Great Scottish Run weekend, October 5 and 6

We had another packed weekend of events, with a big group of runners and supporters travelling to Glasgow for the various Greats Scottish Run events on Saturday and Sunday.

First up was the Juniors fun run on Saturday morning, which saw some of the youngest youngsters running. Scott Saunders, Huw Thomas and sisters Beth and Lucy Taylor all enjoyed themselves in the first event, setting the stage for their brothers and sisters and mums and dads later in the weekend.

The next race was the Junior 2.5k race, which in the past has featured runners such as Eilish McColgan, who will, barring injury, be one of Scotland’s leading hopes on the track in next year’s Commonwealth Games. Sol, Levi, and Daniel put on a fine show, with Sol working hard to finish in fourth place overall. 

After all the excitement with the Juniors races on Saturday, it was the turn of the adults on Sunday. The first race was the 10k, and for the Harriers we had the whole range from highly experienced runners such as Patrick and Kerry, to 10k debutants, such as Derek Saunders, David Graham and Donna Stewart.

Patrick recorded a great time of 36.22 to finish in 33rd position in a very high-quality field. Zak Howie, now based in Glasgow, put in a terrific effort to finish in his best 10k time of 41.47, while Kerry also recorded a fine personal best time of 42.27. Maddy ran well for her 45.46. David , Derek and Donna ran together all the way and finished in 1.09.44.

The main event was the Great Scottish Half Marathon, which this year featured the world’s best long-distance runner, Haile Gebreselassie, and a fine collection of other international stars, some of whom we’ll be seeing in Glasgow again at the Commonwealth Games. On his first visit to Scotland, Gebreselassie was a convincing winner, breaking the Scottish all-comers record for the half-marathon, and set a new World Masters age group record. The women’s race was won by Susan Partridge from Oban, another strong medal hope for the Commonwealth Games.

In perfect conditions for a half-marathon and on a fast course, we had a great collections of Harriers performances. Will was first Harrier home in a terrific time of 1.21.13, to finish in 79th position. Other notable performances included personal bests for Wendy (1.37.03), Andy (1.48.08) and Julia (1.56.17). Also running well were Allan McInnes, preparing for the Athens Marathon, Jayne, Matt McClay, preparing for the Abingdon Marathon, Alistair Sexton, Colin T, running again just a week after the Loch Ness Marathon, and Nicola.

And if the Great Scottish Run weekend wasn’t enough, Harriers were also in action at the Chester Marathon, where Phil T recorded a very good 3.23, and at the Ben Venue hill race, where Gordon enjoyed his day out on the hill to beat the 2-hour mark for this demanding race.