Our new Hill Running Championship gets underway this Wednesday with the Whangie Whizz – click here for details . Club members can find details on the forum: https://bellahoustonroadrunners.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php… Take a look at Al Ewen’s excellent video on hill running to get in the mood…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1J3sj-7clw
Hill Running Champs – starts Wed with Whangie Whizz
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Graeme Paterson won MV40 Bronze at Crownpoint on Friday night with a time of 35:06 in the 10,000m. Congratulations! Earlier on Friday, at the 3k on the Green at lunchtime, Iain Burns PB’d with a time of 9:43 (equalling his 3k track time from January) and Stuart McMillan also PB’d in 10:11. On Saturday, Michael Lancaster was 1st MV40 in the Tiree Half Marathon (1:33:19). Congratulations! Early on Saturday morning, four Bellas took on the Hoka Highland Fling Ultramarathon. 53 miles from Milngavie to Tyndrum on the West Highland Way. A brilliant achievement just to finish – but look how fast they did it: Very many congratulations to you – enjoy your well earned rest! You can read Grant’s race report here: http://www.grantmacd.co.uk/highland-fling-2016/
Congratulations to Russell, Greig and Robbie who won Bronze Medals at the Scottish Marathon Championships at the the London Marathon on Sunday. A fantastic result. http://www.scottishathletics.org.uk/rio-on-radar-for-scots-in-london/#scottishmarathon
From the pen of Henry, comes his tale of a first ever Marathon… Having moaned, moped, grumbled and complained my way through the training for my first marathon, I was surprised to find myself looking forward to the race on Sunday. I’ve made no secret of my goal of sub 3hrs, and although this was always going to be a stretch, nothing in training had left me feeling it was impossible. The early morning rain had stopped by the time we got to Blackheath, but it was still a chilly 4-5C, cloudy, and with an occasional gust of an icy northerly wind. Great for running but not ideal for spectators or standing around waiting for the start. There are loads of toilets so queues weren’t bad at all. Just as well, because I made no less than 4 toilet visits before the start. I was rather bemused by the notices for female urinals. Obviously, I have no idea about such things, but I shall say this: I didn’t see anyone look desperate enough to use them. Joining me in pen 2 of the Blue start was Craig Taylor from Portobello, who I’d met on the Jog Leaders course last year, and Bella David Lockhart. We made a procession round to join up behind the championship and elite starts and I spotted fellow London Marathon Golden Ticket winner Hamish. Friendly faces really helped settle the nerves, and after handshakes with these guys and a countdown from astronaut Tim Peake, we were off. I’d expected streams of runners to go past me in the first mile or two, but the speed was dictated by the crowd who were only pushing each other, not the pace. I enjoyed a comfortable mile settling in, waving to Fiona and Danielle on the sidelines, and chatting to Hamish before he urged me to go on and I remembered I had a race to run. There was a bit of space on the pavement and I picked up the pace and caught up with Louise. Ever the coach, she checked I hadn’t done my usual and gone off too quickly. We then merged with the Green start runners alongside the 3hr pacer. I was high-fiving the kids, and enjoying the local shouts of “Well done ‘Enry” thinking that I’d better enjoy this all now as I’ll not be feeling like it 15 to 20 miles down the road. London’s an extrovert’s paradise, and the crowd support is worth several minutes to someone like me who energises on people. Down the hill we went, steel bands playing and a public address blaring out “Welcome to Woolwich”. Time for the first gel and I’m running comfortably and feeling confident. The next few miles, I’m trading places with the pace group and scrambling for water at the water stations. I see Al Maclachlan just up ahead at one point and am looking forward to one of his pearls of running wisdom, but when I look again he’s disappeared. Only later do I […]
With perfect running conditions, today’s London Marathon saw Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge run one of the fastest marathon runs of all time, setting a new course record of 2:03:04. In the ladies race an amazing recovery after a heavy fall saw fellow Kenyan Jemima Sumgon win in 02:22:58. It was also a quite remarkable day for Glasgow area marathon runners, with Kilbarchan AAC’s Callum and Derek Hawkins finishing 1st and 3rd of the British runners in the men’s race, and Shettleston Harrier’s Tsegai Tewelde finishing 2nd. Rio now beckons for Callum and Tsegai, and hopefully Derek too. Our own club had 25 club members taking on the course, and some fantastic performances ensued. Particular mention to our first gent home Russell Whittington (02:43:54), Henry Merriweather (03:03:33) and Louise Ross (03:15:31, also our first lady home), with fantastic debut marathon performances, and Shona Donnelly running a great PB of 03:23:41. Tomoyo Fujiwara – as she builds up to her Comrades race next month – ran a superb 03:30:20. Great to see Bryan Burnett getting a chance to take part this year, and trust you got a huge shout out on the finish line! Full results below. A huge thanks to all the family and friends who’ve supported our runners through the last few months of training, as well as out on the course today, or later this week when they need a hand getting up or down some stairs, and a huge congratulations to everybody who took part! Look forward to seeing you back at training soon: Enjoy the celebrations and recovery! photo from Virgin Money London Marathon media library.
It was with some trepidation that I headed to The Great Tartan Skidaddle yesterday morning at 6am. Having never run an ultra, in my wisdom I thought it would be a good precursor to the Devil o The Highlands. All contestants met in Callander and were bussed out to Inversnaid for the start of the race. The duathletes left ten minutes before us then we were off. The first stage of the race is an undulating trail with stunning views of Loch Arklet to the first checkpoint at Stronachlachar. We were blessed when the sun decided to make an appearance and stay with us to the finish of the race. Feeling happy I hit the first checkpoint and it was onwards and upwards on road alongside Loch Katrine with a lovely detour up Primrose Hill. The views at the top of the surrounding hills and the snowy top of Ben Lomond were stunning. From here I set off to the next checkpoint at Trossachs Pier to the last stage of the race. From here onwards the race takes you off road through forestry tracks and open hillside with stunning views of Loch Achray and Venachar til you finally reach Callander. The last stage of the race was tough. My calf was giving me gip and I was having to dig deep. Thankfully a friendly face had appeared unexpectedly at the last stage of the race and pulled me through it. Arriving in Callander I was both happy and relieved to finish the race. Much to my total amazement and happiness I was informed that I was the 3rd female in. This is a tough race, it’s hilly and undulating for most of the way but the support of other runners and marshalls really helped me along the way. It’s well organised and the route is well marked. I would recommend this to fellow runners who love the hills and getting out in some of the best scenery our country has to offer. Finally congratulations to Grant MacDonald on his gold medal as overall winner, what an achievement. Congratulations to Elsie Downham who won a gold medal in the duathlon (1st female and 4th overall). Elaine Congratulations too to Elaine on winning a silver medal (2nd female vet and 11th overall) at her first ultra.[ed] Results and photos over at: Skidaddle.org Photos by Skidaddle.org
Running conditions were perfect yesterday for the Tom Scott 10 mile race at Strathclyde Park, and there was a large contingent of Bellas competing in this Club Championship race. Congratulations to Bruce, Greig and Russell who won men’s team National Bronze Medals. There were also a large number of PBs. Well done to everyone who took part. Bellahouston Road Runner Results are shown below, and full results can be found at Runbritain – Tom Scott 2016 results
There were lots of PBs by Bellahouston Road Runners who competed in the Manchester Marathon yesterday. Well done to everyone who took part. As ever, if your result is missing or you’re missing a PB trophy please let us know.
Well done to the 17 Bellas who took part in the Alloa Half Marathon on the first day of Spring – Sunday 20 March 2016. With over 1500 finishers, this event is hugely popular and well worth it’s inclusion in our own Club Championship. As ever if I’ve missed any PB trophy icons below, do let us know: Full results here: Runbritain results
Well done to all the Bellahouston Road Runners who took part in the Clydebank 5k on Saturday. When 16 out of the 23 competitors for the Club get PBs in a race (70% Bella PBs compared to 43% PBs of all entrants), you have to ask if the course was short or the timer forgot to start the clock! There certainly were some issues with the results on the day, and the published ones currently still seem to have given everyone the time of the person ahead of them. However, PB improvements of 20-30 seconds were not uncommon, and some GPS’s even measured the course slightly long. The perfect running conditions, very strong field and great winter training were clearly much bigger factors in such good performances by Bellas. Full results available here: Runbritain Results Photo by Danielle
Epic turnout and results at the Balloch to Clydebank Half Marathon today, 37 Bella finishers and great results across the board. Bruce Carse 1st Bella male, Louise Ross 1st Bella lady, Gerry Scullion 1st MV50. Louise, Ann and Debs won the ladies team prize (Louise and Ann having far too much fun judging from the photo). Well done everyone! If there are any missing PB’s below let us know. Full results here: Balloch to Clydebank Runbritain results
“What marathon are you doing Kev?” “The Wrexham Marathon………what do you mean you’ve never heard of it?!” That’s been the standing joke for months, most people were left scratching their heads wondering why Aaron and I had chosen this obscure race. The original plan was to run the Meadows Marathon in Edinburgh, I was all set until the awards night when Aaron announced he’d found this little gem in North Wales. Unbeknown to me he’d been frantically searching for an alternative to the 14 laps of the Meadows as he hates running loops. It doesn’t bother me, I’d run round my back garden a few thousand times if I had to. My plan was to use an early spring marathon to gain the elusive GFA time for London which I’ve failed to achieve in the last 3 years. It suited marathon junkie Aaron’s plans too, he’d still have 6 weeks before his next one in London. Our target was sub 3.15 so it made sense to work together. Anyway, we signed up and started the hard work. On the morning of the race, Aaron announced he had injured his thigh, not too badly so he was happy to start off and see how it progressed through the race. The start and finish were at the same location in Wrexham town centre so there was no deadline for bag dropping and toilets were nearby too, the only strange thing was the lack of crowds, a big comedown from London last year! We agreed to start together then see how things go. All 170 marathoners and 130 twenty mile runners set off together, our first mile was way too fast but we soon settled into a steady pace. A fair bit of banter was had with the local runners but that tailed off after the first few miles. Aaron stuck with me for the first 9 miles until he had to drop back as his thigh was becoming uncomfortable. Not long after that we passed David Hulse with girlfriend Sarah, it was fantastic hearing “Come on Bella” so far from home. The course was fairly undulating with a mix of country roads, industrial estates and housing schemes. It was pretty lonely so to take my mind off the increasing pain in my quads, I was mentally comparing scrabble points for the Welsh road signs as against the English. Welsh won, by a huge margin! With 8 miles to go and beginning to snow, we were rejoined by the 20 milers and half marathoners, which really helped. The mile markers were accurate but the signs for the 20 mile race were great as they told us exactly how far was left without having to worry about the significant last 0.2 which can be anything from 0.1-0.5 due to the inaccuracies of GPS watches. Thanks to my cocktail of salt tablets and electrolyte gels, I managed to stave off the dreaded calf cramp until the last mile so I had to tough it out […]
Great club day out at the Scottish National Cross Country Championships in Callendar Park Falkirk, well done to everyone who took part and a big thanks to the marshals and organisers. Full results here: Scottish National XC Championships 2016 – Full results
A reminder that Club training is at Nethercraigs this week, 29th Feb and 2nd March. Glasgow Club – Nethercraigs
As I am currently training for my first ultra in April (Glasgow to Edinburgh) I figured I really should do a marathon first. So in December I decided to sign up for Glentress Trail marathon, having never really run on trails either. Due to take place 5 weeks before Ultra race day I figured I should be in a healthy enough state to manage such a tough event as long as I never got carried away and entered into a race or set any target times,which could ultimately jeopardise my #1 goal which is G2E. Up at 6:30am to make the journey down to Peebles, it was a pleasant -3 degrees rising to -1 at the start(should have been 9:30am but delayed until 9:40am due to crowd disturbances also known as long queues at registration). There were three separate races 10k, half and full marathon, and this being the inaugural event nobody was too clued up on how it would pan out. Of we went and immediately into an ascent, and this carried on for around the first 6 miles with the odd mini descent for variation. Sticking to my plan of no racing and with no target in mind I casually took in the sights of the Tweed Valley national park from high up the mountain we had just climbed. Once at the highest point, snow became part of the obstacles that apparently come naturally with rail running ie.. razor sharp rocks, tree roots and with it being February ice, lots of slippy ice, that only seemed to be there on descents where stopping was not too much of an option. I was joined by a runner from Edinburgh who kept me company until the halfway point (back at the start). He stopped for refreshment but I decided to carry on as I was carrying my own nutrition as a test for the Ultra marathon. I didn’t see him again. However, after a mile back into the climbing I realised having the guy with me was a boost, I was now running alone up the cruel ascents for a second time and it wasn’t easy. Its amazing how chatting rubbish with a complete stranger can distract you from the total elevation of just under 6000ft. Coming down the final descent tired legs and A tired mind, I lost my footing 3 times on the aforementioned ice and razor sharp rocks. No cuts just bruise after bruise after bruise. If nobody broke a bone that day I will be surprised. Finally after 4hrs23mins and 26th place the finish line came and and I had survived a very cruel unforgiving training run. Although it was painful with the falls, the scenery once up high was amazing the people were very supporting toward each other and the organisation for the first ever Glentress Trail marathon, in my opinion was a success. I would obviously recommend as a training run for and aspiring ultra runners and definitely as a race to any avid […]