6th December 2025 – Barwood Park, Erskine
A decent number of Harriers made the short journey up the M8 to Erskine’s Barwood Park for the final XC event of 2025, and despite the weather of the previous days making the course very soft and muddy, there were some gutsy performances on the day, pushing the club up the leaderboards. The course is billed as 8.6k but the three loops ran well short, clocking in at just under 7k.
- Senior Men’s Race
More strong running from the in-form Stephen Trainer had him finishing as first Harrier home in 24:27, an excellent 19th place overall and scooping 3rd in his M35 category. Other notable runs put the GGH senior team into 7th place, with Lewis Khan (26:30), John Logan (27:02), Daniel Doherty (27:12), Paul Monaghan (27:19) and Steven Campbell (27:28) the other counting runners. In the masters category, Daniel, Paul and Steven’s efforts also put the club into 7th in this category.
Another brilliant run from Michael McLoone put him 1st once again in his age (M60) category, with Sean Doherty also getting an M60 top ten finish in 9th place.
- Senior Ladies Race
For once, the GGH ladies representation didn’t manage to match the number of men turning out, with injury and illness cutting the numbers back considerably. Ashley Anderson was the fastest lady on the day, her time of 31:58 putting her in 7th spot in the W35 group. Next home was ladies captain Lynne Harrison, also in 7th age category W50 with 35:45. The other ladies running were Jill Turner going under the 40 min barrier in the senior category, Maureen Doherty (4th W55) and Sarah Jane Whalen (12th W50) completing the ladies race.
- Juniors Race
The six junior Glenpark athletes competing at the West District championships all performed exceptionally well against quality opposition over the testing course at Erskine’s Barwood park, made all the tougher with the ground heavy after all the recent downpours.
First race away were the under 13 girls, with the club represented by Stella McCabe, Iona Quigley and Isabell Lafferty over the 2mile distance. Stella didn’t hold back, and from the gun she put herself in contention with the leaders, and at one stage she was up to 8th. She faded slightly in the closing stages but still managed to take an excellent 15th position. Iona with a more cautious start, moved steadily through the field, finishing strongly and close behind in 22nd.
The blistering start saw Isabell – making her debut at district level – being left at the rear of the field early on, but she showed her tenacity by getting herself back into the pack and taking a handful of places. The trio finished 8th in the team competition.
Twins Isaac & Jacob Robin were next on the course and again both exceeding their expectations with Isaac placing 27th & Jacob running steadily in 55th.
The final Junior to run was Josh Deegan in the under 15 race over 4.1km, and what a performance it was from start to finish. He was in the lead group as they made quick work of the 1st of the muddy laps.
At half way the leading 4 athletes made a big push and opened a gap from the rest of the field, leaving Josh to battle in the chasing group. Giving everything, all the way through to the final lung bursting 300m slope, he crashed across the finish line to take a stunning 7th and doing so earn selection for the West District team in the upcoming Scottish Interdistrict championships.
Credit to BOBBY GAVIN PHOTOGRAPHY for some of the following photos:
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- Credit: Bobby Gavin
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- Credit: Bobby Gavin
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- Credit: Bobby Gavin
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- Credit: Bobby Gavin
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- Credit: Bobby Gavin
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- Credit: Bobby Gavin
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- Credit: Bobby Gavin
