Blast From The Past- Calderglen Harriers Christmas Handicap 2008

Over 350 miles of driving over 2 days and 4 races in an afternoon at the latest Mens League match at Inverness has left me a little depleted of energy this week. A report on that weekend will follow once I have recovered sufficient strength to write one.

 

For now, I go back in time again to an event from my running past. Every year, Calderglen Harriers hold a Christmas handicap race. A lot of clubs hold similar events. The Calderglen version comprises 5 laps on a road circuit of the park amounting to 4 miles. The race format involves every participant starting in order of ability from slowest to fastest. The first across the finish line, regardless of when they set off, wins. Fancy dress is compulsory and everyone participating brings a small prize to allow each participant to leave with something at the end of the day. The winner gets first pick followed by the runner up and so on.

 

Generally the first runner off has a sufficient scent of victory in their nostrils to hold on to their advantage. In 2003 however, my handicap was miscalculated to the extent I accidentally won the race. Needless to say, the following year, several runners had nearly finished before I had set off, no stone being unturned to avoid a repeat result.

 

My running attire ranged over the years from Santa Claus, a "118" runner and Superman. In 2008, my last Calderglen Christmas handicap to date, I donned a vest, false moustache, bandana, hair extensions and wrestling tights (all purchased from various online sources) to compete as none other than Hulk Hogan. Not even the power of Hulkamania could deliver victory as I finished in a time of 22:26, 2nd fastest overall but in 10th place out of 15 finishers. Time wise, Robocop (Calderglen stalwart Martin Duthie) pipped me, clocking 22:01. Will I compete in the event again? Never say never. I need another costume first.

Above: a motley crew, some of the participants in the 2008 edition pre-race.

Glasgow Athletics Association Miler Meeting, 5th June 2015

This Friday night meeting offered race opportunities at 800m and 3000m. I felt it came at a good point to see how training was going so put in a 3000m entry. With my race scheduled for 7.10pm sharp, this necessitated a 4.30pm departure from work (never a bad thing on a Friday I guess) to leave enough time to get home to East Kilbride from Paisley, change and eat and get back out the door to Hutchesons Grammar School. On the plus side, it got things out the way and I could support others/relax watching everyone else suffer.

 

The meeting had a remarkable response with 14(!) 800m and 4 3000m races scheduled to happen in the space of 2 and a quarter hours. It followed the same format of the BMC meetings I've attended in England with each race starting sharp at the advertised time, meaning if you're not there at said time, tough, you've missed it. The numbers attending meetings of this type clearly show there is an appetite for them. More of the same in the future hopefully.

 

Looking at the results as I write this, the 3000m A race was a very youthful one with me, at 31 years old, being the oldest competitor and also the only person over 30. 7 of the others were teenagers and the remaining 4 in their 20s.

 

I had a notional target of beating my personal best of 8:40 but conditions were breezy so I simply aimed to be competitive, run consistently and see where it took me. I quickly ended up at the back of the field. Disappointingly, I felt heavy legged, a rest the night before clearly not being enough recovery from the 44 miles I had run up til then that week. I told myself to stick with it and took closer order, gaining a couple of places in doing so. It was a good quality field and about a kilometre in, I had hung in there. I went through a mile in around 4:35-4:36 ish so not too shabby. The field stretched almost into single file, lead by Alistair Hay who had tracked pacemaker Mark Pollard. I found myself in a mini battle in the second half of the field with, amongst others, occasional training partner Craig Jardine from VP City of Glasgow and Edinburgh based Alex Carcas. The later stages became a blur of trading positions and the final reckoning brought me 9th place in a time of 8:43.27. With tired legs, post work fatigue and the windy weather, I was more than happy with this and saw it as a sign of good things to hopefully come. Pace wise, I seemed to have been pretty even, around 4:18 for the first 1500m and 4:25 for the second. Solid but not sharp was how I described it to Mike Johnston and my Dad who both concurred with this verdict.

 

Objective for the evening achieved, I took in some more races then had a short warm down jog to Hampden Park where my Dad (who drove ahead of me from the track) picked me up to go for my chip shop dinner. If I took anything from this, I'd say cautious optimism.

 

Results from all the night's races are here. The 3000m ones on their own, complete with evidence of my elderliness compared to my opposition, are here.

British Milers Club Grand Prix, Stretford, 16th May 2015

Despite having built up to my 5000m race at this event with consistent training and weekly mileages of 51, 51, 51, 51 and 46, I still felt quite nervous. Race wise, the build up had included a solid enough track 10,000m, a disappointing road 5km (actually an okay time but I had hoped for a lot better), a good road 10km win where a hellish wind made my time slower than I'd wanted and a confidence boosting treble track race outing in the one afternoon. I tapered a fair bit in the days before Stretford, taking the Wednesday off to see the Queen's Park-Stenhousemuir play off first leg and the Friday because I was driving to stay at the Travelodge at Southwaite services overnight to avoid a one day, 400 odd miles round trip on Saturday. Sometimes you have to trust your training.

I tried to be relaxed and panic free as possible. My race wasn't until 8.40pm so I paid a small supplement to delay checking out the Travelodge until 2pm, had a lie in until shortly after 10am, a breakfast at the services (which I was nearly too late for on account of my said lie in) and several cups of tea back in my room before setting off on my way. I'd been to Stretford once before, in 2012, and knew the track was close to Old Trafford, home of "Man U" so, while not knowing exactly where to go, came off the motorway at the Trafford Centre, found my way to Stretford and, after a mini tour (only slightly lost), found the track, located in a leafy residential area next to Longford Park, just after 4pm. I then wandered over to the local shopping centre for a filler bite to eat and bought some provisions (beer incase I got home early enough to have one) before continuing to fill the time soaking up the meeting atmosphere and getting myself into both physical and mental readiness to race.

Eventually the moment I'd been psyching up for came. I was in the second last race of the night, the B race, with the 5000m A race thereafter rounding things off. Pacing was taken on by UK international steeplechaser Luke Gunn. 11 of us, including him, lined up. From the off, I quickly found myself in last position but completed the first 400m lap in my target pace of 70 seconds so no panic. Not wanting to get detached, I quickened and gradually moved through a little. Only one athlete (David Rigby from memory) had followed the pacemaker and opened a gap on the rest of us. My pace was still fine though. I focussed on working with the pack before feeling I was able to move quicker than they were so made a move and, to my amazement, found myself in 2nd place. I still had a gap in front though so had to work away myself. The pacemaker duly dropped out and I sensed that I was closing the leader down. Bit by bit I did so then, hugely beyond expectations, found myself in the lead with only a handful of laps left. The race became just as much about winning as time.

Having become a rabbit in the headlights, the announcer's commentary reliably informed me about the battle unfolding at my back and all the nice people pursuing me. Another Scottish athlete, Calum McKenzie, was among the chasing pack. I reached the bell still leading and attempted to up the pace. I could sense an ambush however and, with 300m to go, Sam-Knee Robinson overtook me on the back straight on my outside. I gave chase but had given my all and couldn't mount a comeback. I held on though for 2nd place in 14:47.80, precisely 1.36 seconds outside the personal best I set in Manchester in June 2014. Robinson's winning time was 14:46.02. Calum took 3rd in a new best for him of 14:52.55.

Far from disappointed, I was delighted with this result and I embarked on a contented warm down jog in the late evening sunshine in Longford Park. I was keen to hammer the journey home so, apart from a food stop outside Manchester before everywhere closed, which included meeting the Central AC contingent of Andrew Butchart, Alistair Hay, Scott McDonald and Dale Colley, I almost completed the drive in one go. I stopped again 15 miles outside Hamilton to fill up the car and clear my head (driving on dark roads alone can cook your mind). The arrival home proved to be a very late/early one of 2am so I saw sense, got to bed and kept my beers for the Eurovision Song Contest the following week.

When a plan comes together, there's no better feeling. Here you have a plan which came together.

Blast From The Past- Saltcoats Round The Houses Road Race, July 2001

My recent spate of race reports has left me only with the recent BMC 5000m in Stretford to catch up on. A few words on that to come soon.

For now, I noticed I've done a few "Blast From The Past" features but not produced one for a while.

A flick through some running photos provided a suitable topic.

At one time, every year on the traditional Glasgow Fair Holiday Monday in July, a road race was held in the North Ayrshire town of Saltcoats. Measuring approximately 4.25 miles (it was always billed as 4.5 miles but wasn't as far as that), it started on the seafront beside some public toilets, no doubt for convenience (pun intended). The route then took in a small loop, eventually going past Vincents Chip Shop (now called the Eglinton Diner & Fish Fry) back to the seafront before taking in two larger laps, each one heading down the streets off the back of the seafront to Ardrossan then back along the coast to the start/finish. Flat as a pancake and a very fast course if the weather held up. In the late 2000s, the race moved to an inland venue in Saltcoats, keeping a similar set up, this time a 2 lap course of similar distance. Nowadays there is still a road race in North Ayrshire on "Fair Monday" but it's now a 5 miler held in Irvine and hosted by the local club. I've run the new version though haven't been to it since 2009 because I always seem to be on holiday at the same time but never say never.

I first raced at Saltcoats in 2000 as a 16 year old slowly getting to grips with longer distances, struggling round, very badly from memory, in a time of 28:14. The following year, while still a first claim member of Whitemoss AAC, I had just begun training with Calderglen Harriers. The benefits showed very quickly as I improved my time by almost 4 minutes. The photo below (blurred because I've scanned in a hard copy) shows me at the front of a group (not the leading one) on the small lap after passing the chip shop. Hanging on to my shoulder is none other than Cambuslang Harriers chairman David Cooney. We were strangers at the time and did not become acquainted for another 8 years. I cannot recall who got the better of who on the night.