MORE Than 100 Runners Take Part In Glenpark Harriers Virtual Half-Marathon

GREENOCK Glenpark Harriers staged a virtual half-marathon, open to all runners in the area and beyond.

This was to provide members and others with a training target to get them through the latter stages of the spring lockdown.

With the incentive of a unique club T shirt on offer, the turnout was great, with more than 100 people taking part, achieving some fantastic results.

Runners could complete the 13.11 miles anywhere they wanted.

Some chose this as a perfect opportunity to attack their personal best (PB) time, some to tackle the distance for the first time, and some to try and run it on as inventive a course as possible.

The fastest time posted was by Harrier Paul Monaghan, who ran a superb solo 76.20 on Cloch Road.

Paul is a great team player, and has done brilliant work coaching the club’s junior athletes in recent years. It was no surprise after his incredible run to see him go straight to Ravenscraig to help pace the latter stages of Oliver Reilly’s attempt on the track.

A half-marathon on the track is just under 53 laps; Oliver, who has been one of the stars of the virtual racing over the last year, had a bold target of getting under 80 minutes for the first time, which he managed, completing in 78.43.

This was an excellent run, spurred on by a great set of pacemakers, and was second fastest overall. The third fastest time was posted over on Bute by Wes Pattison in 80.08.

Paul wasn’t done there though. He turned up the next morning on The Esplanade to help pace another two of runners. Chris Mooney and Stephen Hanley were setting out to break 85 minutes, and Paul took the lead and paced it perfectly for the whole route.

Chris pushed on for the last five kilometres and ran 83.18, the former club champion starting to put good times back together.

Stephen ran 84.35 which was a very hard earned three-minute PB, with Paul shouting encouragement in the closing stages.

The fastest female times were excellent. Fiona Macfarlane has trained so hard throughout lockdown for a marathon that has sadly still not happened. She didn’t want the training to go to waste, and went out and absolutely smashed her PB in a time of 1.42.03, which is four minutes off her previous time and also the best time for v35.

Fiona was paced round by a strong team of Harriers in another great show of team work. Liza Brydon was second fastest female in 1.44.20. Liza’s run was completely solo and took her out and back on the Cloch Road too.

On a similar route was the third-placed female, Katy Croucher, who also ran solo. Katy was raising money for the British Heart Foundation, and ran a great time of 1.46.08.

The fastest 50-and-over male was Gavin Morrison who ran a great time of 87.10 for what was his first half-marathon.

Danny McLaughlin was the first 60-and-over male in 98.09, with Graham McGrattan not far behind. Robert Dolan Snr walked the full distance in just over four hours to be the first 70-and-over.

On the female side, Terri Wall, who likes the longer races, was first 55-and-over in 1.53.02. Saving the best until last, Charlotte McKay in the 65-and-over age group ran just over three hours assisted by daughter Marianne McKay.

Among the more adventurous routes, Sue Hewitson and Marian Monk ran a great loop around the trails of Greenock Cut; Eileen Stevenson, Nathalie Smith and Steven Smith ran along the old Kelly Cut loop around Inverkip and Wemyss Bay; and Kirsty Ormond took a few friends on a 13-mile adventure down the Old Largs Road, starting from Greenock.

However, the pick of the bunch goes to Mick McLoone and Andy McCall who ran up and down the steep trail between the railway and Greenock Cut behind the old IBM site.

Each ascent is approximately 350 to 400ft, meaning the pair climbed higher than Ben Nevis, completing the distance in around two hours 30 minutes.

One of the most encouraging runs was from Aidan Coyle. Having joined the club through the Couch to Club Runner programme in 2020, Aidan has gone from strength to strength.

The aim of the course was to get people into running who had never run before, or thought they were ‘too slow’ for a running club.

After months on the programme, some runners like Aidan joined the club and started taking part in training sessions and club races. In the lead up to the virtual half, Aidan reached out to the Harriers online community asking for a training plan to break his PB.

Up stepped Kevin O’Donoghue who gave him a 10-week plan. Kevin went the extra mile and ran with Aidan on the day, and Aidan ran 1.53.05, a six-minute improvement!

The club thank men’s captain John Stevenson who organised the whole event and generously donated the T shirts to the club members who completed the run.

Greenock Glenpark Harriers are also indebted to Alyson Fielding from Active Physiotherapy Clinic for her generous race sponsorship. Alyson helped a number of runners prepare (and recover).

Category Results:

Overall Male: 1. Paul Monaghan 2. Oliver Reilly 3. Wes Pattison

Overall Female: 1. Fiona MacFarlane 2. Liza Brydon 3. Katy Croucher

Male Veterans: v40 Paul Monaghan; v50 Gavin Morrison; v60 Danny McLaughlin; v70 Robert Dolan Snr

Female Veterans: v35 Fiona MacFarlane; v45 Liza Brydon; v55 Terri Wall; v65 Charlotte McKay

Full Results: Paul Monaghan 1:16:20, Oliver Reilly 1:18:43, Wes Pattison 1:20:08, Andrew Osborne 1:20:57, Daniel Doherty 1:22:19, Chris Mooney 1:23:18, Stephen Hanley 1:24:35, Robert Dolan 1:26:48, Sean Marshall 1:26:57, Gavin Morrison 1:27:10, Gordy Hepburn 1:28:32, Paul McAulay 1:29:03, Kevin Brown 1:29:10, John Stevenson 1:29:35, David Roberts 1:29:38, James McFadden 1:33:39, Ross Paul 1:34:03, Craig Hyslop 1:34:26, Stuart Austin 1:34:58, Alan Poole 1:35:32, Owen Atkinson 1:35:39, Eric Lindsay 1:36:16, Danny McLaughlin 1:38:09, Steven Campbell 1:38:20, David Holmes 1:38:44, James Doherty 1:38:57, Stewart Ballantyne 1:40:57, Fiona MacFarlane 1:42:03, Ross Slater 1:42:04, Greig Turner 1:42:14, Kev Craig 1:42:16, Graham McGrattan 1:43:55, Chris Watson 1:43:56, Liza Brydon 1:44:20, Alan O’Rourke 1:44:48, Malcolm MacLean 1:45:17, Sam McVicar 1:46:00, Katy Croucher 1:46:08, Scot Hill 1:46:44, Debbie McKenzie 1:47:43, Steven Morris 1:48:15, Gary Keogh 1:48:36, Robert Adams 1:50:10, Ross Neilson 1:50:48, Stuart D Crawford 1:51:10, Stephen Reid 1:52:22, Terri Wall 1:53:02, Aidan Coyle 1:53:05, Kevin O’Donoghue 1:53:15, Sean Macfarlane 1:55:03, Oliver Bertinetti 1:55:29, Heather Lafferty 1:56:20, Cheryl Thomas 1:57:20, Lucia Giuntoli 1:58:35, Olivia Devine 1:58:54, Richard Jow 1:59:08, Lynsey Mooney 1:59:54, Liam McFadden 1:59:55, Lynsey McLaughlin 2:00:47, Lucas Bezian 2:03:39, Alex Paterson 2:04:00, Robin McAuslan 2:05:42, Susan Slater 2:06:36, Julie Smith 2:09:00, Donna Campbell 2:09:52, Michelle Morgan 2:11:06, Lisa Boonsanong 2:13:25, Jim Brannigan 2:14:13, Audrey Thompson 2:15:27, Johnny Thompson 2:15:27, Emma Sinclair 2:15:33, Liz Ness 2:15:46, Kirsty Ormond 2:16:00, Jane Dolan 2:16:41, Marian Monk 2:16:49, Yvonne Prager 2:17:49, David Carruthers 2:18:22, Sue Hewitson 2:21:06, Viki Smith 2:22:05 Elaine Medinelli 2:23:07, Sandra Devine 2:23:07, Jennifer Turner 2:24:11, Fiona Cushnaghan 2:24:13, Kirstin Arthur 2:24:13, Marianne Mckay 2:24:17, Graeme Crawford 2:24:19, Callum Gorry 2:24:53, Simon Hutton 2:25:00, Susie Gillies 2:25:00, Nathalie Smith 2:29:27, Steven Smith 2:29:27, Andrew McCall 2:30:59, Michael McLoone 2:30:59, Eileen Stevenson 2:32:34, Wenda Crawford 2:33:52, Andy McIntyre 2:34:04, Helen Crawford 2:53:23, Charlotte McKay 3:00:09, Robert Mitchell 4:01:00; Robert Dolan Snr 4:01:14