It was the fourth Stride Athletics 5k ‘Flat ‘n Fast’ at the West Lothian Cycle Circuit in Linlithgow on Saturday 19th April 2025. Another large field for what is becoming a go-to event for speedsters from all over Scotland! A total of six 5k races on a course consisting of 5 laps x 960m, plus a finishing straight. Brilliant running on a windy day from Tony Connelly (15:16), Ross Horgan (15:21 PB), Bryan Mulgrew (16:06), Jordan Davidson (16:49), Paul McNairn (16:49 PB), David Jarrett (17:02 PB), Alan Moss (17:59), Cathy Wood (19:35 PB), Veronica Fusaro (20:22), Flora Henry (21:27), Laura Templeton (24:44). Tony and Ross were very close to beating the club 5k record of 15:12 (held by Tony himself!).
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Easter Sunday 20th April 2025, saw the latest Run Lanarkshire Monklands Half Marathon & 10k, after a break in 2024. The course start / finish was at St Ambrose High School, Coatbridge, and featured an extended undulating route around and through Drumpellier Country Park. The weather fine and cool. It was a successful day for our Bellas, with Oscar Coetzee winning the HM in a fantastic time of 1:13:10, while Stuart Macdougall took third place in 1:19:07! Both Oscar and Stuart raced in the MV40 category. The amazing Deborah Gray goes from strength to strength, and was the first lady to finish in 1:30:31. Deborah raced in the FV50 category. Great performances too from Sandy MacDonald (1:31:01), Martin McNulty (1:36:04), Claire Galloway (1:59:32), Andy Tomlinson (2:00:01) and in the 10k, Ben Lamont (49:38). Very well done everyone!
Saturday 12th April saw the latest of our Off-Road championship races at Drumchapel parkrun. It was a lovely morning with solid running on that tough course by our dynamic dozen! Well done everyone including our ‘podium’ trio of Jordan Davidson 1st, Stuart Laurence 2nd, Claire Wharton 1st lady. As always, thankyou to Drumchapel parkrun and all the wonderful volunteers! Well done to the 16 Bellas who ran the Dumbarton AAA Clydebank 10 Mile race (doubling as the West Dist 10 Miles) on Sunday. Nice conditions and great results too with the pick of teh bunch being Tony Connelly (52.36, 2nd), Oscar Coetzee (54:15, 3rd, 1st MV40) and Claire Wharton (1:10:25, 2nd FV50). Another ‘long’club championship race complete! Lastly, it was beautiful Paris in Springtime on Sunday for one of the world’s biggest marathons. As always, we had some bellas participating. Very well done to David Boag (4:44:13) & Jane Galt (5:20:14).
On Saturday 5th April, Stephen McQuade tackled the Devilla Forest 8 Hour Challenge. The aim was to complete as many 4.36 mile laps as you can muster in the 8 hour limit (although there was dispensation to finish a lap if it started prior to that time). The weather was fine and dry for this inaugural ‘NU Limits’ event and Stephen bagged 5th place after 12 laps in 8:22:02 for a grand total of 52.5 miles! What an amazing effort, and supported by his brother, Brian, who covered over 20 miles himself! The following day, Neil McSeveney finished 3rd (46:00) at the Edinburgh 13.1 Kilomathon. A great route from Ocean Terminal to Murrayfield in great weather. A fantastic performance! And lastly, well done to one of our newest members, Aryan Davani, on completing the Brighton Marathon (4:47:43) on Sunday too. Tough going in warm conditions in what is the UKs third largest marathon.
Our latest ‘long’ club championship race took place at Strathclyde Park on Sunday 30th March, at the 61st Tom Scott 10 Mile Road Racer. The event also doubled as the Scottish Athletics 10 Mile Championship! We had another great turn out with 44 Bellas participating in the starting field of 327, almost 12% of the total! The route was the ‘classic’ Tom Scott, so mainly flat with some moderate inclines on the north side. It was a bright, dry morning with a fairly strong WNW wind blowing down the loch. So, some tricky conditions battling the ‘breeze’ particularly the first two miles, and returning back up the far side of the loch. It was also surprisingly warm in the sun on the opposite side with the breeze following behind. As always, there was great running from our Bellas, who always look forward to this event. Our top 3 men were Oscar Coetzee (55:12), Bryan Mulgrew (56:59) & Stuart MacDougall (57:51). Oscar was 5th in the MV40 age category after a strong run. Bryan ran brilliantly after being unsure of starting after a recent injury. For our ladies, it was Deborah Gray (1:07:16), Cathy Wood (1:10:19) & Jen Conway (1:10:41). Deborah was also 5th in her FV50 age category, and a great run by Cathy in her 10 mile race debut! And well done too, to Mhairi Hill, the sole Bella for the ‘Round the Loch’ 6k, finishing 2nd FV35 in 29:37! Congratulations to the winners throughout the field. Another great race organised by Law & District AAC. Thanks as always to all of the volunteers, marshals, officials, medics, sponsors and Perfect Timing Scotland.
As part of our 25th anniversary celebrations, we had our first ‘foodbank run’ this week, organised by our Club Secretary Catherine Laurence. Our aim was to collect at least 250 items by Wednesday 12th March 2025, to deliver to the Glasgow South East Foodbank in the Govanhill area, during our training that evening. This was a great success with our members donating 351 items (185.9kg). We loaded up a car with the goods and transported these along, while our training group ran to the foodbank premises. While there, our members were given a short talk about the work of the organisation by Denise, the foodbank manager. Notwithstanding the items donated, a number of cash donations were made by several members who couldn’t make it along. This was the GSE Foodbank’s largest single donation since Christmas. Thankyou to everyone involved. www.glasgowse.foodbank.org.uk Unit1, Govanhill Workspace, 69 Dixon Road, Glasgow G42 8AT
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.
It was the 40th Inverness Half Marathon on Sunday 9th March 2025, that also served as the Scottish Athletics Half marathon Championship. It was also one of our ‘long’ club championship events. The event was as popular as ever, and this year was blessed with fine, warm weather making it a greater challenge for the runners on what is a tough, undulating course. There was an incredibly close finish to the race with the first three men finishing within 3 seconds of each other in just over 65 minutes! Thirteen Bellas competed and acquitted themselves with aplomb. Ross Horgan finished in a fantastic 22nd place, registering a PB of 1:10:19, agonisingly only 2 seconds from equalling our 14 year old club record! Our remaining athletes also done very well, namely: Calum Borthwick (1:13:02), Angus Gray (1:14:18, PB), Ruairi Barfoot (1:15:16, PB), Kelly MacDonald (1:25:34, 24th lady, PB), Ben Law (1:28:40), Jonnie Felton (1:39:06), Flora Henry (1:41:16, PB), Victoria Curley (1:43:40), Joni Lindsay (1:50:37), Martin Murphy (1:51:42), Mark Worton (2:04:03), Megan Parkinson (2:10:36). Well done everyone!
The annual Cambuslang Harriers ‘Down by the River’ 10k took place on Sunday 9th March this year, with 18 Bellas running. It was a beautiful spring morning for the race that extends out and back along the River Clyde Walkway. This was a ‘medium’ club championship event and we enjoyed some impressive results, notably with the evergreen Oscar Coetzee finishing second in 32:57, closely followed by Kenny Osborne who finished 4th, first MV40, in a new PB of 33:25! Our fantastic V50 ladies trio of Claire Wharton (43:07), Katie Mathieson (43:46) & Tomoyo Fujiwara (46:22) finished in first, second and third respectively in their age category! Outwith these results there were great performances and PB runs for David Jarrett (35:41, PB), Simon Wells (37:30), Poppy Bowie (41:47, PB), Kenny Crawford (41:48), Cathy Wood (41:51), Alan Digweed (42:25), Jonny Moran (42:27), Dave Ferguson (42:57), Veronica Fusaro (43:29, PB), Laura Templeton (52:07), Catherine Laurence (54:56), Della Lansley (58:47) & Terry Nimmo (01:00:33). Another great event organised by Cambuslang Harriers. Thanks to all involved, especially the volunteers, officials and timers.
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.
It was the Shettleston Harriers 54th Alan Scally 5k Relays on Saturday 1st March, at Glasgow Green. This is a great annual event which this year saw some 261 teams from all over Scotland participate, including our own 9 teams covering Senior, V40 and V50 classes. The event was very well organised as always with excellent pen marshalling and updates for relay changeovers by protay timing. The weather on this first day of meteorological spring was cool, with both a light breeze and some rain. The course is traffic free and flat, and all contained within Glasgow Green. There was great running from our Bellas across the nine teams, with several PBs recorded. Our Mens V40s (Oscar Coetzee, Angus Gray, David Jarrett, Paul McNairn) took 2nd place, while our Women V40s (Ann Robin, Claire Wharton, Charlotte Parkinson, Sarah McSharry) took 3rd place! Overall, our top 3s were (M) Josh Evans (15:36), Oscar Coetzee (16:09) & Sean McAnallen (16:48) (F) Cathy Wood (19:52), Poppy Bowie (20:16) & Jen Conway (20:20). All-in-all, a fantastic afternoon, with a great atmosphere and warm support. Thanks to Shettleston Harriers, protay and everyone involved in marshalling and officiating.
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!
It was the big Cross Country event of the season on Saturday 22nd February at the Scottish Athletics Lindsays National XC, Callander Park, Falkirk. It’s always a great day, and thankfully the awful weather of Friday and Sunday was replaced by a sunny Saturday sandwich. Still, enough mud and undulation for anyone over a challenging 10k course. Over 1,600 athletes ran in the various categories, including 27 Bellas. Our results were as follow: GENTS: Oscar Coetzee (35:46, 5th MV40), Josh Evans (35:47), Calum Borthwick (37:07), Iain Murphy (38:53), Stuart Laurence (39:37), Paul McNairn (39:52), Alan Moss (39:58), Bruce Carse (40:25), Jethro Browell (40:48), David Jarrett (40:55), Jamie Robinson (40:56), Jay Cowan (41:52), Ryan Macready (44:14), Rich Evans (45:39), Dave Ferguson (46:18), Kenny Mcdonald (49:57). Our gents team (top 6) finished 28th. LADIES: Cat MacDonald (38:41, 10th), Jen Conway (44:54), Cara Thom (45:52), Sophie Jenkins (46:22), Flora Henry (48:06), Emma Peters (48:09), Claire Wharton (48:44), Veronica Fusaro (49:45), Katie Blackett (51:07), Alice Howe (56:10), Megan Parkinson (56:55). Our ladies team (top 6) finished in a brilliant 9th place! Cat MacDonald produced our performance of the day to finish in 10th placed lady overall, with Oscar Coetzee yet again shining in the MV40 category with a 5th place. So, just about the end of the cross country season. Well done everyone for participating and loving the mud!
Sunday 16th February saw a number of races for our Bellas. The Barcelona Half Marathon was first off, on a sunny day in the stunning port city. A new HM World Record was set at 56:42 by Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda but aside, there were fantastic performances from our Bellas in Barca with Charlie Whall (1:23:36), Lauren Rice (1:31:26, PB) & Anna Whall (1:50:30). Força Bella! The Glentress Trail Races were also held near Peebles, on a dry but cold day in the hills. Well done to Brendan McGuiness, who smashed the marathon in a brilliant 4:19:49, tackling around 5,400ft of elevation gain in the process. The HM had Mike Wilkes (2:02:10), Rich Evans (2:02:40) & Siobhann Dunn (2:11:59), while Jen Conway (54:17) finished 3rd lady in the 10k! Great running folks. It was also the Acorn Castlemilk 10k Trail Race on a hilly route from Linn Park along the eastern periphery of Castlemilk.Well done to Ruairi Barfoot (52:28, 3rd), Jamie Wieland (1:10:43), SJ Kissock (1:28:12), Louise Nimmo (1:31:22) & Terry Nimmo (1:40:31, 3rd FV60). Great running on a very tough course.
Saturday 15th February 2025 saw the 9th running of our annual mob match against our friends and neighbours, Bellahouston Harriers. Pollok parkrun graciously hosted again, and this year saw a record turnout for the event of 172 runners in a parkrun field of almost 550. And it was congratulations to the Harriers on defending last year’s win, to take the total standings to 7 – 2 in favour of us Road Runners. It was another great morning of running and catching up with friends in the blue and purple corners! And to make it more special this year, the event fell on the 90th birthday of our founder and former Harrier, Jimmy Irvine. There was record attendance from both clubs, with 97 Harriers and 75 Road Runners, with the Harriers winning margin coming down to 4 runners. Over 100 members of both clubs and their families attended the after party at Clydesdale Cricket Club, which topped off a fantastic morning! Thanks to the organisers in both clubs and of course to Pollo parkrun, the volunteers and the staff at Clydesdale Cricket Club.