The weather gods were certainly shining over Scotland this weekend, whilst the sprinters were running in the warm sunshine in Cumbernauld, the hill runners were basking in the glorious weather and the stunning scenery of the Goatfell hill race. The race is hosted annually by the club and it was a roaring success with 100 runners tackling the challenging out and back course from Brodick to the summit of Goatfell. Many marshalls and athletes managed to make their way over to Arran, despite the ongoing ferry dramas that have plagued many a holiday in recent years. It was a scorching day and sun cream was applied unsparingly by all; a full of team of Shettleston marshalls made the sunny boat ride over and it was wonderful to see the club come out in force to enable such an event.
Blue and gold was also represented in the field, as a strong team of women toed the start line. Fresh from their podium finish at the Scottish 5km championships the night before, Aoife Carr, Tara Walker and Hannah Gilchrist put in very strong performances to finish 5th, 6th and 8th, respectively, and more than secure the women’s team prize! A flying start from 16:48 athlete, Aoife, had the whole field worried for the first mile.
While the Shettleston women bested Carnethy in the team prize, it was Grace Pow who won the individual race with an impressive time of 1:37:31, more than ten minutes ahead of her nearest rival, Carnethy team-mate, Polly Edwards in 1:49:51 and Lea Meinecke of Cambridge University Hare and Hounds in 1:50:20.
Carnethy dominated in the men’s race, taking three of the top four places in the overall results. Race winner Alistair Masson completed the course in a time of 1:20:31, five minutes ahead of his Carnethy team-mate Sam Hooper in 1:25:50. Andrew McCall of Westerland CCC rounded out the podium places in third 1:30:17 ahead of Eliot Sedman of Carnethy 1:31.02.
Events like this and others in the calendar, such as the recent Shettleston 10km, only succeed because the club comes together and does their bit. There is an ongoing appreciation for our members volunteering at these events and long may that continue and the club would like to thank all the members and volunteers who helped on the day to deliver another fantastic event.
Full results here https://protay.co.uk/goatfell2025/results.php#0_6BD9EB
There was a group of seaworthy Shetts taking to the waves and hills this weekend for the ever-impressive Scottish Island Peaks Race (SIPR). Alastair Pringle (TJ), Bill Breckenridge, Alex Hill, CJ Macphail, Iain Pender, Harry Pulham, Joe Symonds, and Steve Halsall all set off from Oban on Friday on an excursion of epic proportions. Their adventures included climbing Ben More on Mull, the Paps of Jura and Goatfell on Arran and sailing between them all with their trusted boat crews, before landing in Troon at any time between Sunday afternoon and Monday morning!
CJ and Iain knocked it out of the park and were awarded the Elspeth Scott trophy for having the fastest cumulative time over all running legs of the mixed pairs, alongside their whole team winning class 3. Bill and TJ also had a stormer, they placed 3rd in class 3 and put on a show up the hills, keeping a notoriously strong Westerlands CCC pair in their sights all weekend. Harry and Ella (Westie and close friend to the Shetts) were on a frighteningly fast boat and managed to place 3rd in class 2 and 3rd overall, finishing as early as 16:09 on the Sunday! Steve, alongside teammate Ross Creber, claimed the King of the Bens trophy for fastest male pair of runners and, due to a combination of fast running, a speedy boat and some tactical wind reading, won the whole event outright, finishing in an impressive time of 47:01:59. Whilst Alex and Joe had an incredible weekend, their races were unfortunately both felled due to boat and injury troubles, respectively.
Ultra legend Paul Manson had jaws dropping again at UTMB Ultra Trail Snowdonia 100 mile race. There were 240 DNFs in this race but Paul stayed strong as he always does and whipped round in a cool 44:09:03!
This week’s Bog and Burn race certainly earned its title. Ben Sheann proved a very steep and muddy experience for 3 Shetts. Elena added another accolade to her trophy cabinet, taking the win by over a minute and Ceana put another blue and gold in the mix with an impressive 7th place finish! Ryad continued his never-ending podium purple patch with 3rd place behind two big names of the sport.
Cameron Young proved that leg speed is the key in hill running too with a mighty silver medal at Glas Tulaichean, an uphill-only 7.2km hill race situated between Glen Tilt and Glen Shee.
A home return for David Lawson in the Ras y Gader – Cader Idris Mountain Race in Snowdonia. David managed to put some big names behind him to claim 3rd place in this 16.9 km race with 915 metres of ascent.
Another Shett returning home was Cammy Muir in the Hollywood Stroll in Dumfries. Cammy defended his title, running 26:09 over the 5 miles.