Summer Round Up

Greenock Glenpark Harriers Summer Round Up

Some of the happenings over the last wee while. I’ve definitely missed races. I’ve definitely missed folk from races. I’ve definitely missed some cracker pictures of folk. Like most places there was a reduced service during the holidays so apologies if ones of the misses was you or your event it was not intentional or on purpose. En Avant

Scottish Veteran Harriers Club Relay

The Scottish Veteran Harriers Club relay is generally a popular event in the winter calendar in January but with ice ensuring that the course fell foul to cancellation on safety grounds the organisers were left trying to find a gap in the racing schedule to ensure it was able to go ahead at some point. A date of the 11th July 2025 was agreed and only 3 hardy Harriers made the journey to Strathclyde Country Park. Nathalie Smith, Viki Smith and Jill Aikman ensured that the famous yellow and blue vest would be represented in the race. The course is a flat out and back 6km relay which sounds easy but in temperatures of almost 30 degrees it was anything but, ironic given the original reason for postponement. Nathalie ran first and set the ball rolling in a good 31min 20s with Viki running the middle leg in a great time of 29min 17s and Jill anchored the team home with another strong run of 29min and 1s. Hopefully next year there will be more GGH teams entered, which would be expected when it returns to its’ usual pl;ace in the calendar.

John Logan K12 Ultra Marathon

John Logan recently raced at the K12 Ultra Marathon. The K12 Ultra Marathon takeplaces at Deans Castle Country Park. consists of a 4km circular route with mixed terrain, including some challenging inclines and steeps descents. There are two races on the day with a 6 hour option and a more gruelling 12 hour option. John is at his happiest over longer endurance events and in his 12 hours completed 31 full laps. A quite remarkable distance covered in the end of 116.37km.

A great result for John and also and opporunity to congratulate John on his recent marriage and the chanceafter the race to get away for a wee mini- moon.

Greenock Glenpark Harriers Juniour Sprint Championships

Well done to all our competitors this evening, and a big thank you to everyone helping with the officiating:

On a beautiful evening ievening, on the 12th of August as the warm weather returned for the 8th race of 10 for the Glenpark Harriers Junior sprint championships at Ravenscraig stadium. (Tuesday 12th August)

The hard work put in by the young athletes over the Spring and Summer was shown with their continued improvement in performance as they fiercely contested 6 heats of the 200m.

Heat 1 Lauryn McLaughlin continued her recent winning form; her long stride taking her clear of the rest of the field. Under 9’s James Mooney and Leia Killen following behind.

Heat 2 Stella McCabe came out on top this time, with her win closing the gap on Orla Trainer to a couple of points. Two wins for either athlete are required to ensure the title, but a win apiece will see the girls share the championship.

Heat 3 Elijah Taylor was a clear winner, with Sami Robertson next across the line in a close battle for the runners up spot.

Heat 4 The under 13 boys sprint championship is the most open of all the age groups, with 3 boys still in the running for the overall title, but closing the gap on leader Jack Grant is Zach McAllister, who will need victory in the final 2 events next week. Zach took the win, but a photo finish was required as the next 3 all dipped on the line for the minor places.

Heat 5 Summer Taggart with a sub 30 second run, went 15metres clear of Gabrielle Simpson, who under pressure, maintained her form through the line to place 2nd ahead of Abbie Learie.

Heat 6 Josh Deegan’s convincing win will give him confidence going into this weekend’s 800m Scottish Championships at Aberdeen. Jonathon Lamont had a superb return to competition after a few months out with injury, taking 2nd place in a very fast and competitive under 15s heat.

Dunoon 10km

11 Harriers made the short ferry trip to Dunoon for the Dunoon 10km race on the 2nd of August 2025. Stephen Harrison 3rd V50, Eric Lindsay and David Williamson were a small contingent of men on the day. In contrast 8 women made the journey across the water. With a late change of race time to accommodate an updated ferry timetable there were some great results on the day. Lynne Harrison ran back into form with a PB of 47.47, Jill Aikman just 4 seconds later. Rebecca McCluckie dipped under the 50 minute mark, Terri Wall, Lorna McMillan, Rachel Hardy, Charlotte McKay and Alison Smart completed the Harriers contingent on the day. The gents team were first overall team on the day with the ladies team coming in second on a successful day for the club.

IRONMAN 70.3 BOLTON

Huge congratulations to John Hampsey

John Hampsey trecently ook on the IRONMAN 70.3, that’s a 1.2 mile swim, a 56 mile cycle, and a 13.1 mile run.

John absolutely smashed it in 5:07:33, taking 33 minutes off his previous best.

Completing a 70.3 is no small feat, and doing it with a massive PB makes it even more special.

Well done, John

Montane Lakeland 50

Two of Greenock Glenpark Harriers Ultra legends travelled south for the Lakeland 50 race. Viki Smith and Lorna Mitchell are no strangers to intrepid days and weekends on the trails. The race description reads as follows

The Lakeland 50 is one the greatest ultra trail challenges in Europe, perhaps the world. It is run over the second half of the Lakeland 100 Ultra Tour of the Lake District, completing the final 50 miles of the 100 course. As it’s only half of the Lakeland 100 course it’s the easy option.. right? That’s the first and worst error you could possibly make. It’s a fact that 40-50% of the 100 mile competitors don’t finish the course, 80-90% of those drop out prior to or ‘at’ half way. Many great ultra runners have started the 100 course and found it just too difficult, too demanding.. half of the course was ‘enough’. The Lakeland 50 is ‘half of the course’, it’s almost double the distance of a marathon, it’s on rough terrain and there’s almost 3000m of ascent to deal with. Whether you choose the 50 or the 100 mile course.. there is no ‘easy option’ available. The Lakeland 50 is a huge challenge, it requires commitment, drive and the ability to ‘just keep going’ when most folk would ‘just rather not’.

That being taken into account and Lorna ‘not really meant to be back running yet’ Mitchell and Viki ‘Let’s run round Menorca for a bit of fun’ Smith had a great day out and completed the course in 15.51 and 14.09 respectively.

Inverclyde Aquathon

Inverclyde Aquathlon 17th August 2025: On a day that was almost too hot for even spectating our 5 young stars displayed their swimming and running talents at the Inverclyde aquathlon. It was stiff competition, in which all the 10 to 17 year-old boys and girl athletes were competing against each other over the same distance.

After the initial quarter mile swim, 12 lengths of Gourock Pool, it was then out on to the bustling Ashton promenade for a 3km run, dodging the pedestrians with the sun beating down on them at the hottest part of the day.

Despite the conditions it was an awesome display from all 5, as Lauryn McLaughlin, Iona Quigley and Nina McClafferty all packed well, placing 7th,8th & 9th in the overall competition. Lauryn, one of the youngest in the race was clear winner in the U11 category and in the U13 girls’ category, Nina along with Cadhlea Hair and April Smith took the top 3 positions on the podium.

Paisley 10km

Paisley proved popular as usual for a healthy Greenock Glenpark Harriers contingent who made the short journey East on a day where the factor 50 was needed for many.

19 men and 17 women ensured the famous vest was prevalent on the streets of the Renfrewshire town.

Men’s results

Stephen Trainer 33.34; Alan Henderson 38.13; Colin McKnight 40.52; Matthew Deegan 41.15; John Stevenson 41.52; Graham McGrattan 45.07; Gerry Gallacher 46.28; Steven Smith 46.16; Malcolm MacLean 45.09; Stephen Reid 47.34; Alan Robertson 47.43; Stephen Campbell 47.43; Paul Meahan 47.44; David Williamson 48.26; Gordon Robertson 48.04: Stuart Crawford 53.29; Jim Brannigan 54.26; Stephen Harrison 57.49; David McDiarmid 54.50; Philip Melvin 55.35;

Ladies results

Lorna Mitchell 45.19; Jill Aikman 48.23; Melissa Wilson 47.55; Terri Wall 51.53; Lynne Harrison 49.02; Rebecca McCluckie 51.22; Helen Crawford 53.37; Cheryl Thomas 54.21; Sarah Jane Whalen 55.58; Celeste McKnight 1.01.19; Iona McKnight 1.01.19; Mhatir Biggart 1.02.28; Angela Devlin 1.06.43; Charlotte McKay 1.06.39; June Anne McKnight 1.17.56; Doris Heron 1.19.20; Lorna MacLean 1.19.22;