Saturday 31st August saw the return of the yearly Westerton Gala Day and with it the Fun Run.
This year though it was the ‘All new Fun Run’ as the run location was moved from the usual 1-mile loop around/through the village to Cairnhill Woods. As we were setting-up the 2023 run early on that Saturday morning Polly from the Gala Day Committee happened to comment about how it would be good if we could do the run in Cairnhill Woods….and so the seed was planted…..
2024 rolled-round and, after some comms, we met-up in Cairnhill Woods to see if we could make a Woods fun run work. The team consisted of Polly from the Gala Day Committee, Gillian & Paul from Cairnhill Woods Group and Craig from Maryhill Harriers. It didn’t take long for us to scope a 2km (1.1 mile) route and agree that this would be an ace place for the run. After much liaison with Glasgow City Council we had the agreements, risk assessments etc in place and the run was ‘on’.
Returning this year were our popular edible medals at the end for all finishers – our ‘harrier baker’ Amy made 115 of these edible gold medals complete with ‘Westerton Gala Day Fun Run’ stamped on the icing on top. Absolutely brilliant again – harriers’ chat before Gala Day was whether there might be any left-over medals at the end 😊. Indeed Andy our tail-walker was getting increasingly nervous as the day approached in case any extras had gone by the time he made it round – we reckoned a world record tail-walk was on the cards!
We had an awesome 76 runners (including a few adults – the must have spotted the edible medals 😊) toe the line for the 1.1-mile route around the Woods – this was a single loop on the main Woods trail with a tough wee uphill finish to the ponds. A fantastic place to walk and run – in fact one of the club’s training runs is called ‘Cairnhill Woods’.
After a pre-run briefing we handed over to our VIP starter Miss Olsen from the local school. On the whistle blast they were off. And off they were! Charging full gas out onto the route – brilliant to see!
Fast running at the front all the way to the line with a close finish. Ramsey Smith took the overall first place. There was speedy running behind them with the following runners finishing in the top places in their categories. These guys were then presented with awards on the stage in the village green as part of the awards ceremony. Well done all!
8 and under:
1st Boy Thomas Knox
1st Girl Taila Mauricia
1st Boy Ramsey Smith
1st Girl Siyaya Mauricia
Age 12-16:
1st Boy Daniel McKenna
1st Girl India Mitchell (a Maryhill Harrier junior)
Daniel McKenna – could you please get in touch as we have your winner’s medal.
A massive shout-out to our harrier volunteers, Gala Day & parent volunteers plus the Cairnhill Woods Group & Polly for making this new route happen. Also huge thanks to Amy our ‘harrier baker’ for those 115 edible gold medals.
We all had a blast staging the run again – seeing loads of kids out on a trail run through glorious woods (in the sun!), what a way to start the Gala Day!
Loads of pics are available on the Westerton Gala Day Facebook page at Westerton Gala Day Facebook
