Allan Scally Road Relay

Saturday, October 31 the last day of a successful month and a chance to try out another new race. This time it was the Allan Scally Road Relay, although this was actually the 40th staging of the event, it’s the first time I’ve participated in it and it was a held using a brand new route. Bella had a great six teams entered, three men’s and three women’s. I was in Team C and running in the third of four legs.
The race is held by Shettleston Harriers and starts near to the Bannerman High School in Baillieston. The start itself was scheduled for 2pm but was slightly delayed to allow runners to make their way to the new start line.
Over two hundred runners had assembled at the little park which was being used as the start/finish and as well as those participating elite runners Casey Morgan and Lindsay McNeil were in attendance. The race is also the Scottish University Championships and a large proportion of teams were made up of students.

The race is 4.8 miles long, which is quite far for a relay however the weather was kind to me as I waited for the first leg and then the second leg runner to appear before heading off into the sun. Unfortunately there were three runners warming up/down in front of me and I ended up colliding with one as I made my way on to the road. A quick right turn and an easy downhill part of the route was next. As I turned right along the straight a Hunters Bog Trotter went shooting past me and disappeared in to the distance. The route now made its way through a housing estate and as I entered it I could see other runners exiting. A little further on I was aware of someone behind me and when I eventually was overtaken by a Kirkintilloch Olympian he commented “good running big man”. Although I kept him in sight for longer than the HBT it wasn’t that long until he too had disappeared. When I eventually exited the estate I could see Struan from Bella entering. As I ran up the first hill I thought I could see someone ahead of me and as time went on I finally caught up with and overtook Tommy Gore from Glasgow Uni. I kept up the pace to get away from the student but couldn’t see anyone else in front of me. However as I entered another housing estate I noticed the Lead Bike overtaking me and for a few seconds I was running behind it wondering what was happening…. until I was overtaken by one of Shettleston Eritrean runners completing the fourth and final leg. Not surprisingly he too disappeared from my sight. As I made my way up another hill I noticed another runner behind me and as I heard words of encouragement I looked to see that it was Iona, Bella’s fastest woman runner completing the third and final leg of the women’s team race. I managed to keep Iona in my sight for most of the rest of the race. I thought I heard the marshal saying that the 4 mile mark was just around the corner but I missed it as I had missed all the previous ones. Although to be fair one of our first leg runners had told me that there were no markers on the course. One other hill and I could see supporters and marshals ahead shouting me on. Only 200 metres to go they shouted as I made my way up the last incline encouraged by the other Bellas, a sharp right and I sprinted over the finish line with a time of 33:58. Fetch calculates this as a wava of 72.95% which I’m a bit surprised at.

I had completed my 59th race of 2009 but I could have run faster, not knowing the route and not being aware of the distance markers had held me back as did the lack of anyone around my ability to race against. As it was Iona had giving me an incentive and my time would have been slower without her to chase and the support of the Bellas in the final straight.

After the post run chat and the completion of the race by the fourth legers it was back to Bannerman High for some tea and ham rolls before heading home for a much deserved siesta.