2020 will be remembered as a year of sport; an Olympic year, the European football championships, the 75th Vuelta a España but most importantly January of 2020 welcomed the return of the Nigel Barge Memorial 10k Race after a 2-year hiatus.
Despite not being a merit league race and many club members volunteering who would normally run, we had 9 Harriers tackle the tough course, many of us going in blind having never done the course before. The two laps around the Garscube Sports Complex and Vet School before heading along Temple Road and looping round onto Maryhill Road and back to Garscube, is almost the same as the Glasgow Uni 5 Miler with a wee extra bit past the rugby pitches to get the full 10k.
Among those having not done the course was Rory. Having just competed in the 1500m at the Emirates Stadium, a ridiculously quick 4:41 for the distance and a 3rd place finish in his race, the day before, he wasn’t sure how fresh his legs would be. Clearly, they were pretty fresh as he shot off with the front group and managed to post a sub-37 minute time, impressive on such a tough course. I also had never done the route before but was determined to post a good time after some disappointing results in previous 10ks for one reason or another. Having Caroline standing at the top of the last hill cheering us on was enough to spur me on for the last kilometre. Not enough to quite break 40 minutes, but enough to get a big PB and just enough to keep Natalie at bay. She continued her fantastic race form at the moment by coming across the line as 3rd overall female, race of the day definitely goes to her. Congratulations Natalie! A couple of minutes down the road, Craig W and Mark ran fairly close together the whole way but Craig managed to stay in front of Mark all the way to the line, both posting very respectable times. There was an almighty battle going on behind; Ryan, another Barge newbie, was in front of Willie for most of the race until about 7k ish where Willie started to pull himself past Ryan and on towards the finish. A valiant finish from both, but it was Willie who timed his effort to perfection and came across the line ahead of Ryan. We also had two debutants racing for the Harriers; Dan and Izzie both in their first race for the Harriers came across the line pleased with their respective PBs, congratulations to both of them. Clearly, we’re doing something right on a training night!
The event couldn’t have gone smoother thanks to the organisation of Scott and everybody else who volunteered in some capacity on the day. Chris G took some fantastic photos at the halfway point and finish line (see links below). Well done to all the runners, especially those that managed PBs on what is a very tough course. The race was won by Lachlan Oates, of Shettleston Harriers, in a time of 31:44 and the first female finisher was Kayleigh Jarrett, also of Shettleston Harriers, in 37:05.
Onwards to the Merit League double-header of the Uni 5 Miler and the Kirky 12.5k!
Club Results:
18th: Rory Clark, 36:35
36th: Finn Boyd, 40:12 {PB}
42nd: Natalie Somerville, 40:45
65th: Craig White, 43:42
73rd: Mark Dunn (Perth Road Runners/Maryhill Harriers), 44:37
80th: Willie McGill, 45:12
83rd: Ryan Gilhooley, 45:31
118th: Dan Evans (South Cheshire Harriers/Maryhill Harriers), 48:32 {PB}
161st: Izzie Deakin, 54:26 {PB}
Pictures at https://photos.app.goo.gl/UuqSYrDNmiCayUnE9
