The 10th and final round in the GGH Junior XC League took place at Tower Hill with 20 juniors turning out in the cold and windy conditions. Despite the weather and boggy underfoot conditions there were some excellent times in the 2km time trial. Congratulations to Overall winner David Docherty and to all the age category winners Beth Docherty, Summer Taggart, Ava Beaton, Abbie Tosh, Grant Munro, David Docherty, Harris Morrison, and Shaun Wiseman. The most improved athlete over the long winter contest was Euan Johnson.

GGH   Junior XC league will go ahead on Sunday 16th Feb at 11am. The worst of the storm will have passed, but it will be chilly and windy so wrap up well and make sure you wear your spikes☄️🌧🌪⚡️ See you all at Tower Hill. *This is the 10th and final round of the league so its double points for everyone😁

There was a fantastic turnout of Greenock Glenpark Harriers for the annual Renfrewshire 5 mile road race last Sunday. This event always seems to bring with it some West of Scotland weather challenges, and this year was no different! However, it didn’t stop 57 seniors from braving the wind a rain. A super turnout from the club in our 125th year.

The opportunity for a fast and flat 5 mile race always brings out a string field. Kilbarchan’s Olympian Derek Hawkins cruised to victory in 24.36. Derek and his reflection was perfectly captured by our photographer just prior to the masses splashing their way through one of the large puddles. It was a Kilbarchan one two, with Holly Thompson winning the ladies race. There were also comfortable wins for Bellahouston Road runners and Inverclyde AC in the ladies and mens team competitions respectively.

Sue Hewitson was first Harrier female with a good run in 33.2, just missing out on v40 bronze too. There was a silver in the v50 category for Fiona Cushnaghan and also a silver in the v60 for Charlotte McKay. Well done girls! Marian Monk is steadily making her way back to top racing form, as she outfought Claire Monaghan for 2nd Harrier. The ladies team were pushed out into 4th place and sadly missed out on a medal. It was good to see Fiona MacFarlane and Cheryl Thomas pushing the top 3 ladies very close, almost getting themselves in as a team counter.

Shaun Lyon finished as the top male harrier and was 8th overall in 26.10. Run of the day has to go to Neil Lafferty. He has been flying in recent weeks with storming runs at the vets relays and at parkrun, but he took a good few scalps with his brilliant time of 27.06 for 2nd Harrier and 12th overall. This also saw Neil claim a v40 bronze, brilliant run Neil! Neil was narrowly ahead of Paul Monaghan and Stevie Campbell. Andy White and Daniel Doherty made up the six counters for the male team to claim a brilliant silver medal.

There were also medals for Danny McLaughlin, with a v60 silver. The solo gold medal of the day for the club came to Andy White, who strolled to victory in the v50 race in under 28 minutes. It wasn’t as fast as Andy’s run here last year, but his training is going well ahead of an other assault on the London Marathon.

Marathon training was paying off further down the field, as Oliver Reilly continued his great form to claim 7th spot on the team in just over 29 minutes. Similarly, Robert Dolan also ran a big 5 mile PB (with a 5k PB thrown in during the race too). Sandwiched between these two were the returning Chris Mooney who held off Stephen Hanley’s charging sprint finish. It is good to see former club champion Chris making a return to racing after 12 months of injury woes, and he followed this race up with a cracking 17.18 at parkrun yesterday.

Duncan Anderson made a return to racing after a quiet winter, and picked up where he left off at the tail end of last year by dipping under 30. There were good runs for Kevin Craig, James Doherty and Liam McFadden, who have recently joined the club. Another new face Stuart Clark really surprised himself with his time, and really felt the benefit of the Harriers training and the quality of the field on show.

There were two graduates from our Tuesday night Couch to Club Runner sessions taking part in the race. Emma Sinclair has ran 10k races since joining the club, but perhaps not in this sort of weather! Jennifer Boyd took part in her longest race, and indeed longest run to date and was delighted to get round in well under 50 minutes. Hopefully we see a few more graduates as the season progresses.

A big thank you to all of the race volunteers and marshals for helping out in such terrible conditions. The times for our runners are below (noting that there is still a slight issue with the ladies times)

Results: Shaun Lyon 26:10, Neil Lafferty 27:06, Paul Monaghan 27:16, Steven Campbell 27:19, Andrew White 27:53, Daniel Doherty 28:48, Oliver Reilly 29:12, Chris Mooney 29:15
Stephen Hanley 29:16, Robert Dolan 29:21, Duncan Anderson 29:51, Kevin Craig 30:17
Michael McLoone 31:17, John Stevenson 31:23, Owen Atkinson 31:33, Sean Marshall 32:15, David McCorkindale 32:46, Sue Hewitson 33:27, Danny McLaughlin 33:47, James Doherty 34:46, Stephen Reid 34:59, James McFadden 35:08, Liam McFadden 35:30, Stuart Austin 35:42, Richard Jow 35:44, David Holmes 35:51, Alan O’Rourke 35:55, Ian McKee 35:57, Eric Lindsay 36:07, Marian Monk 36:11, Calum Gorry 36:12, Stuart Clark 36:16
Robin McAuslan 36:18, Claire Monaghan 36:19, Fiona MacFarlane 36:40, Cheryl Thomas 36:45, James Campbell 36:56, Scot Hill 37:22, Frank McMahon 37:51, Lucas Bezian 38:08
Lisa Boonsanong 39:12, Debbie McKenzie 39:18, Lynsey Mooney 39:35, Gerry Gillespie 40:09, Kenny Scott 40:21, Stuart Crawford 40:36, Fiona Cushnaghan 40:54, Heather Lafferty 40:55, Boyd MacKenzie 42:19,Elaine Medinelli 43:28, Angela Nelson 43:33, Julie Smith 43:49, David Carruthers 45:29, Jennifer Boyd 47:42, Emma Sinclair 50:04, Charlotte McKay 52:10, Simon Hutton 52:31

Newsletter on all the latest on upcoming events and recent race reports for the Junior Harriers.   The Harrier015Feb2020

History Makers: Mark Holliman, Scott Hannaway, Scott McCluckie, Mark McLachlan

GREENOCK Glenpark Harriers sprint relay quartet set local history in the club’s 125th year by winning silver in the National Indoor Relay championships held at the Emirates Indoor Arena, Glasgow.

Scott Hannaway, Mark Holliman, Scott McCluckie and Mark McLachlan, contesting the senior men 4 x 200m relay, made light work of the heat qualifying for a spot in the final with room to spare.

Scott Hannaway, on the lead-off leg, lived up to the announcer’s introduction as one of the country’s top juniors by getting out of his blocks sharp. He ignited the back straight as he overcame the stagger, hitting the home straight in the lead as he handed over to Mark Holliman for the second leg.

Mark, coming down in distance from his usual 400m and 800m, had a strong leg, holding off his competitors in the last 100 metres before the smoothest of changeovers with Scott McCluckie, the Harriers still contesting for the title.

Scott used his valuable experiences to cruised on to the back straight and remain calm under the pressure of the Giffnock North athlete. On the last changeover with Mark McLachlan, it was neck and neck with Giffnock gaining a slight edge over the local team.

With the two leaders running clear from the field and into the final 150 metres, Mark began attacking the leader and, despite closing the gap, ran out of time before crossing the line.

The quartet made local history, being the first senior sprint team to reach the podium, and created a new local record of 1:30.3, less than a quarter of a second off the title.

*Congratulations also to the Harriers Sprint Coach Kenny Morrison, who has overseen the sprint groups tough training plan over the winter months.

The Junior XC League has been brought forward to Saturday the 8th Feb due to storms forecast for Sunday. Meet at Tower Carpark at 11am.

Greenock Glenpark Harriers under 13 girls surpassed their expectations when competing in the National Relay Championships at the Emirates Arena. Prior to their opening 4x200m heat they only gave themselves a slim outside chance of making it through to the semi-finals.

The girls, predominately endurance athletes and no prior relay experience, a fastest loser spot was the best the girls had hoped for.

In the first round heats the diminutive Maria McCabe led the quartet out on the opening leg, and although back in 4^th and out of the automatic qualifying positions Maria was still within touching distance of the teams in front.

A slick exchange of the baton and an explosive start from Sophie McGinty saw the Harriers surge into 2^nd place by the time she had rounded the first bend, Sophie then continued to extend the lead over the 3^rd placed athlete.

There was another faultless baton switch to Erin Mceleny on the 3^rd leg, who’s powerful running put more daylight between the chasing pack, before passing onto Summer Taggart. With the pressure now off, Summer cruised around the 200m track recording the teams fastest time and an automatic place in the semi-final.

The semi-final saw a switch in the team format, with Maria stepping aside to make way for Islay Newsome. And it was another flawless performance from the girls, although not making it through to that elusive final, a 4^th place finish, and all 5 girls recording personal bests on the day, it was highly successful; with the bonus of seeing the Harriers Men’s team win Silver, and also watch trackside an exciting 800m race as Jemma Reekie outsprinted Laura Muir to set a new British record.

Results: Heats – 2^nd Place (Maria McCabe; Sophie McGinty; Erin McEleny, Summer Taggart) 2:14.10

Semi-Final – 4^th Place: (Summer Taggart; Sophie McGinty; Erin McEleny; Islay Newsome) 2:16.80