SCOTTISH NATIONAL ROAD RELAYS AT LIVINGSTON

Motherwell AC were out in force at yesterdays NRRs in Livingston with three female teams (including a V50 team) and one and half men’s teams – a total of 20 athletes flying the flag for the club on the national stage. That is absolutely fantastic and I believe our best turnout at this event ever!! Well done to everyone who turned out to compete, volunteer or just cheer on the team. A special thanks goes to Team Manager Emma Morris.

The Championship Tables (Bonus Points) have been updated on the website and there is also a link below to the full set of results on the Scottish Athletics website.

A set of various group photos showing the superb teamwork and camaraderie are set out below.

Scottish National Road Relay Results

A quote from fellow coach Ewen Cameron and a set of photos of Scott are set out below.  All the best for the future Scott.

“A wee shout out to say farewell to Scott who leaves the coaching team today. I’ve had the real pleasure of working with this fella on the track, field, country and indoor and outdoor arena. He’s brought so much enthusiasm, support, encouragement and energy and had a hugely positive impact on a lot of young people and his fellow coaches. We’ve even coached a national champion amongst the hundreds of brilliant young people. All the best for the future mate, thanks for all the hours you’ve volunteered, and for everything you’ve given. It’s been a helluva ride, take it easy!”

Continue reading “Motherwell AC says farewell to Scott Kelman”

BREAKING NEWS

Jim Smith has just returned from Australia two gold medals at the Australian Masters Championships held in the Olympic Stadium in Sidney in the M75 category.

Jim won the 60 metres sprint in 9.58 seconds and the 100 metres in 15.35 seconds.

Well done and congratulations Jim on fantastic performances and for flying the Motherwell AC flag in Oz.

The third race in the Road Running championship is the Sri Chinmoy 5k. Also known as the Scottish National 5k. Best known as a long way to go for a chippie.

Always a fantastic event, entries tend to sell out within a matter of days. And they open at 6pm on Tuesday 14th. The link below should work at that time.

https://www.entrycentral.com/Sri-Chinmoy-5km

Congratulations go to Jac Molloy, Charla Hands and Scott Dickson on completion of the practical assessment in their Coaching Assistant Award.

Well done. We look forward to seeing you applying your new knowledge and skills at the club.

A message from Emma Morris

Upcoming relay race on road not to be missed! ‼️

As you might have read in the newsletter (if you’ve missed it 👇 it’s worth a read)…I’m looking for names of those who would be interested in participating in the national road relays.

I’ve not done this for a few years now but I remember it being a lot of fun 🤩 I remember I had great mac team support!

Info:

🏃🏻‍♀️on road @ Livingston

🏃🏻teams of 6 x male / 4 x female

🏃‍♂️team mates run either 5k or 10k

🏃🏻‍♀️shortest leg runs first then it alternates

🏃‍♂️race start 11.30 & 11.40

🏃🏻race date 25/03/23

🏃‍♂️closing date for entry 07/03/23

There are options for 50+ teams. For this the teams are slightly smaller 4 x male / 3 x female.

Please get in touch if you want to put your name down asap. 😃

• Please note the final date for accepting names will be 7th March. ‼️

At the Scottish Masters Indoors Championships at the Emirates Stadium in Glasgow on 12/13 February JIM SMITH won gold medals in the 60 metres and 200 metres M75 category while ALAN ROBERTSON won silver in the 60 metres M45 category.

At the British Indoors Masters Championship in Sheffield on 18/19 February JIM SMITH won silver medals in the 60m and 200m M75 category.  Jim set season’s best times in both races.

Congratulations goes to JIM and ALAN for outstanding performances at Scottish and UK levels.  Well done from everyone at Motherwell AC.  A photo of Jim on the podium at Sheffield is attached.

Motherwell AC double ladies comeback at the XBorder Run Series 10K today as Jac and Maryann took on the 10k which started in Carlisle and finished in Gretna. Superb results from both of them on their first full races back. Maryann: 46:51 Jac: 53:04. A big thanks to the organisers and volunteers for making the event another success, hopefully we can see more Motherwell AC athletes next year.

Day 1 of the Scottish Schools at the Emirates took place yesterday and we had 4 athletes competing. We had 3 PB’s in the 60M by Niamh, Ella and Sophie. We then had a superb Bronze by Ella in long jump who jumped a brilliant 4.95m which is another PB to add to her collection already this year. 

Here is the Senior Endurance Newletter for January from Alan Strang.  Just click the attached link to get the last news on the cross country and roads.

SENIOR ENDURANCE JANUARY NEWSLETTER

SENIOR ENDURANCE 2023 UPDATE

The Mob Match is over, and what an overwhelming success it was!  What’s next for 2023?  Read on…

TIME TRIAL CHAMPIONSHIP

The TT Championship kicks off next month. The website has been updated for the new season.  Rules, results and standings are available at: https://motherwellac.com/championships/time-trial-championship/

ROAD RUNNING CHAMPIONSHIP

The website will be updated soon for the new season, including the updated rules.  The full race schedule can now be announced.

Races

05/03/2023 – Down By The River 10k, Cambuslang – https://www.entrycentral.com/DBTR2023 *

02/04/2023 – Tom Scott 10mile, Motherwell (national championship) – https://www.entrycentral.com/TS23 *

05/05/2023 – Sri Chinmoy 5k, Edinburgh (national championship) – https://uk.srichinmoyraces.org/scottish5k

14/05/2023 – Shettleston 10k, Glasgow (national championship) – https://entries.runabc.co.uk/e/babcock-shettleston-10k-8837 *

03/06/2023 – Strathclyde parkrun, Motherwell – https://parkrun.org.uk/strathclyde

17/06/2023 – Loch Lomond 10k, Balloch – https://entrycentral.com/loch-lomond-10k-and-5k *

11/07/2023 – Moffat 15k, Moffat –  (date to be confirmed)

19/08/2023 – Queen’s parkrun, Glasgow – https://parkrun.org.uk/queensglasgow

* entries open

The remainder of the championship window (to mid-Oct) can be used to prepare for and participate in half and full marathons; these  can count towards the hypothetical races

Leagues

The allocation of members to the leagues will take place after the February TT and before the opening round of the championship.

Relays for Bonus Points

Bonus points are now on offer for participating for MAC in ANY relay event during the championship window.  Only one set of bonus points will be awarded to each member.

TRACK CHAMPIONSHIP

Discussions ongoing, nothing to be announced at this stage.

CROSS-COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIP

This was not discussed – the current championship will conclude in February; the next championship (2023-24) will not commence until October. Details will follow later in the year.

LANARKSHIRE RIVALS RACE TO THE LINE IN “BATTLE AT THE BOATHOUSE”

A fantastic 50 members of Motherwell Athletics Club and Hamilton Harriers assembled at Strathclyde parkrun on Saturday (14th January) for the inaugural ‘mob run’ between the Lanarkshire rivals.

The mob run – so called because it pits one ‘mob’ against another – saw club members race the 5k course in bracing conditions, with Motherwell narrowly defeating Hamilton in what has been christened ‘the Battle of the Boathouse’.

Motherwell fielded 28 runners plus four volunteers, with Hamilton bringing 18 runners to the event. The title was decided by the average of each team’s runners, with all times counting. Motherwell took the crown with an average time of 23:31, compared to Hamilton’s 24:09.

Motherwell runners Jonathan Moore and David Gardiner took first and second places respectively in the parkrun, with Emma Morris claiming third female for the North Lanarkshire club.

The race was organised by committee members from each club. Gayle Samson, Motherwell Athletics Club, said: 

“It was inspiring to see such a big turnout at our first ever mob run, and we are very proud to lift the trophy for Motherwell AC. Although rivals, the camaraderie between the clubs was fantastic, and the race was a great opportunity to showcase how welcoming and fun our running clubs are. We had runners of all ages and abilities taking part today, ranging from 17 years old to 70-plus. I’d like to thank parkrun for welcoming our clubs, and Hamilton Harriers for putting up a fierce fight. We look forward to retaining our title at a future mob run!”

Gordon Hay, Hamilton Harriers, added: 

“It was a great atmosphere at the inaugural mob run between Motherwell Athletics Club and Hamilton Harriers. Great to see so many people turning up, digging deep and braving the conditions. Well done everyone! Congratulations to Motherwell Athletics Club for the win. Huge thanks to Strathclyde parkrun for welcoming us and all the volunteers, runners and spectators for their support. Looking forward to the next mob run and leveling up the score!”

Motherwell Athletics Club and Hamilton Harriers are currently recruiting new members. For more information, find the clubs on Facebook or visit www.motherwellac.com / www.hamiltonharriers.co.uk

The mob run is a 5k race between the mighty MAC (our mob) and long-standing local rivals Hamilton Harriers (their mob). 

It’s easy and free to take part. Just turn up in your MAC kit and complete the Parkrun as usual. Everyone’s time will count – the team with the fastest average time wins. However, we’d love to have a big MAC turnout for this first event, so don’t worry about your time – just come along and join in the fun!

When: Saturday 14 Jan

Time: 9.30am

Where: Strathclyde Park Parkrun 

Barcode: don’t forget your barcode! It is absolutely essential to work out who wins.  

Wear club colours 

if you can’t run, please consider volunteering with Parkrun and cheer our MAC heroes to victory!

Thanks to the Senior Endurance Committee for organising this fun new race with Hamilton Harriers over the past few months, and Strathclyde Parkrun for hosting the race.

Gayle Samson

A message from Alan Strang and sub- committee

2023

The Senior Endurance sub-committee has been meeting in recent months to discuss 2023. This is a summary of what has been agreed so far:

TIME TRIAL CHAMPIONSHIP

The rules remain unchanged for 2023 with one exception. Given the decreasing impact of the pandemic, the virtual time trials have been dropped. Only runs performed at the monthly time trial now count. The rules are now, in effect, what was in place in 2019.

ROAD RUNNING CHAMPIONSHIP

Leagues

Leagues were proposed for 2022 but dropped given an apparent lack of entries for road races in general. However, they DEFINITELY return for 2023. The traditional format – leagues based on pace – will be used. The continuation of leagues in 2024 and beyond will be based on participation across all league levels in 2023.

Races

No changes to the number or mix of races. It is too early to publish a complete schedule of races, but the first four events can be announced:

05/03/2023 – Down By The River 10k, Cambuslang

02/04/2023 – Tom Scott 10mile, Motherwell (national championship)

05/05/2023 – Sri Chinmoy 5k, Edinburgh (national championship)

14/05/2023 – Shettleston 10k, Glasgow (national championship)

Tie-breaker

The November Time Trial will no longer be used as a tie-breaker to determine a champion in the result of two or more athlete’s finishing with the same points total. It was agreed that only Road Running performances should be used, and so a count-back rule will be introduced (most first place finishes wins, etc). This will also provide more time to get the trophy engraved following the conclusion of the championship.

TRACK CHAMPIONSHIP

Discussions are ongoing, nothing to be announced at this stage.

CROSS-COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIP

• This was not discussed – the current championship will conclude in February; the next championship (2023-24) will not commence until October. Details will follow later in the year.

We had 5 athletes and a couple of supporters braving the elements in Kilmarnock yesterday for West District XC Championships. The results follow and the XC Championship Tables have been updated on the website. Well done to everybody who made it down to Kilmarnock to represent the Club.

WOMEN (8.5K)
41 Emma Morris 37:35

MEN (8.5K)
46 Jonathan Moore 30:42
62 Chris Macdonald 31:35
200 Alan Main 38:08
205 Robbie E Pattinson 38:20

Mae McIsaac is currently looking to secure a booking with Glenmore Lodge in the coming week for a Motherwell AC Training weekend in 2023.   We had to cancel our training weekend in 2020 due to COVID.  We are now looking for expressions of interest for an event next year.  We have successfully run sessions at Glenmore Lodge on four previous occasions. If you are seriously interested please reply to this post or contact Mae McIsaac directly if you have any questions.   Here is more information: 

WHERE: Glenmore Lodge, Sports Scotland Facility near Aviemore

WHEN: Friday 28 – Sunday 30 April [arriving around 3 PM on Friday for our first training session and departing after lunch on Sunday] 

ACCOMMODATION: Capacity for a maximum of 30 attendees, consisting of 3 single rooms, 9 twin rooms and 3 family rooms (3 per room)

MEALS AND REFESHMENTS:

Friday: Refreshments on arrival [Bar meals/snacks can be purchased from the bar on the first night. Meals/refreshments are included for the rest of the weekend]

Saturday – Breakfast, Mid-morning refreshments, Lunch, afternoon tea & cake and Dinner

Sunday –  Breakfast, Mid-morning refreshments, Lunch, and afternoon tea & cake

COST [Based on Group Size of 20+ which includes a 20% discount]

Shared Room Rate – £155 per person for the weekend

Single Room Rate – £192 per person for the weekend

Partners are welcome to join us for the weekend.

PROGRAMME:

A detailed programme for the weekend will be announced in due course, however, it will contain:

– A group training session on all three days. 

– One or two educations sessions in the lecture theatre

– Pilates and/or yoga classes

– Icebreakers, quizzes, and fun activities

– Some time for rest/relaxation.

Once we know if there is enough interest to make the booking, we can start to look at deposits, room allocations, etc. 

Regards

Mae McIsaac

David Gardiner wins MV50 Gold at Scottish National XC Championships in Kirkcaldy

David Gardiner did the club proud once again winning gold at Kirkcaldy and we had a great turn out at the event with our athletes competing with the very best in the country.  Well done to everyone who attended including our small band of supporters.  A photo of David on the podium, one of the team and one of our supporters are attached.

SENIOR ENDURANCE IS OPEN FOR NEW MEMBERS – WHY DON’T YOU ACCESS OUR ONE MONTH’S FREE TRIAL

As the new season gets underway, this is an ideal opportunity to take advantage of our ONE MONTH’S FREE TRIAL (no obligation or pressure to join) to see if Motherwell AC is the club for you.  

We are an adult mixed ability group with runners who just want to be healthy and keep in good shape right through to some pretty decent runners who compete at national level.  

If you are interested just fill out the attached form and we will be in contact with you about the next steps. 

https://motherwellac.com/membership/membership-enquiries/

MOTHERWELL AC OUT IN FORCE AT WEST DISTRICT XC RELAYS @ KINGS PARK, GLASGOW

We had an excellent turn out from our junior and senior athletes at yesterday’s event. It was great to see the whole club out there braving the elements and giving it a go.

Here is a quote about our younger athletes from Coach Ewen Cameron “Well done to our young athletes who braved the cross country this morning. It’s never easy and it’s out the comfort zone for now. Proud of our youngsters who gave it a good go, to be on the start line itself takes courage.”

Well done to all of our athletes and supporters.

Archive photos follow.

London magic strikes again!  On Sunday we had Evan Crane who got the club place for London Marathon racing and taking full advantage of it. Finishing in an astounding 3hr 38 seconds. Truly well done Evan. Below is Evans own race report:

Ran 3:00:38 knocking about 5 mins off my PB and getting a GFA London Marathon qualifying time as well as a Boston Qualifier. Just missed out on sub 3 hours but there’s always next time! Pleased to finish strongly and avoid cramping which I’ve not done in a marathon before. Great day out. Massive thanks to the club for allowing me the genuine honour of representing Motherwell AC at such a prestigious event.

A cracking day out at Cumbernauld 10k today for our road runners today. We had 9 athletes competing today. We had Jonathan pick up 1st place overall and his first win overall too.  Here are the results for all our athletes:

Jonathan Moore: 33:11

Paul Burns: 35:23

Iain Campbell: 39:24

Emma Morris: 42:29

Scott Kelman: 43:38

Gayle Forbes: 43:57

David Hoologhan: 46:07

Ross McLean: 51:18

Jac Molloy: 51:21

A big thanks to all the volunteers and officials who helped make the event such a great day.

TRACK CHAMPIONSHIP – CHANGE OF DATE AND VENUE

The track at Wishaw Sports Centre is unexpectedly closed for repairs. As a result, the event has had to be rescheduled.

It will now take place on Sunday 18th September at The John Cummings Stadium in Carluke. The first race will be the Senior Endurance 3,000m starting prompt at 9.30 am.  So Senior Endurance athletes, please meet at the track at 9 am for registration and your warm up.

Please consider car sharing to the track to minimise the number of vehicles travelling through to Carluke.

Saturday saw the 1st cross country (XC) session of the season take place and we had a decent turn out 🏃‍♂️🏃🏻‍♀️🏃🏻🏃🏻‍♀️🏃‍♂️💨 These sessions are great to build strength and resilience over the winter, will help prepare for races and they are good fun!!

Races (mud) will approach fast now so I’m getting in touch with info so everyone can get their calendar organised. It would be great to get a good squad out in our MAC vests for both the individual and team events! XC is for all!! 😀

Over the years…the team events have been brilliant and will not disappoint! Great atmosphere, pushed along by your team mates, mud, sweat and post race cake…what’s not to love!! So whether you’re new to the club or more experienced…hope you’ll get involved! 🏃‍♂️🏃🏻🏃🏻‍♀️💨

Races & details:
– 08/10/22
– District XC relay championship @ Kings Park, Glasgow.
– 4 km per person in team.
– Deadline for entry: 19th Sept (Soon!!!)

– 22/10/22
– National XC relay championship @ Cumbernauld.
– 4 km per person in team.
– Deadline for entry: 3rd Oct (Soon!!!)

– 05/11/22
– National short course XC championship @ Kirkcaldy.
– 4 km individual.
– Deadline for entry: 17th Oct

– 03/12/22
– West district XC championships @ TBC.
– 8 – 8.5 km individual.
– Deadline for entry: 14th Nov

– 25/02/23
– National XC championship @ Falkirk.
– 10 km individual 💪
– Deadline for entry: 7th Feb

The individual events are all part of our club championship and you get bonus points for participating in a relay event team 👍🏼👍🏼 (The club pays for entry into the relay events)

Important bit: Entry is now open for the 1st event on the list so I can take names and the deadline is fairly soon!!! How exciting is that!!! 🏃‍♂️🏃🏻🏃🏻‍♀️💨

I’m easily contactable…Either at XC Sat am sessions or messenger, WhatsApp, text or email.

So please get in touch if you’d like to take part!

Spread the word!!

EMMA MORRIS

Senior Endurance 1,500 metres Track Championship Scratch Results

We had 13 athletes taking part in a very competitive race on Saturday 30 July. Well done to everyone who made it along to the track and thanks to our timers, lap counters and photographers [Clare Grehan, Jim Tracey, Robert Pattinson, Douglas Samson and Joe Hoolaghan].

The results in finishing order are set out below. The male/female categories and age graded times have been published on the Track Championship page of the website – Senior Endurance Track Championship Page

In the meantime here are the finishing times as our athletes crossed the line:

1. Jonathan Moore – 4:31
2. David Gardiner – 4:42
3. Iain Campbell – 5:17
4. Emma Morris – 5:30
5. Ross McCaig – 5:32
6. Jim White – 5:33
7. Marcus Whyte – 5:33
8. Alan Strang – 5:48
9. John Hughes – 5:50
10. David Hoolaghan – 5:59
11. Emma Hunter – 6:09
12. Gayle Samson – 6:16
13. Colin Gardner – 6:28

The MAC was certainly back at the Clyde Stride Ultra Marathon where we had a team of 4 ladies take it on as a relay and Simon who was mad enough to complete it solo.
Our ladies absolutely smashed it and managed to pick up 2nd team overall and first woman’s team, finishing in a time of 5:26:23. A special mention to Emma who was the fastest athlete over leg 1. Below are the splits for each of the legs in order:
Emma: 1:08:07
Maryann: 1:31:15
Gayle S: 1:08:36
Gayle F: 1:38:25

Simon completed the full ultra in 8:38:14 finishing in 39th place. A massive well done to Simon completing this tough race and was able to keep going even after taking a wrong turn which added some extra distance on.

The results are in from this Morning’s Lanark Moor Parkrun – Championship Race

We had a 1,2,3,4 including our most recent trialist Lewis McCluskey. 11 Motherwell AC athletes participated at Lanark this morning on what I am told is a very tough Parkrun course. Well done to everyone who made it through to Lanark and a special mention to Jonathan Moore who was first across the line in 19:29.

Thanks to the injured Phyllis Hands for volunteering and cheering on the troops.

THE RESULTS

1 Jonathan Moore – 19:29

2 Iain Campbell – 21:56

3 Emma Morris – 22:26

4 Lewis McCluskey – 23:16 (Trialist)

6 Scott Dickson – 23:42

7 Maryann Trotter Milne – 24:11

10 Alan Strang – 24:26

11 John Hughes – 25:02

13 Craig Morris – 25:29

16 Emma Hunter – 26:27

36 Jim Tracey – 35:50

37 Patricia Allen – 39:34

LANARKMOOR PARKRUN

The fifth round of our Road Running Championship takes place at Lanark Moor parkrun on Saturday 16th July 2022, the club’s first championship race at this venue:

https://www.parkrun.org.uk/lanarkmoor

Scoring

To score championship points for a parkrun, participants should

* Register for parkrun:

https://www.parkrun.org.uk/register/

* Select Motherwell AC as your team. This can be done at profile creation or updated at any time

* Bring and use your barcode. No barcode, no result, no championship points.

* Wear a MAC vest or tee.

Volunteering

If you are not running but still want to get involved, why not consider volunteering? There are still some roles needing filled on that day:

https://www.parkrun.org.uk/lanarkmoor/futureroster/

Getting There

Please consider car sharing or the train. If you would like to offer to drive, please indicate in the MAC Members FB group.

‍TRACK CHAMPIONSHIP 5,000 METRES RESULTS

We had 8 athletes competing in this morning’s 5,000m Track Championship Race at Wishaw Sports Centre on what was a cold and windy morning. Well done to the athletes who braved the elements and the 12.5 laps on the track. Thanks to Joe Hoolaghan, Alan Strang, Robbie Pattinson, and Craig Morris for counting laps and timing the race.

1st Male – Jonathan Moore in 16:54

2nd Male – Paul Burns in 17:19

3rd Male – David Gardner in 17:50

1st Female – Emma Morris in 20:10

A link to the scratch and age graded results is attached and there is also link to the Track Championship Page on the website with the updated tables.

TRACK CHAMPIONSHIP PAGE

5,000m RESULTS

Attached is a link to an article which featured our 200th Time Trial Championship Race on 31 May 2022

DAILY RECORD 200TH TT ARTICLE

SVHC Masters Road Relays 2022 Sunday 24th July 2022, 11am

Usually held in January on a cold, wet and windy day, this year’s SVHC Masters Road Relays will (hopefully) be held in better conditions. Taking place on Sunday 24th July, it is great to see the return of this relay event on our doorstep.

One lap of the loch is all that is required here, something most of us have done on more occasions than we care to remember! So let’s put this local knowledge to good use and aim to field as many teams as possible. The team categories are:

Mens (35+) – 4 stage

Mens (50+) – 4 stage

Ladies – 3 stage

If you will be 35 or older on the day of the race and would like to take part, please inform Alan Strang (alanstrang@motherwellac.com) along with your date of birth. Even if you are not 100% sure, it is better to put your name down just-in-case rather than be guaranteed to miss out. The deadline for letting Alan know will be Tuesday 12th July. Teams will be formed later that week and finalised on the morning of the race prior to declarations.

Team Challenge Reminder & SVHC Masters Relays

MAC 5k Team Challenge 2022

This is a reminder that the 5k Team Challenge takes place this Thursday, 16th June 2022. Everyone is encouraged to attend and push themselves over the Strathclyde parkrun route. For full details, please check out this previous post.

MAC 5K TEAM CHALLENGE – THURSDAY 16th JUNE 2022

SVHC Masters Road Relays 2022

Usually held in January on a cold, wet and windy day, this year’s Masters Road Relays will (hopefully) be held in better conditions. Taking place on Sunday 24th July, it is great to see the return of this relay event on our doorstep. Keep the date free, further entry details will be forthcoming in the coming days.

https://scottishmastersathletics.webnode.page/products/lsk-road-relays/

Regards

Alan Strang

Here are the official results from Roon the Toon 10K – Scottish National Road Racing Championship.

The full race results with gender and age categories can be viewed from the attached link below.  A number of photos from the day are attached.

51st Jonathan Moore 34:00

113th Jim White 37:32

135th Iain Campbell 38:22

258th Scott Kelman 43:30

267th Robbie E Pattinson 43:59

287th Scott Dickson 44:40

314th Maryann Trotter Milne 45:21

348th David Hoolaghan 46:19

391th Dr Ross McLean 47:28

573th Jac Molloy 51:01

Roon the Toon 10K Full Results

CSSAL AT LINWOOD 5 JUNE 2022 – AN UPDATE FROM EWEN CAMERON

What a fantastic day of track and field athletics CSSAL match at Linwood today! With no less than 5 young people in their first competition, every single athlete excelled. Performances in every event were absolutely tremendous with a good many pb’s. The fact the weather was glorious was a bonus! ☀️

Lovely to have so many parents and family members cheering the team on and as always, very proud to see how well the athletes all support each other across the age groups. A massive well done and thank you to all who represented the club magnificently today. It’s a privilege for Scott and I to coach you and watch as you put the training into action in competition. Congratulations 👏🏻👏🏻

Ewen

SENIOR ENDURANCE TRACK CHAMPIONSHIP 2022

The Track Championship for Senior Endurance is being extended for 2022, from a one-off 3000m race to a three-race series.

The races will be held at the Wishaw track, and the dates are:

Saturday 25th June – 5000m
Saturday 30th July – 1500m
Saturday 17th September – 3000m

The final race will be held on the morning of the Track & Field championship day, as is traditional.

Points in this championship will be awarded based on finishing position AND age-graded score, with the points for both being combined. The female and male athletes with the highest score after three races will be awarded the championship trophies. So the winners won’t necessarily be the fastest in the club, but the fastest for their age…

This is a great opportunity to give track racing a go, in a relaxed MAC-only atmosphere. An opportunity to put the recent track training to good use, for some to try something new, for others to try distances they have never raced.

Full details are available in the rules document, attached.

SE TRACK CHAMPIONSHIP RULES 2022

MAC 5K TEAM CHALLENGE – THURSDAY 16th JUNE 2022

OVERVIEW:
The Senior Endurance 5k Team Challenge returns for 2022. For the benefit of new members or those who just can’t remember, what is this thing? Well, this is a team event where everyone will set off at the same time and run the same distance. Like a race! The scoring system will allow a winning team to be determined. It is just a bit of fun, though, an excuse to push yourself over the 5k distance.

SCORING:
Points will be awarded to runners based on finishing position. First overall runner home scores 1 point for their team, second overall scores 2 points, etc. Points will be totalled up for each team with lowest total winning. So, to be clear: finishing position is key, not time.

TEAMS:
Attending members will be split into one of three teams at the start of the session using an ‘old school’ method. Coloured stickers will be provided to be worn front and back, to make team identification easy during the race.

ELIGIBILITY:
Only current members of Motherwell AC and ‘trialists’ can participate. All are encouraged to participate, regardless of pace. Everyone is welcome and everyone will be cheered across the line.

ENTRIES:
No pre-entries are required for this event. Anyone wishing to participate should just turn up to training on Thursday as normal.

START TIME:
This event will be the club training session for Thursday 16th June. Please meet at the Strathclyde Park Watersports Centre at 6.30pm. The action will commence after teams have been formed and everyone has had an opportunity to warm-up.

ROUTE:
The route to be used will be the ‘old’ Strathclyde parkrun route. That is, high path coming out of the woods, playpark loop, low path on return.

JUNE TIME TRIAL (200th) WINNERS AND WOODEN SPOON

We had a superb turnout the 200th Time Trial Championship Race. There were 28 competitors, 4 Virtual entries, and 8 helpers. On the back of a heavy weekend of racing tonight’s race had an element of fun about it. Unfortunately the weather was not on our side and the rain poured down for the duration of the race.

First male across the line was Gary Wood in 37:01 and first female was Mae McIsaac in 31:54. Douglas Samson picked up the wooden spoon in good humour.

Charla Hands provided us with some fantastic commemorative biscuits, cookies and muffins. Thanks once again Charla.

A special mention was given to Lucy Hamilton who is leaving us for ‘The Land Down Under’ in July and this might be her last TT. Lucy you will be missed.

Thanks to our many helpers – Joe Hoolaghan Margaret Hoolaghan Mark Ellis John Burns Emma Morris Anne Hughes Jac Molloy and Dougie O’Hare.

A selection of photos are attached – courtesy of Margaret Hoolaghan.

CSSAL 2022 – Competition Opportunities for Senior Endurance

From Bob McCrum (MAC’s T&F Representative) to all Senior Endurance members:

The Central and South of Scotland Athletic League (CSSAL) was formed to offer competitions in the form of league matches for all clubs throughout the area. The first registered meeting was held in 1972 and at its peak had 6 divisions. It currently has 21 clubs competing in 3 divisions.

Motherwell AC are in Division 2 this season. (We should have been demoted to Division 3 but a club resigned from the league so we remain in D2 this season.) MAC usually ping pongs between D2 and D3 depending on how many athletes we have available for each meeting.

As you can see from the Match 1 timetable (in the linked Handbook document), there are opportunities to compete in 3000m/800m for Senior Endurance athletes. If anyone wants to have a go, please contact Richie Leach (richieleach@motherwellac.com). He will have some athletes entered in 800m and will be happy to arrange entries for you.

CSSAL 2022 HANDBOOK

REMINDER – LONDON MARATHON CLUB BALLOT

The deadline for entering the ballot for the club’s London Marathon place is Wednesday 13th April. For further details and eligibility requirements from the following link.

LONDON MARATHON CLUB BALLOT

BREAKING NEWS FROM THE MANCHESTER MARAHON

TWO MOTHERWELL AC ATHLETES RUN SUB 3 HOUR MARATHONS

DAVID GARDINER 2 HOURS 51 MINS AND 9 SECS

IAIN CAMPBELL 2 HOURS 57 MINS AND 21 SECS

FANTASTIC PERFORMANCES. CONGRATULATIONS FROM ALL AT MOTHERWELL AC 👏👏👏👏

ROAD RACING CHAMPIONSHIP UPDATE

INTRODUCTION

The Senior Endurance Road Running Championship got underway last weekend with the bonus points National Relays – three males took part and secured themselves an early lead in the standings.  The action proper commences on Sunday with the first of eight races – the Tom Scott 10 mile.  In recent years the championship has tended to start with a 10k event in March.  This year the start was delayed to allow the club to participate in the Allan Scally Road Relays.  Alas, only four members raced that day; this will very much be taken into consideration when planning the 2023 season.

LEAGUES

As for this season, the number of club entries for the races announced so far (nine for Tom Scott, four so far for Dunblane, eight so far for Roon The Toon) would result in having leagues of just two or three individuals, with everyone receiving medals.  For this reason, the sub-committee has decided not to have leagues this season.  If participation increases over the course of the year, they will of course be considered for a 2023 return.

SCHEDULE

The sub-committee is also pleased to announce the three events to complete the championship. The Paisley 10k returns after our successful outing in 2019, while two of the more local parkruns will make their championship debuts – Lanark Moor and Drumpellier Country.  The schedule now looks like this:

April 3rd – Tom Scott 10mile
May 6th – Scottish 5k
May 29th – Dunblane 12k
June 12th – Roon The Toon 10k
July 16th – Lanark Moor parkrun
August 21st – Paisley 10k
September 11th – Cumbernauld 10k
September 24th – Drumpellier Country parkrun

Remember, both marathons and half marathons count as ‘hypothetical’ races this season.  This gives ten opportunities in total to score points, with the best six counting.

SUB-COMMITTEE

Gayle Samson recently joined the sub-committee following the earlier departure of two members.  There remains one vacancy which would ideally be filled by another of our female members.  If you are interested, please get in touch with Alan Strang for more details, etc.

The Scottish 5k is the second race in our Road Running Championship. It’s a fantastic event. Entries opened on 29 March, and historically you need to be quick off the mark as this tends to sell out quickly.

ENTER THE SCOTTISH 5K ROAD RACE

BREAKING NEWS – EVAN CRANE TAKES FIRST PLACE OVERALL IN THE 105 TRACK SERIES

Evan managed to run a 4 minute marathon PB and take victory in the marathon race. His cumulative time across the track series 10K, Half Marathon and Marathon got him first place overall in the 105 Track Series.

Evan is absolutely delighted and he has done Motherwell AC proud. Well done on an outstanding series of performances from everyone at the club 👏👏👏👏

JUNIOR TRACK & FIELD ATHLETES DO MOTHERWELL AC PROUD AT THE EMIRATES ARENA – 6 MARCH 2022

A big well done to our Under 13 Girls and Boys teams at the Scottish Indoor 4 x 200m Relays at The Emirates Arena today. Some excellent performances and club debuts for Ailsa and Andy. Great experience competing at national level and the youngsters should be very proud of their efforts.

Continue reading “JUNIOR TRACK & FIELD ATHLETES DO MOTHERWELL AC PROUD AT THE EMIRATES ARE”

Allan Scally Road Relays

Entries remain open for the Allan Scally Memorial Road Relays. To date, six men have paid to confirm their entries. No women have done so…

One men’s team (of four) has been entered. Two more men are required, however, before a second team will be entered.

https://www.entrycentral.com/AllanScallyRoadRace

If you would like to participate, please let Alan Strang know before the end of the month. The club will NOT pay for this event, so members are required to pay Alan the £8 fee to confirm their place.

National 6/4 Stage Road Relays

The TruWealth scottishathletics 6/4 Stage Road Relays take place on Saturday 26th March in Livingston. The 6/4 relates to the number of stages team have to run – male teams run six, female teams run 4. The legs are not of equal length, though – they alternate between short (approx 5k) and long (approx 9k).

More details available here:

https://scottishathletics.sportserve.net/pages/event/athletics/athleticsbookingdetails.aspx?id=11765

If you would like to participate, please let Tommy Sneddon know. The club will pay for entries, but members are required to pay Tommy a £5 deposit to secure their place; this will be returned to those who do take part.

Just in from the LAAA, Maryann Milne was 3rd in Saturday’s W40 XC Race. A fantastic debut performance for Motherwell AC. Superb and well done Maryann 👏👏👏

Continue reading “BREAKING NEWS – MARYANN MILNE TAKES BRONZE IN W40 @ LAAA XC”

MORE BREAKING NEWS AS EVAN CRANE ACHIEVES ANOTHER PODIUM FINISH

Evan Crane completed the Chatelherault 6 Hour Ultramarathon yesterday, managing 37 miles in absolutely dreadful conditions and following up last week’s podium with another one finishing 3rd place overall. It will probably take till Monday for Evan to dry out.

Well done Evan on another fantastic performance 👏👏👏

BREAKING NEWS – DAVID GARDINER TAKES SILVER IN THE M50 SCOTTISH MASTERS XC CHAMPIONSHIPS IN ABERDEEN WHILE PHYLLIS HANDS COMES 6th IN THE W65 RACE

Congratulations David on your achievement and well done Phyllis for representing the club at National Level 👏👏👏

A few photos courtesy of Phyllis

FURTHER RACES ADDED TO THE ROAD RACING CHAMPIONSHIP

Five of the eight races for the 2022 championship have now been chosen and can be revealed.

03/04/2022 – Tom Scott Memorial 10 mile (Nat, WD) – Strathclyde Park
06/05/2022 – Run and Become Sri Chinmoy 5k (Nat) – Silverknowes, Edinburgh
29/05/2022 – Dunblane 12k – Dunblane
12/06/2022 – Roon The Toon 10k (Nat) – Kilmarnock
09/2022 – Cumbernauld 10k – Cumbernauld

That leaves one more 10k race and two 5k races (or parkruns) to schedule in the second half of the year.

Entries are already open for Tom Scott, Dunblane & Roon The Toon on EntryCentral. Announcements will be made as entries open for the others.

Allan Scally Memorial Road Relay

What is it?
The Allan Scally Road Relay is a long-standing event on the Scottish athletics calendar. Indeed, the event to be held on Saturday 5th March will be the 51st! The format is 4 x 5k on a accurately measured, traffic-free course in Glasgow Green. When this event was first suggested to members back in October, interest levels were high. So it is hoped that MAC can enter teams in both the female and male categories. For more details, see https://www.entrycentral.com/AllanScallyRoadRace

Who is eligible?
Current members of Motherwell AC.

Am I good enough?
If you can run 5k, you are good enough. The aim here is to have as many MAC vests on show as possible. No-one should rule themselves out because they perceive themselves to be ‘too slow’ for such an event.

How much does it cost?
Each team costs £32 to enter, so that works out at £8 for each runner.

How do I enter?
If four club-mates want to form a team and run together, that is absolutely fine. One of the team members should let Alan Strang (alanstrang@motherwellac.com) know the names of the runners, and to arrange payment of the £32 team fee. Alternatively, the team can enter themselves directly, but please do still let Alan Strang know who the runners will be.

If you are happy to be placed in any team, let Alan Strang (alanstrang@motherwellac.com) know you wish to enter and to arrange payment of the £8 individual fee. Teams will then be entered and formed from these entrants.

The club closing date for entries will be Monday 28th February.

30th ANNIVERSARY CEILIDH ON SATURDAY 19 FEBRUARY IN ST BRIDE’S HALL, COURSINGTON ROAD, MOTHERWELL ML1 1PP @ 7 PM

By now, you will probably have seen the email about the forthcoming 30th Anniversary Ceilidh. Scottish Government have relaxed the restrictions on hospitality and we can confirm that the Ceilidh will definitely be going ahead.

The Ceilidh is open to members and their family and friends. To book your tickets speak to any of the coaches to put your name plus number of tickets forward to the club secretary or alternatively email secretary@motherwellac.com. Tickets are £10 for adults and £5 for children.

There will be a fantastic Ceilidh Band, Dancing, Haggis Neeps and Tatties (including a vegetarian version), Raffles, and lots of fun.

We need raffle prizes too, so please donate what you can – spirits, wine, chocolates, toiletries, gift vouchers etc. Elaine Jamieson will be happy to collect any raffle prizes from you at training.

We look forward to seeing you there for another great night.

Motherwell AC Athletes out in force at the Emirates Arena today 12 December 2021.

A strong MAC contingent visited The Emirates Arena today for the second Scottish Athletics Indoor League match of the winter season.

A number of young athletes from under 11 and under 13 were making their competitive debuts for the club and every athlete from under 11 through to under 20 competed superbly and as always, represented the club with pride.

Some tough competition and every one of the team gave 100% effort. Thanks to all the athletes who represented us so well, to all the coaches and team managers, and for terrific support from the parents. Well done to you all.

Motherwell AC endorses the principles of equality and inclusion in our sport.

The Rainbow Laces campaign is asking participants to show their support for LGBTQ+ equality in sport, and is running from 25th November to 12th December.

Find out more here: RAINBOW LACES

MOTHERWELL AC ATHLETES OUT IN FORCE ON SUNDAY 21 NOVEMBER

We had a MAC contingent of four running in the UK’s oldest road race The Brampton to Carlisle 10 Miler. The provisional results are in:

Jim White – 65:00

Scott Kelman -72:21

Alastair Loudoun – 73:53

Gillian McCaffer – 78:01

Well done troops 👏👏👏

Down in the Borders we had Evan Crane running in the Tweed Valley Ultra 65 KM race where he finished 18th in 6 hours 44 minutes and 31 seconds. A fantastic effort from Evan 👏👏👏

Keep the updates coming. Joe

Congratulations go to Tom Timmons (Silver) and Joey Leach (Bronze) for achieving podium finishes at Livingston on Saturday 13 November.  Well done from everyone at Motherwell AC 👏👏👏

David Gardiner defended his title and took Gold in the MV50 category with Phyllis Hands winning Bronze in the FV60 category.  Well done from everybody at Motherwell AC.

In total we had 14 athletes competing at Lanark yesterday who did the club proud.

REMINDER – PRIZE GIVING AND FAMILY NIGHT IS AT 7.30 PM FRIDAY 12 NOVEMBER IN “100 CLUB” EDWARD STREET, MOTHERWELL, ML1 2PP

The event will take the usual format – Presentation of medals and awards, some food, music from the DJ and time for socialising. The bar will also be open.

We do hope yu will be able to attend and we look forward to seeing you there. Mums, dads, and other family members are, of course, invited.

Kindest regards

The committee

NOVEMBER TIME TRIAL SEASON FINALE RESULTS, UPDATED CHAMPIONSHIP TABLES, AND MEDALLISTS

The detailed results and tables are now available on the Motherwell AC website (link attached).

Last night’s race concluded what has been a quite successful Championship as we emerged from the Covid restrictions in the spring. Thanks to everybody for their support.

In the Women’s Championship it came down to the wire with Pyhllis Hands managing to hold off Emma Morris to take this year’s trophy. Top three women were:

1. Phyllis Hands (74 points)
2. Emma Morris (67 points)
3. Gillian McCaffer (51 points)

In the Men’s Championship Scott Kelman consolidated a commanding lead from Alastair Loudon to win the men’s trophy. However, we had an unprecedented three way tie for 3rd place between Alan Main, Alan Strang and Iain Campbell. The third spot and medal goes to Alan Main as “the runner with the most high scoring results – a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.” The top three men were:

1. Scott Kelman (58 points)
2. Alastair Loudon (40 points)
3. Alan Main (35 points)

2021 TIME TRIAL CHAMPIONSHIP

SENIOR ENDURANCE CROSS COUNTRY – NEXT UP

Entries are now open for the 3rd and 4th events in the club’s Cross-Country Championship. The event at Lanark is probably the ideal ‘toe in the water’ for those unsure if XC is for them. It’s short, it’s local, and it’s not a relay (so no teammates depending on you to get round).

National Short Course XC Championships – Saturday 6th November
Entries are open for the National Short Course XC Championships, to be held at Lanark Racecourse. They remain open until Thursday 21st October. Not a huge entry window, so best act sooner than later if you want to compete. Full details and booking link – DETAILS AND BOOKING

West District XC Championships – Saturday 4th December
Entries are open for the West District XC Championships, to be held at Maryhill Park, Glasgow. They remain open until Thursday 18th November. Full details and booking link – DETAILS AND BOOKING

Ten seniors attended Alexandra Park on Saturday to represent Motherwell AC in the West District XC Relays. Each leg was 4km long. How hard could that be…?

First in action was the women’s team, with Joey Leach running the opening leg in a very strong 16:56. Phyllis Hands then took over and surprised herself with her time. Emma Morris brought the team home as 23rd Senior team.

16:56 Joey Leach

20:37 Phyllis Hands

17:31 Emma Morris

Later in the afternoon it was the men’s turn. The club had entered two teams – a full Masters team and, unfortunately, an incomplete Senior team. David Hoolaghan and Craig Morris got things underway. An impressively strong run from Craig saw him finish his leg a good distance ahead of David. It was then over to ‘young’ Scott Dickson and ‘old’ Mark Ellis. The wiser head prevailed and towards the end of the lap Mark had reeled in Scott and began to pull away. The third leg saw Alan Strang and John Burns in action, attempting to gain positions whilst also being passed by the leading whippets on their fourth legs! The final runner of the day was Robbie Pattinson who ran strongly to bring the Masters team home in 12th place.

19:27 David Hoolaghan

16:25 Mark Ellis

17:13 Alan Strang

17:08 Robert Pattinson

The Senior team was unclassified.

18:46 Craig Morris

17:16 Scott Dickson

19:53 John Burns

So how hard was it? Well, without exception, all the club’s athletes were shocked at how tough a course it was. Golf courses aren’t usually that hilly, right?

But more importantly, without exception, all the club’s athletes were glad they had taken on the challenge and enjoyed the team spirit on show in abundance.

If you haven’t tried cross-country before, why not give it a go?  Then you will understand…….

GILLIAN McCAFFER AND MIRANDA RICHMOND DO MOTHERWELL AC PROUD AT THE VIRGIN MONEY LONDON MARATHON

Running alongside a bit more than another 40,000 competitors, club members Gillian McCaffer and Miranda Richmond had outstanding performances at today’s Virgin Money London Marathon.

Gillian completed the famous 26.2 miles course in an excellent 3 hours 41 minutes and 56 seconds while Miranda finished not that far behind in a very creditable 4 hours 5 minutes and 7 seconds.

Well done and congratulations to Gillian and Miranda from everybody at Motherwell AC.

A few pictures from earlier today are attached.

West District XC Relays – Entries

Our deadline for entering the season-opening West District XC Relays is midnight on Tuesday 21st September.  Another couple of male and female entries would help the club field full teams.  If you are on the fence, why not put your name down and decide closer to the day?

West District XC Relays – Marshalls

The organisers of the West District XC Relays require marshalls and are requesting assistance from the West District clubs.  It would be great if the club could provide one or two marshalls to help this event run smoothly.  If you are available and interested, please contact Alan Strang (alanstrang@motherwellac.com) for further details.

National XC Relays – Entries

Entries for the National Cross Country Relay Championships are now open.  This event takes place on Saturday 23rd October at Scone Palace, Perthshire. Full details are available here [https://scottishathletics.sportserve.net/pages/event/athletics/athleticsbookingdetails.aspx?id=11570]. Please note your Scottish Athletics membership must be current in order to participate.

As before, entries for team relays are submitted by the club. If you want to take part, please let Alan Strang (alanstrang@motherwellac.com) know and arrange payment of a £5 deposit. This can be paid in person, by bank transfer, or by PayPal. Only once this deposit has been paid is your place in the squad confirmed. This deposit will be refunded on the day of the race.

Our closing date for entries for this event is midnight on Tuesday 5th October.

Track & Mud

Two reminders for Senior Endurance members.

Firstly, the club’s 3000m Track Championship takes place on Saturday 18th September. That’s next weekend.  It would be great to see as many members as possible support this race.  Full details are available in this earlier post:

 https://motherwellac.com/senior-endurance-3000m-track-championship-2021/

Secondly, team entries for the West District Cross Championship Relays are open and will remain so until Tuesday 21st September.  The event itself is on Saturday 9th October in Glasgow.  If you are not sure whether cross country is your thing, a relay event is probably the best ‘toe in the water’.  Again, full details in this earlier post:

https://motherwellac.com/senior-endurance-cross-country-championship-2021-22/

We are delighted to announce the launch of our new club branded kit which is now available to order from our new supplier Migo Sports.

Migo will be supplying our club with Motherwell AC branded:

– Vests
– T-Shirts
– Tracksuit Tops

All of these items are available to order online from https://www.migosports.co.uk/collections/motherwell-ac for home delivery or pick up in store from their premises in Glasgow. Delivery in most cases will be immediate but no more than 4 weeks. A direct link will be added to the club website to help all members get access to kit in future. More club kit items will be added to the online store as required. Please note that both the new kit and existing club kits can continue to be worn at training and competitions. There is no requirement to replace existing kit with new club kit and you are not required to do so.

These changes to club branded kit have taken place due to our existing supplier (Kukri) increasing the lead times and minimum order quantities on all of our orders resulting in higher costs and a poorer service for our club.
We still have a stock of the existing Kukri vests and hoodies, as undernoted, and these are being sold at a discount of 35% +.

If you would like to buy any of these items please contact our kit man Alan Robertson who will be happy to assist you.

SENIOR ENDURANCE TRAINING UPDATE 27 AUGUST 2021

Over the next few weeks we will see a change in the emphasis of our training. We adopt a structured approach to training and encourage a short period of rest or easy training for a few weeks around this time each year. This will help to ensure you recover from a hard period of training and feel refreshed, ready for the start of a new season.

Obviously, some athletes will have their own targets and should adapt the training schedules to suit their needs. However, we would recommend they do consider a period of rest and recovery at an appropriate stage in their training.

Following our recovery period, the next phase of our training will be aimed at building an aerobic base, through progressively longer steady runs. We will start our cross country training on Saturday 25th September. This training will be mostly on grass and is aimed at preparing our athletes for a series of cross country and relay races over the Winter. The club hold a separate cross country championships over the Winter and you may wish to target some of the following races:

West District Cross Country Relays – 9/10/21

Lanarkshire Road Relays – 16/10/21 (TBC)

National Cross Country Relays – 23/10/21

National Short Course Cross Country – 6/11/21

West District Cross Country Championships – 4/12/21

Lanarkshire Cross Country Championships – (TBC)

National Cross Country Championships – 26/2/22

If you would like more information on our training, have a look at the annual training plan on the training schedule page of the website https://motherwellac.com/senior-endurance-training/ or have an interest in getting more involved, please contact one of our coaches.

‏Three Motherwell AC athletes (Alastair Loudon, Gillian McCaffer and Scott Kelman) made the journey to compete in the  Fleetwood Half Marathon on Sunday 22 August 2021.

All three achieved PBs and Gillian McCaffer was 3rd Female in the race with 224 competitors.  Well done and congratulations from all at the club.  Times and finishing positions follow.

Scott Kelman (28th) – 1:36:38

Alastair Loudon (58th) – 1:45:08

Gillian McCaffer (3rd Female) – 1:46:03

Continue reading “William Bailey Wins Bronze at Scottish Championships”

Saturday 7th August 2021

REVISED TEAMS:

The teams have been formed for this Saturday’s MAC Team Relays. It is hoped they will be even closer matched than the ones from May.

Team Jamaica (Yellow): Craig Morris, David Hoolaghan, Paul Burns, Ross McLean

Team Netherlands (Orange): Alan Strang, David Gardiner, Scott Dickson, Tommy Sneddon

Team Ethiopia (Green): Alastair Loudon, Graeme Kennedy, Neil Richardson, Phyllis Hands

Team Kenya (Red):  Iain Campbell, Jim Scougal, Marcus Whyte, Scott Kelman

Team Poland (White): Alan Main, Charlotte Hands, Emma Morris, Jonathan Moore

Reserve: John Hughes

RUNNING ORDER:

It is up to each team to decide on its running order. The only requirements are that each team member runs at least one leg, and each team must run four legs. So for incomplete teams, team members may run additional legs in order to complete the relay.

NON-ENTRANTS:

Members who did not enter are still welcome to participate in the session. They will be used to make up any incomplete teams, replace injured runners, or make up their own team on the day with other non-entrants. Alternatively, they can run a timed two miles for the individual challenge.

ROUTE:

The route will be a mini version of the Strathclyde parkrun and can be viewed here.
https://www.plotaroute.com/route/1537352
Pay attention to the ‘parkrun turning loop’ next to the playpark on the far side of the loch.

START TIME:

This event will be the club training session for Saturday 7th August. Please meet at the Strathclyde Park Watersports Centre by 9.30am. The action will commence at around 9.50am, and certainly by 10am.

ON THE DAY:

Please make every effort to wear your MAC vest. If you do not own a vest, please let this be known and something can hopefully be sorted out.

If you can also bring some safety pins for the home-made race numbers (colour coded by team), that would be appreciated. Safety pins will be made available for those who do not have them.

HELPERS:

Joe Hoolaghan, Brian McLinden and John Hughes will kindly help on the day to ensure everything goes to plan.

Congratulations go to Gillian for a superb 5 miles time of 34:46 and F35 3rd place finish in Redcar at the weekend. Well done Gillian from everybody at the club. Keep up the good work.

The First Minister announced on Tuesday 13 July that all of mainland Scotland will move to Level 0 on Monday 19 July.  Scottish Athletics has updated its Framework document (see attached) and it guidance documents on its website.

Scottish Athletics Covid-19 Level Framework

Three Motherwell AC athletes excelled at the Scottish Masters Championships in Kilmarnock on Saturday 10 June 2021.  Congratulations go to:

Alan Robertson ‘Gold’ in the M40, 100m and 200m

Phyllis Hands ‘Gold’ in the W65, 800m and 1500m

Jim Smith ‘Gold’ in the M75, 100m and 200m

To quote Phyllis Hands “There is life in the old dogs yet”

SENIOR ENDURANCE IS CURRENTLY RECRUITING NEW MEMBERS

As we emerge from Covid-19 restrictions we are now in position to actively recruit new members to the club.  We cater for a mixed range of abilities for adults from 18-year-olds upwards within Senior Endurance.  If you are interested in joining us but are not sure if we are the club for you – we are currently offering a one month’s free trial for you to try out with us.  Just click on the membership Enquiries link below to find out more about us, fill out the enquiry form and we will contact you about the next steps.

Membership Enquiries – Motherwell AC

MAC Senior Endurance 5k Team Challenge Reminder

Tuesday 15th June 2021

REMINDER:

A reminder that this evening sees the MAC 5k Team Challenge.  Please see the earlier post for full details.  Club kit is NOT required for this event.

ENTRIES:

No pre-entries are required for this event.  Anyone wishing to participate should just turn up to training on Tuesday as normal.

START TIME:

This event will be the club training session.  Please meet at the Strathclyde Park Watersports Centre by 6.30pm. The action will commence after teams have been formed and everyone has had an opportunity to warm-up.·

At Motherwell Athletics Club we always want to help our members achieve their full potential,
not only in regards to their athletic performances but in everything they do.

Such is the case for Sophie Hall, who has recently been awarded a summer internship in
London and will pause her club membership while she is away.

“I’m currently in my 4th year at Strathclyde University studying a Masters in Product Design
Engineering. I’m going down to London for a 3 month summer internship at SharkNinja. They
make hoovers/kitchen appliances etc – you will have heard of them. I will be working as an
Advanced Development Product Design Engineer and I am really looking forward to the
experience, both professionally and socially.”

This is a fantastic opportunity for Sophie and although we will miss her at the club, we wish her
every success with the internship after which she is returning to Strathclyde to complete her
Masters degree.

MOTHERWELL AC SENIOR ENDURANCE RELAYS – THE TEAMS

The teams have been formed for this Saturday’s MAC Team Relays!

Team A: Charla Hands, Emma Morris, Ewen Cameron, Jim White
Team B: Alan Tait, John Burns, Scott Dickson, Simon Marshall
Team C: Alastair Loudon, Gayle Samson, Mark Ellis, Scott Kelman
Team D: Gillian McCaffer, Iain Campbell, Neil Richardson, Phyllis Hands
Team E: Douglas Samson, Gary Arthur, Robert Pattinson, Steven McCaw
Team F: Alan Main, Brian McLinden, Lauren Wyllie, Miranda Richmond
Reserves: Alan Strang, David Gardiner

RUNNING ORDER:

It is up to each team to decide on its running order.  The only requirements are that each team member runs at least one leg, and each team must run four legs.  So for incomplete teams, team members may run additional legs in order to complete the relay.

NON-ENTRANTS:

Members who did not enter prior to the deadline are still welcome to participate, but only until the maximum bubble size of 30 (28 runners, 2 helpers) has been reached.  Such members will be used to fill up any incomplete teams on the day, but only after the reserves have already been used.  If no reserves are actually needed, then a Team G can be formed.

If you do intend to participate, best drop a message in advance to alanstrang@motherwellac.com to be sure of your place.

ROUTE:

The route will be a mini version of the Strathclyde parkrun and can be viewed here: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/1537352

Note, for those that way inclined, a Strava segment (‘MAC Team Relays’) has been created for this route.  Luke Traynor holds the backdated record.  So that’s a nice target for us…

START TIME:

This event will be the club training session for Saturday 22nd May.  Please meet at the Strathclyde Park Watersports Centre by 9.30am. The action will commence at around 9.50am, and certainly by 10am.

ON THE DAY:

Please make every effort to wear your MAC vest.  This event is a great opportunity for the club to be seen as being back.

If you can also bring some safety pins for the home-made race numbers, that would be appreciated. Some will be made available, but possibly not sufficient for all.

HELPERS:

Joe Hoolaghan and John Hughes will kindly help on the day to ensure everything goes to plan.  Joe will also have his camera, so be sure to brush your hair…

April Time Trial detailed results and updated championship tables are now available on the Time Trial Championship page of the club website – see attached link

Time Trial Championship 2021

We are returning to a ‘real’ version of the Time Trial on Tuesday 6 April @ 6.30 PM.

While the travel restrictions remain in place we will have one group starting in Strathclyde Park and a second group starting from the Mausoleum in Hamilton.

Due to individual concerns or medical advice, members who do not wish to participate in the group session may submit a virtual time, as per previous guidance.  Your run can be completed anytime between now and Tuesday and must be submitted to Joe Hoolaghan (via messenger or email – joehoolaghan@motherwellac.com) by close of play on 6 April.  Participants may do this on two occasions during the season.  This limit does not apply to entirely virtual time trials (see 2021 TT rules on the TT Championship Page for more details – link attached).

Time Trial Championship 2021

Senior Endurance Training Schedules for April and May 2021 are now available on the club calendar.  You can access them from the following link.

SENIOR ENDURANCE TRAINING SCHEDULES

Senior Endurance will return to training from Saturday 20 March @ 9.30 AM.  Due to travel restrictions across Local Authority boundaries until 26 April, we will have two training locations:

The Water Sports Centre in Strathclyde Park for North Lanarkshire Residents; and

The Mausoleum in Hamilton Palace Grounds for South Lanarkshire Residents.

There is no need to book in advance as we can have multiple groups of 15s and have sufficient coaching cover, if the demand is there.  Social distancing (2 metres side by side, and 5 metres when running in single file) must be maintained before, during and after training.  Hand sanitizing gel will be available but it is advisable to bring your own.

We will be continuing with the current March Training Schedule (see attached link) for the remainder of the month and new schedules for April and May will be published before the end of the month.

Senior Endurance Training Schedules

Please note – only current members on Loveadmin.com are eligible to attend training sessions.  Individuals on our waiting list are also eligible to attend, by invitation, for their free trial.

As of 11 March Scottish Athletics has updated it Covid-19 Level Framework which allows a return to training for all age groups from Friday 11 March 2021 within specific criteria.   A link to the Covid-19 Level Framework is set out below, and summary of key changes follow.

Further information on the plans for returning to training will follow from next week.

Scottish Athletics Covid-19 Level Framework

The key changes are summarized below:

From Friday 12 March,

Age 11 and under (Level 4)

• Children aged 11 and under can take part in outdoor organised athletics training, group exercise and competition (internal only) within their usual club or facility environment.
• An outdoor sporting ‘field of play bubble’ for children aged 11 and under can consist of up to 30 people, including coaches and officials, at any one time.
• Children are not required to physically distance. Coaches and officials should maintain physical distancing where possible.
• Where there are multiple bubbles operating at the same venue risk assessments must be completed to ensure there can be no mixing of participants before, during or after the activity.

Age 12+ (Level 4)

• Those aged 12+ and over can take part in organised athletics training, group exercise and competition within their usual club or facility environment.
• Group sizes of up to 15 people, including coaches and officials, are permitted at any one time.
• Physical distancing should be maintained at all times.
• Where there are multiple bubbles operating at the same venue risk assessments must be completed to ensure there can be no mixing of participants before, during or after the activity.

Travel

• Children aged 17 years or under may travel into or out of a Level 4 area for organised athletics activity if that is where their club or activity normally takes place.
• Adults (18+) should only travel locally (within their local authority area) to take part in organised sport or physical activity.
• For informal exercise, people of all ages should only travel up to 5 miles from their local authority boundary.
• Coaches and Jog leaders can travel across local authority boundaries to coach/lead. However, please remember to minimise travel where possible.

 The new year gets off to a ‘challenging’ start with the Virtual Scottish Athletics Road Challenge 3. To be held over the second weekend of January (8-11th), this event will see seniors/masters compete over a distance of 8km.

Unlike the previous challenge, covid restrictions now mean supervised club runs are not permitted. As a result, all attempts will have to be solo and self-timed.

So, if you fancy testing yourself over a distance that is not quite a 10k, why not give it a go?

https://www.scottishathletics.org.uk/60943-2/

Due to a new customer parking system being introduced at Bellziehill Farm we can no longer meet there for our Hills of Hell sessions.

The new meeting place is PHILIP MURRAY ROAD, BELLSHILL, ML4 3HL. Just drive past Bellziehill Farm along the A721 (New Edinburgh Road) for less than half of a mile and take the first right into Philip Murray Road. There is ‘on road’ parking as you enter the street and we will meet there. Additional parking is available at the top of the street beside the factory units if required.

If you know the Bellziehill Farm you will find Philip Murray Road no problem.

We look forward to seeing you on Tuesday.

We managed to have our first time trial since February, and it was great to be back – of course following all Scottish Athletics Covid-19 Level Framework.

We had 19 competing in this morning’s event – 15 in one group at Strathclyde Park with another four competitors in our South Lanarkshire Group over in Palace Grounds.

1st Male was Alistair Loudon in 29:50. First female across the ‘line’ was Phyllis Hands in 31:44. The wooden spoon was picked up by Nick Hughes over in Palace grounds in 24;59 which is quite a respectful time but well off Nick’s best.

Alistair Loudon also won the Donald McCaffer Memorial Quaich. The Quaich was presented to Alistair by Donald’s daughter Gillian.

Ewen Cameron picked up his award for 2nd place in the 2019/20 Senior Endurance Cross Country Championship.

Thanks to Anne Hughes, Alan Strang, Jim Tracey, Ewen Cameron and Kevin Durnian for helping out wet Saturday morning. The full results and all of the photographs will follow later today.

The Virtual Scottish Athletics Road Challenge 2 was held over last weekend, and Motherwell AC had eleven athletes participating.

In the 3k event, the club had four scores:

David Gardiner – 9:46
Allan Cameron – 9:47
Evan Crane – 10:47
Alan Strang – 11:33

A team consisting of David, Allan and Evan placed 8th in the team event.  In the overall competition, David and Allan were the 2nd and 3rd fastest Masters athletes.  A huge well done to both!

In the 5k event, the club had seven scores:

Paul Burns – 17:38
David Hoolaghan – 21:07
Alastair Loudon – 21:11
Miranda Richmond – 22:13
Gary Arthur – 22:26
Scott Kelman – 22:33
Gillian McCaffer – 22:41

Paul, David and Alastair contributed to the A team, and finished 15th.  The B team of Miranda, Gary and Scott finished 20th.

Well done to all athletes who took part in this virtual competition.  Most ran as part of Saturday’s club session and enjoyed a rare chance to race against club-mates in 2020.

The Virtual Scottish Athletics Road Challenge 3 will be held over the second weekend in January.  Details will follow later this month.

Motherwell AC is delighted to let you know that Lesley Ross has achieved her Level 3 Coaching Award.

Lesley coaches our Intermediate Multi Events group and her new qualification will be of tremendous benefit to her athletes and the wider club.

From everybody at the club – Well done and congratulations Lesley.

LINDSAYS NATIONAL TEAM XC AT CUMBERNAULD ON 7/8 NOVEMBER – CANCELLED

Please see the attached link for the full update.

National XC Team XC – Cancelled

Nine senior endurance athletes took part in the recent Virtual Scottish Athletics 3k Challenge. Some were attempting to qualify for the National Short Course XC Championships, others simply leaving it all out there to see what they had in their legs. The results were:

Stephen Allen – 9:32

David Gardiner – 9:57

Evan Crane – 11:06

Alan Strang – 11:41

David Hoolaghan – 12:38

Scott Kelman – 12:42

Gary Arthur – 13:01

Clare Barr – 13:22

Kevin Mcphillips – 14:03

Congratulations again to Stephen Allen on another age category overall fastest time. And well done to all members who took part in this challenge.

The next Scottish Athletics virtual event is in early December – Road Challenge 2. This time athletes have a choice of 3k, 5k and 10k distances. Entries will be encouraged for this event nearer the time.

Alan Strang

Senior Endurance Captain

VIRTUAL SCOTTISH ATHLETICS 3K CHALLENGE – THE RESULTS

Nine senior endurance athletes took part in the recent Virtual Scottish Athletics 3k Challenge. Some were attempting to qualify for the National Short Course XC Championships, others simply leaving it all out there to see what they had in their legs. The results were:

Stephen Allen – 9:32

David Gardiner – 9:57

Evan Crane – 11:06

Alan Strang – 11:41

David Hoolaghan – 12:38

Scott Kelman – 12:42

Gary Arthur – 13:01

Clare Barr – 13:22

Kevin Mcphillips – 14:03

Congratulations again to Stephen Allen on another age category overall fastest time. And well done to all members who took part in this challenge.

The next Scottish Athletics virtual event is in early December – Road Challenge 2. This time athletes have a choice of 3k, 5k and 10k distances. Entries will be encouraged for this event nearer the time.

Alan Strang

Senior Endurance Captain

Scottish Athletics has now issued the updated Covid-19 Guidance and Framework for Athletics.  The links are attached.  A summary of the updates to the guidance issued last week is also set out below.

Updated Level Framework for Athletics 4 November 2020

Covid-19 New Update and Guidance 4 November 2020

Summary of Updates:

Training Groups

• Age 11 and under – outdoor – coaches are included in the total group size of 30.
• Level 4 – outdoor – training group sizes should be reduced as follows:
  • Age 11 and under – maximum group size of 15 (not including coach)
  • Age 12-17 – maximum group size of 8 (not including coach)
  • Age 18+ – maximum group size of 8 (not including coach)
• Age 18+ – indoor – in Level 3 no group activity is permitted. You can participate following Scottish Government household guidance (2 households, maximum 6 people)

Physical Distancing

• Level 3 – outdoor
  • Where athletes aged 18+ may be in close contact for an extended period of time (e.g. longer than 15 minutes) we strongly recommend enforcing physical distancing.

Travel

• Coaches can continue to travel to coach (both paid & voluntary) across local authority boundaries in all levels.
• Participants under 18 years of age can travel to and from Level 0-3 areas (not Level 4) to take part in athletics activity.
• Participants aged 18 years of age or over should, where possible, minimise unnecessary travel between areas. You can travel into a Level 3 area for athletics activity if it is within 5 miles from your local authority boundary.
• For participants 18+ in a Level 3 area travel is permitted within and around 5 miles from your local authority boundary for athletics activity.
• In Level 4 travel is only permitted within your own local authority area.
• You should avoid any unnecessary travel to a Level 4 area.

LINDSAYS NATIONAL TEAM XC AT CUMBERNAULD ON 7/8 NOVEMBER – CANCELLED

Please see the attached link for the full update.

National XC Team XC – Cancelled

Virtual Scottish Athletics 3k Challenge

Following hot on the heels of last weekend’s Virtual Road Challenge comes the next in Scottish Athletics’ series of virtual events – the 3k Challenge.

For those who ran the 3k in the Road Challenge, this is a chance to get your pacing better and hopefully improve your time. For everyone else this is a chance to find out how much speed you have in your legs.

The twist for this event is it also serves as a qualifier for December’s National Short Course XC Championships (follow link for details). So even if running a fast 3k isn’t your thing, maybe XC is.

Let’s strive for as many MAC entrants as possible.

Virtual Scottish Athletics 3K Challenge – ENTER NOW

Virtual Scottish Athletics Road Challenge

The recent Virtual Scottish Athletics Road Challenge saw 13 senior endurance athletes represent Motherwell AC over the three available distances.

In the 3k event, 7 athletes took part resulting in MAC scoring two full teams (finishing 21st and 49th):

Stephen Allen – 9:34

Alan Strang – 11:59

Lauren Wyllie – 12:15

Alastair Loudon – 12:17

Claire Pollard – 13:05

Clare Barr – 13:14

Kevin Mcphillips – 13:47

The 10k event saw three entrants, and they led the team to an 11th place finish:

David Gardiner – 36:50

Scott Kelman – 47:50

Gary Arthur – 49:51

The longest event – the half marathon – had a trio of males taking part, with their team in 7th position:

Paul Burns – 1:18:59

David Hoolaghan – 1:43:22

Douglas Samson – 2:03:47

A special mention has to be given to Stephen Allen, David Gardiner and Paul Burns, each of whom were fastest in their age category. Well done! Also worthy of note is Claire Pollard for representing MAC for the first time, having only joined the club last week.

The next virtual event is in just over a week, a 3K-only challenge:

Scottish Athletics 3K Challenge

Big congratulations to William Bailey  who has PB’d again today at the Autumn Throws Competition in Linwood.
William smashed the 30m barrier with a 50cm PB, throwing 30.48 in his final throw. A great season for him. Well done again, William!

Due to current COVID-19 restrictions, we are not currently accepting any new members however, if you would like to be added to the member waiting list please contact membership@motherwellac.com and whenever a vacancy occurs we will be in touch.

Attached is the link to the updated guidance for athletics from Scottish Athletics issued on 21 October 2020.  It extends the changes for areas with local measures to Sunday 1 November.

LOCAL MEASURES AND RESTRICTIONS

The main change affecting adults in the 5 areas including Lanarkshire is:

*Adults (18 years of age or older) can take part in organised outdoor athletics and running training, competition or events if all relevant guidance is followed.

However, adults must maintain physical distancing at all times.

*Continue to follow existing guidance on training groups and sizes.

After taking a break for quite a few years we are pleased to let you know that Phyllis Hands has renewed her Level 1 Coaching License.  Phyllis will be a welcomed addition to the coaching team at the club, offering us some much appreciated flexibility.  Well done and thanks Phyllis.

Congratulations to William Bailey (U17) who has produced yet another fantastic javelin PB, with a throw of 29.98 – this time at the Autumn Throws Competition in Linwood on 10 October. This new PB is more than 2 metres over the last one at Meadowmill in August!

Great to see such fantastic improvements for William in both the javelin and shot putt this season despite the less than ideal training conditions. Excellent commitment and focus from him. Well done William!

VIRTUAL SCOTTISH ATHLETICS ROAD CHALLENGE

The latest Scottish Athletics virtual event comes up later this month with the Road Challenge. This event sees a choice of three distances for senior endurance members to tackle – 3k, 10k and half-marathon. Something for everyone.

Following a season of limited opportunity to compete, this is a great chance to participate for the club and encourage each other to run well. With team results including the fastest three athletes, it would be perfect if the club could field three entries for each race distance.

To help co-ordinate this, please reply to the post on Facebook or drop a message to Alan Strang (alanstrang@motherwellac.com) with your planned distance if you are intending to take part.

VIRTUAL SCOTTISH ATHLETICS ROAD CHALLENGE

Motherwell AC Sprinter Stephen Ross has provided us with an update of some outstanding performances at local, district and national championships.  There also some pictures of Stephen receiving his medals, and a picture of the results sheet when he first broke the 11 second mark for 100m.

Thanks Stephen for sharing another bit of Motherwell AC history with us.

Timeline:

01/09/2012 – Gold medal in the 100m and 200m at the LAAA Champs and won the Churchill Trophy for the 100m.

17/02/2013 – First National medal at the U18/U20 Scottish National Champs. Won a bronze medal in the 400m with a PB time of 51.84s.

22/05/2015 – Bronze medal in the 200m at the West District Champs in Kilmarnock.

03/09/2016 – Gold medal in the 200m LAAA Champs and Silver medal in the 100m.

02/04/2017 – First Sub 11s 100m with a time of 10.98s

Lindsays National Team XC Sunday 25 October (Senior Endurance)

Please find attached below two links with the fine detail about the Lindsays National Team XC, please have a read.  A few extracts from the event format follow.

1. No Championship. Due to restricted entry numbers, no championship medals will be awarded at this event. The team event replaces the National XC Relay Championships for 2020.
2. Unlike previous years where we have unlimited entries, there will be limit of ONE (3-person) team per club only. To ensure as many clubs as possible are given the opportunity to compete, clubs are limited to entering ONE team only per age group (Young Athletes Male and Female and Senior Male and Female – a maximum of four teams per club). If capacity is not reached in a particular age group, clubs will be offered the opportunity to enter a B team based on their 2020 club affiliation returns from largest to smallest clubs.
3. The will be No Masters-specific Races. As capacity is restricted, no specific Masters races will be held. Masters athletes can be included within a club’s main team.
4. Entries should be submitted by clubs via the club portal. No individual entries will be accepted for this event. Clubs may enter a maximum of one team per age group, and as many eligible athletes as they wish. The exact make-up of teams will be determined on the declaration form: clubs should simply register a pool of athletes on the registration form from which their final team will be selected closer to the event date.

Tommy Sneddon will be the Team Manager.  If you are interested in being considered for the National Team XC, please add your name to the post on the Motherwell AC Facebook page or contact Tommy by phone/text on 07396 599132 no later than Monday 12 October.  Our entries must be submitted by 15 October.

National XC Team Event Information

Scottish Athletics News

Senior Endurance Training Schedules for October and November 2020 are now available on the calendar page of the Motherwell AC website (link attached).

SENIOR ENDURANCE TRAINING SCHEDULES

MOTHERWELL AC HAS ACCESS TO A NEW OUTDOOR FACILITY AT STRATHCLYDE PARK

Motherwell AC has secured the use of a new facility at Strathclyde Park from North Lanarkshire Sports Development for use on, Tuesdays Thursdays and Saturdays.  It is the area between the Boathouse and the first of the four big car parks.  This area is securely fenced off and gates can be closed to ensure no members of the public walk through, and it has Portaloos that will be regularly serviced. There is a marquee which we will have access to on Saturdays and a storage container for kit on Tuesdays and Thursdays when we do not have exclusive use of the area.  There will be a North Lanarkshire Council coach on site to clean equipment and provide support if required.

The new facility opens on Thursday 1 October.  Senior Endurance will start using it from Thursday and meet in the main car park at the Water Sports Centre then proceed to the new facility. The new area is large and will also be available to our Track and Field groups on a Saturday.

This is great news and we are grateful for the support from North Lanarkshire Council Sports Development as we continue with our return to organised group training.

Scott Kelman has joined the Senior Endurance Coaching team.  Scott is working his way through the coaching qualifications and will start taking an active part at training in the coming weeks and months.  Welcome on board Scott.

SENIOR ENDURANCE – NEW MEMBERS

If you are interested in joining Motherwell Athletics Club – Senior Endurance is open for new members.  You can have the opportunity to ‘try out’ with us for a few sessions to see if we are the club for you.

We are a community athletics club and have members with a wide range of abilities who are competitive at national level right through to runners who want to train to keep fit and active. If you can run 10K in under 60 minutes and are looking to improve, then there will be a group that you will fit in to.

Contact Joe Hoolaghan (one of our Senior Endurance Coaches) by email at joehoolaghan@motherwellac.com if you want to ‘try out’ and he will let you know what to do next.

In the meantime, you may wish to have a look at our website https://www.motherwellac.com/ or our Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/MotherwellAC.  A link to the club membership page is attached for information.

https://www.motherwellac.com/index.php/membership/join-us/

A huge well done once again to our young athletes Lauren and William who both competed over the weekend in the final week of the 4J Studios Open Series at Meadowmill.
On what was a very windy day, Lauren (U13) came first in her 100m heat with a time of 15.35; so close to her 2019 PB of 15.32. Great run Lauren! An action shot (courtesy of Bobby Gavin) shows Lauren’s reach for the finish line!
William Bailey (U17) competed in throws once again, and in the shot putt delivered yet another PB with a throw of 8.76! He also threw a very respectable 24.07 in the javelin, but it’s fair to say he was a little off his usual recent performances. Think the wind may have had something to do with that too! 
Thanks again to the officials and other volunteers who helped make this Series happen in difficult circumstances. 

Senior Endurance Captain and Vice-Captain

Just a brief note to let you know that following our recent call for volunteers, Alan Strang will become Senior Endurance Captain and Scott Dickson our Vice-Captain. Alan and Scott both expressed a keen interest in representing the Senior Endurance section and the coaches are pleased they have agreed to the new roles. A handover will take place between now and the AGM in October. Joe

Congratulations to Ross Duffin (U15) and Lauren (U13) who competed in their first official, non virtual competition of the season at Meadowmill today. Both athletes PB’d which is a real testament to their focus and commitment to training despite difficult circumstances over the spring/summer.

Ross went sub 26 in the 200m for the first time, with a time of 25.87 and Lauren knocked two seconds off her official 800m time with a 2.46. Delighted for them both!

William Bailey (U17) competed in both the shot putt and javelin at the same venue on 22/23 August and also set new PBs despite going up weights in both events this year. He threw 8.40m in SP, (a PB of almost 1.5m) and in javelin threw 27.23m – a PB by 1.34m! Well done William.

Great to see our young athletes doing so well!

For the AGM in October, we are looking for a current club member who wants be involved in the development and the smooth running of the Senior Endurance section of Motherwell AC. The individual provides the link between the club committee, our coaches, and the senior endurance athletes.

What will the person do?
1. Lead the process for selecting races and defining rules for annual Senior Endurance competition by working with coaches and athletes.
2. Provide input to Senior Endurance coaches on training schedules, and the development of new ideas to improve current practice.
3. Be the Senior Endurance Representative on the club committee.

Ongoing support and a full handover will be provided by Joe Hoolaghan who took over earlier in the year as temporary Rep till the AGM.

If you are interested contact any of our coaches to discuss the role. You can also contact Joe directly via Facebook messenger or email him at joehoolaghan@motherwellac.com

VIRTUAL 5K MACRUN IS ON FROM FRIDAY 14 – MONDAY 17 AUGUST

Our version of the Parkrun is happening this weekend, and hopefully it will be our final virtual event. This can be as easy or serious as you want it to be. I am going to be the tail runner. Here are the details, it is simple.

1. Just find a 5K route which suits you and starts and finishes at roughly the same point.
2. Do the run where and when you want from Friday to Monday. You might choose an existing Parkrun route (Strathclyde or Drumpellier Parks for example).
3. Just post your time and photo (optional) in MAC members or private messenger Joe Hoolaghan or email him at joehoolaghan@motherwellac.com.
4. Joe will post the results in finishing order on Tuesday 18 August.
5. Follow the Scottish Athletics Virtual Challenge Safety Guidelines (link attached).

UP & COMING VIRTUAL EVENTS FOR YOUR DIARY INCLUDING THE SPRINGBURN HARRIERS 6K CANTER

We already have included in the suggested sessions, a Virtual TT (31 July – 2 August), and a Virtual 5K MACrun – our version of the Parkrun (13 – 16 August).

There is also the VIRTUAL 4J Studios Scottish Athletics 5K Challenge on 7 August

We now have a suggestion from Alan Strang & David Hoolaghan that we include the Springburn Harriers 6K Virtual Canter (21 -28 August) in the list of virtual events.

Senior Endurance athlete Mark Gallacher supplied us with two MAC Monthly newsletters from January and February back in 2016.  They are excellent, have a read.  Remember to send any items you have for the history project to Joe Hoolaghan (joehoolaghan@motherwellac.com).

MAC Monthly January 2016

MAC Monthly February 2016

We had a fantastic turn out of 18 athletes in the Virtual National 6 Stage Relays with one Senior Women’s team and 2 Senior Men’s teams participating. As ever, we had some fantastic performances, but more importantly thank you to every one of you who gave it go. It looks as if well over 400 athletes from across Scotland participated in this Virtual Event.

Our men’s A team were 6th – Mark Gallacher (17:03), Ewen Cameron (18:16), Keith Crane (19:55), Paul Burns (36:18), David Gardiner (37:00), and David Hoolaghan (43:21)

Our women’s team were 10th – Clare Barr (22:30), Tracey Lamont (24:06), Fiona Greaney (24:28), Miranda Richmond (46:58), Emma Hunter (47:56), and Gillian McCaffer (48:15)

The final positioning of our men’s B team consisting of the following athletes is still to be posted – Gary Arthur (54:17), Kevin McPhillips (49:22), , Scott Kelman (49:16), Alan Strang (20:27), Steven McCaw (22:19) and Graeme Kennedy (21:20)

New challenges this week: 800m and 80m. Great performances again by the gang!

800m:
Ross – 02.33.12
Lucia – 02.53.00
Ella – 03.18.97
Amy – 03.31.33
Ewan – 03.33

80m:
Ross – 10.68
Lucia – 11.25
Ewan – 11.00
Ella – 12.72
Amy 13.06

Next week is the first week of the virtual SUPERteams 2 events, which sees athletes competing in events over just two weeks this time. The competition has been extended to include the U11/13&15 age groups rather than just the usual U12s.

In Week 1, athletes are competing in an 80m shuttle run and target throw. I wonder if coach Joanne will retain her title in the throws! Challenge is on, Alison, right? 😂.

Week 2 is an 800m (U11/13) or 1k (U15) and the vertical jump! We’ll pause the usual weekly challenges until that event is over as most of our regulars are taking part. Good luck everyone, have fun, and well done for last week’s efforts! Remember to send photos to your coach if you can .

We had a great turn out of 22 athletes taking part in the fourth Virtual TT during the Covid-19 restrictions. Well done to everybody who managed to take part this month.

We had some fantastic performances too – Allan Cameron 21:29, Mark Ellis 24:09, an Gillian McCaffer Sub 30.

The last week of the second block of challenges for the group has seen some further amazing results. Well done everyone!

For the boys this week, Ross has once again improved his time in the 60m with an impressive 08.20. Mum/coach, Alison is also a qualified timekeeper, so that hat trick of PBs over the last three weeks will be spot on. Cameron’s first event in this block was the 1K, recording an excellent time of 03.58.00.

The girls are going from strength to strength too. Ella has improved her time in the 1K for a third week in a row too and seems to have caught the bug for the longer distance runs again, which is great. She clocked a 04.15.57 making that around a 30 second improvement over the three weeks! Ella also ran the 60m in 9.56 which is another unofficial PB this week!

Lauren is also continuing to pull down her 60m time with a 09.56 and improved on her 1K with a time this week, running it in 03.50.00. She did all three events, which is fantastic, and jumped a solid 1.73m in the SLJ. Lucie went for the 1k this week, with a great first effort of 04.29.28.

Delighted to see these young athletes focused, having fun and improving. Next week the new block of weekly virtual challenges is the 80m and an 800m. Parents should have already received an email with further details. We’re looking forward to hearing how you all get on. If you are in Lesley’s group and haven’t taken part so far, give it a go! Remember to warm up and cool down/stretch too💪🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️.

Thanks for your support everyone! Don’t forget to confirm for the Virtual SUPERteams 2 too!

JULY MOTHERWELL AC VIRTUAL TIME TRIAL IS ON BETWEEN FRI 3 JULY AND TUE 7 JULY
Remember this is mainly for fun and to give you a challenge during the current restrictions, and is not part of the Time Trial Championship. However, the April, May and June events were quite competitive with some excellent times recorded. Virtual winners trophies and a virtual wooden spoon will be awarded.

Please spread the word to our members who are not on social media or who are not into technology. They can email me at joehoolaghan@motherwellac.com. This post will also appear in the Motherwell AC Facebook page and I will drop a note to the members I know who do not use social media.

Motherwell AC participation in the VIRTUAL 4J Studios Scottish Athletics Relay Challenge 10-13 July – Entries are now open and close on 9 July

The race is now open for individual entries and it is free (no need for a club one this time as Scottish Athletics automatically roll up the results by club based on times and age if appropriate. There is no need to declare your distance either but I have set out below our entrants and their preferences. We can still add to the teams if other members want to compete. So here they are:

MEN 5K LEGS – Alan Strang, Keith Crane, Mark Gallacher, Ewen Cameron, Graeme Kennedy, & David Hoolaghan

MEN 10K LEGS – Scott Kelman, David Gardiner, Kevin McPhillips, Mark Ellis, Paul Burns, Gary Arthur, & Stephen Allen

WOMEN 5K LEGS – Clare Barr, Fiona Greaney, & Sophie Hall

WOMEN 10K LEGS – Gillian McCaffer, Miranda Richmond, & Emma Hunter.

Fortunately at the moment we have 2 men’s teams and one women’s team.  If  you haven’t put your name forward and wish to run you can still do so by accessing the following link.

https://scottishathletics.sportserve.net/pages/event/athleticsbookingdetails.aspx?id=10858

A huge well done to all the U12 athletes who successfully completed the Scottish Athletics Virtual SUPERteams Challenge. With new distances attempted and some personal bests in the jumps and 800m! Thank you to all the parents for their continued support throughout the event and for being the unofficial officials.

Week 1 of the new set of challenges for our Intermediate Multi Event Group had our athletes taking part in a 1k run, a 60m sprint and SLJ. Fantastic results and we’re looking forward to the next two weeks to see how things develop in these events! Cracking photos attached too.

1k:
Ross – 03.21.53
Lucia – 03.48.00
Lauren – 03.58.00
Ella – 04.45.00
Amy – 04.55.00
Ewan – 05.00.00
Great times! Will be interesting to see next week’s times for this new distance.

60m:
Ross – 8.45
Ewan – 8.60
Lucia – 8.72
Ella – 10.00
Amy – 10.18
Lauren – 10.24
Unofficial PBs for Ross Lucia and Ewan. Very close for the others. Great times all considering the lack of usual conditions!

SLJ:
Ewan – 2.46m
Ella – 2.29m
Amy – 1.82m
Lauren – 1.75m
A wee unofficial PB again for Ewan. “Coach” Mum, was strict too and deducted 1cm!

Thanks again Mums and Dads. Love the photos. Keep them coming!

Scottish Athletics have updated their guidance for clubs, coaches, athletes and facilities in Phase 2 of the Scottish Government’s Exit Plan. This, and further details (including the route map guides) can be found here.

Motherwell AC training activities remain suspended until further notice. The committee and coaches are working hard behind the scenes to comply with the rules and guidance and we plan to provide further updates within the next few weeks.

Take care everyone!

IME Group Virtual Challenges

A big well done to our IME Group athletes who completed the fourth week of their weekly virtual challenges!

Results:
1200m –
Ross – 04.22
Cameron 04.38
Ewan – 06.20.

Great improvements again from Ross and Cameron! Ross jumped a whopping 2m 44 in the SLJ and Ewan had his best jump so far of 2.41! Ewan also managed 198m in the 30 second run. Another hat trick this week for Ewan!

1k, 60m and SLJ are the challenges now for the next three weeks. Good luck everyone! We’d love to see some other athletes in the group take part too! Some of our usual participants were focused on the 800m SUPERteams run this week and we hope to see them back again this coming week.

Virtual SUPERteams: Week 4

SUPER performances again from our youngest athletes in the 800m, in the final week of this vitual team competition too. Seems like a lifetime ago we all did this competition together at the Emirates Arena, Glasgow in February. Looks like all of our athletes have all grown since then too! Final results will be reported later this week on the leaderboard:

https://data.opentrack.run/en-gb/x/2020/GBR/steamsnational/scores/

Photos of our athletes are attached again! Thanks for your continued support and to the coaches who help make it all happen! Coaches will keep in touch about other events and activities coming up.

Well done everyone! It has been fantastic. We are all very impressed by your efforts and commitment. Remember, the most important thing is to have fun and enjoy what your doing.

We hope that members are keeping well and enjoying the range of virtual activities and suggested sessions being made available by coaches in both SEnd and Track & Field as well as those “hosted” by Scottish Athletics. It has been great to see the range of participation and achievement across the club to date despite the very challenging circumstances since we ceased activities on 16 March 2020.

Motherwell AC training activities do remain suspended until further notice. Scottish Athletics are posting relevant updates, and Phase 1 information and guidance can be found here. More details on these and future plans, and how they relate to what’s happening at Motherwell AC will be shared with you all as soon as possible.

The Committee and coaches are working hard to prepare for a return to group training in line with Scottish Government and Scottish Athletics restrictions and guidelines when this is permitted.

Event Details for VIRTUAL 4J Studios Scottish Athletics Relay Challenge
VIRTUAL 4J STUDIOS SCOTTISH ATHLETICS ROAD RELAY CHALLENGE II – 10th to 13th JULY 2020
This one looks like something that Senior Endurance athletes could target for July. It appears to be a virtual version of the National Road Relays (see the SA link). The note is a bit long but unfortunately I think it needs to be.
1. It is free (unless you want to make a £2 donation to SA admin costs) and you enter directly with you name, club and SA number.
2. There is no need to pre-enter teams as Scottish Athletics automatically pool the results by time and age categories at the end of the challenge.
3. However, we do need to have equal numbers of 5K and 10K stage runners.
4. There is an opportunity for our female athletes too. Only 4 runners needed in the masters.
5. No need for a team manager for this one (Tommy is OK with this and will return when we get back to normal competition).
6. You have to be on Garmin or Strava -“Athletes must make their runs PUBLIC on their Garmin/Strava profile to allow results scrutiny.”
A. So, if you fancy competing for Motherwell AC in this challenge, can you let us know by replying to the post on the Motherwell AC Facebook page or email joehoolaghan@motherwellac.com with your preferred distance.
B. Please keep an eye on Facebook replies so that we can have equal number of 5K and 10K runners. We may have to ask runners to change their preferred choice if we don’t get the right mix.
C. Entries don’t open to 23 June and close on 9 July, therefore we have a bit of time on our hands.
D. Please spread the word to our non-social media athletes.
Joe
——————
CHALLEGE DETAILS:
6 Stage Relay – 3 Long (10km) and 3 Medium (5km) Legs – U20/Senior/Masters
4 Stage Relay – 2 Long (10km) and 2 Medium (5km) Legs – Masters
4 Stage Relay – 2 Medium (5km) and 2 Short (3km) Legs – U17/U15/U13
4 Stage Relay – 4 Short (3km) Legs – U13
*Masters performances will be eligible for teams in category 1 and 2

https://scottishathletics.sportserve.net/pages/event/athleticsbookingdetails.aspx?id=10858

Well done to our Intermediate Multi Event Group athletes who took part in Week 3 of the “Lockdown Challenges”. Results this week:

1200m:
Ross – 04.25
Lauren – 04.46
Cameron – 05.00
Ella – 06.07
Amy – 06.10
Ewan – 6.28
Lucia – 04.38

Great improvements on last week from Lauren and Ella! Ewan’s time was slower than usual having tackled it as a duathlon, with a cycle first!

30 second run:
Ewan – 201m
Lauren – 190m
Ella – 190m

Standing Long Jump:
Ross – 2.4m
Ella – 2.4m
Ewan – 2.35m
Lucie – 1.98m
Amy – 1.84m
Lauren – 1.71m
Lucia – 2.1m

Well done everyone!

After this week the events will change to 1k run and an 60m sprint. The standing long jump will continue. Lesley will email further info and guidance to parents shortly.

More photos/videos attached. Thanks to our ” virtual” assistants, otherwise known as Mums and Dads. We couldn’t do this without you!

More SUPER efforts again in Week 3 of the virtual SUPERteams competition for our U12s. This week was the standing long jump challenge and our young athletes performed brilliantly!
The distances jumped ranged from 1.73 to 2.4m and the photos/videos show some great jumps and technique. Well done everyone!

The leaderboard can be accessed via this link: https://data.opentrack.run/en-gb/x/2020/GBR/steamsnational/scores/
Throws scores from last week are now included in the totals. The SLJ results will be added later this coming week.

The final week is the big one – the 800m run! Our athletes have been training well and doing regular 1k or 1.2k weekly runs, so we’re hoping that they will all enjoy this. Alison and Lesley will be in touch with reminders about guidance/information for this challenge. Good luck everyone! It would be great if we could get a photo of each of you in your MAC vest for this one.

Thanks to all of our parents again who have almost become like “virtual” coaching assistants and officials! If this has inspired any of you to get more involved in athletics (coaching or officiating) please contact Lesley (lesley.ross@motherwellac.com) for more information or to arrange a chat.

What a SUPER lot of young athletes we had taking part in week 2 of the virtual SUPERteams competition! This week was the target throw challenge from 5 metres. 20 attempts with 5 points for each throw landing successfully in the target. Not as easy as you might think! Even coaches, Alison, Joanne and Lesley had a go. Joanne was the winner! Think that means she has to do the 800m challenge in week 4, right?!

Well done to athletes Amy, Lucia, Lucie, Ella, Jack L, Sophie, Lauren, Kayden, Ben, Nathan, Eve, Niamh, Daniel, Maria, Joseph and Jack D. Great efforts again!

SA have now set up the leaderboard with scores from the first two events which can be accessed via this link: https://data.opentrack.run/x/2020/GBR/steamsnational/scores/

Week 3 is the standing long jump challenge. Good luck all! Thanks to parents for the great photos/videos and continued support this week. Great to see everyone having fun.

A big well done to all athletes in the Intermediate Multi Event Group who took part in week 2 of our “Lockdown Challenges”. Results as follows:

1200m:
Cameron –  04.44
Daisy – 05.19
Ewan – 05.40
Ella – 06.33

Great improvements on last week from Cameron and Ella!

30 second run:
Ross – 221m
Ewan – 199m
Lauren – 190m
Cameron – 150m

Standing Long Jump:
Ross – 2.49m
Ewan – 2.29m
Ella – 2.4m
Lauren – 1.71m

2 more weeks of these events and after that there will be a wee change to keep things interesting. We’d love to see more of the group getting involved and taking part next week. It’s a great way to help keep fit and motivated for getting back to training.

Some photos/videos attached. Thanks once again to the Mums and Dads.