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!
member news
Ahead of World Cerebral Palsy Day tomorrow, Club member Andy Tomlinson’s featured in this inspiring article in today’s Herald Scotland: Meet the inspiring novice runner with cerebral palsy whose next target is a marathon. [Andy] believes for someone with cerebral palsy, running does bring health benefits. he said: “Running has had multiple health benefits. I’m happier when I run so it’s improved my mental health. My muscle tone is much better as well when I run, I’m not as tight and less pain, apart from sprained ankle at the moment, and hopefully opens up a whole world to me – Covid permitting. … He added: “The best advice I’d give is join a local club they are plenty of amazing clubs. Running has also allowed me to talk to runners all over the world as well including runners with Cerebral Palsy that will be running Berlin 2021 like me. Running is inclusive: every age, body shape, pace, distance, paired running, race running, and wheelchair events.” … Stephanie Fraser, chief executive, of Cerebral Palsy Scotland, said: “Andy is an inspiration because he does not let his CP limit his aspirations and he participates fully in so many different things. Too often CP is seen as only a childhood condition and people are told what they can’t do, not supported to achieve what they want to.” Well done on your running Andy, and this superb article. We’re delighted to have you as a member, and looking forward to seeing you achieve and surpass your targets and goals, and continuing to inspire our members, and many others! Read the full article on The Herald Scotland Website: https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/18770410.meet-inspiring-novice-runner-cerebral-palsy-whose-next-target-marathon
We’re extremely pleased to be able to report that club member Oscar Wild was recognised earlier this month with the ‘Achievement of the Month‘ award by the Sports Council for Glasgow. Oscar’s achievement was running regular virtual circuit classes on Zoom for members since lockdown first happened back in March. It’s been – and continues to be – immensely popular with members, and a hugely important part of the amazing response by members to the Coronavirus pandemic. Oscar’s also raised (so far!) over £450 for the Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice, by encouraging participants who wanted to support his efforts to donate. Everybody at the club is delighted to see Oscar recognised for his hard work. 👏👏👏 Oscar said: “Tonight I had the honour of attending the Sports Council of Glasgow Awards presentation at Decathlon, Braehead. I was nominated by the club for doing the virtual circuit classes from the start of lockdown and using them as a way of raising money for the Prince and Princess of Wales hospice. Thanks to the club for the nomination and I am delighted to showcase the club and thank everyone who contributed to the charity fundraiser.” Many thanks to the Sports Council for Glasgow, and to Decathlon Glasgow. You can still contribute to Oscar’s fundraiser in support of the Prince and Princess of Wales hospice at: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/oscarwilde 💜💜💜
The club is delighted to welcome Robert McEwan, Jane Wild and Oscar Wild as our new Honorary Lifetime members, after unanimous support from members at our 2020 AGM. They have all made a huge and lasting impact at the club over its 20 year history. A summary of their valuable contributions can be found on our Honorary Lifetime member page. Many congratulations to Robert, Jane and Oscar, and thank you for your hard work for the club, our members, and our local community over the years.
Time for another update! We’re hoping to make these rollups of what members, and the club, have been up to a regular thing whilst we’re in this strange lockdown situation. Members should now have received the full May 2020 update in their mailboxes, and it’s also published on our club members’ forum. The last month or so has been really busy for the club, with lots of ideas and inspiration and it’s hard to know where to start! Club member Alan Digweed has been a force of nature with his hosted Facebook Live video quizzes. An amazing achievement that was loads of fun to take part in. Alan, and fellow Bella Marty Campbell put together this amazing video on ‘Running Etiqette’. If you’ve not seen it yet, you’re in for a treat! (It’s also embedded below) We were the biggest club by participation at the Easter Weekend Scottish Athletics Virtual relays. A fun selfie compilation brought a smile to everybody’s face! One of seven photographs is the featured image here, you can see them all on our event write-up, and on the members’ forum. We won the overall title (and seven 1st places in total!) in the Scottish Athletics 15 minute challenge. Here’s our writeup! The ‘bella twist’ was an amazing shoe relay video right across the club, which Laura Henderson did a brilliant job of coordinating. (It’s also embedded below). Many thanks to everybody who took part! Scottish Athletics published the online version of their articles about our 20th anniversary, which you can read here, together with some lovely words by Bryan Burnett about the benefits of being in a running club. Over on our members’ facebook group, Gordon Goldie has been running an amazing series of “Meet the Bella” interviews, which we’re all absolutely loving, finding out so much about our fellow Bellas, and enjoying some pics from our younger years (and one or two fun hairstyle choices!). Oscar continues to run his brilliant three-times weekly Zoom virtual fitness classes. We’re looking to start a club social get together in the next wee while, details will be published soon! Our coaches, led by Gerry Scullion, continue to inspire and motivate our members with regular training schedules, tips and suggestions, over on our Whatsapp announcement group. Don’t forget, we’ve the Scottish Athletics Virtual 1 mile time trial challenge (8th-11th May), as well as our Strava virtual segments in our club championship to take part in (following the currently applicable rules about travel, social distancing etc!) Just to finish on a personal note to encourage you all to be kind to yourself, and do what feels best for you. If you’re inspired to train, that’s fantastic, but like many, I’ve really struggled to find consistency or a routine, so just getting a run done, or achieving a personal goal through the day, is every bit as important and to be celebrated. I’ve resolved to take it day by day, week by week, and really relish the amazing things that I’m […]
Training is cancelled until further notice Due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation, and on the recommendation of Scottish Athletics, the club is cancelling all club training sessions until further notice. Naturally, we are very disappointed this has to happen, but we are determined to do our best to help support our membership, and the wider community, through this unprecedented situation. Please contact the club if you have any questions about this: info@bellahoustonroadrunners.co.uk or via social media: Facebook: facebook.com/bellaroadrunner Twitter: @bellaroadrunner Club support For members impacted personally, or financially, by this situation (eg. unable to work or train as a result, forced to self-isolate): the club is keen to support you if it can. We are happy to pause and/or extend memberships for the duration, so you’re not charged or impacted. Please contact us on the club forum, or email membership@bellahoustonroadrunners.co.uk if that would be of help or interest. We also hope the social side of the club can support our members’ mental health and wellbeing at this difficult time: members are encouraged to check you are on our various groups, including Facebook, Strava, Whatsapp, as well as our own members’ forum. Please feel free to join, or kickstart, conversations if you fancy a natter or some ideas or some support. We’d love to hear ideas for more we can do. We are already working on one to help keep members’ training on track and focused, as well as motivated through this situation: we’ll be publishing details soon. Regards, Richard Leyton, Chair, Board of Trustees Bellahouston Road Runners, a charity registered in Scotland (SC047300) Further guidance Further advice for the public is available through NHS Inform: https://www.nhsinform.scot/coronavirus The Scottish Government is also putting out the latest information and advice through social media channels, and on the Scottish Government website: https://www.gov.scot/coronavirus-covid-19/
Hot off the press: Read all about our GOLDEN Bellas; our yellow Bellas, our saltire Bellas; our green Bellas, Our Royal Bella; our Blistering Bella and our improved Bellas! All in your Bletha 6! Read on line or pick up your very own copy at the club!
Just a note to remind members that this autumn/winter, the club will be meeting at a different venue on alternate Wednesdays, starting 17th October (full list of dates below). Full details of the background for this training variation on the member’s forum. All other dates continue at Glasgow Club Nethercraigs, as usual. We will be meeting from 6.15pm at St Francis Community Centre, Cumberland Street, G5 0SE. We’ll then proceed to a session on Glasgow Green at 6.30pm, after announcements, for a structure training session. The training venue, and specific session, is always indicated on the front of our website, so it’s easy to check in advance. We have recently started a Whatsapp club announcement group which we will publicise this on (as well as any training cancellations or urgent news). Please sign up if you’ve not already done so. Details on how to do so are on the forum. Please speak to a member of the board, or coaching group, if you’ve questions or concerns!
Back at our February AGM, our membership voted to adopt a new membership fee structure, and we’re delighted we’ve now invited our existing members to renew their membership under the new structure. Members should check their email (be sure to check your spam folder too), and follow the instructions. We’re still updating our website to reflect it everywhere, but we’ve replaced the old cash based system with a modern and, we think, excellent value for money setup that’s easier for members, and us. We’re also delighted that we can offer concessionary rates at last. The fees can be paid for annually or monthly, and we’re encouraging members to pay by direct debit (although we also support payment by card and bank transfer for annual membership). The total fee is made up of membership (equivalent to £20 per year), and a training/racing fee – which members select based on how often they train with us (or take part in our subsidised races), which broadly seeks to cover the core operational costs of our club. Our fees for 2018/19 therefore are: £65 (or £5.62 per month), for regular training/racing (3 or more times a month) £45 (or £3.95 per month), for occasional training/racing (2 or less a month) £35 (or £3.12 per month), is our concessionary rate for members in full-time education, low-income/unemployed, or senior (60+ years). £25 (annual charge only) for Basic membership, for members who aren’t training with us just now. This doesn’t include a club vest or club subsidised races. Except for the Basic membership, all the new membership fees are entirely inclusive, and include all our training sessions, support of our awesome coaches, access to our club forum and social media groups, all the cross country races you can handle, a discount to the best club organised 10k in Glasgow, super social events through the year, all for between £3 and £6 a month! You’re also helping support us as we grow and develop the club into our charitable status, aiming to be a substantive part of our community. Existing members just need to follow the link they were sent as part of the renewal process at the end of July 2018, before the end of August when existing memberships run to. If you’re a current member, and have not received your renewal note, please get in touch with us so we can check your email address. Once you’ve signed up to the new setup, you can also stop popping a £1 coin in the tin! If you’re stuck, we’ve a guide/FAQ on our club forum. If you’re looking to join us, or are you a lapsed member considering a return, your first four sessions are free, so come along and check we’re right for you before signing up (we just need your emergency contact details on file). You can have a read about what’s involved at our training nights on our ‘Join Us’ page too. Once you’re happy, pop over to our membership page at bellahoustonroadrunners.co.uk/membership and sign […]
This month’s Bletha is now online! Copies are available at club. Stories include: Gold run, Shona & Ann for Scotland, Jimmy T, Haddayaway man. four do thirty, pool and beer, Same a keeper. Coach mark, on the Terry bus. And much much more! Read it here!
On Saturday I headed through to Holyrood Park and Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh to compete in the Great Winter Run 5k and then watch a feast of top quality Cross Country action with Kenenisa Bekele topping the bill. The 5k started on the road next to Arthur’s Seat went uphill for two kilometers, levelled out for one and then back downhill for two. The first kilometre was sheltered and I found myself out in front. We were then met by a fairly strong headwind and I held onto the lead until two kilometres. At that point Adam Priestley from Corstorphine AAC and Sean Gaffney from Inverclyde AC both came past me and then got about 50 metres ahead. I was feeling tired, but dug in and hoped for the best. At about 3.5k I caught Sean and moved back into second place. At 4k I passed Adam and had the amazing feeling of only having the pace car and 1k of running between me and a win. I managed to hold on and for the first time in my life had the incredible feeling of breaking the tape at a race. Neil Thin of Edinburgh AC came through to take second place. My split times should give a flavour of how hilly the course was. The first mile was run in 6:03, the second in 5:52 the third in 4:49 and the last 0.1 mile in 4:52 pace. The third mile was the first time that I have broken five minutes for the mile. After the race I met up with Stewart Roberston and Bryan Burnett to watch the cross country. It was very entertaining and we witnessed the race event of Bekele being outshone in a cross country. To finish of the perfect day after the races had finished we headed to The Royal Mile for a few beers. Report from Russell
Last night’s AGM saw a new committee elected for the next year. We’d all like to thank committee members who were standing down for all their help and dedication over the last few years, particularly Scott Kennedy and Club president Emma Birnie who’d both served for a long time and given so much to the club. We’d like to wish the new committee all the very best over the next year, which next year will see the club’s tenth anniversary. The new committee is: Club President:: Robert McEwan Club Secretary:: Carla Deans Membership secretary:: Maddie Smillie Treasurer:: Peter Gallanagh PR officer:: Alistair Kell Womens captain:: Jane Wild Men’s captain:: Brian O’Donnell Social convenor:: Lucy Mackay Ordinary member 1:: Jim O’Hara Ordinary member 2:: Julie Fitzpatrick
Huge congratulations from the club to member Gavin, who completed the UK Ironman. Gavin wrote a superb summary of his experience: First of all, thanks for all the support over the last few months. I managed to complete my first triathlon in 13:53:29. I took 1:32:59 to cover the 2.4 mile swim; 7:22:30 for the 112 mile bike and 4:32:19 for the marathon, with the other few minutes in transition changing and sorting myself out! The swim start was delayed unitl 6:30 due to the overcast and dark conditions, visability above water was very low and underwater you could see about 6 inches. So the mass start of 1500 swimmers all thrashing about and jockeying for position means that you get punched, kicked, pushed and prodded a fair bit for the first mile or so. I had planned to take it easy on the swim and expected to come out the water at the back of the crowd. Safely through the swim it was onto the bike for 3 laps of a undulating and windy course. The feed stations every 12 miles never came quick enough, there were 3 big hills on each loop, and a fun fast downhill section reaching speed of upto 48mph!!. After 112 miles of physical and mental highs and lows it was a quick descent back to the transition area. After another changes of clothes and liberal application of vaseline I was on the run course. This was a very hilly figure of 8 loop that you ran three times. The first mile was a surprisingly easy 9 min/mile which set the pace for the first loop. On the second loop, things where getting tough, so I took full advantage of the aid stations, positioned every 1.5-2 miles. Which had Gatorade, power gels, pretzels, water, bananas and flat coke, I stuffed myself with everything except the coke and walked through them. By the 3rd and last lap my speed was getting seriously slow and I figured that unless I puled my finger out I would be over the 14 hour mark. So now I took onboard the flat coke and my last 4 miles was done in under 32 minutes (fast for me!). So running along the final 100m in my ancient Bella vest in the dark towards the finishing chute was a proud moment.