The club was delighted to hear that members Romy Beard and Louise Ross were recently selected to represent Scotland at the British and Irish Masters XC International, in Swansea on 17th November. A fantastic achievement in itself, they returned from the event with bronze team medals in the W35 (Romy) and W40 (Louise) categories. A huge congratulations to them both, from everybody at the club! Well done to everybody who took part, at what sounds like a great event. Romy also sent in a great race report, which we’re delighted to share here: The team bus leaves Glasgow at 9am. Everybody is chatting. The journey is fine until we go cross-country through the Welsh mountains. In the dark. The bus becomes quiet. One lady is very sick. By the time we arrive it’s nearly 8pm. We wonder how Swansea can be so far away. We have dinner at the hotel with some other ladies including our rivals from Giffnock North. We decide to be friends for the weekend. Not much sleep much because they’re working right outside the hotel and in the morning the seagulls are loud. Some people report music and shouting, which I missed, so I must have slept after all. We put our Scotland shorts and vest on, and tie the tartan ribbons in our hair. The excitement begins! Short bus ride to Singleton park. The sun comes out just in time for the Scotland team photo. We do an easy jog of the course. It’s 3 laps of 2k. The second part of the lap is up and down one big slope. It doesn’t seem too bad. Photos. More warm up stuff. Getting very, very excited now. Lining up with all the other Scottish, Irish, Northern Irish, English and Welsh runners in our race (ladies plus the 65+ men). I feel fantastic on the first lap. I am running for Scotland. Hurrah! I can’t stop smiling. I’m also going too fast. I can see Mary McCutcheon from Giffnock North in front and know that I am too close to her. Fuck it. I am running for Scotland! It’s only 3 laps. The hill is worse than I thought. I get a stitch at the start of the second lap. I pull back a little. Only two laps to go. The hill is a killer on the second lap. I’m just looking at the piece of grass in front of me and keep putting one foot in front of the other. Whenever someone shouts Scotland I smile. I tell myself that I am strong and that I can do this. Third lap. I don’t care what race this is I just want it to end. Louise goes past just before the hill. I have nothing left to chase her. I lap a lady in the 70+ group and shout a well done to her. She is amazing. I feel a bit sick when I get over the hill for the last time. Down the hill and then around […]
cross country
The club held a very successful training day on Saturday 17th November, for club members. A jam packed schedule, devised by our lead coach Gerry Scullion, included: Cross Country training session, led by Graeme Paterson. 6, 2, 2, 4, 2, 2, 6 minute efforts, with a 1 minute recovery. ‘Nutrition for Runners’, by Emma Birnie, a Dietitian and Sports Nutritionist Tips and discussions on good running form, and the club’s training sessions, with Gerry ‘Marathon Training’, by club member Bruce Carse, who went from a 3:44 marathon at his first attempt, to 2:35! ‘Running and Injury’, by Matt Williamson, outlining injuries, and how to reduce the risk of them, and how to aid recovery. Yoga session, led by club member and yoga instructor, Kelly Ludwig And we’ve not even mentioned the free lunch! We were ‘live streaming’ a few pics on our twitter feed @bellaroadrunner, some pics and tweets attached below from the day. We’re really very grateful to everybody involved in making the day happen, particularly for those who led and spoke during the day. Many thanks to the 50 or so members that made it along through the course of the day, and we hope you found it useful and informative. All of the presentations are now available to members via the club forum. Club training day in full swing @Glasgowclub Nethercraigs. XC session earlier this morning. Now Gerry is talking about good (and bad!) running form. pic.twitter.com/n7Dj58hChB — Bella Road Runners (@bellaroadrunner) November 17, 2018 Now former club president Emma is talking about sports nutrition pic.twitter.com/76r2Knqntk — Bella Road Runners (@bellaroadrunner) November 17, 2018
For the second year in a row, our Women’s masters ladies were on the podium at the National XC Relays in Cumbernauld. Huge congratulations to Emer, Louise and Ann for securing Bronze medals! Louise, together with Romy, has also been selected to represent Scotland at the British and Irish Masters International Cross country event in Swansea on 17th November. Well done to both of you! Thanks to Scottish Athletics for organising event (the full race report and results are available here), and well done to all the Bella members who took part yesterday, before heading back to party at our Annual Awards Night! The Women’s Masters podium at #LindsaysXC National Relays – 1. Hunters Bog Trotters2. @rungarscube 3. @bellaroadrunner pic.twitter.com/XjjliCRvi6 — scottishathletics (@scotathletics) October 27, 2018
Delighted to report that our Ladies Masters team of Ann Robin, Shona Donnelly and Louise Ross won Gold at the 2017 Scottish Athletics National XC Relays yesterday. An absolutely fantastic performance by all three. Delighted that they could share their brilliant result with fellow club members at last night’s annual awards evening. Well done to the many other Bellas that took part at Cumbernauld house, and provided support and encouragement to each other as they ran the testing Cumbernauld course. Provisional results are available. Further congratulations to both Shona and Ann who were recently selected to represent Scotland in November at the British and Irish Masters International XC in Derry. Photo via Scottish Athletics twitter.
We hosted the 2017 Renfrewshire AAA XC Relay, at Netherpollok, on Sunday 22nd October 2017. Many thanks to everybody who helped make the event such a success. Photos from the day are available on our Facebook page) (Albums here and here), and please find the full results for each of the races below: Senior Women Senior Men (updated) U11 Boys U11 Girls U13 Boys U13 Girls U15 Boys U15 Girls U17 Boys U17 Girls
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.
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
Great news from the weekend: The club had two representatives at the British and Irish Masters Cross Country in Bellahouston Park. Russell Whittington was running in Scotland’s V35 team (and came away with a Silver medal), and Julia Harris representing Wales in the V40’s. It was certainly a wet and windy Saturday afternoon, so huge congratulations to everybody who took part. Russell sent in this superb event report: On Saturday I had the amazing opportunity to run for the Scottish Masters team in the British and Irish Masters Cross Country in the home surroundings of Bellahouston Park. The race is split up into age categories in five year groups starting at V35 and going up to V70 for the men and V65 for the women. The event is made up of teams from Scotland, England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. I was put in a strong looking V35 team along side David Miller, Jamie Reid, Robert Gilroy, Joe McKnight and Iain Connell. The weather and course conditions were very challenging. The weather was wet and windy and the the course was muddy and hilly so all in all it was a proper cross country. The first race was for all the women and the male V65 and V70 categories and was made up of one big loop and one smaller loop. The Scottish women got the team off to a great start with stand out performances from Lesley Chisholm third overall and second V35, Melissa White 4th overall and first V45 for the second year in succession and Fiona Matheson 5th overall and first V50. The F35 and F45 teams were both one point behind England in second place and the F50, F55 and F65 teams all took bronze medals. Our own Julia Harris was representing Wales in this event and finished 75th overall in a time of 27:15. The male race for categories V35 through to V60 was two big loops of the course. The race started at 12.45 and started on the pitch and put area. From there we headed uphill through the wooded area of the park followed by the downhill heading towards the House for an Art Lover. This descent was the trickiest part of the course as it was very muddy and several runners fell over in this section. After the House for an Art Lover we headed into a strong headwind past the Palace of Art and then up the second of the tough hills. The loop finished with a lap around the back of the cycle track before setting off on the second muddy lap. I finished in 76th place in a time of 28:39. Peter Matthews was first home for Ireland in 24:54. First Scot was Jamie Reid who was 7th overall and 2nd V35. My V35 team finished 2nd overall one point behind the winners Ireland. The four to count for the team were Jamie Reid, David Miller, Robert Gilroy and Joe McKnight. Fortunately for me there were […]
Maps of the course in Bellahouston Park have now been added to the Events pages, or are available here. We look forward to seeing you on the day.
Bellahouston Road Runners was well represented at the annual National Cross Country Relays, in Cumbernauld. Out of 100 men’s senior teams (plus 20 part teams) and 63 women’s senior teams (plus 11 part teams), we fielded a whopping five men’s teams, and two women’s teams. The rain kept away for the duration of the races and the Bella Brollies (this years prize for completing the club championship) were in attendance, but not required until the post race walk back to Cumbernauld High School. With the conditions so much better than last year there were PBs aplenty as the purple posse put in some credible performances. Emma and Matt recorded the fastest Bella times and Club Captains Jane and Brian did a sterling job but everyone did well in a great turn out from the club. Women’s13 Bellahouston RR “A” Claire Thompson 17 17:18 17:18Emma Birnie 10 16:52 34:10 Jane Simpson 13 17:20 51:30 42 Bellahouston RR “B” (V) Jane Wild 57 20:20 20:20Jacqueline McGuire 50 20:10 40:30Julia Harris 42 19:21 59:51 Men’s19 Bellahouston RR “A” Alasdair McLeod 39 14:58 14:58Marcos Sanz Gomez 34 15:26 30:24Matthew Williamson 28 14:41 45:05Liam Conway 19 14:55 1:00:00 31 Bellahouston RR “B”Neil Farnell 44 15:10 15:10*Grant Edmondson 40 15:36 30:46 Craig Ross 34 15:08 45:54Russell Whittington 31 15:16 1:01:10 48 Bellahouston RR “C“Brian O’Donnell 60 15:55 15:55David Weatherhead 51 15:53 31:48Andrew Birnie 47 15:54 47:42Brendan Moriarty 48 16:08 1:03:50 77 Bellahouston RR “D” *Peter Goodwin 76 16:34 16:34Robert McEwan 70 16:29 33:03Ewan McDonald 78 18:31 51:34Ian Goudie 77 18:49 1:10:23 Bellahouston RR “E“Norman Boyle 118 19:53 19:53Douglas MacGregor 114 20:46 40:39Mike Devlin 105 23:09 1:03:48 Thanks to Ian for the race report, and well done to all the participants. Full results available at the Scottish Athletics website.
A little rain, a bit of mud and autumn leaves blowing around the park made for excellent cross country conditions today at Pollok Park for the Renfrewshire Cross Country Relays hosted by Bellahouston Harriers. Both captains had a stress free day with all runners reporting for duty as requested. In an exciting climax to the Ladies race our girls were in with a shout of a medal right to the very end, finishing in 4th place, only 6 seconds behind the 3rd place team. The boys on the other hand weren’t so close, finishing in 5th place, but less than a minute from the medal positions in the end. The course was a little shorter than advertised but that just meant the fun was over a wee bit quicker. Thanks to the numerous supporters and all the runners. I hope you all had a good day. Roll on the nationals next week…
Craig Ross submitted this race report: On a warm and uncharacteristically sunny day, four Bella teams participated in the West District relay champs, this year held at the Royal Academy, instead of the beachy Magnum Centre. Despite torrential rain in the days leading up to the event, the course was relatively dry underfoot, which suited many of us unaccustomed to the dark and mysterious arts of off-road running. Some say that it’s not a real cross-country unless it is chucking it with rain, and you end up covered in mud, but I’ll take a dry track any day thanks. The men’s A team was lead out by novice stand-in captain Craig Ross, who muscled and cornered econmoically around the course to have the team well placed after the first leg. Marcos SanzGomez then took over and finished stronlgy before tucking into a meal of home-made pasta in a trademark plastic container. Jim O’Hara in his debut XC ignored all advice and took off like a rocket, and worked hard in the final stages before handing onto Gordon Durnan, up until this time a Bella race virgin. The A team finished in a respectable 20th place in strong field. For the B team, Euan Black started well before handing onto a hungover Dougie MacGregor, and then onto Norman Boyle who despite fancy new bold spikes had his efforts impaired by a bad cold. The team was anchored by Chris Doak who had a strong run, to bring the B team home in 44th. For the ladies’ team, Louise Ross finshed looking remarkably fresh before handing onto Emma Simpson, who had been out of XC for 16 years. Iona Robertson finished typically strongly, and clawed back several places to bring the team back in a commendable 10th. For the ladies’ vets team, Karen Clarkson (who had been roped in after a few drinks the night before at the Awards night) started things off, before passing onto the consistent Julia Harris, and finally Maddie Smillie brought the team home in 17th, after some time spent running the wrong way. All told, a great day out, and notable for the number of athletes who made their XC debuts.