road racing season! Many thanks to Shettleston Harriers for the organisation.
A super 60 Bellas took on the National XC Champs in Falkirk on Saturday . It was a fantastic day again at Callander Park and we assembled one of the largest club squads for this year’s Nationals! A HUGE well done to all our runners with amazing performances all round. Our Ladies team came home in 8th place and the men’s team came home in 11th place – top running team . We’re delighted to see such great enthusiasm for this year’s cross-country races. We topped the day off with a BIG Bella bake off. Indulging in some amazing home baking was a perfect way to celebrate the end of a successful XC season. Thanks to everyone who baked and took part. A special mention needs to go to the six club members who completed all of the cross-country races this season. Our cross-country performances are going from strength to strength. Now it’s on to the road season, and we’re already looking forward to some more team racing in the upcoming road relay races.
What a fantastic day out we all had at the weekend. We’re were there for the West District Cross Country Championships at Balloch Castle . It was terrific to see 42 Bellas racing together again at the first West Champs since 2019! There were wonderful performances across the board and it was especially good to see some club members getting their first taste of cross country racing. To top the day off, our cross country Queen, Cat MacDonald ran a magnificent race to finish a superb 2nd place in the ladies race. Awesome running Cat!! #ProudToBeABella
Bellahouston Road Runners, Bellahouston Harriers and West End Road Runners got together last night, for a fantastic evening of one mile track races at Hutchesons’ Grammar School track. The conditions were ideal which helped produce several great performances and many personal bests. Just as importantly, everyone had a great time running in a real race and socialising afterwards. Thanks to the organisers, all the volunteers and supporters, and of course the runners. Well done everyone! A few pics over on our facebook page post (thanks again to Kevin Queenan for the pics). We’ll update this post with a link to the results in due course. With racing and competition opportunities very limited, we’re excited to be able to showcase the benefits of being in a club, and clubs working together. Hopefully more events like this in near future.
Well done to all 52 Bellas who took part in the Scottish Athletics / Bella club champs 10k virtual event over the weekend!! Another great turnout from members making us the highest participating club again There were some very impressive times recorded by club members over the weekend of racing, however a special shout out to our very own Grant Murphy who WON the event finishing in an amazing time of 32.47!!! Fantastic effort – well done Grant!!! The club is very proud of you!!!!!!!! A big shout out also to Tony Connelly and Steven Lamb taking the 3rd and 4th spot on the leaderboard and securing the team title for Bella! Well done guys!! Thanks once again to everyone for getting involved and representing our amazing club!!! Full results on Scottish Athletics Website: https://www.scottishathletics.org.uk/62638-2/ – Well done to everybody who took part, particularly the other podium placed teams at Greenock Glenpark Harriers (2nd) and Garioch Road Runners (3rd)!
Huge well done to all our Bellas keeping race sharp during lockdown and embracing last weekends Scottish Athletics virtual distance challenge !!! 💜 It was a hot weekend for racing, but that didn’t stop the 57 Road Runners take on the 15/30 min challenge. We were once again the highest participating club in Scotland!! 👏 and we were 1st overall in the main U17 and Above 15min and 30min Combined distance challenge – a whopping 301.97km! Full results over on the Scottish Athletics website. Of course, we were not just racing this weekend…. As a club, we love keeping in touch virtually through various means during lockdown – a firm favourite seems to be getting in front of a camera 💁🏻♂️🎥🤩 We have joined up with our local rivals Bellahouston Harriers💙 to create the 💜BELLA BATON BONANZA💙 . We also miss seeing our competitors at local running events and thought this would be a great way to link in with them and pass a virtual baton during lockdown Enjoy 💜💙
Saturday saw a couple of brilliant results for Bellas. At the Scottish Athletics Inter-District XC, Catriona MacDonald finished 7th overall, and as 3rd team counter, helped the West District secure team silver in the Scottish Athletics Inter-District XC. 🥈 Ciaran Dougherty was also in action, winning the Great Stirling Castle run a 7.3k multi-terrain race taking place earlier in the day, in an impressive 28:29 🥇 Well done to both Catriona and Ciaran!
Well done to everybody who took part at the 2019 National XC Relays in Cumbernauld yesterday! We had a cracking turnout from the club, lovely weather on the whole, and conditions were ideal for the familiar, but always challenging 4k XC circuit around Cumbernauld House Park. The club fielded a total of 10 teams (4 from the Ladies, and 6 from the Men). Some superb performances throughout! We’re delighted to report that our Ladies Masters team of Ann Robin, Louise Ross, and Jane McNeilly secured the Women’s Masters Gold Medal, making it three straight years on the podium in this team competition! Cat Macdonald ran an impressive individual leg in 14:48, 10th fastest on her leg. For the gents, our V50 team worked to take a solid 8th overall in that competition, with excellent runs by Tony McParland, Liam Conway and Gerry Scullion. Some standout individual runs from the gents included a brilliant 14:01 by Andy Campbell anchoring our men’s A team, and an excellent 14:57 from Craig Ross, returning to XC after a 9 years! Great support out on the course for our runners, and of course everybody taking part. Everybody was delighted to watch some brilliant racing in all the events, but a highlight for everybody was of course seeing Olympian Callum Hawkins tear by chasing Central AC in the senior men’s event. Scottish Athletics race report is available, with a link to the provisional results. We’re very grateful for the work by Scottish Athletics, all the volunteers and marshals for making the event another great success. Many thanks too to the Bellas who helped with setup, home baking, cleanup, team management and support on the day. The trombone was an interesting innovation from Henry too. We’ll pass on any feedback to him 🙂 A few pics below, plenty more on our club social media groups too. Thanks to Kevin Queenan, Alan Digweed, Elle Tea and others for the pics.
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.