August 9th, 2023

Members of Cambuslang Harriers have again been active in late July and early August both in triathlon, track, road and hill running events.
Congratulations go to Zach Seenan who gained a silver medal in the U20 British Standard Distance Triathlon Championships at Sunderland. This major success came only a few weeks after he had lifted the U20 Scottish Aquathlon title along with the overall silver medal. Zach only joined the Harriers in late 2022 and during that time he has managed to pick up 2 Scottish U17 team bronze medals on country and road. According to his running coach, Colin Stephen, who was present in Sunderland for the British competition, he is dedicated to his training. At this early stage in his running and triathlon career a bright future awaits him.
M50 Mark Gallacher had the honour of representing the Scottish Masters in the Masters Inter Area 3000M race at Nuneaton where he came 3rd in a season best of 9.52.

There have been a number of track personal best times achieved from the 800M through to the 5000M. New member M45 John Speirs and Jamie MacKinnon recorded 800M pbs at Ayr and Stretford respectively while 5 younger athletes including U20 Lewis Roddis delivered pbs over the same distance at the Livingston Open Graded Meeting. Coach Iain Reid was on hands to witness U15 athletes Euan Reid, Daibhidh Kinnaird and Rory Barclay along with U13 Ewan Kennedy set pbs. New member U23 Joel MacInnes and U17 Gabriel Murphy made promising debuts in the 2 laps event in finishing first in their heats. Fellow U15 participants Angus O’Neil and Jack Gillon likewise performed well in 3rd and 4th spots. U20 athletes Lewis Roddis and Zak Povey, U17 Sam McCarthy and U15 Euan Reid also lowered their 1500M best times at the Glasgow BMC Milers Meeting. Although outside their pbs there were nonetheless strong performances from senior man Chris McLew, U17 Chris Black, U20 Jonathan Dow, senior lady Hannah Addison and M60 Dave Thom.

2022 Scottish 1500M senior bronze medallist Jamie MacKinnon rounded off his preparations for the upcoming 1500M national championships by winning a tactical race at Scotstoun Stadium when representing Glasgow Jaguars in the National Athletics League Premiership. Cambuslang athletes dominated the A 5000M taking the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 6th places with Ryan Thomson unfortunately being a late withdrawal due to illness.

Gavin Smith showed his rivals a clean pair of heels to power his way to a clear victory in the pb time of 14.14.89. In the 3 person scramble to the line for 2nd marathon runner Fraser Stewart used his strength to get there ahead of his 2 rivals including clubmate Callum Tharme. In a blanket finish only 0.48 of a second separated the 3 contestants. Both Fraser and Callum also achieved pbs of 14.20.19 and 14.20.67. Cameron Smith who had matched the pace up to the 3000M mark faded slightly but still recorded his 2nd quickest time (14.31.88) over this distance. Steven Fitzpatrick (16.32.44) ran well in his first outdoor track 5000M race while near M60 Chris Upson ran the brisk time of 17.50.69.

4 club athletes travelled through to Dunfermline to participate in the Friday evening QA 5K road race organized by PH Racing Club. Catriona Bain under the guidance of coach Iain Crawford continued her progression to set a pb of 19.29. New member Chris McCarron (16.52) was delighted to break the 17 minutes barrier. M60 Dave Thom confirmed his current impressive form to clock 17.06 which was only 4 seconds outside his time from 2013. In the A race Cameron Smith (14.43) was pipped for 3rd place by 3 seconds. 3 Cambuslang athletes were involved in the Dunoon Coastal 10K. Jennifer Campbell was the leading W50, Kevin Farmer 6th senior male and David Scott 4th M40. W65 Erica Christie who received the W60 age group award was the sole club representative in the Dundonald 10K. 

Alasdair Campbell and Kieran Cooper representing his hill running club Carnethy scored victories in the Killin Games and in the Falklands Hill Races. Justin and Theo Carter made the journey down to Wales to contest the Welsh counting event in the British Hill Running Championships. Despite having spent the night before in a tent while Storm Anthony was raging both father and son put in strong performances to secure 3rd M50 and 4th U23 positions. Colin Donnelly also made an appearance and was a convincing winner in his M60 age group.
Finally first year U13 Eve Campbell, the daughter of club member Brian, finished 1st girl and 5th overall in the Rouken Glen junior Parkrun.

David Cooney