On Saturday 21^st January saw the first major championships of 2012 with the National Indoor Championships at the Kelvin Hall. Shettleston Harriers was well represented with 18 athletes deciding to test how their winter training was progressing.
There were a number of excellent performances with people performing close to their personal bests or even beating it. Daniel O’Hear had one of the performances of the day when he lowered his indoor and outdoor PB to 26.70 secs in the 200m

In the 60m the club had 5 athletes competing with John Ruddy running 7.44 and Daniel Lafferty 7.81. In the girl event Jill Cherry again put in an excellent performance when she was timed at 8.25, the second time she has run that in this indoor season. Casey Alexander running for the Glasgow School of Sport ran 8.79 with Ava Maclean running 9.30.

In the 200m John Ruddy ran 23.32 with Sean Watson running his first 200m since June last year recording a time of 23.79. Jill Cherry ran a season best when she finished in a time of 27.11, with Casey recording 28.27 and Ava 32.27.

The 400m saw Gary McBride running 52.96 just outside his outdoor best which will set him up well for some good performance outdoors, Daniel Lafferty also ran close to his PB with a time of 55.17. In the women event Mhairi Hendry showed that again she will be a force on the track in the summer when she was 4^th in a time of 60.18

Lee Wilson showed that he is in excellent shape when he finished 3^rd in 1.55.97 in the 800m just 0.2 outside his PB, Mhaira Hendry was again 4^th in a time of 2.18.61 with Laura Penrice 9^th in a time of 2.23.51

In the 1500m Gary Turner ran 4.13.26 with Lisa Walker running a season best in the 60m Hurdles to finish with a time of 11.17

In the field events the performance of the day goes to Outdoor Over 70 British record holder for the Shot Putt John Scott when he throw 12.21 metres just 40 cm outside this GB record. Competing for the Glasgow School of Sport Mahad Ahmed jumped 5.71 and Ingles Lumfuanlenda jumped 5.50 in the Long jump with Joseph Amouzo jumping 12.08 in the Triple Jump.

This Saturday sees international athletics coming to the Kelvin Hall when Mo Farah and Co take on athletes from around the world in the first major event of 2012, the event will be televised on the BBC

Shettleston retained their title at the Devil's Burdens Relay, making it five in a row for the blue and gold. After steady runs from James Tullie and Matt Sullivan on Leg 1 and Casey Morgan on Leg 2, it was the international pairing of Tom Owens and Jethro Lennox who made the decisive break on Leg 3 to pull us clear of the chasing pack, with Paul Sorrie recording the fastest time of the day on Leg 4 to make certain of victory.

We fielded a Ladies team for the first time this year, and they all performed very well to finish as 8th team in their category. Jess Halliday and Sarah Ward ran Leg 1, handing over to Susan Breckenridge. Then new member and junior international Louise Hill-Stirling had  a fine debut to partner Shona Robertson on the long Leg 3, leaving Victoria Leiper on last leg to bring the team home.

The second mens team were not that far behind the winners, recording an excellent 7th overall, the team consisting of Steve Winter and Pete Ward, Kenny Richmond, Craig Mitchell and Mike Deason, with Thomas Fay on the anchor leg.

The vets team ran solidly but were a little disappointed with their 11th place in category, hampered no doubt by an unfit Malcolm Patterson limping round the 2nd leg.  Better runs from Bill Maxwell and John Duffy on 1st, Bill Breckenridge and the impressive Kenny Richmond on his second leg of the day, and club president Raymond Loughran on the final leg.

Results are here        Photos in Gallery

"Mud, Sweat and Tears" article here         SHR article here

Photo (courtesy of Fife AC) shows Paul Sorrie bringing the A Team home to victory.....

The Glasgow Secondary School Cross-country Championships will take place on Friday 24th February 2012 at Netherpollock Playing Fields with the first race commencing at 10.30am. We are looking for volunteers who would be available to help with this event; setting up the course, marshalling, finish area, results team, presentations. This event cannot take place without the help of volunteers and so, if you are available and interested in helping please contact Lindsay MacNeill at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it as soon as possible