New Tactics on Display at the Glasgow parkrun

There were even more runners at the Glasgow parkrun this week, a new record of 269 runners took part however with this being the start of the new bar code only regime a number of participants were recorded as 'unknown runners'.

I had noticed that although I had been starting the last couple of parkruns at the pace which I was hoping to keep, I had slowed after the initial 1k. I had therefore decided this week that I would start slower and hopefully maintain my pace throughout the race. After my one mile warm up, I joined the mass ranks at the front and made my way back a bit. There was no way I was starting shoulder to shoulder with Jethro Lennox and Robert Gilroy! Graeme Aitken was behind me and shouted that he would overtake me this week. “That will be the first time this year” I replied before another runner quipped “Don’t you slag Ian Goudie, he’s third in the men’s league”. Are you John Gilhooly I asked but he was not. Before I knew it the race had started and I pressed my Garmin in, as I made my way conservatively down the main drag, I could see Christopher Craig and Annmarie McCaffrey of Kirkintilloch speeding off. Stuart McBeath was standing on the grass verge marshalling and shouted encouragement as I passed by him and then steered left. A runner ran up to my shoulder and said ‘hello’ but I’m afraid I didn’t recognise him. There was no Erica or Martin running from last week but I did notice Frances Maxwell from Calderglen running ahead of me and in front of her Westerland’s Ellie Homewood. As I ran down the glade Graeme overtook me but I resisted the temptation to chase after him, confident that I would catch up with him before the finish. As it happens I didn’t have to wait long as I overtook him on the hills just before hearing Chris Upsons words of encouragement as he took my photo. I put on a smile for him as I ran past.

Pic by Chris Upson/Gill Williamson.  Frances Maxwell leads me at the end of the first lap with Graeme Aitken behind.


After a while I could hear the heavy footsteps of 14 year old James Stanley behind me but I managed to hold him off for most of the course as I cut into Frances lead on me. I made one big push at the final hill on the second lap and although I overtook her right at the top, young Stanley passed me. I was shattered but I increased my pace slightly only for Erica Christie to shout “C’mon Ian Goudie, you’re not trying hard enough!” There was a group of three to four runners making their way down towards the finish line and as I chased after young Stanley I managed to catch most of them but not the Garscube junior, who clocked up a new PB with a time of 22:02.

 

Pic by Chris Upson/Gill Williamson showing me in front of Frances as we head for the final stretch before the finish line.

I was shattered and as I struggled to get my breadth back, I noticed that my Garmin hadn’t been on. Frances informed me that she had finished in 22:10 and that I was a good wee bit in front of her. I didn’t know what my time was but I knew that my token number was 81, a bit down on last week’s 76. As we queued to hand in our barcodes, a number of other runners informed me that they had been chasing after me but just couldn’t catch me. It’s hard enough trying to keep an eye on what’s going on in front of you, never mind behind but every runner is participating in their own race.

I handed out copies of the Scottish Running Guide and chatted with the other runners, including Carolyn Boyd who had recorded a new PB and was delighted about it Tom Keenan who had equalled his PB and was upset about it!

I completed another mile warm down and headed to the Burrell Café for coffee, bacon roll and chat. The volunteers, who do such a marvelous job, didn’t have my time yet but they told me that I should be able to decrease my token number by three places due to a technical error. When the results were published I discovered that I had just dipped under last week's SB by one second, nowhere near where I would like to be but every little bit helps.

In the real races Jethro Lennox had won in 15:31 and Ellie Homewood had placed first woman in 20:03.

Selected results:

60 Annmarie MCCAFFREY 21:00 VW40-44 73.49 % F 3 Kirkintilloch Olympians New PB! 5
65 John GILHOOLY 21:13 VM50-54 69.52 % M 62 11
66 James BOYCE 21:14 SM30-34 60.91 % M 63 Kirkintilloch Olympians 5
67 John HAGEMEISTER 21:15 SM35-39 62.82 % M 64 Bellahouston Harriers 26
74 Harry O' DONNELL 22:01 SM30-34 59.05 % M 71 7
75 Richard MCAVOY 22:02 SM30-34 58.70 % M 72 First Timer! 1
76 James STANLEY 22:02 JM14 67.47 % M 73 Garscube Harriers New PB! 5
77 David SHAW 22:03 SM35-39 60.54 % M 74 First Timer! 1
78 Ian GOUDIE 22:05 VM50-54 67.85 % M 75 Kilmarnock Harrier & A.C 35
79 Robert B SMITH 22:06 VM40-44 63.20 % M 76 First Timer! 1
80 Frances MAXWELL 22:10 VW45-49 72.03 % F 4 Calderglen Harriers First Timer! 1
81 John MONTGOMERY 22:14 VM40-44 61.84 % M 77 7
82 Dan MAHER 22:20 VM40-44 61.57 % M 78 Bellahouston Harriers 42
87 Hugh B BROWN 22:37 VM40-44 62.20 % M 83 Bellahouston Road Runners 3
89 Graeme AITKEN 22:43 VM40-44 60.09 % M 85 Lomond Hill Runners AAC 27
91 Stephen POPE 22:54 SM30-34 57.28 % M 87 12
95 Murdoch RODGERS 23:07 VM55-59 68.78 % M 91 Bellahouston Road Runners 24
97 Ros O'SULLIVAN 23:09 VW45-49 71.35 % F 5 Kirkintilloch Olympians 6
110 Tom KEENAN 23:47 VM55-59 64.61 % M 104 22
119 Tom ROSS 24:39 VM65-69 68.02 % M 111 24
121 Carolyn BOYD 24:44 SW30-34 60.11 % F 9 New PB! 9
123 Veronika JURANOVA 24:46 SW25-29 59.76 % F 11 19 123
134 Angela CAMPBELL 25:34 SW30-34 57.95 % F 15 3
140 Susan CLARK 25:57 VW40-44 59.47 % F 18 Greenock Glenpark Harriers 22

A look at the men’s points table revealed that I had held onto my third place and that the Scarlet Pimpernel who is John Gilhooly had been leaped by Al McLachlan.

runner num Runs num Volunteered Run Points Volunteer Points Total Points
Al MACLACHLAN 8 0 718 0 718
John GILHOOLY 10 0 686 0 686
Ian GOUDIE 8 1 508 100 554