I was surprised to find out, on Friday, that after 100 consecutive
races, the Glasgow Parkrun was cancelled. The snow and ice had taken its toll on both the usual and off-road courses and although Edinburgh and Strathclyde parkruns were still scheduled to go ahead, I had no petrol and the local garages had closed due to lack of deliveries. I didn’t need too much persuasion to take advantage of an unusual race free Saturday and head out to Sammy Dow’s on Friday night.
I woke up at the usual early hour on Saturday and with my decision making faculties impaired, by the previous evening’s alcohol consumption, decided to head to Strathclyde Park. However my first task was to find some fuel, unfortunately BP and Shell let me down but Morrison’s came to the rescue. I was also on the lookout for some fuel for myself and although I was thinking of Irn Bru or Lucozade, a Bogof special on Gatorade convinced me otherwise. Fuelled up, I was soon heading into the glorious morning sunrise over Motherwell.
I arrived at Scotland’s Theme Park and was pleasantly surprised to meet Chris Upson and Ellie Homewood, who I immediately pencilled in as probable winners of the day’s 5k event. I then bumped into, birthday girl, Kirsty Grant; Ada Stewart, on her way to the toilet; Gordon McDonald, running in his 50th parkrun; John Gilhooly, my tip for the M50 event; and ex- neighbour, Angela Campbell.
After a warm up along the side of the frozen loch, I lined up with 35 other hardy souls under the stewardship of Ross Goodman and was warned that the course was covered with snow and ice and that, as usual, we would be running the course at our own risk.
We set off along the icy grass and I watched as Chris Upson, dressed only in shorts and vest, took an early lead. I found myself running behind John Gilhooly and wasn’t surprised at all when Ellie overtook me. I was astonished to pass the 1k marker in a time of 3:48 and thought for a second or two that a PB may be on the cards. However I was soon grounded as two runners in quick succession passed me. Soon after this the course developed into a mixture of ice, snow, slush, grass, mud and puddles of various depths. I was glad that there were people in front of me that I could watch as they negotiated the elements. I was disappointed but not surprised to look at my watch and learn that the second kilometre had taken around 5mins. However I could still see John Gilhooly upfront, although he had now overtaken a junior runner and was three places ahead of me. It wasn’t long until Moira Nicol was marshalling us onto the grass, to protect us from the icy path. We turned around and now had a further option of loch side pebbles to run on as we made our way back. I noticed tail runner Jammy Jo Smith heading in the opposite direction and then Ada Stewart behind him! She had missed the Start.
I successfully negotiated the conditions back to the safer part of the course without being overtaken. I could hear someone close behind me though and increased the pace for the last 1.5k or so, focussing, as usual, on the person two places ahead of me. I crossed the line in twelfth position, with a time of 22:43. Garmin revealed, that as I had suspected, the 1st k mark was short and my splits were actually: 4:08; 4:40; 4:49; 4:47 and 4:09.
As predicted Chris had won the race, despite having a bad fall, Ellie had won the women’s race and John Gilhooly had finished first M50. I then headed back to the Waterfront Cafe for post race chat and hot drinks before giving Angela a lift back to the south side of Glasgow and then home for a well deserved brunch.
Ross Goodman's Slide Show
Full results:
1 Chris UPSON 18:07 VM45-49 79.48 % M1 Westerlands CCC
2 Ross MACKENZIE 19:01 SM25-29 67.92 % M2
3 Neil GREEN 19:22 VM40-44 71.51 % M3 Calderglen Harriers
4 Michael Dylan BRAWLEY 19:45 SM35-39 66.75 % M4 Hamilton Harriers
5 Stuart MACGREGOR 20:18 VM40-44 69.29 % M5
6 Ellie HOMEWOOD 20:34 SW30-34 72.29 % F1 Westerlands CCC
7 John GILHOOLY 20:47 VM50-54 71.53 % M6
8 Robert ROSSBOROUGH (JNR) 20:58 SM25-29 61.61 % M7 Clydesdale
9 Alan HUME 21:07 SM30-34 62.12 % M8 Central AC
10 Dean STEVENSON 22:15 JM14 63.75 % M9
11 Kenneth S MCFARLANE 22:23 SM30-34 57.93 % M 10
12 Ian GOUDIE 22:43 VM50-54 66.54 % M11 Kilmarnock Harriers and AC
13 Ian DEVOY 23:29 VM45-49 61.32 % M12 Strathaven Striders
14 Kirsty GRANT 23:51 SW25-29 62.05 % F2 Ronhill Cambuslang
15 John CONNOR 23:52 VM50-54 62.29 % M13
16 Chris TALLO 23:55 SM30-34 54.84 % M14
17 John MOFFAT 24:01 VM40-44 57.67 % M15 jogscotland
18 Iain THOMPSON 24:22 VM50-54 61.49 % M16
19 Paul KEENAN 24:53 VM40-44 55.26 % M17
20 Russell COUPER 25:23 VM45-49 55.88 % M18 Calderglen Harriers
21 Craigy SIMPSON 25:33 VM50-54 57.73 % M19
22 Margaret GEBBIE 25:45 VW35-39 58.32 % F3
23 Gordon MCDONALD 25:50 VM55-59 59.48 % M20 Kirkintilloch
24 Paul ROBERTS 26:49 VM40-44 52.08 % M21
25 Neil ASH 27:22 VM50-54 53.90 % M22
26 Andrew KINNEN 27:24 SM20-24 47.57 % M23
27 Angela CAMPBELL 27:32 SW30-34 53.87 % F4 Bellahouston Harriers
28 Derek JESSAMINE 27:38 VM40-44 49.40 % M24
29 Martin CLARKE 28:30 SM35-39 46.84 % M25
30 Davie EASTON 28:51 SM35-39 46.62 % M26
31 Ross Colville GLOVER 29:11 SM35-39 46.09 % M27
32 Lynne ALLAN 29:23 VW45-49 54.34 % F5
33 Frank RAFFERTY 30:26 VM45-49 47.70 % M28
34 Graham HAMILTON 30:38 VM50-54 48.91 % M29
35 Ada STEWART 30:40 VW45-49 53.21 % F6 Kirkintilloch Olympians
36 Stephen MCSHANE 30:47 VM40-44 45.37 % M30
37 Jammy Jo SMITH 30:50 VM50-54 49.03 % M31 jogscotland
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