Well done to all 52 Bellas who took part in the Scottish Athletics / Bella club champs 10k virtual event over the weekend!! Another great turnout from members making us the highest participating club again There were some very impressive times recorded by club members over the weekend of racing, however a special shout out to our very own Grant Murphy who WON the event finishing in an amazing time of 32.47!!! Fantastic effort – well done Grant!!! The club is very proud of you!!!!!!!! A big shout out also to Tony Connelly and Steven Lamb taking the 3rd and 4th spot on the leaderboard and securing the team title for Bella! Well done guys!! Thanks once again to everyone for getting involved and representing our amazing club!!! Full results on Scottish Athletics Website: https://www.scottishathletics.org.uk/62638-2/ – Well done to everybody who took part, particularly the other podium placed teams at Greenock Glenpark Harriers (2nd) and Garioch Road Runners (3rd)!
race report
Today would have been our 11th Jimmy Irvine race, marking a full decade since the event first kicked off As our 2020 couldn’t go ahead, we thought we’d create a wee retrospective to mark the occasion, with club members sharing some some of the reasons 💜 Why We Run!💜 Thanks to all the club members who sent in selfies and ideas, and to the many brilliant event photographers who’ve captured the energy and atmosphere of our races over the years, so we can look back and look forward to the next ones as well! If you’re inspired to get involved, we’d love to see you along at the club, check out our website for more.
Huge well done to all our Bellas keeping race sharp during lockdown and embracing last weekends Scottish Athletics virtual distance challenge !!! 💜 It was a hot weekend for racing, but that didn’t stop the 57 Road Runners take on the 15/30 min challenge. We were once again the highest participating club in Scotland!! 👏 and we were 1st overall in the main U17 and Above 15min and 30min Combined distance challenge – a whopping 301.97km! Full results over on the Scottish Athletics website. Of course, we were not just racing this weekend…. As a club, we love keeping in touch virtually through various means during lockdown – a firm favourite seems to be getting in front of a camera 💁🏻♂️🎥🤩 We have joined up with our local rivals Bellahouston Harriers💙 to create the 💜BELLA BATON BONANZA💙 . We also miss seeing our competitors at local running events and thought this would be a great way to link in with them and pass a virtual baton during lockdown Enjoy 💜💙
🥳Congratulations and a huge well done to all our Bellas who took on the Scottish Athletics Virtual Challenge – The one mile time trial – which took place from 8th – 11th May. 🤩 We were again the largest club by participation! A whopping 77 Road Runners took to the streets over the weekend to see how fast they could record one mile and there were fantastic performances all round 💜👏 We say it every time but it’s really hard racing yourself – amazing effort from EVERYONE!🤩 💜Among a host of great performances, our ladies masters team finished 2nd in their category with our other teams just outside the placings. Awesome job Bellas!! Not only has it been a busy weekend of running, we’ve all had a busy weekend getting on with our housework 😜. Some of our talented members got together to create a fun video of everyone doing their household chores. We really can’t wait until lockdown is lifted so we can ‘Break Free’ !!! 💜 Enjoy!! 🤩🎥 🧹 🧼 🎶💜
💜Congratulations and well done to the whopping 69 Bellas who took part in the Scottish Athletics 15 minute challenge at the end of April.💜 There was a lot of buzz over on the forum, Facebook and strava pages and it was great to see so much encouragement and support given to all our members taking part!!! It’s hard racing against yourself, however that didn’t stop everyone giving it their all…. There were some amazing times recorded across the board! 🙌 A special shout out to our amazing Bella’s 🤩Grant Murphy and Cat MacDonald who covered the furthest individual distance for the club! 👏 💜 But…. Teamwork makes the dream work 💜 and as a result Bellahouston Road Runners scooped 1st place overall for the overall club distance recorded, as well as firsts for Senior Men and Senior Women 🤩 Full details on the Scottish Athletics website: 15-Minute Virtual Challenge brings in over 1100 solo runs With the full result breakdown now available too, we achieved the following ‘podium’ positions: All club members total distance: 1st 🥇 U17 and over total distance: 1st🥇 Senior Men total distance: 1st🥇 Senior Women total distance: 1st🥇 Masters Men (40) total distance: 1st🥇 Masters Women (40) total distance: 1st🥇 Masters Men (45) total distance: 1st🥇 Masters Men (65) total distance: 2nd🥈 Masters Women (55) total distance: 3rd 🥉 With an honourable shout out for 4th in Masters Men (50) total distance too. Well done to everybody who took part, to all the clubs that competed! Just a fantastic success and achievement for every club member to feel proud of! Of course, we didn’t stop there! With huge thanks to Laura Henderson for coordinating, club members got together virtually to create this fantastic video. We hope you enjoy it!
BUMPER BELLA TURNOUT AT THE RELAYS Over the Easter weekend, an amazing 68 Bellas participated in the Scottish Athletics Virtual Relays. In true Bella style – a bumper squad got on board and we provided the highest participation level out of all 40 clubs who took part. 68 Bellas ventured out to safe social distancing routes to run impressive times over 5k or 10k and of course rewarded themselves with some guilt free chocolate eggs to celebrate Thanks to everyone for taking part this weekend and huge well done to you all on your performances – it’s not easy racing yourself! Having the virtual support / post race selfies from club members over the the weekend kept everyone going and gave us the racing buzz we all love !! Well done everyone!!! GO BELLA!! We had a lot of fun too coming together virtually too, with members taking a selfie which Laura Henderson turned into these great combos!
The club has been busy with cross-country events over the last few weeks, and with the last big race of 2019 the West District Cross Country Champs at Balloch Country park yesterday, we thought it was time for a results catchup! At Balloch there were tough conditions with driving rain, a tough course and very muddy underfoot making for a a very challenging two loop circuit, Everybody who took part did well to complete the course. In particular, well done to: Catriona MacDonald for winning Bronze in the individual ladies race The Bronze winning ladies team of Catriona MacDonald, Louise Ross, Ann Robin and Isla McIntosh Grant Murphy led the Bella men home with a superb time of 34:11, helping our men’s team to 8th overall (out of 19). Our Masters women narrowly missed medals with 4th (out of 12), and our Masters men in 10th (out of 21) the Big Bella Bakeoff saw club members baking cakes galore for post-race treats. The overall winner was Isla McIntosh for her delicious Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes 🧁🏅😋 Well done to everybody who took part. For a taster of the day, Henry has put together a super video which you can find over on our facebook page. A couple of weeks before was the Renfrewshire AAA Cross Country Champs at Gourock, and there were some great performances on a tough and hilly course. Some super pics over on facebook too. Well done to: Rhoda Yarmahmoudi for Silver for V50 Women 🥈 Tony McParland for Bronze for V50 Men Allon Galbraith for Bronze for V60 Men And on the weekend of our 10k, Louise Ross and Ann Robin were proudly sporting Scotland vests at the 2019 British and Irish Masters in Liverpool: Louise Ross and Ann Robin helped secure the Scotland V40 women team Bronze medal Well done to everybody who took part in a cross country over the last few weeks: It’s amazing and inspiring to everybody at the club to see club colleagues we train with right through securing medals, but it’s every bit as good to see big club turnouts and everybody having fun in the process, and getting the most out of their club membership. We’re really very grateful too to the many people who volunteer in order that these events happen. Many thanks to Gordon Goldie for many of the pictures.
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.
Bellahouston Mob Match 2019 – Road Runners triumph for the 3rd year in a row 🏆 Both clubs had a fantastic morning at Pollok parkrun with a magnificent 60 Bellahouston Road Runners and 56 Bellahouston Harriers taking part. It was the closest contest yet, with one runner making all the difference. Thanks to all who came along to run, volunteer and support both clubs, and also to everyone at Pollok parkrun for making us feel so welcome 💜💙 The full results for Pollok parkrun event #521 are available. You can read more about the rules and organisation of the Mob match on our post “Organising the Bellahouston Mob Match“, which has now been updated with the stats from the 2019 incarnation! The breakdown: 60 Road Runners v 56 Harriers, so a total of 116 members. So the Road Runners ‘won’ attendance. 1st, 2nd and 3rd males were Harriers, so the Harriers won the mens on a 3-to-count basis (Harriers 6pts vs RR 30pts). (This is using positions from the published parkrun results at 2.30pm) 1st female was visiting Jennifer Wetton from Central AC (who won the 2018 Jimmy Irvine 10k), The Harriers first female was 3rd overall female. The Road runner ladies were closely packed thereafter, so the Road runners won the ladies on a 3-to-count basis (Harriers 25pts vs RR 20pts, using Ladies finish positions). Ditto published results. Based on overall finishing position scoring for smallest club attendance (Harriers had 56, so 53 counting positions), the Road Runners ‘won’ (defended) bragging rights, and the main trophy. However it was by any measure the closest result yet, with just 24 point difference, which is really just a one runner difference in terms of points.
An amazing turnout of 60 Bellas raced at today’s Renfrewshire AAA 5 mile Champs in Greenock and again we were in amongst the medals. Emer Campbell and Andy Campbell both won Gold in the V40 category while Shona Donnelly and Gerry Scullion won Gold and Silver respectively for the V50s. The ladies senior team of Emer, Shona and Claire Wharton also won the Bronze team medals. Congratulations to all our medal winners and the several members who earned a shiny new PB 👏👏
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!
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 […]
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.
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!
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.