The club recently got together for one of its biggest, and certainly most anticipated, awards night! Every year we celebrate the performances, achievements and accomplishments of our memberships over the preceding twelve months. Last year we held it virtually, but we were delighted to be able to hold a traditional evening at Sloan’s again for the first time since 2019. Full details on our members forum, and over on our Facebook members group you can catch a copy of the premier of the celebratory video of the last year, as well as a collection of photographs from the evening. A huge part of our club year is the Club championship, so a huge well done to everybody who completed the criteria, and – of course – to the many winners of the categories! A particular shout out to the banner award winners! Member of the Year: Kevin Queenan Most Improved Female 2021: Siobhann Dunn Most Improved Male 2021: Alan Moss Ladies Club Champion 2021: Rebekah Russell Gents Club Champion 2021: Tony Connelly Many thanks to everybody who helped made the event possible! Particular shout out to Kevin for his epic organisation, Susan for handing out the awards, Richard for hosting, and Craig for the photos!
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Our website news page has been a touch quiet over the last wee while, we’ve been busy at the club! Do check out our social media feeds (facebook.com/bellaroadrunner, twitter.com/bellaroadrunner) for the latest. A couple of big highlights from the last month! 2021 President’s Cup The President’s cup is a big part of the club year: It’s run as a handicap, with members setting off in time stagger relative to their estimated time. Theoretically, everybody should finish at the same time, and has a chance of winning, but there’s always a mix of circumstances to add a huge amount of fun. Last year it was run virtually, but with the easing of restrictions and group size limits for organised activities, we were able to stage it ‘for real’ on the 13th June. Organised in a couple of heats, and members who weren’t running or volunteering, were able to support everybody out on the course. Over 90 runners, spectators and volunteers stayed within Covid rules and had a fantastic time. And of course we can’t have a Bella occasion without plenty of cake afterwards!! Congratulations to our winners Joni Lindsay and Nick Windley , who collected their trophies from our President Richard Leyton 2021 AGM Tuesday 15th saw us hold our 2021 AGM, virtually on Zoom. Much as the President’s cup is a big part of the participation, the AGM is a big part of our governance. Member’s can access a recording of the AGM, the video featuring Leanne, Kevin and Richard, reflecting on the last 12 months, on the members’ forum. Our annual report is available on our public website. Key outcomes from the AGM, all of which allowed members an opportunity to question and discuss elements: Finances and Treasurers report were accepted Club annual report from the President was accepted COVID Coordinator, Emer provided an update on our Coronavirus plan Membership secretary Susan updated members on our membership A motion to formalise virtual meetings and voting (per OSCR recommendations) was passed unanimously. Membership fees were retained at present rate. Our Trustees were approved for another year. We held an open discussion about local sports facilities at Nethercraigs, and associated issues. Full details on the members forum
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
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’ve recently been looking at some options for cross country courses in Bellahouston park, and thought it would be fun to look at some of the historical courses that have been used, as well as some of the history of the park itself. The biggest cross country event by far was the 1978 World Cross Country Championships, and we are immensely grateful to Graham Macindoe, and Hugh Barrow of Victoria Park, for having unearthed a couple of absolute gems from this big event. Firstly, the map of the course from the event. It’s interesting to see the change in layout of the park, and the old sports centre (refurbished in the late 1990s). There is plenty more on the park’s history on Wikipedia. For a more close-to-home section, including some quotes from our very own Jimmy Irvine, scottishdistancerunning.scot has a section on Bellahouston, featuring a history of the running track in the park. There’s an interesting piece, featuring ourselves, on the Nethercraigs page. Secondly, a copy of the programme, and admission prices. Last, but by far from least, here’s a super section of video from the John Treacy archive. John was the eventual men’s winner, and very successful Irish Olympic athlete. The winner crosses the line at 8:40, and it runs until 12:27 when it switches over to another event. We hope you agree it’s a lot of fun to see the park as it was, in 1978. Maybe some of that course might feature in a future XC event!?
Well done to the 48 Bella members who competed in the second club 3k track race on Wednesday 24 April. Even though many of us are busy preparing for Spring marathons right now, there were some fantastic performances on the track in windy conditions. The runners were enthusiastically cheered on by fellow Bellas before everyone went inside for a post-race debrief over sandwiches and cake. We were delighted to welcome Jimmy Irvine at the event who, together with his wife Sandra, were awarded honorary life membership of the club. Jimmy remains as enthusiastic about running and generous in his support for the club as ever. Congratulations to all the runners who took part and a big thank you to everyone who helped with the organisation. Please let us know if you have any ideas for future club race evenings.
What a day at the Great Scottish 10k and Half Marathon! At least 85 Bellas were involved in marshalling, pacing and racing this morning. That must be a record, and that’s not even including our fantastic supporters along the route! Congratulations too to Louise Ross for winning the Scottish Masters Bronze medal, finishing with a huge PB of 1.24.57. We were defending our Scottish national Ladies team Gold from 2017, and hope to find out later this week if we were successful! Thanks to everyone for making it such a memorable day!
The club has had a busy few days for club championship races, with the Dumbarton 10k and the rearranged Down by the River 10k both featuring as medium distance races this week. The Dumbarton 10k was a fantastic evening for the 35 members taking part, and highlights from the results include Claire Wharton (41:57) and Jane McNeilly (42:35) as 1st and 3rd V40 Ladies (separated in 2nd by our friend Mary Senior, formally of this parish). Gerry Scullion continued his fine running form with a superb 37:00 as 3rd V50 Male. Cambuslang 10k took place earlier today, and we understand Romy was 3rd Lady overall, Emer 4th lady (and 1st V40), and Romy, Emer and Mhairi scooping the 1st ladies team prizes. Away from the champs, Wednesday evening saw perfect conditions for the Antonine trail race with their coveted finishers rock, Saturday saw the popular Dick Wedlock 10k taking place in Pollok park, where Bryan Mulgrew stormed to 3rd place. Well done to everybody who took part!
Robert Macleod just sent in this race report from yesterday’s Tom Scott 10 mile road race: If you had asked me 5 or 10 years ago would I take up running in the years to come I would have just laughed at you, the most running I ever done was running from people wanting to batter me in school, I officially ran my first race in June 2016 doing the men’s 10k in my Adidas sambas and the reason that was I didn’t intend to continue running after that, I struggled with that race and I stumbled over the line in just over an hour, fast forward to April 1st 2018 otherwise known as April fools day well I certainly wasn’t planning on being a fool today as I prepared myself for my very first ever long race, the 56th Tom Scott memorial road race which was a 10 mile race around Strathclyde park, Earlier in the week my 5 year old daughter Mirrin asked me Daddy why do you never win races, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry but I answered because there are faster people running than me that’s why, I had the added bonus of the children being away for the weekend with their Auntie so there was no added distractions, We set off in plenty of time and arrived at Strathclyde park just before 9 to get my race number, I definitely underestimated the coldness and I only had a top over my running top, we went inside and then later I nipped out for a wee warm up, the start of the race was quickly approaching so I quickly took my top off and threw it to Elizabeth, the race started quickly and I probably started off a bit quick, that would catch up with me later, I set myself a target of 1 hour 20 minutes which is 8 minutes a mile and I thought I’m more than capable of that, I was unsure of what route this race was taking me but following who’s in front of me I can’t go wrong, on the other side of the loch I seen Graeme Paterson and he told me to stay steady all the way round and that’s what I intended to do, as I was about to start the last lap the winner Luke Traynor was finishing his race which is very impressive and hopefully he will go to the very top and I certainly believe he will, when I got round to the other side I was overtaken by Lynne Hamilton, I asked her if she would wait for me but I don’t think she heard me, I occasionally looked behind me and I noticed Lynsey wasn’t far behind me so I managed to catch a second wind, this was my first visit to Strathclyde park and I could just about see where the finishing line was so I made a run for the finish I seen the clock ticking at […]
A busy weekend for the club! Friday evening saw a great turnout at the Harrier’s popular Brian Goodwin 10k, in nearby Pollok park. A friendly welcome and a lovely evening, with Callum Hawkins and Luke Traynor going head-to-head at the sharp end, and the beer and burger a popular reward for everybody who took part (as well as valuable club championship points!). We had a superb 40 runners complete the course, and many members out and about on the course supporting the local event. Delighted to report that Ann Robin was overall third lady home in a fantastic 39:10, and together with Louise Ross and Shona Donnelly, took home the women’s team prize. Well done! Graeme Paterson led the club’s men home in a very impressive 34:59. Best of all, a healthy number of PB’s and season bests. A full race report available on the Harriers website, and the full club breakdown on stuweb. Thanks to the Harriers for once again staging such a super event. A good number of member’s popped along for an easy (or not so easy!) recovery parkrun on Saturday morning, then on Sunday morning 24 members also helped out with marshalling the start of the Glasgow Men’s 10k, a great way to support the many men out taking part as well as help raise the club’s profile. Congratulations to everybody that took part, particularly all the father’s! Particular well done to the 8 members who ran the event, led home by Craig Reid who finished in 4th overall, and Stephen McQuade with a huge PB. Thanks to Camilla Simms and Kevin Queenan for the pics. Loads more photos to be had on our Facebook page, and members are active on our Strava club too.
Report from Craig Reid. Firstly, it was great to see so many Bella’s out for the Helensburgh half marathon on Sunday. Not only were there loads of us running but also a good number of (very vocal) supporters which I know we all appreciated. Its been a wee while since I wrote a race report but for obvious reasons I thought now was as good a time as any to get back in the habit again, so here goes…… Sunday 4th August saw the running of the annual Helensburgh half marathon. A great turn out from Bella club members meant that we were by far and away the most represented club and as we gathered at the start there were plenty of purple vests on show. As the horn sounded I was keen not to make the same mistake as last year and set off at too fast a pace. Within a couple of hundred metres, myself and Steven Prentice of Bellahouston Harriers had moved to the front of the field and made the early pace. For the first three miles we ran at about 5:45 per mile pace which was a little slower than I wanted but I didn’t want to move ahead on my own so early into the race. I was feeling strong and could hear that Steven was breathing quite heavily so expected he would drop off a bit. Around 3.5 miles in, out of nowhere two runners came flying past us, Hayley Haining of Kilbarchan and Stuart Johnston of Edinburgh. They both looked really strong and as they eased ahead I decided to try and stick with them. As the race moved to the uphill section at around 5 miles Stuart had built up a decent lead. Hayley and I were running together and as we came back down the hill onto the main route we received a lot of support from runners going in the opposite direction. OK, most of the shouts were for Hayley but I definitely heard the odd ‘come on Bella!!’ By 7.5 miles we had caught back up with the leader. I felt like I was cruising along and so not content with sitting behind I pushed on up the hill and put a bit of distance between me and the other two runners. As the race wore on I made the fatal mistake of looking behind me at about 9 miles to find they were still a lot closer behind me than I expected. Although I was feeling good, I was starting to doubt whether I could hold them off as I expected them both to finish strongly. There was some great Bella support at around 10 miles and some wise words from Tammy telling me to stay focussed was what I needed. She was right, after all, I felt good and it was them who had to catch me so I decided to up the pace a bit. As I climbed the hill after 11 miles I had […]
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.
Report from Bruce Nine Bellas made the journey out to Gourock for the first running of the Frank Sinclair 10K race on its new route, which promised to be ‘flat and fast’ (don’t they all?). Registration was at the newly opened Gourock outdoor swimming pool, which looks really good. Poor Jane got a fright at the registration desk when she asked, after being handed number 107, if there was only 100 people running. The answer was ‘no – there’s only 21 people entered so far!’…… Not a good sign! They ended up with a total of 46 entrants, and before the start on the promenade runners were asked to remember their race numbers, as the rain was starting and the numbers were likely to disintegrate. The route was actually quite nice, out and back along the coast with a wee loop through the park at Lunderston Bay before heading back and was flat as promised. Some km markers might have been useful though! After running what felt like a really good race I was surprised to see my time at the finish was a bit slower than I was hoping for. All of those with Garmins soon confirmed that they had clocked it at 6.33 miles. Ooops! This mistake was acknowledged by the race organisers afterwards and they reckoned they’ll have it right for next year. The race was won by a country mile by Stephen Trainer of Greenock Glenpark in 32.41, and the Bella results are below, complete with mis-spelt names and thanks to the wonders of excel I have calculated our actual 10k times, just to add to the sense of injustice! I think there’s a few could-have-been-PBs in there: Pos Name Official Time Unofficial actual 10k time! 2 Bruce Carse 35:07 34:27 5 Craig Reid 35:51 35:10 12 Peter Callaghan 38:48 38:03 17 Alistair Maclachlan 39:49 39:03 18 John Gilhooly 40:01 39:15 32 Christopher Doak 44:59 44:07 34 Jane Wild 45:52 1st Lady 44:59 36 Keith Gibb 46:08 45:15 40 June Winter 47:51 46:56 This would have been a pretty good race if it weren’t so low-key, and a bit on the long side. Easily fixed in the future I’m sure. Still, big well done to Jane for winning the ladies race – you do realise this means you HAVE to go back next year to defend your title? Results
Six Bella’s headed to Livingston on Saturday, 31 March, for the Scottish Road Relay championships. This is the most important of the road relay events in the running calendar and so it is important for our club to be taking part. Conditions although overcast at first turned into an afternoon of fine weather and excellent for running. The men’s event comprises 6 stages, 3 runners covering a short loop of approximately 3.2 miles and 3 runners covering a longer loop of 5.8 miles. For this sort of race you need a bit of self motivation as, beyond the first runner, you can be heading out on your own without anyone to keep pace. Our team put in a fine performance. We were 22nd out of 46 finishing teams, covering the course in a total time of 2:36:37 Brian O’Donnell 18:59 Bruce Carse 33:45 Rankin Lawther 20:01 Cieran Dougherty 32:55 Gerard Scullion 18:06 Craig Reid 32:51 It’s interesting to note that, last year our first team finished in a time of 2:34:14, just over 2 mins quicker than this year but finished in 8th position out of 43 teams. Entries from some clubs must have been a lot stronger this year. Results Report from Gerry
7 ladies and 16 men from Bella took on the challenge of the longest cross country race on the race calendar – the National XC championships at Falkirk on Saturday, 18 Feb. As ever, this race attracted pretty much all of the best runners in the country, so competition was fierce throughout the pack. The ladies had the pleasure of a snow storm as they lined up for their start, but that was quickly forgotten one they got stuck into all the hills and mud. The race was won by defending champion Freya Murray and the Bella ladies came in 11th team overall out of 28 teams: 68 Romy Beard Bellahouston RR 36:03 70 Claire Wharton Bellahouston RR 36:10 83 Elsie Downham Bellahouston RR 36:53 98 Emma Bryson Bellahouston RR 37:08 101 Ciara Baxter Bellahouston RR 37:18 111 Julia Harris Bellahouston RR 37:51 141 Sarah Gillies Bellahouston RR 39:46 11th Bellahouston RR (319) 68,70,83,98 The men’s race was also won by a defending champion – Derek Hawkins. Bella men’s team managed 9th place overall out of 33 teams: 42 Kieran Docherty Bellahouston RR 43:34 70 Greig Glendinning Bellahouston RR 45:19 96 Russell Whittington Bellahouston RR 46:25 104 Craig Reid Bellahouston RR 46:37 115 Mark Johnston Bellahouston RR 47:02 142 Scott Kennedy Bellahouston RR 48:10 159 Gerard Scullion Bellahouston RR 48:48 165 Bruce Carse Bellahouston RR 49:02 179 Grant MacDonald Bellahouston RR 49:18 205 Thomas O’Connell Bellahouston RR 50:05 291 Gordon Clements Bellahouston RR 53:01 295 Andrew Hardman Bellahouston RR 53:05 305 Barry Edwards Bellahouston RR 53:35 364 John Newlands Bellahouston RR 56:04 393 Alex Lawther Bellahouston RR 57:24 443 Chris Brotherston Bellahouston RR 1:00:37 9th Bellahouston RR (569) 42,70,96,104,115,142 My personal favourite bit was the Trench of Doom(?) at the far end of the golf course, which was not unlike falling into a big hole and trying to scramble out the other side, times three. And to top it all off, our own Bryan Burnett provided the live commentary on the day, displaying his usual shameless bias to cheer on all the Bellas taking part – thanks Bryan! A great day out with some brilliant performances – well done everyone. Results Report from Bruce