Friday 5th August saw the final race of the Tour of Clydeside take place in Pollok Park. The Bella Belter, organised by the Bellahouston Harriers, offered a fast flat course and attracted a good club turnout among the 131 runners. Linda, who competed in all five races, was joined by Natalie, Andy, Craig G, Scott and Kevin.
After a short warm up, the Harriers were startled into action by the starter gun and off we went.
Kevin: It was a busy start, so I picked up my pace to get into a comfortable spot and also so Andy didn’t disappear into the distance too early. It didn’t take me too long to settle into a good pace as I moved slightly up the field and found a group of three or four runners to target. Those in front would interchange positions and I just made sure that I kept close to them and didn’t fade away. As I ran past the 5k marker, I think I heard a time shout of around 18:35, so I knew if I could hold on I would be getting a good PB. During the last 2/3ks I could feel those in front starting to push on and I tried to do the same. The legs were starting to feel it but I had enough in me to hold onto my position. I didn’t exactly manage a sprint finish but managed to go from a previous PB of 40:00 to 38:02, so I was absolutely delighted.
Scott: The Bella Belter uses the same route as the Brian Goodwin 10k, where I have recorded a few PB’s over the years so I was hopeful of a decent performance here. Starting in the middle of the pack, I stuck behind Kevin and Andy for the first 2 kilometres, getting a bit of a fright when my watch beeped at 2k to show 3.47. Deciding to behave myself and calm it down, I let the two disappear into the horizon and concentrated on keeping myself in front of Craig and Natalie, who were both tucked in right behind me. After a fairly comfortable start, I found the 6th and 7th km’s a bit of a slog particularly on the wee hill just after 7k. I was on track for a decent time though, so managed to get the head down once out of Pollok Park and picked up the pace for the last 2km. Michael Hampton of Giffnock North , whom I had pipped at the line at Wednesdays Canal Canter, was just ahead of me as we approached the home straight. Despite a valiant surge, I was unable to pull level although I was delighted with my finishing time of 41.03, 30 secs off my PB!.
The race was won by Stuart Gibson, Ronhill Cambuslang Harriers in a time of 32:54 followed by Jack Heathwood, Bellahouston Harriers, 34:03 and Gregor Yates, Bellahouston Harriers 34:27.
First female was Jenny Bannerman, Inverness Harriers AAC in a time of 35:42 followed by Fiona Ramsay, Cani-fit, 40:03 and our very own Natalie in 42:08.
The Tour of Clydeside was won by Darren McQuade, Bellahouston Harriers, 2:23:24 and Fiona Ramsay, Cani-fit, 2:41:32. Linda was the only Maryhill Harrier to complete all five races and did so in 3:35:14, coming third in the FV40 category.
A 3rd female for Natalie, some brilliant PBs, and a monumental five-day effort from Linda showed the Harriers in good health.
Results available at https://www.facebook.com/tourofclydeside/
131 runners
21st Andy Sutherland 37:27
26th Kevin Campbell 38:02 PB
47th Scott Coulter 41:03 PB
50th Craig Gilmour 41:29
57th Natalie Somerville 42:08 3rd female
106th Linda Sinclair 53:24
