Congratulations to Lynn McKenna who has followed up her selection for GB at the European Cross Country Championship’s with selection for Scotland at the Home Nations International in London on the 20th January. Club secretary, John Mackay, will also travel to London as team manager for the Scotland Men’s Team.
The club would like to send our congratulations to Susan Walker (nee Scally) on being awarded a MBE in the New Year Honours list. Susan has a close link to the club, as the name Scally indicates. She is the daughter of Frank Scally and cousin to current club President, Elaine Mackay (nee Scally).The Scally family has linked to the club for close to 100 years over four generations. Susan was a former member and can be seen in recent years helping at her grandfather’s memorial race – The Allan Scally Memorial Road Relay. Her work as Chief Commissioner of Girl Guiding Scotland and services to young people has been honoured by the award.
The holiday period is always a quiet time in terms of competing but a few members still found the time to pull on the vest and put in a power of training.
Fred Davies returned home to the North of England to finish 6th in the Ronnie Walker Saltwell 10km and on the 29th December a number of members ventured east to compete in the Tilli 10km
Results : Adam Peters 27th 34.05, Scott McKelvie 45th 35.37, Stewart Houston 56th 36.22
Iain Burns 64th 36.43, Ben Fullarton 146th 42.50
Please check out the year review put together by Tracey Fox – it was a great year in 2023 and we look forward to another successful year. Over the coming weeks we have a number of indoor events and of course cross country events
Important Cross Country events include
Sat 13th Jan 2024 – Inter District at Renfrew – we have a number of athletes picked for the West team -details to follow
Sat 20th Jan 2024 – West Cross Country League -Bellahouston Park -All age groups
Sun 28th Jan 2024 – Kirkintilloch Cross Country Races -Young athletes only
Christmas Week Parkruns – Podium places for Taha, Jethro, Mark, Matthew, Scott and Ronnie
With no racing on Christmas weekend there was an increased turnout from the club across the various parkruns.
The weather across the board was wet and windy but surprisingly mild for this time of year.
At Strathclyde Parkrun, Taha Ghafari won in a time of 15.16 with Holly Morrison 2nd lady in a time of 20.09. Paul Mcguigan finished in a time of 22.29.
Toby Hession was the sole Shettleston Harrier at Ferry Meadows parkrun in a time o f 20.13.
It was good to see Scott Kennedy at the Citypark Parkrun in a time of 20.37.
As expected at Linwood it was competitive, with local, Matthew Turner, winning in a time of 17.06. Victoria Leiper was 6th lady in a time of 22.34.
It was business as usual at Tollcross Parkrun, with Ronnie Strachan finishing third in 19.39, David Murphy 11th in 22.51 and Bob Porteous in 27.46.
Denis Williams finished 8th at Victoria Parkrun in a time of 18.57, with Andrew Sheilds finishing in 28.34.
Meanwhile at Springburn Parkrun, Scott Mckelvie was back in action after his marathon in Valencia. Scott finished 2nd place in a time of 18.08.
At the hilly Queen’s parkrun, Jethro Lennox finished strong in 2nd place in a time of 18.09. Rowan Lennox finished in 24.02, followed by Raymond Loughran in 53.43.
At the Faskally Forest Parkrun, Bryony Macleod finished in a time of 24.21 for second lady.
Finally at the Erskine Waterfront Parkrun, Mark McColl finished second in a time of 18.59.
Congratulations to Ruth Joss on the arrival of Felix Joss Bevan who arrived on the 2nd January – Everyone in the club send their wish to the proud parents and grandparents on the new arrival, Ruth has already indicated he will be running the national 2034!