LSK Veterans Relay

After we published photographs of this event, we were sent more - so we've put LSK (Part 2) on line!

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LSK Veterans Relay

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Photographs courtesy of Bobby Young

George Cummings Relay

This event took place on Saturday 24th September.

The ladies were able to enter a team of 3, however the gents could only muster 2 runners on the day.

Times were:

LADIES:

Pamela McCrossan (Leg 1) - 16:57

Yvonne Green (Leg 2) - 19:10

Anne Murray (Leg 3) - 17:08

GENTS:

Paul McHendry (Leg1) - 17:11

Peter Rudzinski (Leg 2) - 18:59

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Six Stage Relays - Livingston 3rd April 2011

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Livingston 6 Stage Relay - 3rd April

To the Senior men
So far I've had a very poor response to the upcoming Livingston 6 stage relay on the 3rd April.
I've got confirms with Peter R, Pete B, Gary, Gerry, Ryan N, Myself and Michael will try his best.
That's 7 runners.
Can we get TWO teams please ?
If you want to run and your name is not one of those listed, let me know please.
In case you don't know, my email address it's, paulc1969@hotmail.co.uk
Closing date is the 16th March.
Even send me a text on 07846 432197.
Come on...get TWO teams out !!! 

Paul Carroll

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?

Scottish Vets Relay - Strathclyde Park

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Allan Scally Relays

Bobby Young

Pete Cartwright

Colin Gray

School relay race

Further result from the schools relay race,

Well done to P7 St Marys school Girls Ciara Devaney, Jenny Kerr and Kathleen Ewing who finished 1st in the relay race, winning the gold medal.

McAndrew Relays Victoria Park

Two pictures, courtesy of Brian McAusland, taken at this Event.

Paul Carroll

Pete Cartwright

Well done, Ladies!

As has been noted the club women had a good result in the Scottish Vets Relays at Strathclyde Park on Sunday. Having been put back from the previous week, there was a drop in the number of teams competing but that usually means that the weaker teams drop out - the big guns tend not to miss a championship! And right well did they do iy - Pamela gave them a wonderful start with third place less than half a minute behind Sandra Branney's time and fifth fastest overall for the race. Kath Scott pulled up into second place a huge one minute 14 seconds ahead of the third team and then Marina had another good run but unfortunately the fastest runner of the day - Helensburgh's C Heasman came through from fifth place to second on the stage. Marina ran well enough to be a safe third two and a quarter minutes up on the fourth team. Fifteen teams finished, Pamela was fifth fastest overall, Marina was eight and Kath fourteenth against good quality opposition. Very well done Ladies!

Pictures fron the Allan Scally Relays

An Interesting Weekend

It has been an interesting weekend which included the International Coaching Conference at the Marriott Hotel and a trip out to the Allan Scally Relays at Shettleston. Relays first. There were unfortunately only three runners from the club in a race where we used to have four or five teams. It's not just us - the field was dreadfully small and looked like the smallest in the race history. Part of the reason is the absence of the Edinburgh to Glasgow: some clubs selected their teams on the running in the Scally, in other clubs those already selected wanted a hardish run over a distance approximating to their stage of the E-G. When the E-G went, these reasons went and a lot of the runners went as well! In addition there was a new trail this year so the possibility of comparing times with those of yesteryear was gone. Nevertheless it is a good well organised race over longer stages than any relay currently on the calendar and it was disappointing not to have a full team out. The guys all seemed to enjoy it - Gerry was running the Scally for the first time and he liked the loop course with its long downhill at the start and the long uphill to the finish. Peter ran second and Bobby ran third. It was a good day and the official times should be up soon.

At the Marriott there were 450 paying customers to participate in the ICAF Conference and about one third of them were Scottish. The opening remarks were by Frank Dick who is always good value for money and Sergey Bubka who was much better than I had anticipated - very good English and a tight script that he delivered well and which fitted his time slot perfectly. This was the man who had vaulted over 6 metres 42 times in 40 competitions - last year the number of clearances in total was under 10! It was well received by everybody whatever their event. Then it was off to event groups - there was a group for every event on the calendar each led by an acknowledged expert. I went to the Elite Middle Distance Group up on the thirteenth floor led by Wilson Kipketer - I'll tell a wee story about him in my next post! He spoke and took questions for an hour and a half which went by very quickly. He was the man who ran 1:41 four times in 1997 as well as several 1:42's and took Coe's record from him. On the Saturday morning, Frank Dick again did his bit - and a very good bit it was too - and then Wilson Kipketer addressed the assembled multitude followed by Seb Coe (present and past world 800 metres record holders) then they were part of a double act interviewed by Frank. That one went down a storm but I'm going on a bit and I'll come back to it later in the week. It was well worth attending and I can recommend it next year when it returns to Scotland.

Girls in the West District

The girls who ran in the West District Championships should all go on to be excellent Senior athletes. It has been some time since we had teams of girls and boys wanting to run Cross Country and we should be really pleased about it. Kirsty Alexander finished in 48th on the first stage in 11:41 with Caitlin Dick ten places back in 12:31. On the second stage, Roisin McShea picked up an astonishing thirteen places to be 35th in 10:21 - in the first half of the field a gain of that many places is outstanding. Behind her Diane Nicholson for the B team picked up a
very good fourteen places to be 44th in 12:51. With no B runner on the last stage the very promising Claire Reid moved up to 30th with a time of 10:34. The B team lost out because of illness when Rachel Busby was forced to withdraw. The boys team started with Andrew Hunter who was 51st in 11:50; he was followed by David Campbell who picked up to 46th in 10:50 and David Newton on the last stage ran in in 40th in a time of 10:18 which was the club's fastest on the day.

The girls could do well in the years to come but they really need more role models: the boys go to the cross country and road championships and see the senior men running well and listen in on their conversation and talk to them on the day. The girls do not have this luxury. Other than Marina, the women in the club seem reluctant to come to the relays or championships. Girls who are endurance runners have particular difficulties that boys do not have - I have written earlier about the female triad, Liz McColgan is on a bit of a crusade nationwide (ie GB wide) about women working with girls - and it would be good if more women were at the cross country championships, even if not running but just as friends and sources of information for the girls. No matter how much a man knows about the subject, many maybe even most, young girls are reluctant to discuss some things with him. The County Relays are this weekend and all age groups will be present and the National Relays are the following Saturday.

West Relays

The West District Relay Championships were held at Stepps on Saturday on an ideal day for running. The Young athletes were well represented despite the absence from competition of some well kent faces such as Peter Bowman and Tony Dolan who wasn't well but came along nevertheless to lend his support. The girls had 2.6 teams out - the first team was composed of Kirsty Alexander, Roisin McShea and Claire Reid and the second team had only two runners forward in Caitlin Dick and Diane Nicholson. There was also a boys team forward which performed nobly and the results of these two races will be put up as soon as I have them. There were 2.25 Senior Men's teams starting the race and the first team got faster with every stage. Unofficial times gave John Foley 14:48, Iain Robertson 14:37, Gary Dick 14:28 and Paul Carroll a quite excellent 14:14. The second team also had some surprises with Brian Gallagher 15:05, Ryan Nelson 15:02, Ryan Savage 14:43 and Bobby Young 15:53. Peter Rudzinski ran the first stage for the third team and his time is not yet available. The women's team was a bit of a disappointment with only one runner forward - Marina ran a good first stage and it was a bit of a revelation for men! Last year she was a wee bit tentative at the start but this year saw a positive (but not silly) start which saw her in the middle of the field as they left the track and went off into the country. She held her position, maybe picking up a place or two, and the finishing time will be interesting when compared to some of the others.

The relays are the best time of the whole year to me - there are six relays in succession - the Kilbarchan, the McAndrew, the Districts, the County, The National and the Allan Scally relays. Responsibility is shared between three or four runners, the distances are non standard and nothing can be read into the times and it is good to run for one another rather than for yourself. The trail this week was a good one - mostly good grass, soft in places and with no obstacles. All the runners enjoyed it including the young athletes. Roll on the Dunbartonshires!

Lament for the Edinburgh - Glasgow Relay

From the 1930's into the twenty first century the top event of the winter (maybe apart from the National Championship) was undoubtedly the E-G eight stage relay. Only twenty teams took part and they had to be invited. It was different because it was between Scotland's two biggest cities, it was different because it was invitation only, it was different because the stages varied in length between 3+ and 7 miles and it was different because it required eight runners from every team. The first fifteen in any year received an automatic invitation for the following year and the others had to qualify. One criterion was to finish in the first fifteen in the National Senior Cross Country Championship and the remaining teams had to be selected from the short relays. It was vital that every club had at least eight senior/junior road and cross country runners for the team. More was better because the team needed reserves. Excitement was intense and the event was talked about for months beforehand - who would be in the team, what stages they wanted to run and were these the best stages for them to run and so on. It was a disgrace when the event was murdered by scottishathletics.

What is the significance for us now? Quite simply, having four good runners is not to me or anyone with half a brain an indicator of a club's strength. Short four man relays can be seriously influenced by one or even two good athletes - for instance Springburn won many medals with indifferent teams simply because Adrian Callan ran the last leg. One man can have a disproportionate effect in a four man team. A better measure of Clydesdale's position in County athletics is where the second team finishes. If five of our first eight are faster than five of the Kelvin top eight, we're better than them! Is our eighth man or woman better than Garscube's? Short relays are important - partly because we don't have any long relays! - and we need to do well in them but a club's strength is measured by more than their top three (women) or four (men)!

Come back E-G, scottishathletics needs you.

McAndrew Relay

On a very windy afternoon the McAndrew Relay at Scotstoun The club had a disappointing turn out with only seven runners forward. However the A team was third in the vets race with some good times turned in. Gerry Montgomery got the club off to a solid start with 19:17, Gary Dick had a good run to be one second faster with 19:16 (setting up a wee bit of needle for the West Districts!), John Foley turned in 20:20 and Paul Carroll had an excellent run to be clocked in 18:50. Gary reckons that the wind was gusting seriously and was adding between 30 and 60 seconds to each lap. A second incomplete team of Bobby Young (21:13), Ryan Nelson (21:43) and Peter Cartwright 21:34) also turned out - pity that a club of our size could only turn out 7 male athletes. It is good to see Gary getting two good races back to back and with any luck he will go from strength to strength as the winter proceeds.

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McAndrew Relays

The McAndrews are the traditional start to the cross country season and have been held over several different trails since I first ran in it in 1958. We used to have a trial that was run on the Tuesday night before the race to pick the team: it started in Second Avenue just along from Kilbowie Road and went right down to the bottom and swung round to come up Hawthorn Street past the High Park to Kilbowie Road, left across Kilbowie Road to where the roundabout is now and then along the Boule to Drumry Road. Over Drumry Road to finish outside the Provost's house (the one with the lamp post) just before Clarence Street. The club had many good teams out and several outstanding runs. In my time in the club we have twice has had two teams in the first twelve twice and several times we were in fourth. The best individual position was in the very recent past when the club was second in 2003. Graeme Reid had won the National in February and moved to live with his friend from America Peter Riley in Lancashire because that was where he could get a job. He came back up for the race and brought Peter with him. The team was made up with Allan Adams and Mark Rudzinski.
Allan ran the first stage and handed over a 24 second lead to Mark. Mark, a former Scottish Junior 10K Road Race Champion, was ahead of some of the very best in the country and although he lost one place to AC Muir of Mizuno (whose name had now become Favorit AC) he kept all the others at bay. Peter Riley was next up and as well as running the second fastest time of the day gave Graeme a slight lead over Glen Stewart for the last stage. Glen was in very good form and we all know that the guy behind, so long as he is not far behind, always has a slight advantage in that he can see the opposition and judge when to go for it. The result? Second to Favorit AC in a team time of 53:04. The third team was almost four minutes behind. (Mizuno had lost their sponsorship and were subsidised for a short time by an Edinburgh cafe called the Favorit Cafe). The second team had Brian Gallagher (36th), Derek Halpin (26th), John Hanratty (20th) and Bobby Young (21st) for an aggregate time of 75:06. Can the team this week do better than 75:06? There's a challenge. There was also a composite team of Scott Hughes, Jolene Ennis, Aileen Scott and Peter Rudzinski. A good day for the club but - here's the question - how many of the dozen will be racing this year? Any bets?

George Cummings Relay - Kilbarchan

Here are some pictures taken at this event.

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