July 29th, 2023

Over the last few weeks members of Cambuslang Harriers have competed on road, track, hills and trail as well as participating in triathlon and aquathon events.
10 club athletes lined up for the midweek Scottish Veterans 5K Road Race at Clydebank. First Cambuslang runner home was M35 Steven Fitzpatrick in a time of 16.05 which was only 10 seconds outside his pb. He was followed in by M50 Mark King whose time of 16.59 was his first sub 17 minutes clocking. The leading M60 Dave Thom crossed the line only 7 seconds behind Mark. The last time David had run faster for the distance was as far back as 2013 which indicates how well he is racing at the moment. M50 Mark Gallacher (17.12) was close behind. Both M55 Chris Upson (18.01) and M40 Gary Lyon (18.30) were comfortably under 19 minutes. They were followed home by M45 Scott Hunter (21.08). Both W65 Erica Christie and M70 Sandy Eaglesham were first in their respective age groups. Erica’s 23.12 stint was 15 seconds quicker than Sandy’s time. Fellow M70 Peter Ogden (24.52) took 2nd place in that age group. Andrew Carey, Stan MacKenzie and Katie Clubb (formerly Bristow) were involved in the Inverness Campus 5K. both Stan and Katie contested the B race and Andrew the A event. It was a successful and satisfying outing for all 3. Andrew lowered his pb by 8 seconds to 15.19 when taking 8th spot in his race. While not setting pbs both Stan and Katie recorded their quickest times since 2017 and 2018 respectively. Stan’s 17.42 effort gave him 2nd overall and first M60 while Katie’s 18.12 recording clinched the first lady award. In recent years both athletes have had longstanding injuries to contend with. During that interim Katie has also started a family and relocated to her native Shetland.

Gavin Smith by virtue of his early season pb of 3.44.55 at Livingston qualified to compete in the Senior Men AAA 1500M Championships which was a great honour for him and his coach Mike Johnston. The monsoon conditions at the time of his heat and the tactical nature of the race along with 2 collisions within the group ruled out any possible pb for him but he worked very hard to seal 4th place. 3rd place would have given him automatic entry to the final. However, 3 days later Gavin breasted the tape in the A 1500M race at the BMC Trafford Meeting to trim his pb to 3.44.43. Training partner Jamie MacKinnon also lowered his pb to 3.46.93 for 7th place. Cameron Smith narrowly missed out on a pb over the same distance when finishing runner up in a time of 3.53.52 in the Loughborough BMC Meeting. 4 Cambuslang masters brought 8 medals home with them from the Scottish Masters Track Championships at Grangemouth. Busiest athlete of all Sandy Eaglesham won 3 silver medals over 400, 800 and 1500M in the M70 age group. M60 Dave Thom recorded a golden double over 1500 and 5000M while M55 Chris Upson gained a gold over 1500M and a silver over 800M. 6 weeks after his Edinburgh Marathon Race Mark Gallacher managed to secure a M50 silver medal and a pb over 5000M into the bargain.

Alasdair Campbell was rewarded for his recent good form on the hills with a Scottish vest. He was selected for the Snowden International Hill Race which has previously been won by fellow Cambuslang runners Colin Donnelly and Neil Wilkinson. On the day of the event it was touch and go whether the race would go ahead due to 90 mph gale force winds at the summit. A last minute decision was taken to allow the race to go ahead but the turning point was shortened to 530M instead of the full distance of 1,065M Alasdair played his part in helping the Scottish team which also included his cousin Ross Gollan to the team silver medals.
Lesley Blackwood was 2nd lady and 6th individual overall in the nearby Running of the Blades 10K Trail Race. Club mates Steven Fitzpatrick, M40 Iain McLachlan and Iain Murphy opted for the half marathon distance. Steven sealed 3rd spot in the senior men category. Andrew Blain and Chris Campbell plumped for the 50K. At the other end of the distance scale both Gemma and Connor Drummond contested the Young Athletes Event.

Kirsty O’Brien travelled to Hamburg to compete in a World Triathlon Sprint Event. Her aim was to perform well and to hopefully gain an automatic place in the World Triathlon Championships Final later in the season. By finishing 9th W40 overall and 2nd British athlete she achieved her goal. The following week she turned her attention to the Scottish National Aquathlon Championships at Balloch Castle Country Park. The event involved an initial 750M swim in Loch Lomond followed by a 5K run. Kirsty scored a convincing victory in the W40 age category. If Kirsty’s win came as no surprise the performance by Zach Seenan was quite remarkable. In his first season of running with Cambuslang Harriers he had been a member of the club’s 2023 U17 bronze medal teams in both the Scottish Cross Country and in the Scottish Road Championships. As the athletes emerged from the swim Zach was lying in 13th place. However, a very strong run, the 2nd quickest overall, saw him slice through the field and he ended up with the overall silver medal and the U20 gold.
David Cooney