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)!
News
A bumper audience of members tuned in to a virtual session from Bella head coach Robert Hawkins on Wednesday evening. He was joined by his two Olympian sons Callum and Derek which added extra excitement to the occasion 🥳 Robert explained the science behind our training schedule followed by a question and answer session. It was lapped up by our members who asked a mix of interesting and funny questions of our hosts. There was one controversial exchange near the end of the call, when a question came in asking who would win a final sprint between Callum and Derek at the end of a marathon. Let’s just say we didn’t get a definitive answer to that one! 😜 Thanks again for your time Robert, Callum and Derek! Club members who missed the session, can access a recording of the session via our members’ forum (for the next month or two)
A fantastic 72 Bellas ran their socks off in the Scottish Athletics’ 5 Mile Challenge held at the weekend, which also formed part of our club championship 🏆 The full results are on the Scottish Athletics website, but we’re pleased to see we’ve held on to our crown of being the largest participating club again!. Well done Bellas!! Of course, we never let these weekends go without taking part in an activity! This time we asked members to post their treasured running photos, we put them together and came up with this little video – Our favourite memories
🚨Further to the news today about the new national lockdown, unfortunately all club group activity/training is suspended from midnight, until at least the end of January. This includes Monday/Wednesday training sessions, and all sessions/groups operating under the club umbrella. Full details on the members forum: https://forum.bellahoustonroadrunners.co.uk/t/club-training-suspended-in-january-2021/4075 We’ll continue virtually as before so do be sure to sign up to the latest virtual challenges, stay in touch and support each other online, and don’t hesitate to reach out if you need a hand, or have an idea! Cheers, Richard, on behalf of the Board of Trustees
The club was delighted to receive some awards from the Glasgow Sports Council at the weekend, for both the club itself, and two of its members. Our lead coach Gerry Scullion won “Community Coach of the year”: Gerry worked tirelessly through lockdown to motivate and encourage members with weekly training updates, tips and sessions. Club President Richard Leyton won “Volunteer of the year – senior” for his work through the lockdown helping the club operate and coordinate through this difficult year. In addition to these two individual awards, the club itself took “Club of the year” in recognition of the amazing work right through the club to support each other with challenges, coaching, support, and community efforts including helping at a local foodbank and raising money for local charity. With various social media videos gaining nationwide attention, the club was also delighted to take the “Social media presence of the year” award. The club is very grateful to all of its members, who have been fantastic right through the year and have all contributed in so many ways to help make the club much stronger through this experience. The club, and its membership, are delighted at these awards, and wish to express their thanks and gratitude to the Sports Council for Glasgow for their work throughout supporting clubs and organisations through this most challenging of years. You can find out more about the Sports council for Glasgow on their Facebook and twitter (@scglasgow1000) accounts.
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 💜
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)