Merit league races come thick and fast in April/May, and fast is certain apt in the case of this race. This has been on our merit league for a number of years and always attracts a good number of Maryhill Harriers looking to flex their legs on the track at the St Peter the Apostle High School in Clydebank.
13 Harriers took to the track this year and it certainly wasn’t an unlucky number. Hannah, Linda, Sorcha, Kenny, Margaret and Chris were in Heat 1. Heather and Ben in 2, with Daniel, Craig, and Andrew in the penultimate heat. Lastly, we had Scott and Kev in the final of the 4 heats.
With a torn meniscus keeping me out of action, I came along to watch and I’m glad I did; it was a fantastic night of racing. It’s not often a race report comes from someone who has a full view of all participants, and the full course, so hopefully I do the race justice despite not taking part.
I arrived just before the start of Heat 1 and took up a position at the finish line. Kenny started strong taking the lead in the bunch of 6 in blue. Chris settled in behind him and then Linda, Hannah, and Sorcha in a tight pack. Indeed, you could have thrown a tea towel over those 3 for the first 11 and a half laps. Margaret was battling along behind them and running with determination and grit.
As the laps stretched out Kenny stayed in the lead with Chris not too far behind. At one point, I believed Kenny could have threatened the leaders but they pulled away toward the end of the race. Chris bemoaned the imaginary “hill” on the 3rd bend which we have since called Mount Hever, and advised he was so used to ultras he nearly stopped for some custard about 2/3 of the way round.
As Linda was continuing to lead the two youngsters for most of the race, the discussions on the side-lines centred around whether she could hold them off or whether one, or both, would make their move. As the bell for the last lap sounded Sorcha started to stretch her legs and overtook Linda with around 250m to go. Sorcha is a track specialist and showed her nous as she had plenty of energy left. As the battle behind them raged, Kenny came in fantastically strong with an age PB followed 53 seconds later by Chris, only a little shy of his brilliant Scally time from earlier in the year.
Back to the Maryhill 3, Sorcha sprinted to the finish line, 4 seconds ahead of Hannah who finished with a fantastic PB, then followed by Linda, again only 4 seconds later. What a race that was, the 3 ladies closely battling for 5k to finish a mere 8 seconds apart. Linda coming in with an age PB and a great result as 1st Female V50. A special mention must go to Margaret who showed incredible determination to keep going, despite her recent injury, the pain etched on her face but finishing in a great time and taking the 1st Female V60 crown as well! What an exciting race, and that was only heat 1!
The next heat saw Heather and Ben line up alongside the multitude of Garscube and WERR runners, with the odd Dumbarton AAC and Westerlands runners thrown in. Heather was running well and looking strong for the first few laps with Ben a couple of hundred metres behind by the mid-way point. Margaret and I were chatting on the side-lines discussing Ben’s current PB and wondering if he was going to beat it. As the laps counted down it looked more likely, and Margaret moved up to the last bend to scream encouragement/demands for Ben to go for it. Meanwhile Heather was flying, running smoothly and not letting up. As the bell rang for the last lap Ben moved up a gear, both runners in blue flying across the finish line with Ben making up almost half a lap advantage to finish, yes you guessed it, 4 seconds behind Heather. Both runners chalking up PBs. Ben, incredibly taking 1:06 off his previous best, and Heather finishing as 1st female Harrier. Another belter of a race, yet more was still to come.
The 3rd heat then kicked off with Andrew, Daniel, and the evergreen Craig Perrie lining up in this one. As the runners started, Craig settled into second place behind Steven Forcer, an outstanding runner from Westerlands who is a regular at Ruchill, and who has become a recent nemesis of James Prior. Craig was hot on his heels for the first couple of laps. Daniel was running fantastically well, as was Andrew who had started to fade a little as the race went on, having not trained as much due to injury. All of us on the side-lines saw how well Craig was running and it was no surprise when he overtook Steven after a few laps and looked very comfortable. I have often said Craig makes running look easy with his fluid style and he was romping this race. He has often told me he wishes it was easy, but it’s not. As the last lap bell rang Craig held a good lead however the Westerlands runner had a bit left in the tank and attacked Craig in the last 200m! Craig, sensing this attack gave absolutely everything and sprinted full pelt for the last 50m crossing the line a midge’s bawhair (a genuine measure of distance) ahead of his Westerlands rival. The clock for both registering 19:03 but Craig taking the win by the timing mat! What a storming finish! With this win, Craig also took the 1st MV50 from Steven.
This heat wasn’t finished yet as all of us watching realised Daniel could beat his previous PB of 19:14. As the watching harriers screamed at Daniel to give a final push, he crossed the line with an audible “oh no” as he saw the timing clock and knew he had equalled, and not beaten his time. Regardless, it was a fantastic run by Daniel who has been in brilliant form despite his time off in Japan. We can only surmise, but I’m confident if his nemesis, Alex, had been running he would have beaten his PB. Andrew finished very respectably with a good time considering his injury, with the words of his sister from the Scally ringing in his ears, “if only you had trained harder”!
Now, to the final heat with Kev and Scott lining up against some serious heavy hitters from Garscube and WERR! Scott has been training incredible hard recently for the 10 mile and HM merit league races but not focusing on speed, however it’s apparent to all that training for distance also helps the shorter races and that was evident as he settled into a good rhythm and pulled away from Kev relatively early. Both runners however kept their pace up and didn’t fade as the very fast laps counted down. A mention here must be given to Euan Convery from Garscube for his race, a tall elegant runner with a long stride leaving absolutely everyone in his wake and ultimately finishing as the race winner 38 seconds ahead of 2nd place.
Back to our 2 runners, Scott was flying by each time cheered on by a multitude of Harriers in blue by the side-lines and as the laps counted down, we were more and more convinced he could finally break the 18m barrier. Screamed at for encouragement as the last lap bell rang, we could only watch as he ran at the far side of the track, none of us 100% certain if he was going quite fast enough. None of us should have doubted him as he approached the final 100m flying by the contingent in blue screaming and willing for him to finish. And finish he did taking 10 beautiful seconds off his PB to finish as 1st Harrier.
Kev should not be forgotten in this race and despite finishing 46s behind Scott, he came in 14th place overall, and an impressive 32s better than his Scally time. There really is only one Kevin Campbell (slower than the Cambuslang Harrier and faster than the former footballer (RIP)), and he’s Maryhill Blue, and we love him.
Added to the individual triumphs, the Maryhill female contingent took second team prize (Heather, Sorcha, Hannah, Linda) and the men took third team prize (Scott, Kevin, Craig, Daniel). Well done to all!!!!
Watching from the side, I was immensely proud of every single runner in Maryhill royal blue. For such as small club we continually punch above our weight and will continuously do so! Here’s to the next one!
Results
Scott Coulter – 1st Harrier – 17:50
Kevin Campbell – 18:36
Craig Perrie – 19:03
Daniel Nixon – 19:14
Andrew Stevenson – 21:39
Heather Stevenson – 1st Female Harrier – 22:05
Ben Peebles – 22:09
Kenneth Henderson – 23:54
Chris Hever – 24:47
Sorcha Hill – 25:34
Hannah Hughes – 25:38
Linda Sinclair – 25:42
Margaret Peebles – 28:37
