I’ve struggled on this course and it’s slightly longer version, the Nigel Barge Memorial 10k, on a number of occasions but this year I was more confident that my training would pay off and that the hills wouldn’t be as challenging as in previous attempts. It’s a Bella Club Championship race and although it clashes with the Tinto Hill Race, there was a decent turnout from the purple posse with four Bella Belles and 13 Bella Fella participating.
I lined up somewhere in the middle of the pack and noticed Tom McMillan overtaking me on my left hand side. However there was a repeat of the ‘gate problem’ which marred the race last year as we found ourselves having to stop and queue up to make our way through a single pedestrian gate as the road double gates were closed. After I had negotiated my way through the gate I set off with a new gusto ahead of Tom and hopefully ahead of Norman Boyle too. The route continued uphill past the Vet School before making its way down through residential Llay Road to Bearsden Road, where a sharp left turn took us onto the narrow leaf strewn pavement of Temple Road. With branches and bushes hanging over the pavement I stuck to running on the road for a while before reaching a less congested bit of pavement. I could see Shona Donnelly, Ewan MacDonald and Louise Gray ahead of me, “what the hell is she doing there?” I thought to myself, “She’s running too fast and won’t be able to keep up this pace”. It was at this point that I noticed that Garscube’s Jill O’Neil was running on the road, shoulder to shoulder with me. I don’t know what it is about this course but I always seem to race against her here. As we turned left up Dawsholm Road I pushed in knowing that there was a wide downhill section next. “It’s all downhill from here, Ian” cried Scott Johnson astride his bi-cycle. I overtook a number of runners on this part of the course, including Louise. I thought about commenting to her but decided to say nothing. I kept running over a narrow bridge and then up a challenging double hill, where another left turn took us onto Maryhill Road. I was just starting to think how well I had done on the hills compared to previous years when both Jill and Louise overtook me! Although this part of the course is a long a busy road, the plus point is that the pavement is nice and wide and I accelerated along overtaking Louise first and then catching Jill as the route turned left and downhill back into the Garscube Sports Centre. A runner pushed me on the back but I didn’t object as it made me run that wee bit faster.
We then passed the throng of supporters and officials around the finish line as we entered the second part of the race. It’s not quite two laps as the start is quite a bit further along. I knew that Jill was close behind me as I kept on hearing cries of support for her from friends. I was determined to hold her off as we crossed another narrow bridge and headed up past the start line and through the gate. Of course, now that the race was spread out the gate was no impediment to us. I had noticed that a guy I had met in the dressing room was running along with us but I wasn’t concerned about him (Newton Keenan) as my race was against Tom and Norman who I presumed to be not far behind us. I knew that I was a bit slower than in the first lap but I figured that if I could keep in front of Jill I’d be doing well. I could see Billy Reid, Ann Marie McCafferty and Christopher Craig of Kirkintilloch ahead of me and I concentrated in trying to keep them in my sight. I overtook Newton and Edinburgh youngster Rebecca Hannah before catching Billy Reid as we made our way along Temple Road for the second time. However I now noticed that A Westerlands runner, Hamilton Semple was racing against me. I overtook him on the Dawsholm Road hill and he returned the favour but I had the better of him by the time we had reached Maryhill Road. My legs were like jelly at this point but I knew that the course was flat and downhill and it was a good part of the route to catch up with those in front. I managed to up the pace to pull away from Newton, Hamilton and Jill and gave it my all as I overtook a few more runners before reaching the finish line in a time of 33:27. I had completed my 60th race of 2009, had run the course some 108 seconds faster than last year and finished first Bella Super Vet. It’s a hard wee course but it was an enjoyable race, pleasantly surprised to see that I was so close to young Sarah Munn at the end.
Selected results are below, indicating impressive performances from, in particular, Mary Senior and Louise Gray.
110 425 33:24 Shona Donnelly F vet Bellahouston Road Runners
113 280 33:36 Ewan McDonald M senior Bellahouston Road Runners
115 271 33:57 Ann Marie McCafferty F vet Kirkuintilloch
117 326 34:08 Christopher Craig M vet Kirkintilloch
118 469 34:10 Sarah Munn F junior Glasgow Uni
121 344 34:27 Ian Goudie M super vet Bellahouston Road Runners
124 419 34:33 Hamilton Semple M vet Westerlands
125 283 34:34 Newton Keenan M vet Unattached
127 303 34:38 Jill O’Neill F vet Garscube
129 253 34:48 Billy Reid M super vet Kirkintilloch
139 376 35:18 Mary Senior F vet Bellahouston Road Runners
141 356 35:28 Louise Gray F vet Bellahouston Road Runners
144 352 35:33 Keith Gibb M vet Bellahouston Road Runners
147 327 35:37 Tom McMillan M super vet Bellahouston Road Runners
155 373 35:55 John Sandbach F vet Bellahouston Road Runners
157 324 36:05 Norman Boyle M super vet Bellahouston Road Runners
167 408 36:46 Lynne Andrew F senior Bellahouston Road Runners
Scottish Running Guide Report Here
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