12th and 13th December

There was a lot of action over the weekend - on the track and over the country, from Under 11's to Veterans and involving boys and girls, men and women. On Saturday the Hannah Cup Cross Country Race was held over the golf course at Dalmuir on a cold and misty afternoon. I don't know where they came from but Yvonne managed to get 35 pics up on the blog - see below! First to finish and win the handicap was Gary Dick with Michael Diver having fastest time and getting his name on the historic trophy donated to the club by five times cross country champion of Scotland, Andrew Hannah. Gary had a hard run against Iain Robertson for most of the way until he got away at the stairs on the second lap. It must be the best run that Gary has had for some time. The first three times were by Michael, Gary and scratch man Paul Carroll. The first veteran went to John Foley who was fifth finisher.
With six women racing, Marina won the women's race - just 12 seconds up on Pamela McCrossan. The three quickest were Marina, Pamela and Kath Scott who was a mere eleven seconds down on Pamela. Pamels won the handicap. Rumour has it that Yvonne tried to outsprint Pamela and only just failed - a wee word to Yvonne, in a sprint shoot out, advantage can be gained by judicious use of the elbow!
On Sunday it was the first indoor league match of the winter and the club had teams forward in the Under 11 Boys and Girls, Under 13 Boys and Girls, Under 15 Boys and Girls, Under 18 Men and Women and Under 20 Men. There were lots of good performances and I'll come back to them in detail when the results become available. Meanwhile the best team result was by the Under 20 Men who were second of the 20+ teams in the League. Johnathan Farrell had his best start to the winter for some time with 7.46 seconds for the 60 metres where he was second. He was also second in the Shot and third in the Long Jump; Peter Bowman was second in the 800 in 2:05.1 and third in the 400 and Cameron McLeod was second in the sprint hurdles, third in the 200 and fourth in the High Jump. There were also good performances from Roisin McShea, Claire Reid, David Campbell and Rachel Busby among others. Once I have all the results there will be further comment and results. Thanks are due to Donald, Phil and all the parents who helped out on the day and made it such a success for the club.

The Tartan Games

Johnathan Farrell travelled to Gateshead on Saturday to compete in the Tartan Games on their top class tartan track. He ran first in the 100 metres into a headwind of -1.7 abd finished third in a time of 11.55 seconds. Not the time he wanted but not bad bearing in mind the windy conditions. One of the points about racing outside your own home area is to get a new challenge and refresh yourself. Domestic races soon stop being a challenge - in any race you can say when you line up where your will finish to within a place or two and that's no good if you want to progress. You need a challenge to better yourself whether you are talking about school subjects, sports or any other walk of life. That's why so many middle distance athletes go to BMC races south of the Border or to Stretford on a monthly basis. It's why Phil took the young ones to Gothenburgh earlier this year. Johnathan also took part in the 200 metres where, despite leading off the bend he faded to fourth in the straight. Johnathan's next competition is in the last match of the Senior Men's League at Grangemouth next Sunday.

Last Weekend - Next Weekend

The popular Strathallan Gathering was held on Sunday in Bridge of Allan and we had two athletes in action. Tony Dolan took part in the 400 metres and 800 metres races where he was sixth. For future reference - there are handicap races for Juniors (ie U16) at 90 metres, 200, 400 and 800 plus long jump and triple jump. Money prizes for them all plus the Bastable Trophy for the best Youth at the meeting: the club has won it three times with Douglas McDonald in the 70's and David McAusland and Mark Govan in the 90's. In the Senior events, Johnathan Farrell was on the track no less than five times for two races. Heat, Cross Ties and Final of the 90 metres saw him finish second in 10 seconds. Running from a 6 metre mark he was beaten by the man off 7 metres on the slightly uphill straight. In the 200 metres he was fourth in the final after qualifying easily from his Heat.
This coming weekend is the big one for young athletes. National Championships for the Under 20 and Under 23 age groups is on on Saturday with the Junior 3 x 800 and 4 x 400 relays both being ncorporated into the meeting. The following weekend the Under 17 and Under 15 Championships are taking place along with the Under 13 Superteams competition.

Michael Diver - result - Sunday 12th July

Cycle race known as 'the radar ride' 106 miles,- finishes at the radar station on top of Green Lowther Hill (the highest road in Scotland, 732m above sea level).

Michael completed the course in 7hrs31.

Melantee

Prasad travelled as expected to Fort William today to contest the Melantee Hill Race. Detailed results will appear in due course but the story of the race is that our man held on to the field on the longish run in and took the lead on the hill. He actually walked bits of the hill, maintaining his lead and conserving himself a but for what he calls the 'mental steep descent'. He was 25 second up at the summit and about 50 seconds in front at the finish from Al Anthony and Brian Marshall.

The Melantee, the Half Ben and the Cow Hill Race were always well supported by the club and it's good to see a club member winning this one.

Jedburgh

Johnathan is still doing the stuff and progressing with every meet. On Wednesday he was at Grangemouth and ran in two 100 metres races and was third in both in 11.52 seconds and 11.40 which was his best domestic run this season. He did 11.36 in Gothenburg in response to the challenge of the unknown but the 11.40 is an indicator of better to come. Then on Saturday he went to Jedburgh for the Games there and although he was handicapped out of it in the Heats of the 110 metres, he ran in the invitation 100 where he was second defeating the likes of Craig Fleming and Greg Turnbull. This was a very good run and if he can reproduce it on a tartan track it is worth faster than 11.4 and maybe down as quick as 11.0 seconds. Good on yer, Johnathan!!!

Two Golden Oldies

Two brothers who won many gold medals and even more league points for the club in the 80's and 90's ran in the Mull of Kintyre 10K at Campbeltown at the weekend although their former team mates and opponents might not have recognised them. Mark and Donald Govan were in Campbeltown for the wekend as part of a family outing and entered the race. Mark (who was West District 400 metres U20 Champion, twice Scottish Universities 800 metres champion and a member of the team that won the Scottish 3 x 800 metres Championship) was eighty second in 51:08 and Donald (who was a member of the three teams that won the Scottish Medley Relay Championship and the Scottish 4 x 100 championship) eighty seventh in 51:31.

They were very good club members with Mark specialising in the 400, 800 and 1500 but also running in every relay going and Donald doing the 110 and 400 metres hurdles races as well as being a useful sprinter and field events performer. Their parents were the regular officials for the team - Isobel and Scott were Grade 2 Field Events Officials - and sister Julie was what would now be a Grade Two Coach and helped with the Under 12's. Mark was also club secretary before Yvonne took over and is now the father of three and living in Uddingston. Donald is a very senior member of the University of Wales Physics Department - just google his name and see what he is up to! Good to see them back in action - even if only for the one event!

A Result and some talking points

The result first. In the Open Graded Meeting at Grangemouth on Wednesday, Johnathan Farrell was first in both the 100 amd 150 metres races in his season's best times so far. In the 100 he was timed at 11.49 seconds and in the 150 he ran 17.34 seconds. The intention is to peak for the Scottish Championships which means that he will require to get faster and faster as the year goes on. So far, so good!

There are several things in this week's "Athletics Weekly" that deserve a wee look - well more than a wee look. I'll mention two of the letters this time. Bill Adcocks, one of Britain's best ever marathon runners has one responding to an earlier correspondent who said that criticism of the current crop of marathon runners was just maligning them. He refutes this and goes on to say that if runners are really doing 120 miles a week, then their times are not showing any effect from that. It may be that the content of the 120 mpw needs looking at. Even more important is that there are fewer good quality races and fewer international fixtures for those at the top. Omitting the second point becuase not all are up to it, his point is that there are more races but not of the appropriate standard. There are many rungs missing on the competitive ladder. Here in Scotland we know all about that with the loss of the District Championships this week. Read his letter and see what you think. Maybe more controversially there is a letter from a Yorkshireman lamenting race ageism. He is an Over 70 runner and complains that race prizes stop at Over 55. His request is for awards at 5 year intervals right up to the oldest competitor in the race. A wee bit over the odds I think! Ten year age groupings are maybe appropriate but when vets now start at 35 the additional expense is considerable. In the current situation when up to two thirds of a field is made up of vets of various categories and at times the first three vets are the first three finishers, should it be the case that the first vet gets the first vet prize even if he wins the race?

Finally, Doug Gillon in the "Herald" today talks about scottish athletics persuading a New Zealand athlete to compete for Scotland. Not just any NZ athlete but the best shot putter in the world! OK, so she competed in the Scottish Championships as an U15 and U17 but has since declared herself for New Zealand and although she is a bit peeved at her national association, it doesn't seem to me to be any reason to poach her. Poaching is rife nowadays in international athletics. Kenyan distance runners now run for at least five other countries as well as Kenya - I'd exempt Wilson Kipketer from the criticism because he married a Danish girl and lived there for three years before competing as a naturalised Dane. But Scotland in the past poached Alice Butler from Canada, tried to get a Cuban triple jumper and is currently trying to get Stephanie Twell from England. To try to talk another country's athlete into competing for us seems to me to be just immoral although everybody's at it! England (US 400 metre runners for a start), USA (Bernard Lagat), Qatar (anybody Kenyan) and so on. Comments on any of these welcome!

Results and People

Aileen Scott and Peter Halpin competed in their third consecutive race from Milngavie to Tyndrum on Saturday and both improved on their best times . On a very warm day for the 53 miles which climbs steadily all the way, Aileen was 93rd in 10 hours 45 minutes and 25 seconds. In 2007 she ran a time of 11:16:20 and in 2008 it was 11;24:20. This year Peter was 155th in 11:49:53 which was quicker than his 2008 time of 12:23:12 and his 2007 time of 12:33:10 (not bad for a guy who started out at 100 metres either!)
John Foley was 174th in 12:08:13. Well done to all three.

In the Scottish Primary Schools Championships on Saturday at Kirkcaldy on another very warm day, Rachel Busby had a good run to be 25th out of 137 runners in the Primary 7 Girls race. It's good to see Rachel back running well again and I for one look forward to seeing her in the Young Athletes league next Sunday at Wishaw.

Not such good news from Prasad. I quote "still very much not up for Stuc a Chroin, I'm afraid. Had another try last week and was sore with every step I took but might have run anyway. Then I caught a cold and was coughing up big yellow bits. That and having missed three weeks plus a sore leg might not make running it very sensible. Still - I'll see what it's like on Monday." Hill runners are a law unto themselves but even so it doesn't look as though he will be there. I'll go along and no doubt Michael Diver will be running. Former Harrier Gordon Pryde now running for Lomond Hill Runners in Fife might also be there.

And Finally...... I had an email from Ian Leggett who said that he was pleased to see so many Harriers out in the Tom Scott Race - almost like old times he said!

Two Wins for Prasad

The day after the National Championships Prasad went down to Peebles with a friend to have another look at the trails in the Glentress Forest at Peebles he had won the first two in the Glentress Duathlon series and with the last one coming up he just wanted another recce. It paid off handsomely! The last race was last week and he won not only the race but also the series. He was second after the bike ride (to a guy who didn't do the run) and then had the fastest time of the day on the run to win comfortably. He had he says 'a really big crash' on the bike and was sore for the remainder of the week.

Yesterday he went to Birnam Hill at Dunkeld where he had won last year. There were 61 runners including the new 'unbeatable' Junior, Robbie Simpson. Prasad led from the start with Simpson coming up on him at the start of the steep climb. Nevertheless P was about 20 metres ahead by the top when, he says, his cross country training paid off and he moved further clear.He ultimately won in a time 2 minutes 20 seconds inside his own record for the race which he set last year! The unbeatable Junior was third a minute behind.

Having raced guys in the past who dropped out at half distance ('I only wanted a hard six' when it was a 12 mile race) it is a practice that I can't abide. They distort the pace for the athletes who are out for the whole distance; in the case of P's Duathlon, the cyclist who raced and won the cycle ride with no intention of doing the run maybe conrtibuted to the fall but certainly had P go faster than he might have done had the guy not been there. Rant over! Well done Prasad!

Two Results

On Saturday, Prasad ran in the Duathlon at Tinto Hill which rejoiced in the name of the Bangcock Challenge and had a rather strange format. The contestants had to run 2 miles, cycle for 20 miles and finish by running up and down Tinto Hill. Prasad won in 1:47:28 which was over 16 minutes clear of the second placer, He was faster up and down Tinto than he was in the actual race some weeks ago - and that was after running 2 miles and cycling 20! He went out the next day to the Carnegie Harriers Law Breaker race in Tillicoultry Glen which is only 3.2 miles but climbs to 850 feet. A tired Harrier could only make third in a time of 34:48 which was two and a half minutes behind the winner. His next race is the winter Callendar Crags where word is that the field will be a really tough one. Prasad is the reigning champion and record holder for both summer and winter versions of this race so he should be in with a chance!

Paisley 10K

Following yesterday's queries about the course measurement, I contacted Allan Adams who reckons he is in 30:30-30:40 shape and he also said that several people using GPS had readings of 6.10 to 6.17 miles, so yes it was probably short. Incidentally - Steve Doig recently sent a pack of senior men out on a training run: they all had GPS. They all came back with slightly different readings depending on whether they had run on the inside of a bend or the outside or whether they ran on the side of the road which was sheltered by trees, etc. You're probably just as well counting the lampposts and multiplying by 40 yards!

A result and a question

The result: Prasad Prasad had his eleventh win of the summer when he won the 10K road race in Perth by about a minute on Sunday in 33:41. Arriving late he nearly missed the start and actually ran in his fell running shoes.

The question: I have had two queries this morning, one from Scottish Athletics and one from Athletics Data about the 10K at Renfrew on Sunday. They both said the same thing which was that the times were suspiciously fast. All I could say was that Allan Adams has only run faster once (29:38 in 1998) and was not slower than 30:08 between 1996 and 1999. The English query suggested that the actual distance might be nearer 9.7K than 10K. If anyone has an opinion or a comment I'd be interested to hear it.