The weekend of Friday 19th – Sunday 21st July 2024, saw the annual ‘Run the Blades’ (RTB) races at Whitelee Windfarm. It’s a tough, undulating, exposed, but eerily beautiful place to run, with frequent unseasonable weather changes. The events are always really well organised by Breaking Strain. Begining with the 10k on a pleasant Friday evening, we had brilliant running from Claire Wharton who was 3rd lady home (47:03). Our men finished, Jethro Browell (39:00, 4th), Jordan Davidson (39:10, 5th), Simon Wells (40:43, 11th), Gerry McDonnell (46:00) & Andy Tomlinson (49:05). Great performances, especially given the challenging climbs towards the finish line. It was the big one for our on Saturday with the 50k Ultra Marathon on a cloudy, humid, then rainy day. Amazing running all round from Stephen McQuade (9th, 4:07:47), Jordan Davidson (11th, 4:13:36), Siobhann Dunn (18th, 5th lady, 4:27:27), Brendan McGuiness (4:44:23), Jamie Robinson (5:18:16), Jimmy McGreevy (5:18:18), Alan Digweed (5:51:17) & Cormack Smith (7:58:18). Great commitment and resilience to tackle this discipline, so a huge well done to all. To finish, it was the Half Marathon on Sunday morning. Again, a tough undulating course, starting off in chilly conditions, although not the stormy weather of 2023! It was an absolutely outstanding run from Ross Horgan in 1:15:15 to win and break the course record, while Fraser Kelly finished in a brilliant 3rd place with 1:23:34. Following on were Jordan Davidson (1:32:09, 13th), Alan Chalmers (1:32:40, 14th), David Vallance (1:49:55) & Gavin Elliott (2:02:45). Another great morning of running. And the recurring name in the three races was Jordan Davidson, running 10k, 50k and 21k RTB races in a single weekend. An epic starring role!
half marathon
Around 50 Bellas turned up at last weekend’s (10th March, 2019) Balloch to Clydebank Half Marathon, in pretty grim weather. As always, our ladies team won lots of medals with Louise Ross and Ann Robin finishing 2nd and 5th overall. Shona Donnelly and Emer Campbell placed 1st and 3rd in the V40 category with our ladies team of Louise, Ann and Shona finishing in 1st place overall. Congratulations everyone and well done to all who took part! Particularly if you managed to secure a PB in those conditions! We’ve loads of photographs over on our public Facebook page! There’s a specific album here too. Many thanks as ever to Gordon Goldie for turning out to take so many!
Congratulations to our magnificent ladies team who have today been announced as the Scottish Half Marathon Gold medalists at Sunday’s Great Scottish Run! Louise Ross, Cat MacDonald and Emer Campbell all finished in the top 20, and retained the title won last year. Well done ladies, we’re so proud of you! Congratulations to Dumbarton AC and Metro Aberdeen on taking Silver and Bronze team prizes, and to Inverclyde AC for winning the men’s Gold, with Shettleston, Edinburgh AC for Silver and Bronze.
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!
💜 People Make Bella 💜 Big thanks to everyone who had a great time volunteering at GSR Super Saturday this morning, you did your club proud 👏👏 All the best to all our runners and volunteers tomorrow! Hope everybody taking part has a great time! Pictures courtesy of Kevin Queenan, Robert Macleod. Used with permission.
Earlier this month on 2nd June, the Killearn 10k Trail race took place, and Rhoda Yarmahmoudi wrote up a race report for members, available on the members forum: The down hill into the park and the big purple finish sign were a very welcome sight, as soon as I crossed the line a very concerned marshal said “sit down!” Three bottles of water later, and I began to feel human again, and realised that I’d probably been getting dehydrated out there!!! [The club] did very well, with Colin Hughes … the first V50 and 8th male over all, and Romy coming in as 2nd F. The Bella ladies won the ladies’ club title. I had hoped to be sub 60 mins and was delighted with 00:58:23! Well done to the prize winners, particularly in such hot conditions. Full results from the Killearn 10k available here. The next day 20 club members did the rescheduled Alloa Half Marathon in hot and humid conditions. Mark Wilson has put together a race report on the club forum”, [As I] approached the hill I heard everyone talk about before the race as i looked towards the top of thus hill I could see the incline of it with runners streaming up it ahead of me, as I started the incline my first thought was I am not stopping, further and further up the hill I power on through pace now down to something that felt like a brisk jog as I arched the crest of the hill I drove my arms to get me over the last little bit at last I was at the top thank god Well done Mark, and everybody else who took part! Full results are here. A hearty pat on the back (or should that be a nice cold drink!)to everybody who raced that weekend in hot conditions!
Matthew Campbell sent this report in shortly after taking part in the Rome Half Marathon The race started on the outskirts of Rome and finished on the coast in a town called Ostia. The weather on the day was ideal a few light showers and fairly overcast although I still managed to get slightly burnt! The course didn’t take in any of Rome’s tourist sites and for the most part was ran on one big long straight road, it was a fairly flat courses although between mile 6 and 7 there was a quite steep incline that eventually leveled off at about the 8 mile mark. The rest of the race was gradually downhill. At the three mile stage I was regretting the amount of walking I did the days before sightseeing as my legs were already starting to feel a bit heavy but I found a second wind (I knew there was a good reason to eat all that pasta) and reached the 10 mile mark, the last 3 miles were a bit of a struggle but I dug in and managed to finish in under my 2 hour target (1.56.53) Looking forward to my next one.
The club had a fantastic turnout at this year’s Great Scottish Run Half Marathon. A total of 51 runners raced the event, as well as providing a set of marshals to help with start line duties (before helping cheer runners along the way), and a number of pacers helping a great many runners achieve Personal Bests and race targets. So a big ‘well done!’ to everybody who took part in some way on the day, and many thanks to the many Bellas out on the course giving a cheer to everybody too! A particular congratulations for three of our Ladies – Catriona McDonald, Romy Beard and Katie Mathieson – who took home a fantastic Gold in the Scottish Half Marathon Championships. Brilliant achievement, and culmination of a lot of hard work. Well done!
With no other major sporting events on today (right?), 10 Bellas headed down the coast for the 2016 Girvan Half Marathon, part of our 2015/16 club championship. Less than ideal conditions awaited, but a fantastic friendly welcome as usual from Girvan Athletic club. Fantastically well marshalled and supported out on the course: we’re very grateful as ever for staging the event. The half marathon course is a challenging one (600ft of ascent, details on the Strava segment), and a light drizzle which picked up to heavier rain at points, with a small headwind after the turnaround point at Dailly made it tougher than usual. But despite that, and whilst we await full/final results, we’re pleased to report at least one PB (well done Marc!), and a successful defence of the male (Bruce Carmichael, Marc Bromwich and Gerry Scullion), and female team prizes (Debs Gray, Jackie McGuire and Alison Brown), from last year. Well done to Bruce and Debs for taking 2nd male and 2nd female prizes too. Full results available on runbritainrankings.com
Two Bella’s made their way north east to take part in the Loch Leven Half Marathon, Kinross, Saturday 9th May. Starting at 1pm meant the sun was out, and I have the sunburn to prove it. The race is part of the local gala day celebrations so we had the local pipe bands out in force at the start. Toeing the start line alongside me was George Rooney, running his first half marathon. I’ve run many but this was my first since 2011, I feel a bit out of practice these days at longer races. The route basically loops Loch Leven anti clockwise on open roads and with the pipers sending us on our way we headed south out of Kinross on gently undulating roads for 2.5 miles. We turned east along more undulating roads (get the pattern here?). Along this road we passed farm after farm and I had suddenly remembered a conversation I had prior to my last run here in 2009 about the flies. Back then it was so windy there were no flies but not today, oh no. For the next 4 miles I ran through cloud after cloud of flies! I am still finding them in my eyes as I write this, complete with scratched eyeballs such was the ferocity of their attack. That got us to 6 or so miles and another turn to head north west towards the hills of Scotlandwell and Kinnesswood, with great views of the Lomonds of Fife. In fact, there were great views throughout the entire race. Then one of those wee things that annoy you as a runner at 7.5 miles. We were directed off the main road, along a dirt track, also difficult underfoot, for 100 metres, 180 degree turn and back again to re join the main road. I don’t remember this last time, but I assume to make up distance that could easily have been added at the start or the end. Anyway, onwards and upwards climbing through Scotlandwell at 8 miles, it was really tough at this stage, but working hard nonetheless. I seen a couple of people walking here and caught a good few people through this section. More ups and downs and we get to 10 miles with only 5K to get home. A big downhill was welcome here and we approached and passed the 11 mile marker speedily. At just shy of 12 miles we were routed onto a cycle path which was another change from the last time I ran here. The underfoot conditions weren’t as good as tarmac but the legs were buckling by this time anyway as I desperately tried to hang onto a decent pace. A wee sting in the tail as we had to climb out of this cycle path to the main road but surely the end was near as I could hear the bag pipes at the finish. Indeed, a short run along a grass finish to the Loch Leven Community Campus and a mass of gala […]
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 Craig. On Sunday 21st April I was supposed to be on the start line surrounded by thousands of other runners in the London sunshine for the biggest race in the world. Instead, I was in Monikie Country Park just outside a wet and very windy Dundee for the 2013 Angus Half Marathon. This is a good wee race which I did a couple of years ago. On a good day the scenery is lovely but this is definitely not a PB course with all the hills. I made my way up to the front at the start line and as the whistle went 200 runners set off. Last weekend at the Balloch to Clydebank half I started too slowly and lost early grounds on the leaders so this weekend I was determined not to make the same mistake. I stayed on the shoulders of the 3 leading runners to try and get out of the wind a bit during the first mile. As we approached the second mile marker one runner made a break so I decided to go with him and as we approached the first hill at mile 3 I went past and into the lead. For the next couple of miles the headwind was really strong so I tried to maintain a comfortable pace to reserve energy for later on. By mile 5 I could no longer hear any footsteps behind me and looked round to see I had built up a decent lead. The next few miles were still very undulating but as we turned out of the wind at 8.5 miles I was surprised to see the second placed runner was right behind me. He had obviously been pushing hard on the downhill section. At 8.5 miles you start the first of 3 big ascents. Reaching the top of the first hill I was offered a cup of water but declined and pushed on. I heard the runner behind shouting for a cup and looked round to see that even on that first hill I had moved ahead. I kept working hard up the next hill at 9.5 miles and once it flattened out I picked up the pace and put in a 5:30 mile. The lead cyclist informed me that I now had a huge lead which seemed to spur me on and another quick mile meant I was soon at the dreaded last mile. The last mile is all uphill, it just saps any energy that you might have left in your legs. Fortunately a winter of Sherbrooke hill reps meant I was able to keep a good pace and before I knew it I was at the top. A wee jog down the home straight saw me take first place in 1:16:37. I ended up being a full 2 minutes ahead of the 2nd placed runner. For my efforts I got two lovely trophies to add to my collection which seems to be growing nicely now. Okay so it wasnt […]
Report from Craig. For those of you who dont know, Dumfries is my home town and I have ran the half marathon twice before. They were both a disaster and resulted in two of my worst races, so I thought it was about time to go back and give it another go. With 42 miles in my legs from the previous weekend and a disappointing parkrun time the day before I settled into the front/middle of the pack on the start line. In my last couple of half marathons I have set off a bit quickly and felt like I suffered later in the race so today decided to go off at a steady pace, especially knowing the undulating nature of the course. By mile 3 I was sitting just outside the top 10. I was concerned about trying to race so quickly after such a long run the week before so thought this would be a good place to stay. Maybe it was my new trainers or maybe a moment of madness but I decided not to settle, to have a real go and see how close to the leaders I could get. The front three had set off at some pace and were nowhere to be seen. As I moved up to 8th I could see another group of three runners in the distance followed by the purple Bella vest of Brian Lamb in 7th. I knew Brian had ran well at the GSR so I would be doing well to get near him let alone those in front. Miles 4.5 – 6.5 are mainly uphill, some steep and some not so bad but I steadily chased down those in front. As they say, what goes up must come down and a nice 5:28 mile between 7-8 saw me move into 7th as one of the runners in the second pack dropped back. My legs felt really strong and any thoughts of fatigue from the River Ayr Way ultra were well out of my mind. By 9.5 miles Brian had caught up with the runners in 4th and 5th and I made an effort to move with him and we went by them together. At mile 10 I edged ahead of Brian. Having spent the whole race chasing other runners I suddenly found myself in 4th and became conscious that if I slowed slightly then those behind me were going strongly and I would drop back. Mile 10-11 had a few more uphill sections and I began to feel the first signs of tiredness. That soon disappeared though as I got my first glimpse of the runners in 2nd and 3rd – although they looked far too far ahead to catch. Mile 11 was a fast downhill mile, I could hear Brian’s footsteps behind me and knew I would have to push if I was to hold him off and take 4th place. Little did I realise we had both made up good time on the 2nd and […]
Report from Peter B. The day started early with an early morning text message from Australia to wish me luck, at 6:30am, it was appreciated but not necessarily the greatest timing. Although I have done various races in different locations, the Great North Run will always be special to me, since it is in my “home” city. Once the car was parked and bag dropped on the bus, I made my way down towards the muster points, still an hour until the race starts at this point. I stood and watched our very own Bryan Burnett interviewing various celebrities and Olympic athletes, Mo Farah was a notable high point, although he may need some development if he wants to excel as a motivational speaker! With half an hour to go before the race I was in my muster pen, soaking up the atmosphere and watching nearly 40,000 people doing the Mo-bot during the warm up. The elite runners were announced and set off and it was only a matter of time… Usually these race reports talk about being at the front of the race and judging pace well and managing to overtake the leader in the last half a mile. My race was similar to that, but in a way different. My pace was all over the place, as I was through 8 miles the leaders were already finished and even a third rate X Factor winner beat me. That said the reason I was there was not to win, I decided to do this race so that I could enjoy the atmosphere and run a steady race and still have something left at the end to produce a finishing burst, whilst enjoying the whole occasion. I got part of what I aimed for. The atmosphere was fantastic, and I made sure that I was always aware of the crowd around me and watching the faces of people shouting my name all the way down the course, I watched the red arrows fly over-head at 3.5 miles and I even chatted to a couple of Premiership referees, both wearing Newcastle United vests… First celebrity spot was Sian Williams from BBC Breakfast, closely followed by Sophie Rayworth, also from Breakfast. You will notice I have not mentioned the race or the running much thus far, I think the medical term is selective forgetfulness. I made good progress up until 10 miles, despite the undulating course and wet weather and I was still on target for a sub 1hr 40 time, however, at 10 miles someone had built a rather large wall, which it appears only I ran into. The next 3 miles were torture, I actually felt like I was running backwards. I fell in behind Iwan Thomas and tried to match his stride pattern, which I did for a mile and a half, but still things were not going well. The last 3 miles were probably at the right pace for 1hour 50 minutes or slower, but thankfully the first […]
Report from Greig The challenge is to complete at least three of the five Western Isles Half Marathons – Stornoway, Harris, Benbecula, Barra or Skye in any one year. This is the longest running series of half marathons in Scotland and 2012 saw the 23rd event. It is a hugely popular race series, with increasing entries every year. In particular, the Barra race, which is only able to support limited numbers, sells out the day entry is opened every year. The series starts with the Stornoway half marathon and ends with the Harris half marathon, which traditionally involves post race celebrations, both locally and on the ferry! 3 Bella runners completed at least the minimum 3 races Myself, Nea MacInnes, John Sandbach. First up for the Bella challenge was the 2nd race in Benbecula. Despite it being a circular route it had the usual stiff headwind for about 12 miles (always described as “perfect running conditions” in the local press) and talk of a strong challenge from the Heb 3 host club Stornoway, I did enough to grind out my 3rd Benbecula Half win followed by Nea clinching 2nd with a fine PB after a good race with a couple of runners from the previously mentioned local club. John Sandbach picked up a “Heb PB” for his first counter and the bravest run of the day was from Sandra Houldsworth who with a couple of miles still to run had a nasty fall and despite the blood oozing from numerous wounds still managed to finish and was then promptly whisked to hospital where she discovered she’d also broken 3 toes. 7 days later in Skye it was the heat that took its toll on the runners, I finished 3rd followed by Nea 4th and Robbie Hayman 5th to win us the Skye team prize and John in 85th adding another time towards the series. Next it was onto Barra where Nea and John were joined by Louise Gray. Nea had another fine race on Barras famously brutal undulations, battling so hard with a runner for 2nd place to his surprise he almost caught the leader finishing just 10 seconds behind. Louse also ran well coming in 3rd v40. Finally it was to Harris for the fifth and final race in the series. Nea was series leader having already completed his 3 races, I had to finish my final counter in under 1.27 to overtake him and at last win the thing after being runner up 3 times in the previous four years. And with John Sandbach (like Nea) having already completed his 3 races we were also in with a chance for a first ever Bella series team win breaking the usual Edinburgh stranglehold (Portobello, HBT, Corstorphine). On the day it was pretty grim. You get taken on a fleet of buses out to Borve and run back the 13.1 miles in an easterly direction back to Tarbet. The theory is despite the first 10 miles being almost constant climbs, […]