Motherwell Athletics Club
- Chairman William Martin 07730 922624
- Secretary Jill Logan 07810 755869
- Treasurer John McCluskey 07967 465615
An intrepid MAC four took part in the Whangie Whizz hill race last night and came home filthy, tired but very happy, writes Clare Barr.
A pre-race recce had the runners quaking in their trail shoes, but Mae McIsaac and I commented that it was the nicest view for an emergency pitstop we'd ever seen (there were no loos), with beautiful lochs and mountains stretching into the distance, and sunbeams breaking through the clouds.
Derek Wylie was first home in a very impressive 33 mins (all times approx.) after a blistering start. I was next (41 mins), followed by Mae (45 mins) and Joe Fennessey (48 mins).
The course had an immediate heart-bursting long climb up a rough rock-strewn path where the trick was to not trip over your fellow runners whilst avoiding turning your ankle. If anyone wants to find out their maximum heart rate, this is the place to do it.
The route then followed narrow sheep paths up and down various undulations, until the paths disappeared and you followed markers through peat bogs and rough ground before reaching the first summit, then a long tricky descent down tussocked grassland again interspersed with hidden shoe-hungry peat hazards.
Onto a unmade road then back up another bl***y hill with an even longer climb up to the trig-point summit, then a long, grassy descent to the finish, littered with large rock patches waiting to catch you out (Joe left part of his body on one bit).
All but the nimble-footed Mae came a cropper at some point, but everyone agreed it was the most fun they'd had on a Wednesday night for ages.
Washing machines have been set to boil-wash, innov8s have been sluiched out with garden hoses, so we're all set for the next hill race. Hopefully some more MACites will take up the challenge next time.
Results will be posted on the Scottish Hill Runners site.
The club was represented by five runners in the Virgin London Marathon today.
Click on their names to see details of their splits on the event website.
Track training for the road runners has begun again and with it came this year's 4 x 1 mile age group relays.
Six teams competed at Wishaw yesterday, the winners emerging as a very strong "20s" quartet of James Smith, Stuart Riley, John McParland and Nick Hughes (pictured below), who set a course record of 21mins 36secs.
Second home were the 30s team of Jessie Miller (guest), Roddy Quinn, Alan Tait and Derek Wylie in a time of 22mins 41secs.
Third were the pre-race favourite teenager team including David McIsaac, Scott Dickson, Richard Martin and Stephen Riley in a time of 23mins.
The 50s team of John Hughes, Stan Kavanagh, Jim Riley and William Martin were fourth in a time of 24mins 16secs.
Fifth were the 40s despite a storming first leg from Benny Hands, followed by Joe Fennessy who was hampered by a hamstring injury, Paul (guest) and Bill Connelly in a time of 24mins 35secs.
They were closely followed by the female team who ran 4 x 1500 metres. The team included Jo Clark, Gayle Tait, Angela Downie and Carole Munro and finished in a time of 24mins 46secs.
John Hughes said: "The event was keenly contested and gave the athletes a good feel for the track training which should serve them well for future training sessions on the track.
"Thanks to Phyllis Hands and Brian McLinden who are returning from injury and helped organise the event."
Motherwell AC has decided to take a firm stand against the practice of swapping numbers ahead of a race.
From now on, any member or members found to be in breach of the policy will not be awarded points in the club championships or leagues. This will apply to all races, not only SAL events.
The move follows the declaration by Scottish Athletics of a "zero tolerance" approach in the enforcement of the rule that participants must not exchange race numbers nor must non-entered athletes take part in competitions.
It was agreed by the club's committee at its meeting last month.
Insurance risk
The governing body cracked down after last year's Edinburgh Marathon which saw two runners banned for life from competing in the event.
In a statement, Scottish Athletics said: "Athletes who compete in an SAL championship MUST be current members of the Scottish Athletics Membership Scheme.
"Furthermore, an entered athlete MUST NOT be substituted by a non-entered athlete at any time.
"Non-observance of the above leaves the whole field and the officials uninsured in the event of an accident, leaves the athlete at a health risk in the case of a wrong identification of the athlete and makes the results invalid as an historic record.
"The above two issues are so important that the RR&CC Commission asks Club Secretaries and team managers for their co-operation in enforcing these rules.
"The Commission will, however, closely monitor athletes and Clubs not observing these rules. Any transgression may result in a disciplinary procedure."
Graeme Kennedy produced another top-drawer run to finish on 58mins 54secs in this year's Tom Scott 10-mile road race in Strathclyde Park.
Graeme was 26th overall out of 193 runners and stretched his lead at the top of this year's championship table to 16 points.
Eight other MAC runners competed in the event, the fourth in the championship series: Craig Cassidy 1.00.36; Benny Hands 1.09.19; Matt Purser 1.08.48; Carole Munro 1.13.49; Michael Hampson 1.13.49; Elaine Jamieson 1.16.44; Joe Fennessey 1.19.44; Jane Wedlock 1.20.49.
An update on the launch of the parkrun in Strathclyde Park ... two MAC members took part in the first event.
Jim Riley was 21st out of 81 runners with a time of 22.06 for the 5k course.
Jimmy Mullen was the other Motherwell runner and finished 27th on 23.42.
The clear winner of the race was Robert Gilroy (15.38).
See below for more details about the event.
The free-to-enter, weekly, 5k timed races have been a huge hit across the UK, with the Glasgow event attracting 277 a record 277 runners a couple of weeks ago.
The Strathclyde Park event is the result of a lot of hard work by Ally Robb (right), who lives in Bellshill.
The races begin every week at 9.30am and all you have to do is register online by 6pm the day before and take your barcode with you. The code is scanned after you've crossed the finish line and your results are stored on the parkrun website.
You can see all the details, including the route on the event's section of the parkrun website.
Parkruns rely on volunteers to keep them going and all the details about how to get involved are here.
This year's Scottish Athletics Road Relay Championships in Livingston saw the club field only one full team compared to four in 2009.
The men ran six stages and the women four, over two distances of about 3.15 and 5.85 miles.
Results: Roddy Quinn 18.09; Graeme Kennedy 33.59; Craig Adams 22.22; Benny Hands 37.14; Joe Fennessey 22.27; Michael Hampson 41.39.
Carole Munro was the sole female runner, finishing her leg in 22.12.
Full men's and women's results. Course map.