There was a hint of spring in the air as eight Glenparkers, making up two strong teams, made the short journey to Glasgow Green to take part in the popular Allan Scally Road Relays. The event allows a unique opportunity for runners to participate as a mixed team comprising two female and two male runners. The club fielded one Men’s team and one Mixed team.
Setting the pace on the first leg were Daniel Doherty and Greg Luke, both putting in excellent performances. Doherty had his a target set on a sub-17-minute run over the 5km distance; something he hasn’t done since 2018. Daniel’s recent form suggested he would do so and didn’t disappoint, bringing the Men’s team home in the top 30 with an excellent time of 16:42. In one of his favourite races, Greg also has his sights set on going under 19 minutes, however he narrowly missed out with an excellent time of 19:01.
Buoyed by their team-mates efforts, the metaphorical baton was handed to new members John Logan and Jill Aikman. Both runners are new to relays. This was John’s first relay event since school and he was understandably unsure of what to expect. This was also Logan’s first attempt at a fast and flat 5km road race. With a strong start to the season, John has secured back-to-back 10km personal best times and hopes were high of another strong run. John finished in a time of 17:14, an excellent time for his race at the distance and there is more to come. Jill Aikman was unsure about her ability to get near her previous best 5km time. She set out with a fast pace and ran strongly to take a chunk off her previous PB with a time of 22:14.
It was then over to Andy McCall and Jill Turner. This was Jill’s first experience at a relay and her first time wearing the club vest in a major race. Jill absolutely smashed her previous best time with an outstanding run, finishing in 26:01 setting Chris Mooney up to take the Mixed team further up the ranks. Meanwhile, unsure of his fitness level, Andy set out hard knowing a lot of the race would be run on his own with his first mile significantly quicker than the rest. He held on well to finish in his second quickest 5km time of 16:14.
On the final leg, Dylan Crawford set out at a blisteringly fast pace to make up ground on the runners ahead. His first mile was incredibly quick, setting expectations of emulating his time from the previous year (16 minutes). With the field well strung out Dylan did incredibly well to hold on for 16:14, the exact same time and splits as Andy on the third leg. Dylan took the Men’s team into a very creditable 26th place with an overall time of 1:06:24. They were delighted to better last year’s team time of 1:07:12 and one place improvement. Having seen his form continuing to improve, Chris Mooney was looking to edge closer to the 17 minute mark. Running a well paced race, Chris finished in a creditable time of 17:30, taking the mixed team home in 16th place and 1:24:56 overall.
Competing for their University teams both Harry and Ruby McGill will be happy with their runs. Harry ran a time of 16:23 and Ruby 20:33.
