Marking milestones in the history of Clydesdale Harriers.

Over the years, each time a memorable date has been reached in the Club history, the Club members at that time made sure that the “birthday” didn’t pass without some justified celebration.

As we’re sure you know – the Harriers was founded in 1885 which means that in 2010 the Club had been in existence for 125 years!!
The Committee are keen to celebrate this achievement and I’ve been asked to contact members to find out if there would be support for a birthday party of some sort.

In the past the events to mark the 50th & 100th etc have been held as Dinners with speakers – sounds very formal but doesn’t have to be – and gives members a chance to look back at what’s happened in the last 125 years and also a chance to look forward.

At this stage all we want to do is find out how many members and partners would be willing to support a Dinner at a local venue. Costs haven’t been decided yet but with the Club subsidising the evening we were thinking of a cost of £20 - £25 per person.

The date would be sometime during August/September 2011.

Can you please e-mail me to let me know if you can support this very important milestone in the Club’s history.

Yvonne Green
Club Secretary

Scottish Athletics National Masters CC Championships

Here are photographs,courtesy of Brian McAusland & Bobby Young, taken at this event which was held on Saturday 5th February at Kirkcaldy in Fife.

Summer is Coming!

We were locked in for two whole months exactly because of the bad weather from the end of November to the end of January. We only managed to break out five separate times to do some essential shopping. These days it is incessant rain and gale force winds that are taking panels off greenhouses and branches from trees. So it's maybe as well to look ahead - Spring isn't far away and summer is just around the next corner. The club secretary used to have an actual diary that was brought to Committee Meetings in which was marked at the start of the year the dates when things had to be done - eg apply for the permit for the Youth Ballot Team Race at the end of June, Presentation Social/Dance to be brought up at the August Committee meeting, etc so that nothing was forgotten. If we are to have a successful summer season, then certain things maybe need to be looked at.
1. The track will have to be booked for the end of March or the start of April. Does it come up at the February meeting or does it get left to the last minute - the March meeting?
2. What do we do about the cost of the track? Do we levy the athletes or does the club accept the hit and pay for it in some other way? Probably a bit of both: West Dunbarton for instance used to charge the youngsters £3 for a week, Central charged £1 a session last year and so on. We always paid a training levy when I was running and it was a constant chore trying to find someone to collect the money. Regardless of how it is paid, we really need to have a track facility in Clydebank: with the 2014 Games coming up there will be plenty of publicity; there will also be much greater use made of Glasgow facilities. For max usage and some peace and quiet to d our own training, we NEED to be there.
3. If we know the dates of League matches, then the athletes need to be informed now as to when they are: it is not good enough to ask them ten days before the match if they know it's on!
4. A recruiting campaign needs to be structured now if we are to maximise the use made of the track - posters need to be made up and distributed to schools and elsewhere (libraries, sports centres, etc). Not difficult with a computer but very useful.
Stop the rant Brian! OK.

There should have been an anniversary dinner

Doug Gillon is on record as saying that a sport with no history is a sport without a soul and there is a lot of truth in that. I have been preparing a presentation for March this year to a group of librarians about the history of Clydesdale Harriers and their contribution to local life and history. It's not about winning medals or trophies or setting records or winning representative vests - that's a whole different talk. I'll put up some comments on club history over the next few weeks but I was hoping last year that the Committee would find some way of celebrating the club's 125th anniversary. We have had formal celebrations of the club's 25th, 40th, 50th, 60th, 75th, 90th and 100th anniversaries. I can bet good money on the fact that other clubs will celebrate such an anniversary. Apart from honouring past members, apart from recognising that we are part of a movement from 1885 stretching into the future and apart from the good publicity that could have been garnered locally and in the National Press, it would have been a nice thing to do. It's maybe not too late to organise a dinner or some other occasion to mark the club's 125 years - after all we have still in 2011 been in existence longer than any other club in the country! A 125th celebration anyone? I might not make the 150th!

Lsk Relays

We had two teams out at these relays at Strathclyde Park on Sunday - it was a pity that they had to clash with the 4K in Glasgow. The Ladies team of Kath Scott, Marine McCallum and Pamela McCrossan ran well to be fourth finishers. Kath was seventh on the competitive first stage in 24:59, Marina picked up three places with a time of 24:33 on the next leg with Pamela running 24:21 to bring the team home in fourth place. Pamela was tenth fastest runner in the race. The men's four man team was eighth. 'Young' Gerry Montgomery was an excellent third on the first stage where sharp elbows are needed early on in 21:23. Peter Cartwright was the first of the three amigos to run and he was clocked at 25:33 but dropped to seventh, Brian Campbell dropped one more place to eighth with 26:54 and Bobby Young came across the finish line with 24:31 for eighth.
It seems unfortunate to say the least that there was an M50 team, no M55 team, no M60team but an M65 team - if my reading of the situation is right. And although there was a race for M65 runners, there were apparently no prizes for or medals for it.
If my reading of what happened is wrong, maybe someone could post a reply or informational comment?