Glasgow Parks Championships 201530 August
ESOC members were amongst the winners at the 17th Glasgow Parks Championships, and enjoyed the warmer weather than usual at this event.
The Glasgow Parks Championships is an annual competition, featuring three separate events in one day. The location of the first park is publicised just before the event, the second park is announced at the end of the first race, and the third park is only revealed at the end of the second race. The first two races have allocated start times, with a chasing start for the final race. This year all 3 parks were on the south side of the river.
This event is normally held at the start of December, and was rescheduled this year to avoid a clash with the TAY Christmas event. The weather was warm, though not too sunny, and it made a pleasant change to stand around chatting without shivering in the cold! It was still very wet underfoot though.
The first race was at Cathkin Braes Country Park, a fairly wild area, with deciduous woods, some steep slopes, and good views over the city. There were many confusing paths, mountain bike tracks and thick vegetation which caught out the unwary, and some open grassland near the finish which was very slow going.
The second race was back in the city at Queen’s Park, which has steeply sloping lawns, as well as some formal paths and gardens, and rougher wooded areas. Download was in the glasshouses, where there was a café and also an interesting reptile house with fish and chinchillas too.
The third race was not far away, at Pollok Park. This is Glasgow’s largest park, and it has many tracks and paths through varied terrain including woodland, open parkland and gardens, around the Burrell Collection buildings. The start and finish were beside playing fields in the E of the park.
Congratulations to Alastair Lessells, who successfully defended the men’s Ultravet trophy, to Helena Nolan, who won the Veteran Women class, and to Ben Brown, who won the Junior class.
Other ESOC members in the top half of the overall results were:
Open (20 competitors) – Andrew Lindsay 6th, Craig Nolan 8th
Super Veteran Men (11) – Mike Stewart 3rd, Crawford Lindsay 6th
Ultra Veteran Men (10) – Ian Pyrah 5th
Open Women (9) – Rona Lindsay 2nd
Veteran Women (7) – Alison Cunningham 2nd, Judy Bell 4th
Super Veteran Women (11) – Maggie Scrugham 3rd, Margaret Dalgleish 4th=, Sally Lindsay 6th
Ultra Veteran Women (5) – Eleanor Pyrah 2nd, Katy Lessells 3rd
Juniors (10) – Rachel Brown 2nd
Full results and Routegadget are available on the 17th Glasgow Parks Championships news item on the STAG website.
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