Yesterday a group of club members took part in a festive run around the Glasgow subway stops, starting and finishing at Ibrox, and going anti-clockwise. We had great fun, in ideal conditions, and took loads of pictures, some selfies, and a few videos, a selection of which are below, and on our Facebook page. Running doesn’t have to always be serious or hard work: Having a laugh with friends is every bit as important as pushing for a PB, or tackling a personal challenge! Many thanks to Gordon Goldie for organising the run, and for the support he and Lynne Goldie provided along the way. During the first part of the run, we were accompanied by Colin Mearns, a photographer at the Evening Times, who was taking pictures to accompany an interview with club president Richard Leyton regarding the 10th anniversary of parkrun in Scotland, which he helped start. We’re delighted parkrun has grown so successfully since it first started in Glasgow in Pollok park: Many thanks to all the volunteers and core team members across Glasgow and Scotland for their brilliant efforts growing the footprint, bringing free, weekly, 5k timed events to their local communities. Amazingly, the pictures even made it on to the Front Page! A special mention to Colin, who seemed to pull off an impressive feat of endurance and logistics dashing around Glasgow to catch us, with a couple of large cameras around his necks, to capture some great pics. Catriona Stewart‘s article is on page 3 of today’s paper, and available online here: https://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/17323393.glasgows-parkrun-founder-reflects-on-10-years-of-5k-phenomenon/ Wishing everybody a very happy Christmas and a brilliant and successful 2019!
parkrun
Saturday 17th February saw the second Bellahouston Mob match at Pollok parkrun between Bellahouston Road Runners, and Bellahouston Harriers, with a fantastic 134 club members completing the distance, many more supporting their club or helping with the event. The first took place on 4th March, 2017, with 98 runners. Whilst inter-club races, and “mob matches”, are not new, they do appear to have fallen by the wayside a little, certainly in the Glasgow area and elsewhere in Scotland. We’re hoping that the great reception to the event in both years so far, and the hugely positive comments from club members that we’ll be able to encourage other clubs to give the format a try, and hope that what follows here can help with that. The actual result felt secondary to the atmosphere and camaraderie on the day: We’re hoping it painted a positive and welcoming picture of what belonging to a running/athletics club and local community can bring, and that prospective new members might be encouraged to join our respective clubs. We’re mindful though that given the event we are taking part in is staged by parkrun volunteers, it’s important that we recognise the work they do to put the event on, and work with them to minimise the impact the mob match can have. Our club also has two of the current Pollok core team, as well as the previous Event Director, amongst it’s members, which helped with considerations/awareness of issues.
What a fantastic morning at Pollok parkrun! 71 Road Runners competed against 63 Harriers with the Road Runners coming out on top again, to retain the title, although the Harriers had more presence in the top ten. Many PBs were had, and our turnout contributed to the 2nd highest ever attendance at Pollok. Full results are on the parkrun website. Thanks to the Pollok parkrun organising team for accommodating us, and putting on such a great event ? Thanks also to the Harriers for their great hospitality at the after party/presentation back at Cartha. All participants also received a commemorative buff to mark the occasion. C’mon the Bellas! ?? Photos from the day are being added to our facebook page, so give us a ‘like’ there to see them all!
The Road Runners vs The Harriers! Saturday 17th February. RSVP on Facebook, or just rock up on the day in your purple top! Following on from last year’s brilliant event, we’re bringing it back again for 2018. This time it’s part of our club championships so we’re hoping it’ll be even bigger and better this year! You pitch up at Pollok parkrun on 17th February (you are registered at parkrun, right?). Run 5K, fast. Finish as high up the field as you can. Scan your barcode. Then join everyone back at the Cartha for the after run fun. How does it work? • Turn up ready to run. Wear your club vest so that you can be easily identified. • Run the Pollok parkrun. Trying to finish as high up the field as possible. Your only job is to beat the Harrier in front of you. But watch out behind, there’s a Harrier chasing you! • After finishing parkrun, show your finish token to the Bellahouston Road Runner volunteer (who will be standing near the barcode scanners), they will take note of your name and placing. • All placings will be added up. • We will count the lowest club attendance, minus three. So, if we have 50 runners and the Harriers have 45, then the first 42 places will be counted in each team. (That’s the Harriers attendance (45), minus 3. Equals 42. You still with me!?) • The club with the least number of points will win the prestigious Mob Match Trophy……until the 2019 return of the mob match. After the race we will join the Harriers at the Cartha Rugby Club for food, drinks and prizegiving where we can all make our excuses for not running down that final hill as fast as we could have. If you can, please come along. Every runner counts. There’s no gender, age, or entry requirements. If you are a club member turn up and give it a go. You just have to beat the Harrier in front of you while not losing to the Harrier behind you. This event is designed to be all inclusive. It’s a race. A good ol’ mob match. And hopefully something to give everyone in both clubs some motivation to really attack that parkrun course.If you can’t run, please consider volunteering at the parkrun. Family & friends are more than welcome, both to run with us, and to join us back at the Cartha. Every club member who runs, volunteers or turns up to support will receive a commemorative gift! Event: Mob Match Bellahouston Road Runners vs Bellahouston Harriers Where: Pollok parkrun which starts and ends at the Burrell When: Saturday 17th February 2018 at 9.30am After party: The Cartha Rugby Club, 92 Dumbreck Road, Glasgow, G41 4SN Who: All members, family and friends.
A fabulous morning at Pollok parkrun for the club’s festive fun run, raising a total of £420 for local charities. Taking place at the parkrun for the first time, club members turned up in fancy dress, tinsel, santa hats and outfits, posed for a few pics, ran the 5k, then back to our base at Glasgow club Nethercraigs for the draw (and some festive refreshments!). £210 was contributed by members for a charity draw, and their names drawn out of a hat. Sarah-Jane Kissock was the name out of the hat, and her choice of charity is the Glasgow City Mission. The club will match that amount and donate it to our charity of the year which is the Glasgow Humane Society. Congratulations too to Norman Boyle and Roz Wilson who won the best fancy dress competitions. Thanks to everybody who helped organise the event, turned up on the day, cheered and supported, or contributed to a fantastic day. Thanks too to Gordon Goldie and Kevin Queenan for the pics. Lots more on our Facebook page and groups.
A fantastic turnout of 46 club members, with a few past and present club members also volunteering, meant there was a big Bella presence at the 385th Pollok parkrun. After an epic downpour earlier in the morning, there were great conditions for the run itself. Some super performances, including first male (Russell Whittington, 17:14) and female (Ann Robin, 19:40), and an impressive 10 course PB’s too. Bella results below. Full results for the event available on the Pollok parkrun results page. The next event in the club championship is the Girvan Half marathon (10th July). The next short distance event is the Irvine 5 mile road race (17th July).
Bella were, as ever, well represented at parkrun. The weekend saw the 44th running of the Glasgow parkrun event, and the first running of the Edinburgh parkrun. A great day for the Bella Posse at the Glasgow parkrun today, Sat Oct 17. Scott Kennedy who seems to have caught the parkrun bug, in between running marathons, took a further 8 seconds off of last week’s course PB to finish third in 17:44. Jane Simpson continued the fine form which made her Bella Member of the Month by going one better than her second place last week to win the women’s event in 19:30, taken a further 24 secs off of last week’s course PB! Club President Robert McEwan retained his place as best age grade %, by achieving 79.01% with a time of 19:08. Bruce Carse also earned a new PB and John Sandbach and Sandra Houldsworth both took part in the Pollok Park event with excellent first runs. Position Athlete Sex Run Time Age Grading % Age Category Personal Best 3 Scott KENNEDY M 17:44 76.41% SM35-39 New PB 5 Bruce CARSE M 18:15 70.87% SM30-34 New PB 10 Al MACLACHLAN M 18:42 78.88% VM50-54 13 Robert MCEWAN M 19:08 79.01% VM50-54 16 Jane SIMPSON F 19:30 75.90% SW30-34 New PB 45 John SANDBACH M 21:45 64.67% VM40-44 1st run 53 Linda KENNEDY F 22:01 69.19% VW35-39 66 Murdoch RODGERS M 22:49 69.69% VM55-59 80 Sandra HOULDSWORTH F 23:58 61.89% SW30-34 1st run Last week’s winner Carnegie Harrier Andrew WRIGHT was the first athlete across the finish line today. He completed the course in 15:49 and posted an age grade score of 83.35%. A total of 193 runners completed the course. Over in Edinburgh: Some 204 runners completed the inaugural Edinburgh parkrun in a Baltic, sunny and surprisingly wind free Cramond foreshore…………. and of course Bellahouston Road Runners were represented at the historical event. Strong performances from Richard Leyton and myself earned us both all time PBs. Richard took 16 seconds off of his best 5k time to finish in 48th position in 20:43, an age grade % of 64:04%. I proudly displayed my Bella vest as I finished four places ahead, in 44th place with a time of 20:19 (wava 73.75 %) some 19 seconds better than my previous best 5k time. Running legend Neil Renault (Edinburgh AC) led from the start and was first over the line in a time of 14:59, an age grade of 86.1% and in a day when loads of cyclists and triathletes took part, it was fitting that the first woman home was Rachel Ramsay of Edinburgh Road Club who completed the course in 20:48, 71.31%. Thanks to Ian Goudie for the race reports, and a huge thanks to the teams of volunteers that made both the Glasgow and Edinburgh parkrun events such a success on Saturday.