Posted in News, Race Reports on Apr 30, 2023
🌞 Harriers begin summer championships at Elder Park
🏴 Bellahouston Harriers received a warm welcome at Elder Park parkrun on Saturday 29 April as the club’s summer championships got underway with a string of ‘🅿️🅱️’ performances.
🫶 More than 5️⃣0️⃣ members – seniors and juniors – congregated in Govan for a blast over the 5k distance, with the cool but calm conditions ideal for running.
🌳 The Elder Park route comprises of a flat but twisty course with a smaller first lap and then 🔁 3 laps of around 1300 metres.
💙 Adam Stark led the Saltire vests home, finishing in 2nd place overall in a time of 17:05 – his best at parkrun and just outside of his 5k PB. Fraser Armstrong, who had led Adam during the first half of the run, was the second Harrier home and third overall in 17:16, with Donald Maclaren, who was sub-2 hours 50 minutes at the recent Boston marathon, next behind, equalling his 5k PB of 17:48 in the process.
💙 First female Harrier over the line was Kristina Greig, who smashed her 5k PB to finish in seventh place overall in a time of 19:11. Becky Simister also posted a new PB of 20:31 to place second among the Harriers, with Claire McCormick, fresh from her Scottish bronze age group medal at the London marathon, next home in a time of 21:44.
💙 The first female junior on the day was Lexie Speirs and the first male junior was the much improved Alistair Munro who clocked a PB of 19:21 in finishing in ninth place overall.
🏆 Club championship days encourage members to compete hard against their training partners and this was demonstrated by 2️⃣0️⃣ members obtaining a new course PB on the day. Well done Donald Maclaren, Alistair Munro, Lee Graham, Becky Simister, Angela Campbell, Simon Parkinson, Katherine Hylands, Christine McKay, Stephanie Rudd, Michael McNamara, Mark G Watson, John Beckett, Tom Keenan, Deirdrie Parkinson, Helen Stevenson, Linda Wood, Anne Williamson, June MacLeod, Jacqueline Glass and Amy Frank.
📊 The turnout of Harriers ranged in age from 14 to 74 and a quick glance at the age graded results on the day reveals that seven Harriers were in the top 10 age graded scores. This list was headed by Pauline Henderson with a remarkable score of 85.2. The others in the top 10 were Claire McCormick, Christine McKay, Donald Maclaren, Mel Ronald, Jacqueline Glass and Kristina Greig.
😍 Congratulations to Pauline Henderson (300!) and Christine McKay (200!) on completing milestone parkruns, and welcome and congratulations to Lee Graham, Graeme Campbell, Alastair Patience and Chloe McMurray on running their first championship races in a club vest.
📈 The club’s summer championships are being held over a series of 12 events on the road and on the track, culminating in the Great Scottish Run half marathon on 1 October. Members’ best 8 performances count towards their championship points – a maximum of 25 points is on offer to the male and female Harriers who finish first at a championship event, with 24 points on offer for second-placed finishers, 23 points for third, and so on…
🥇🥈🥉After the run on Saturday, members joined Elder Park parkrun regulars at ‘St Connie’s’ for teas, coffees and snacks. Club president Mark Matheson presented the winter championship prizes. Congratulations to Fraser, John Carr and Adam, the men’s top three, and Kristina, Katherine Hylands and Claire, the top three women, as well as veteran category prizewinners Scott Mason, Jamie McLaughlin, John Softley, Angela Campbell, Stephanie Rudd and Li Wang. We are sure you’ll find good use for your vouchers at Migo Sports!
📷 We hope to showcase some more phots from the day taken by budding photographer and junior member Maisie Speirs later this week.
🙏 Bellahouston Harriers would like to thank Elder Park parkrun for hosting us on Saturday – we look forward to returning in a couple of weeks to assist with the 🦺 volunteer roster and to hearing who the two lucky parkrunners are who will receive complimentary entries to our flagship race, the Brian Goodwin Memorial 10k, being held on Friday 2 June at 7 30pm.
