Road Races and Championships

The last winter championships are almost on us with the Young Athletes Road Running Championships on 22nd March and the Senior Road Relay Championships on 4th April. No doubt Phil will have the younger member primed for the road championships - the weather is usually good, the opposition is strong, the fields are large and it usually a good day for runners and spectators. I think our last winner was when Mark Rudzinski won the Under 20 10000 metres five or six years ago. We have never won the Senior Relays although there have been many excellent individual and team performances. The men have a six stage race and the women have a four stage race, both going on at the same time. The stages are alternate three and six mile distances and part of the art of team selection is getting runners over the best distances to produce the best results for the team. We should do well, with the women possibly doing better than the men.

With the summer coming along it is always good to look at what event will be your main one of the year and then plan a racing programme to include longer distances for strength and shorter ones for speed or pace. Unfortunately there are far too many races at 10000 metres and half marathon with very little in between that and the full marathon to serve the purpose! There used to be 12 miles (Balloch - Clydebank), 14 Miles (Babcock's), 14.5 Miles (Shotts or Gourock), 16 Miles (Clydebank to Helensburgh), 18 Miles (Rothesay), 20 Miles (Strathallan) and 22.6 Miles (Edinburgh - N Berwick) which helped arrange a sensible racing programme. Is it time to bring the Balloch back to 12 Miles?