We now have only a small number of entries available for the race on Saturday 12th November in Bellahouston Park. It is looking highly likely that the online entries will sell out in the next few days taking us to 500 competitors. When this happens ON THE DAY ENTRY WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE. To avoid disappointment, please take advantage of the online entry. Race details and entry details are here.
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The race takes places in Bellahouston Park on Saturday 12th November starting at 11am. We have 115 places remaining (at 21st October) of the 500 available. There is just under three weeks until online entry closes on Wednesday 9th November. Race Numbers Due to the number of runners entered for the event we have decided to mail the numbers in advance of race date. Numbers will be sent to the home address given when you entered the race. If you have changed address since you entered please contact us at races@bellahoustonroadrunners.co.uk asap and the address will be amended prior to posting. We will update the event webpage here and this News section to let you know when the numbers have been posted. Please remember to bring your number on the day. Course Details After taking on board feedback from last years event, we have made a change to the course for this year. Course maps are now on the event webpage here. Series T Shirts Series t shirts should be collected at the Palace of Arts after the race. T shirts are available to those who pre entered both the Bella 5K and the Jimmy Irvine Bella 10K through Entry Central. Post Race Refreshments Remember to head back to the Palace of Arts for post race refreshments. We will have the usual sweet and savoury selection as well as teas, coffees and soft drinks. Spot Prizes We have a number of spot prizes available. Come back to the Palace of Arts after the race, drop your number in the entry box and wait for the draw. Thanks to those who have already entered, we look forward to welcoming you on the day from everyone at Bellahouston Road Runners. Please send any queries to races@bellahoustonroadrunners.co.uk.
Chris Brotherston has just sent in his race report from the 2011 Ben Nevis Hill Race: It seemed like a big ask with all that ascent using only two blistered feet, the rain plummeting from the heavens and the gallus mountain clothed in dank mist. This was it……the Ben Nevis Hill race, the thing you hear about as a kid and think to yourself “wow, these guys must be superhuman”. And then as you stand at the start line you see the super human athletes such as Finlay Wild (no relation to the humble Oscar or his long suffering wife) and Angela Mudge (whose dog is even faster than you) or Stuart Mathieson (just being pseudo sycophantic there Stuart). But they are in the minority the rest of us are human; some carrying injuries while others carry hangovers and overhanging bellies. But, that’s hill racing with its motley assortment of craggies on the crags, sloppers on the slopes…..and the illiterate alliteraters…. Anyway, back to the hill race……….and in a hill race everything is about feet….how many feet of ascent and descent…how are your feet…..what are you wearing on your feet……did you keep your feet (no I gave mine away to a passing tourist who got in the way on the bloody zig zags!)…wow what a feat (!). Anyway back to the hill race….it starts as most race do and then finishes. In between there are a hell of a lot of feet (4370 feet of ascent, 1000 runners feet and 500 incredible feats). To some it is running up and down in an incredible 1 ½ hours, to others it is completing it in just under four hours, while all those in between have their own personal goals. An experience it was; an achievement it was; an emotional experience it certainly was; a joyous pleasure…..well I think I will leave that feat to the imagination……. Wouldn’t change it for the world though…. More details, results and… FEATures (boom *tisch*) about this famous hill race at http://www.bennevisrace.co.uk/
Thanks to everyone who took part in the race today. We hope you enjoyed it. Well done to all the runners and many thanks to the supporters. Full results are available here (click on link). Any queries should be sent to races@bellahoustonroadrunners.co.uk
Pre entries are coming in quick and fast for this Sunday’s Achilles Heel Bella 5K which is great. Still room for plenty more but online entry for the 5K closes at midnight tomorrow!!! If you haven’t entered already then there is still time to take advantage of the series discount and get a series t shirt. If you have entered then we’ll see you on Sunday. All the details are on the Events page.
Just over a week to go until pre entry closes for the 5K and 10K race series. After this the discounted entry is no longer available, and the series t shirt is no longer on offer. Online entry for the Bella 5K closes on Wednesday 17th August, after this date it is on the day entry only for an additional £2. All the details are on the Events page.
Grant MacDonald sent in this excellent race report from this year’s running of the Clyde Stride 40 mile ultra marathon: I had been toying with the idea of an ultramarathon this year so when I found out there was one that started a few yards from my front door I thought it would be rude not to really. So, the Clyde Stride. A 40 mile jaunt from Partick train station to the slightly more scenic New Lanark via the not very well signposted Clyde walkway. About 100 of us gathered at the back of the train station and were set off running down the clyde battling against confused cyclists and dogs coming in the other direction. The 1st section goes along the clyde towards Glasgow Green and it was here I passed a few Bellas running in the opposite direction on their Saturday morning run, strangely none of them were tempted to turn around and join me. Otherwise it was an uneventful and almost pleasant run to the 1st checkpoint at Cambuslang. I shoved a banana down my gob and continued along the 2nd section towards Strathclyde Park. This section is mostly offroad trails and was a bit of a relief after pounding the tarmac. The only shock during this section was coming out of miles of serene woodland and suddenly finding yourself having to cross a massive roundabout with no marshals for assistance. After giving myself a pat on the back for not getting runover by a massive lorry I trundled on to the 2nd checkpoint where Elsie was helpfuly waiting to load me up with sugary things before shoving me in the direction of strathclyde park. The race then follows the river through Barons Haugh Nature Reserve. It was around this point I suddenly heard the friendly voice of Matt W (who was doing the race in a relay team) say hello. Not someone I would normally expect to see at this stage in a race. He kindly slowed down for a chat before effortlessly bounding off into the distance. At this point I was still feeling really good and wondering how long it would last. The answer to that question was about 3 more miles. As I came into the final checkpoint i started to feel a bit sick and was starting to bonk a bit too. I tried to shove some food down me for the last 12 mile hilly section but was really struggling to swallow anything. I shuffled onwards and was confronted by a near verticle series of steps. At this point the most rational thing to do seemed to be to lie down and have a good cry, but probably due to dehydration the tears wouldn’t come so I had to carry on. After a seemingly endless series of ups and downs I eventually came into New Lanark, but here the race has a sting in the tail. Just when you think you are finished you are diverted back into the woods for […]
Entry is now available for this years race series. The Bella 5K takes place on Sunday August 21st, the Jimmy Irvine Bella 10K takes place on Saturday 12th November 2011. Both races will be in Bellahouston Park. Online entry is available for both races through EntryCentral.com with discounts available for pre entry of both races. For more details, please see the Events page. Entry is now available for this years race series. The Bella 5K takes place on Sunday August 21st, the Jimmy Irvine Bella 10K takes place on Saturday 12th November 2011. Both races will be in Bellahouston Park. Online entry is available for both races through EntryCentral.com with discounts available for pre entry of both races. Both races are kindly sponsored by Achilles Heel. For more details, please see the Events page.
Well done to the men’s and ladies teams for taking home medals at today’s Renfrewshire AAA Road Race Championships over 5 miles being held at Battery Park, Greenock. The men’s team retained the title of county champions. The ladies team finished in second place this year. Pete Devenport took home bronze medal in the men’s race and Claire Wharton took silver in the Ladies race. There were other superb individual performances with some excellent PBs. Well done all.
At the club’s annual awards evening, which also marked the club’s 10th anniversary, the following members received awards for their efforts this year: Veteran Female – Claire Wharton Senior Ladies 3rd Position – Jane Wild Senior Ladies 2nd Position – Linda Kennedy Senior Ladies 1st Position – Jane Simpson Super Vet (male over 50) – Alistair MacLachlan Vet Male (male over 40) – Gerry Scullion Senior Men 3rd Position – Scott Kennedy Senior Men 2nd Position – Russell Whittington Senior Men 1st Position – Kenny Richmond Club Member of the Year – Richard Leyton In addition, Tenth anniversary Tributes to the Terrific Twelve, for services to the club: Bryan Burnett Jackie McGuire Andy Birnie Emma Birnie Dougie McGregor Scott Kennedy Linda Kennedy Robert McEwan Oscar Wild Jonathan Slow Nicky Johnstone Brendan Moriarty Well done one and all, and here’s to a successful 2011 and ten more fantastic years!
For those of you that don’t know Andrew Murray is a rather optimistic chap who has set himself the goal of running from Scotland to the Sahara desert. This is a total of over 2600 miles which he is planning to do running on 85 consecutive days. In doing this he hopes to raise £100000 for the Yamaa trust, a charity aiming to eliminate poverty in the Gobi region of Mongolia. As part of his run he invited people to take part in an ultra-marathon race from Kinlochleven to Tyndrum. In a moment of madness myself and Elsie decided this might be a fun thing to do. We arrived in Kinlochleven in the dark the night before the race to find Andrew Murray drinking beer, showing off his swollen Achilles and dishing out kilts for the race in an attempt to break the world record for the number of people racing in kilts (rather unlikely that there is one to be broken, but anyway…) Andrew shared some of his running tips, like eating 480grams of scotch eggs for breakfast in preparation for his fifth day of ultra marathon running. After a hearty lasagne and a pint, we retired to our luxurious (not) accommodation at the Blackwater hostel. Due to a minor administrative error on my part, we had failed to get our entry in on time, but Elsie charmed Andrew into giving us entry into the race. On the start line there was much discussion about the unconventional kit list for the race, which included safety pins and a mirror, but had no mention of items such as gloves or maps. There were also an impressive number of runners sporting kilts and other fancy dress items. We set off at 8:30 on a clear and cold morning, surrounded by snow covered mountains and headed south along the west highland way route. After a fair deal of climbing, most reached the devils staircase where there was plenty of ice and snow underfoot to make running interesting and a little bit scary. Others in the race (Grant included, Elsie excluded) failed to follow the well-marked path and ended up adding 3 miles of off-track, in-bog, over-mountain lost-shoe running…hmmmm, not what you need when doing an ultra, but what you get for assuming Andrew Murray knows the way and following him! Eventually us lost ones got back on course slightly muddier and tired than those competitors with the unfair advantage of being able to follow a path. Other race highlights included a spectacularly leaking platypus, meeting deer at the Kings House pub, multiple toilet stops, incredible views, running alongside men and women in skirts, and very wet feet. After a very long 28 miles (more like 31 in my case due to the scenic detour) we reached the finish line tired but happy, Elsie and her sister even managed to raise a cheer with a sprint down the hill to cross the finish line. We retired to the pub in Tyndrum to stuff […]
Saturday 13th November saw the first ever running of the Jimmy Irvine Achilles Heel Bella 10K. The race celebrates 10 years of both Bellahouston Road Runners and Achilles Heel. Almost 400 runners took to the start in truly autumnal conditions in Bellahouston Park. Rain, sunshine and windy conditions all played a part in the day’s performances. The men’s race was won by Ronhill Cambuslang Harrier Robert Gilroy in a time of 31:37. In second place was David Millar of Irvine AC with a time of 32:04, followed by Jozsef Farkas in third place with a time of 32:47. The male vet 40 category was won by Kerry-Liam Wilson, also from Ronhill Cambuslang Harriers, in a time of 35:26. Brian Craig from Irvine AC scooped the prize in the male vet 50 category (38:49) with Kenny McVey from VP City of Glasgow taking the male vet 60 prize (43:00). Host club Bellahouston Road Runners took the men’s team prize (Matt Williamson, Ciaran Dougherty and Russell Whittington). The ladies race was won by Lindsay Morrison from Central AC with an impressive time of 37:36. Lindsay was followed home by Michelle Sandison from Springburn Harriers finishing in a time of 38:22. Third place was Bellahouston Road Runner Deborah Gray (38:56), who took the 1st female vet 35 prize, allowing Jill Smylie from Giffnock North to take the last of the open prizes with a time of 39:32. Jacqui Thomson from VP City of Glasgow won the female vet 45 age group with a time of 39:41. Denise Lindsay won the female vet 55 category (49:52). The ladies team prize also went to the host club, Bellahouston Road Runners (Deborah Gray, Jane Simpson and Claire Wharton). The race also formed part of a series with the Bella 5K held in August. David Millar from Irvine AC and Claire Wharton from Bellahouston Road Runners took the series prizes with the lowest accumulated times from both races. Thank you to all the runners for taking part. Provisional Results are here.
Please find provisional race results here. Enquires about the results should be sent to Email: captains@bellahoustonroadrunners.co.uk
We’ve received a lot of entries, so we expect that parking will be tight in the Palace of Arts. If you’re not arriving via foot, bike or public transport, we’d encourage participants to consider parking along Mosspark Boulevard (plenty of free parking spaces available), and then walking or jogging the short distance across Bellahouston park, past the sports centre, to the Palace of Arts (by the hockey pitches) for registration. Directions available here (link). Details on getting to the park on the event page. Public transport details are also on our main club page (note though registration is in the Palace of Arts).
We are busy at Race HQ working on all the final arrangements for this Saturday’s race. We’re really looking forward to it, we hope you are to. On the day entry is available so if you haven’t managed to post an entry yet just come along on the day. See you all on Saturday!