💜 Bellahouston Mob Match 2021 💙 💜 Road Runners Champs again!! 💜 We’re delighted to announce that we have won the Bellahouston Harriers v Bellahouston Road Runners Mob Match for the 5th time in a row. 132 members of both clubs ran a virtual 5k at the weekend. 77 competed for us while our friendly local rivals had a commendable 55 members taking part, along with the fastest male and female placings. There were some fantastic performances from both clubs and it’s great to see so many getting involved. Hopefully we can race for real in Mob Match 2022!! *photo from the 2020 mob match 💜💙 THE MOB MATCH 2021 BELLAHOUSTON ROAD RUNNERS V BELLAHOUSTON HARRIERS This was the 5th annual mob match between the two clubs. An idea proposed by Richard Leyton, President of Bellahouston Road Runners and warmly embraced by members of both clubs. It was traditionally run at the Pollok parkrun, with tea and coffee afterwards at the Harriers’ base at Cartha Rugby club. It was agreed between the clubs that we would run it a bit later in the year and it took place over the weekend of the 20th and 21st of March 2021. The clubs roughly followed the guidance supplied by Scottish Athletics for virtual runs. The planning teams led by Kevin Queenan and Mark Matheson made it possible for the event to take place. Members gathered and ran in pairs, singly and small groups all over the South side of Glasgow in Parks, roads, railway tracks and lochs. Members who reside out with Glasgow were encouraged to run. Some members who are currently residing in Spain, USA stepped up to the plate and ran. It was an unexpected bonus that members in far flung places could compete. Bellahouston Road Runners have embraced virtual running this winter and have consistently been the largest club by participation in Scottish Athletics virtual running events. Bellahouston Harriers have had significantly fewer competitors who have embraced virtual running. A key task of the clubs was to encourage members to participate within Government guidelines and regulations through promoting the event on Facebook pages, forums and videos. The number of participants speaks for itself with 77 Bellahouston Road Runners and 55 Bellahouston Harriers making a total of 132. The competition was won by Bellahouston Road Runners for the 5th year in a row. The first male finisher was Miguel Delgado (BH) in a time of 15.41. The first female was Kristina Greig (BH) in a time of 19.25. Of the first six males, 3 were from BRR and 3 from BH. For females, 4 were from BRR and 2 from BH. Richard Leyton, Chair of Bellahouston Road Runners and Tom Keenan, President of Bellahouston Harriers said that the numbers who participated demonstrated the commitment and desire of members to support the mob run. It posed challenges for the planning team which they overcome. If other Scottish clubs wish to participate in this type of event both clubs would be happy […]
2021 Bellahouston (Virtual) Mob Match – race report and notes.
This month is Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month, and club member Andy has been asking club members to wear green and #GoGreen4CP to help raise awareness, as well as highlight some inspirational stories. Scottish Athletics have put together a super video and website article showcasing the words of the many talented Scottish Athletics with cerebral palsy and their coaches.
We’re excited that with the Covid restrictions having been amended this week, we’re now able to resume group training from next week (15th March). We’ve written to members, but we’re also making our plan available on our website for others to reference. Here’s the letter to members from our Coronavirus coordinator Emer, and club President Richard. Our full club coronavirus plan (v10) is available too. If in doubt, our club Coronavirus plan page at bellahoustonroadrunners.co.uk/coronavirus always has the latest version, as well as links to many of the activities and initiatives we’ve been running to keep members motivated! Members can find details for how to sign up for training on the members forum. Thanks to everybody involved in making this possible, at Scottish Athletics, sport Scotland and – of course – at the club.
Have a listen 📻 to Bella member Anne Campbell being interviewed on BBC Radio Scotland’s Drivetime on Friday, marking the recent changes and updated Scottish Athletics framework which means our groups, including our (early!) Friday morning group can meet in a larger group sizes for the first time in months! Anne does a great job highlighting physical and mental health benefits of running, particularly in a group, and club membership! 💜 Thanks Anne! Full interview over on BBC Radio Scotland!! You can always find our latest Coronavirus plan on our website at bellahoustonroadrunners.co.uk/coronavirus
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)!
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 💜💜💜