Great Scottish Run

Glasgow was thronged on Sunday 4 October with tens of thousands of runners taking their place in the Great Scottish Run half marathon and 10k. This year, both races started near Blythswood Square avoiding the usual initial climb from George Square before crossing the river on the Kingston Bridge and looping round the south side to recross the river on the Squinty Bridge and head along the Broomielaw for the finish on Glasgow Green.

In the 10k Iain Jordan, running in his Strathclyde University colours, scooped the silver medal with 31:28 with strong club support from Jack Honeyman (33:30), Neil Convery (35:09), Findlay Smith (35:52) and Rebecca Olej (44:21). In the Half Marathon, Jamie Crowe triumphed as he ran well clear to finish in 63:27, destroying his personal best by almost a minute and wresting back second place in the club rankings. Connor Bell was our next home in a strong 71:56 with Euan Docherty chasing him hard in 72:21. Morgan Boyd was our first finisher among the women in a fine 79:23. John MacKinnon flew the flag with 83:34 followed by Ellyn Smith, now based in Aberdeen, in 87:33 and Ewan Jack with a season's best of 87:40. Phil Sweeney ran 89:50, his third and fastest half marathon of the year, and Kenny Hislop set a personal best of 90:46. Ellen Pollock ran strongly for 1:41:24, Fia Watkin cleared 1:44:43, Hannah Hislop finished well in 1:47:12 and first-timer Aidan Penn set a fine mark of 2:00:23. A little further back Ros Organ came in with 2:06:26, Grace Whelan kept company with a friend in 2:13:14 and Kerry Watkin logged a creditable 2:24:25. Full results at https://results.greatrun.org/leaderboard

Cardiff half marathon

Gordon Appelbe, Ally and Linda Cunningham followed the Marquess of Bute south to Cardiff for the half marathon on Sunday 4 October or, as the Welsh Language Act would encourage us to add, the hanner marathon Caerdydd. Cardiff is one of the Six SuperHalfs alongside Lisbon, Prague, Berlin, Copenhagen and Valencia - after this weekend, the Cunninghams just have Copenhagen on the to-do list, but for Gordon it was his first time at the distance without having slept in his own bed the night before. The Cardiff race is of a similar scale to the Great Scottish Run, and so there’s a busy crowded start but also lots of support. It’s a flat course that takes in many of the city sights including the Principality Stadium, the barrage across Cardiff Bay, the Senedd and Cardiff Castle. Gordon ran a rapid 1:37:56, just slower than his Alloa time from the spring, Ally romped home in 1:44:40 and Linda continued her journey back from injury in 2:12:44. Full results at https://www.cardiffhalfmarathon.co.uk/event-info/results/

Blast 5k

There were some familiar faces at the monthly Blast 5k on Edinburgh's Meadows on Tuesday 6 October. Ally Cunningham nailed 21:19, Linda Cunningham blethered her way round in 26:48 and Jill Scott slotted 28:05. Full results at https://blastrunning.co.uk/5km-the-meadows-results