West District Cross Country Championships

Saturday 13^th October 2012 and I wear the vest of Bellahouston Harriers for the first time, some 120 years after the south Glasgow was established.  As luck would have it, my first donning of the famous St Andrew’s cross was at the home of my previous club, the 125 year old Kilmarnock Harriers.  The occasion was the West District Cross Country Championships and the rain during the week, the long grass and the hills all contributed to making the 4000m course testing, to say the least.  However conditions on the day were near perfect as the previous rain was replaced by a wind free and sunny Saturday in Ayrshire.

Pic by Kenny Phillips

There were some great performances on the day, with Kilbarchan retaining their senior women’s title with Ron Hill Cambuslang in second place and Victoria Park-Glasgow earning bronze.  In the women’s vets race it was Springburn who earned Gold with Bella Harriers team of Clare MacAulay, Angie Carson and Bernie O’Neil all having great runs to place second.

 

I was in the Bella Harriers’ mens ‘B’ team alongside fellow super vet Stuart Mulholland; Ian Anscombe and Stephen xxx.  I think it’s fair to say that we set off according to ability, with Stuart doing the first leg, myself doing the second, Ian the third and Stephen the final one.  Although I felt that I was working hard, I lost a number of places. On a good day I would have been able to beat some of those that past me but unfortunately my effort just wasnt good enough and it took me 18:56 to run my 4000m.  It was still the second fastest of the ‘B’ team but there’s room for a lot of improvement.

 

Chatelherault Sunday Run

 

Sunday 14^th and I decided to join up with some running buddies and do some off road running along the hills and trails in Chatelherault Country Park.  Although it was just a social run, I wanted to use it in preparation to next week’s cross country races and I was pleased with my work rate and speed around the 7.5mile, undulating, route before rewarding myself with a bacon roll, hot coffee and friendly banter with friends old and new.