Entry is now available for this years race series. 2013 sees the introduction of a 10K race distance to accompany the Bella 5K on Sunday 1st September. Minimum age for the 5K is 12 years, with a minimum of 15 years for the 10K. The Jimmy Irvine Bella 10K makes a welcome return on Saturday 9th November. Both races will be in Bellahouston Park. Online entry is available for both races through EntryCentral.com with discounts available when pre entering both 10K events. For more details, please see the Events page.
2013 Road Races in Bellahouston Park
574 posts
Report from David Boag Walking across Place Saint-Michel, towards the Metro, which will take me to the start, I could see a group of bleary eyed revellers sitting in a nearby cafe and clearly they were coming to the end of their own marathon – though more of the drinking variety! Twenty years ago I might have been sitting there with them (who am I kidding – more like five years ago!) wondering why anyone could possibly wish to run over 26 miles on a Sunday morning! Anyway, it was bitterly cold for the start of the 37th Marathon de Paris; the Arc de Triomphe was an imposing, majestic back drop to the start, as almost 40,000 runners gathered to go through their personal pre run rituals. Shortly after 9am my particular group set off down the Avenue des Champs-Elysees – surely one of the best starts to any marathon in the world! I’m never quite sure how the old body will hold up, so I started off looking for around 3hrs 45 mins and if things went well maybe a new PB. The first 5K was not as busy with runners as I remember in previous years, which allowed me to hit target pace from more or less the start, so much so I felt that I had to slow down as we approached Place de la Bastille. The crowds here are brilliant – totally in your face! Shouts of ‘courage’ and ‘bravo David’ send you on your way to Bois de Vincennes, where understandably the crowds thin out a bit. Time to knuckle down, after the opening excitable stages, and focus on maintaining target pace – at this point I also passed a ‘running’ Tour Eiffel… I wonder how he got on? Anyway, made sure I kept taking food and drink at every 5K stage and things were going well as we left the park to head back to the city centre. We hit half way just before we reached Bastille for the second time… the crowds are still as noisy! A change to previous years and we get some lurid sports drink here, it looked like blue Aftershock…fortunately it didn’t taste like it! We cut down to the Seine, past Notre Dame, and the river is on our left for the next 7 Km or so. A few tunnels to head through that give a bit of shade and quite frankly play havoc with the Garmin, so this calls for even more focus on keeping a steady, constant pace. The Tour Eiffel comes into view on my left – it’s not moving this time – awesome! To my right is the Trocadero and things, I sense, seem to be shaping up well, though I have done enough of these to know not to take anything for granted! In my head I keep telling myself to get the ‘third’ 10 K out of the way and then see how you really ARE coping! I get through 30Km and […]
Report from Gerry. Saturday (23 Feb) proved to be a grand day for us Bellas, with the Scottish National Cross Country championships taking place at Callendar Park, Falkirk followed by a celebratory get together and meal later, open to all club members, at Mother India’s in the west end. For the first time we put on a bus to take us from Bella ski centre to Callendar Park and back. This seemed to go down well developing a good team spirit for the day ahead. Things looked ominous as we boarded the bus with snow starting to fall and cold conditions setting in. Little did we know that by the time we reached our destination we would be set for the finest of spring days, a clear blue sky overhead and fairly mild conditions. With a few call offs, always to be expected at this time of year, we still had a good turnout of 16 guys and 6 girls to take part in the men’s and women’s events. We also had excellent support from club members not taking part on the day (Robert, Tammy, Brian, Elsie, Jackie, Graham and Chi) First off were the girls (Louise, Judith, Sarah, Sabina, Rose and Maree) to tackle two laps (5 miles) of a tough but excellent test of cross country running. We were lucky that the cold conditions leading up to the event meant that the ground was generally firm so allowed for quite a fast course. All appeared to adapt well to the course, putting in sound performances and our girls team finished in 22nd position out of 25 competing teams. For Maree this was her first outing at cross country so well done you. The final race of the day was the senior men’s event over 7.5 miles, three laps of the hilly course. With over 500 guys on the start line, all quite nervy and ready to run, it feels that something special is about to happen. It is. Unlike previous years there was no lead up to the gun to announce the event and some of the main contenders. So the start gun went suddenly and off jolted 500 runners in what felt like a stampede, well an orderly one, with the ground below shaking with all these feet pounding it! The 16 Bellas taking part were: Kieran, Greig, Matt, Ciaran, Craig, Grant, Mark, Brian, Ollie ,Iain ,Gerry, Peter, Barry John, Allan, David and Bryan. The team of 6 counters (Kieran, Greig, Matt, Ciaran, Craig and Grant) put in a very creditable performance finishing eighth place overall of 30 counting teams. So well done guys. After returning home it was a quick turn around to get back out for the all important food and to join up with others who hadn’t signed up for the race earlier. In total 29 turned up for food. Just shows that food is more popular than running in our club! The meal began a little later than expected and in slightly more cramped […]
Report from Gerry An outstanding performance by our ‘A’ team (Bryan, Matt & Mark, Greig, Grant & Andy) got us third position in Saturday’s (9 Feb 2013) Devils Burden’s relays. The day was quite a contrast to the recce held two weeks ago. A good temperature for running, no wind though still a bit tricky underfoot and a mist that would make it a challenge to navigate through the trickier legs of the race. For our A’ team, Bryan had an excellent first leg over mainly good tracks finishing in 6th. Mark and Matt took on the 2nd leg, the longest and most demanding one, and made up a few positions before handing onto Greig in 2nd position. Greig held this position on a steep uphill section before passing onto Andy and Grant for the final ‘downhill’ leg. They were overtaken by one team but held onto 3rd position. Well done to the team. Our mixed team of Emma (making her return to racing after over a year’s absence), Jim & Ciara, Elsie, Gordon & Stuart managed to navigate the course well and put in a good performance. Our ‘B’ team (Gerry, Barry & Andrew, Graham, David & Chris) had less success on the course with navigation problems resulting in a DNF. Despite this all seemed to enjoy the experience of the hills. It wouldn’t be fitting to report on the Burden’s without making mention of the great spread provided afterwards for hungry runners. The homemade soup was excellent and the variety of home baking was just what hungry runners and supported needed after being outside on a winter’s day. This ends a great eight days for Bella, with our men (Greig, Russell, Scott and Peter) taking 4th team place at the masters cross country the previous Saturday in Nairn and both men and women taking 3rd team prizes at the Renfrewshire 5 mile road race on the Sunday. Well done all. We now look forward to one of the biggest events in the callendar, the Scottish National Cross Country championships at Callendar Park, Falkirk on 23 February where we will be well represented in both the men’s and ladies event. Here’s hoping our teams can continue to spread the word that Bella Road Runners do well whether hill, road, country or ultra.
Report from Iain. While in New Zealand for my sister’s wedding I’ve taken the opportunity to explore South Island and experience weather as changeable as the summer at home. During the trip I hoped to find a run to take part in and chose the Race the Train (http://www.activeqt.co.nz/events/race-the-train/race-information/). This event, taking place for a second time, has the unusual appeal of a steam train, the Kingston Flyer, rumbling along near the race route. The railway line once went all the way from Kingston to Invercargill, but in recent decades has been a tourist attraction covering a distance of only 12 km and terminating in a ploughed field. Despite the remote location for this race, it attracted over 150 participants, including some who had travelled from as far as Dunedin. On the morning of 6th January participants and spectators boarded the steam train at Kingston at 9am. The sun was already beating down from a near-cloudless sky so I applied the sun block and drank some extra water as the start time approached. The route for this race passes along dusty and slightly undulating farm tracks towards the southern shore of lake Wakatipu with views of the Southern Alps in the distance. I had spent the previous there days walking in the hills and the day before the race had ended up running part of the way down Ben Lomond to catch the bus to Kingston, so my legs probably weren’t as fresh as they might have been (or at least any excuse is better than none). I hoped for a time of about 45-46 minutes. It was difficult to gauge my pace due to slightly erratic km markers but I was feeling the heat of the sun and soon realised that I probably wouldn’t reach that target. A water station at about half-way was a welcome relief. I felt that I was making poor progress and just wanted to see the finish line. The last kilometre turned out to be quite a lot shorter than some of the others so ultimately I was pleasantly surprised to finish in a time of 47:51. And what about the steam train? It wasn’t visible for much of the race but the sound of it puffing and whistling was an added incentive to keep moving. As it turned out I arrived in Kingston a good five minutes before the train did, which I suppose is a victory of sorts. Overall, I really enjoyed this distinctive event and its stunning surroundings. I wonder if any Bella member has taken part in a race further from Glasgow than this…
Report from Gerry There was a good turnout of Bellas for the west district cross country championships at Ardgowan Estate near Greenock yesterday, 13 guys and 5 girls. The course was one of the flattest courses I have known but that’s not to say it wasn’t testing, the tricky muddy conditions more than made up for the lack of hills and making it difficult in areas to keep on your feet. Fortunately the overhead conditions were good and much milder than the previous few freezing days. In the ladies event, over 6.4km, our girls put in a gutsy performance and our team were 7th out of 9 finishing teams. Romy Beard had an excellent run finishing 12th and just 2mins 40 secs behind the winner who is a high quality runner. It was really good to see us getting an improved turnout for the ladies team and we hope to build on this for the National Cross Country at Callendar Park in February. In the men’s event over 10km our guys put in a strong performance and we were 6th placed team out of 17 as well as 2nd placed men’s team in the vet category. Kieran Docherty was our first home, in an outstanding 16th position. One point learned from the race is to check the map of the route and look carefully at how the races finishes. As we turned a sharp bend into what I had expected was a final half mile + loop I was hearing shouts of “you’re nearly there”. I didn’t pay too much attention until I got around the corner and could see the finishing line less than 100 yards away. Though great to see the finish line a bit frustrating when you’ve been holding back a little for the final push. Still a great workout. Full results on the forum and will appear on the SA website Roll on the National Cross Country and hope to see a large turonout of Bella there.
An autumnal day greeted the runners for the 3rd running of the Jimmy Irvine Bella 10K on Saturday 10th November. Over 500 runners took to the start line in Bellahouston Park, Glasgow. Music and commentary from club member Bryan Burnett got the runners set, with club founder Jimmy Irvine sending the runners on their way round the six and a bit miles within Bellahouston Park and the adjacent Mosspark Boulevard. In the men’s race Michael Deason from Shettleston Harriers led from the gun and finished the race 1st overall in a time of 31:52. Second place went to Jozsef Farkas finishing in a time of 32:08. The third man home was Chris Devenney from Kilbarchan AAC with a time of 32:19. The veteran prizes went to Cris Walsh from Bellahouston Harriers (M40, 34:52), Graham McGrattan from Greenock Glenpark Harriers (M50, 37:24) and Norman Baillie from Garscube Harriers (M60, 42:57). The women’s race was a close run affair with first and third only 31 seconds apart. First home for the ladies was Clare MacAuley from Bellahouston Harriers, with a time of 39:18. The host club Bellahouston Road Runners provided the ladies in 2nd and 3rd with Deborah Gray, glowing from a recent PB run at the Dublin marathon, finishing in 39:36 closely followed by Romy Beard in 39:49 and with that Romy’s first sub 40 min 10K run. Prizes in the veteran categories went to Ann Robin (F35, 41:12) from the host club Bellahouston Road Runners, Mary Western from Carnegie Harriers (F45, 42:08) and Denise Lindsay from ADAC (49:24). The team prizes for both men and ladies went to Bellahouston Road Runners who were well represented throughout the whole field. Men’s counters were Ciaran Dougherty, Mark Johnston and Scott Kennedy and the ladies team comprised Deborah Gray, Romy Beard and Ann Robin. There was also a prize for the Bellahouston Road Runners 2012 race series which included the 5K race in August and today’s 10K. These prizes also went to runners from the host club with Scott Kennedy taking the male prize and capping a very successful day, Ann Robin took the female prize. Well done to all the runners who took part today. Everyone who finished took away water, bananas and a goody bag, with some bags having surprise spot prizes. Everyone was cheered home by an enthusiastic support and commentator Bryan Burnett. After the race everyone headed to Mosspark Bowling Club to enjoy a celebratory buffet of sweet and savoury foods washed down with tea and coffee, followed by the presentation ceremony. Another highlight of the day saw Bellahouston Road Runners awarded the Club Accreditation Foundation Award from Scottish Athletics which completes two years of hard work. A massive thanks from all at the club to those who assisted with the event. Thanks to the runners for taking part, all the helpers from the club, their friends and family without which this event would not be able to take place. Thanks to our race sponsors Achilles Heel who provide […]
Full results are available here (click on link). Full race report to come. Any issues should be sent to races@bellahoustonoroadrunners.co.uk.
The entrant list for Saturday’s race complete with race number and the desk to collect your number and chip is available here (click on link). See you all on Saturday.
Latest race info follows… Event Timings 0900 Registration Opens 1000 Commentary and DJ at race start 1045 Registration Closes 1100 Race start 1130 First finisher. Race commentator and DJ will be at the finish to encourage you all home. 1130 Food and drinks available at Mosspark Bowling Club 1245 Presentation at the Bowling Club Registration Registration is at Mosspark Bowling Club on Mosspark Drive (G52 1LJ), and is open from 0900 to 1045. This is just off Mosspark Boulevard where the Women’s 10K finishes. Please check your number and check in desk on the lists available in the hall, with names displayed in alphabetical order (The entrant list with numbers will be available on our website at www.bellahoustonroadrunners.co.uk on Thursday morning, so you can note your number and desk ahead of time if you prefer), and then proceed to the correct desk where you will receive a number and timing chip. Registration will be very busy so please arrive early, and give yourself plenty of time to collect your number and chip. The start is a short walk from registration. Your number should be displayed clearly on your running top and your timing chip is to be attached to your shoe with the cable ties provided. Toilets Toilets are available at the Bowling Club and there will be portaloos in Bellahouston Park between the start and the finish. Course Details Course maps are now on the event webpage. https://www.bellahoustonroadrunners.co.uk/events/bella-10k/ Water Water is available just after half way on the course, and at the finish. Results Results will be available via our website shortly after the race. https://www.bellahoustonroadrunners.co.uk/events/bella-10k/ Series T Shirts Series t shirts should be collected at Mosspark Bowling Club at registration or 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 in the same transaction. Post Race Refreshments Remember to head back to the bowling club for post race refreshments. We will have the usual sweet and savoury selection as well as teas, coffees and soft drinks. Thanks for entering the race, we look forward to welcoming you on the day from everyone at Bellahouston Road Runners. Please send any queries to races@bellahoustonroadrunners.co.uk.
Report from Grant. A good turnout of 5 Bellas made the trip up to Menstrie for one of the last remaining Hill races of the year. Myself, Steve, David and Barry were joined by Stuart who had been given the morning off nappy changing duties for a wee blast in the Ochils. The race starts with a fairly steep but runnable climb into Menstrie glen before dropping back down for a couple of burn crossings to get the feet nicely cold before a surprisingly brutal slog up Dumyat. There is no time to admire the view as you turn and descend back the way you came on a steep tussocky descent which at least offers a nice soft landing if/when you faceplant. You cross back into the glen along a narrow footbridge which we had been pre warned would be slippy. Despite this warning I took a hefty fall on the bridge nearly sliding into the river. As I pulled myself up the runner behind me shouted “are you alright maaa……” followed by a thump as he fell in the exact same place. Take home lesson: x-talons and wet wood not a good combination. The rest of the race followed a narrow muddy path which I ran down doing my best Bambi impression. Then a sprint finish back down to the village green. Unfortunately you cross a road coming on to the green and in my efforts to chase down the Westie in front of me I didn’t notice a car pulling out in front of me until the last minute. With all the adrenaline pumping I briefly considered doing a commando roll over the bonnet before remembering I am not Daniel Craig and instead went for the safer option of the emergency stop. Definetely the 1st time I have nearly been ran over by a Jag in a hill race. I resumed a half hearted sprint to the line mainly happy to still have my legs intact. Stuart and Barry followed not far behind, with Stuart coming out on top in a sprint to the line. David was next in about 72mins, closely followed by Steve who took about 5 mins off his previous years time. A fine post race spread of tea and biscuits was provided, and if there was a team prize for post race biscuit consumption I’m pretty sure team Bella would have taken it. Results
Report from Craig. Saturday 3rd November saw 200 runners line up at the new start line for the Glen Ogle ultra marathon. Starting and finishing just outside Strathyre it follows a hilly but amazingly scenic out and back 33 mile route. I did this race in 2011 and know the course well so I went up with a race plan this year, hoping if I stuck to this that I could improve on my 3rd place last year. The start line for the course had moved this year as the route was a bit short in 2011. The newly added mile at the start of the course was straight uphill so when the race started I set off at a very slow pace and eased my way up the hill. As we reached mile 1 I moved into the lead and just continued to run at my own pace over the next 2 miles which were very steep uphills. Miles 4-6 have some good descents, my plan before the race was to take advantage of these and as the course zig-zagged down the hill I looked back up and couldnt even see the runner in second at the top of the hill! Miles 7-12 take you up over the Glen Ogle viaduct. There are a few very steep climbs early on but its mostly just gradually uphill. Despite a fast start my legs felt strong so I kept going at what felt like an easy pace but in reality I was hitting sub 6:30 miles so I knew I would be opening a good lead over the rest of the field. I was caught in a small blizzard during this part of the race, there was already some snow on the hills and path which made the course even more scenic but thanfully it didnt last too long. I passed checkpoint 2 and ran into the 8/9 mile forest loop. The start of this loop is very much downhill so again, I put the foot down and put in some quick miles. Unfortunately the last sections in the forest feature some long, steep uphill sections. I stuck to my plan and decided to run very slowly up these, even walking at a couple of sections. Unlike most races, walking is quite common in ultras to save energy in your legs. It also gives you a chance to refuel so at mile 18 I took my first energy get. I cruised through the rest of the forest section and stopped for a cup of water at the checkpoint before heading back down the Glen. I had made the decision not to carry anything other than 2 energy gels on me and only left a drop bag with a bottle of Red Bull, another gel and 5 jaffa cakes at the last checkpoint at mile 26. As I approached an undulating section at mile 24 I began to feel hungry and my energy levels were dropping. I made steady progressed and reached […]
Report from Gerry. We had five complete teams and one incomplete team taking part in the Scottish National cross country relay championships at Cumbernauld on Saturday, 27 October. This is the biggest relay event in the Scottish calendar and so you get large numbers of teams taking part and some very high quality runners participating. In both the men’s and ladies races each runner had to run over a testing 4km course with some inclines and a bit of mud to add to the fun, well it is cross country after all! We were glad to have a fine day for running, spectating and hanging around while waiting our turn to run. For the ladies we had one team competing (Louise, Judith and Rose). They put in a very creditable performance finishing 45th team out of 60 teams. In the men’s event our teams positions were, out of 103 finishing teams: ‘A’ (Kieran, Craig, Bruce and Bob) – 20th ‘Vets’ (Russell, Mark, Greig and Liam) – 35th overall and 7th in the vets category ‘C’ (Andy, Rankin, Gerry and Peter) – 56th ‘D’ (John Gilhooly, Stewart, Ollie and John Newlands) – 80th and a incomplete team of Andrew, Tony and Chris. Well done to all and we look forward to the next cross country action which will be individual events rather than team relays.
Report from Bryan. So why did a pasty white Scotsman decide to run a marathon in a hot, humid and as it turns out windy island……answers on a postcard! That’s the very question I was asking myself a week ago on Sunday. I haven’t had much racing during 2012 and was somehow talked into signing up for the Palma de Mallorca marathon….still trying to work out how that happened. My build up appeared to go well with a good finish at the Stirling 10K and Dumfries half marathon during September. The only thing I couldn’t control when I got to Palma would be the weather conditions. This preoccupied my mind during the preceding couple of days, with me constantly checking what the predicted conditions would be- I was assured rain. The rain came on Saturday night and finished about 4am Sunday morning. Standing on the start line, it was 18 degrees, a bit of cloud and very windy….could be worse, it wasn’t as humid as it had been the previous few days. Getting nearer the start time I could feel the adrenalin begin to kick in, it may have been the 2 large coffee’s and high5 drink full of caffeine I had taken, I’m not sure but whatever it was it was starting to work. We were off at 9am and I worked my way through the group of people who clearly should not be near the front of a race and quickly got into my stride. I went through the first mile in 6.11….well done give yourself a tick, just 25 and a wee bit to go. The race started in the shadows of the Cathedral La Seu on the Autovia de Llevant and headed west to Porto Pi before turning and heading back to Palma. As I turned at the 5K and headed back to Palma, I got some shouts of encouragement from runners heading to the turn…”on yerself Bella”, it certainly put a spring in my step. As we approached the 10K point I had picked up a few running companions. A couple of Spanish fella’s sat in behind me and although there wasn’t much talk, mainly as my Spanish would have made things complicated, it was good having the company. We went through 10K in 38:26 and I was still feeling good. After the 10K mark runners turned into old Palma town. The course became more undulating, with narrow streets and some tight turns but it did bring some welcome shade from the now more present sun and a break from the coastal wind. A temperature read-out at the 10K showed it was now 20 degrees and 70% humidity. As me and my 2 Spanish companions made all the twists and turns around Palma, I was certain the pace was quickening, although my Garmin wasn’t giving accurate readings due to the narrow streets and poor reception. I decided that the pace was faster than I wanted so let my amigo’s take the lead…..this may have been […]
Report from Al Sunday morning, 21st of October, I woke early with a fair amount of intrepidation about a long looked forward to race called ‘Run of the Mill’ in the Ochils. Over the year, I’d done quite a few races in the Ochils, The Law Breaker and Dollar, and had come to really like the steep but runnable terrain. After fueling up on silly amounts of pancackes, and a few hours of pre-race faffing, I headed off north to Alva. Late morning the weather was getting better and better and the mist on the hills lifted above the tops. It was sunny, warm and still. That, with the lovely autumn colours, made the 102 runners that gathered at the bottom of Alva Glan rather pleased that they’d decided to get up for one of the few remaining hill races of the year. Having lacked some zip in my cross country efforts the day before, I wasn’t too confident about how I’d do, but my warm up went well and I decided to give it a really good crack. One of my goals was to beat my pal Gary Fraser from Ochils hill running club. He’s a verteran of over 100 hill races and an incredible decsender. At Dollar and Ben Venue this year, he’d whizzed past me in the closing stages. I was going to beat him this time. Needed to get further head of him on the ascent – that would be the plan. It was good to see Mark Johnston and Matt Williamson at the race start. The race began, and a fast leading group with Mark and Matt in it shot out ahead. The course begins with a straighforward 150m climb then a fast easy descent over 3km down towards Tillicoultry and the beginning of the Law Breaker hill race route. After tracking Gary for a while I felt the pace was a bit slow and pushed on faster, overtaking a bunch of guys on the stretch to Tillicoultry. Now the ascent. The first bit is super steep up the Law Breaker route. Some, included me, managed to keep running on this bit. This tends to be the best bit of my race and I steadily overtook more runners until I got to 8th place. Matt was about 150m ahead of me at this stage and a over the course of the next 40min remained about the same distance ahead until I lost him completely on the descent. With the bulk of the ascent done (which seemed to take forever) we had the traverse of the summits to do – Andrew Gannel hill, Ben Cleugh and Ben Ever. On one of the descents between these tops I came flying off my feet and landed with a squelch in the mud. No harm was done but I was now covered in black stuff. The descent was physically really really hard. I felt like I’d used up all my energy going uphill and spent the whole descent thinking […]