Helensburgh AAC January roundup.
The year started well with Michelle Hetherington and Julia Henderson being selected to represent the West District in the Scottish Inter-district championship at Holyrood Park in Edinburgh on 12th January. The event incorporated an international cross country race and was televised by the BBC. On the same day Paul Thomson and Jan Fellowes set personal bests at the Jack Crawford Springburn Cup 10k; Paul finished 13th and 1st V50 and Jan finished in 43.05 and 2nd lady V50 for a husband and wife double.
On 13th January, Gail Thomas completed the Florida Walt Disney Marathon in 5hrs 1min. Starting at 6am in hot and humid conditions, the course took the runners through all 4 Disney Theme Parks. Being cheered on by vast crowds and many of the Disney characters was a memorable experience made complete by the Mickey Mouse Medal.
At the Buchlyvie 10k on 26th January Jenny Fitzgerald led in the HAAC team in an early season's marker of 43.17 followed by Alistair Wylie in 45.41, David Spy in 48.00, Anna Wylie in 51.49, Andrew Henderson in 52.31 and Christine Stanfield in 55.47.
A team of Burgh Babes competed in the Scottish Athletics 4k Cross Country
Championships at a very soggy Bellahouston Park on 27th January to come in 8th placed team with strong runs particularly from
Michelle Hetherington and Mary Louise MacQuarrie.
Julia Henderson won first prize in the muddiest legs competition.
Paul Thomson was the sole male competitor in the unusually short but pacey 4k men's race.
On 26th February a new beginners group will commence, run by volunteers from the club looking to train new runners with the aim of completing a 10k race in the summer time. All are welcome and we encourage you to turn up on the night and we will do the rest (well with some help from you!)
The club is now running an intermediate training group geared at runners with 10k times of sub 60 minutes and looking to improve their leg speed. This is in additon to the advanced training sessions which the club continues to run for the speedier runners in the area looking to make an impact on the racing circuit.