The 3k fun run is back for it's second year along Linlithgow High Street. Runners from 5 years up are invited to take part and run two laps of our beautiful town. Entries are £5, and we encourage you to don some festive attire for the event. It's a great way to kick off the festive fun. Enter here via entry central: https://www.entrycentral.com/Linlithgow-Santa-Dash
10k Training Plans
Just in time for the Linlithgow 10k, club member and endurance coach John Redding has kindly created two 10k training plans.
CELEBRATING INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY
As we approach International Women’s Day on Friday 8th March t seems timely to focus on two of the women who have stepped up to the plate to fill roles which are vital to the smooth running of the club.
There’s a saying that if you want something done ask a busy person and that certainly rang true in our recent recruitment campaign especially regarding our female volunteers. I took time out to chat tour new Welfare Officer and female club captain. Grab yourselves a cuppa and read on.
Firstly, I met up with Lana O’Hara, who has agreed to take on the role of Welfare Officer. I’ll be stepping down after 4 years in the role, feeling that it’s time for new ideas, and Lana certainly has plenty of those.
JH: How long have you been running and what motivated you to start?
LO’H: I began running in 2009 when I decided to train for my first half marathon, the Sir Chris Hoy half marathon in Edinburgh. Initially, I was motivated by raising money for charity but found that I was bitten by the bug and have run umpteen more races including 10ks, more halves and a few marathons. Now running gives me mental clarity. With a busy home and work life it just keeps my mind and body healthy. I enjoy the routine of a training block and I love learning new things about running, training and nutrition.
JH: You’ve only recently started running with the club. Tell us about that.
LO’H: We moved to Winchburgh in 2021 and I joined LAC at that point early 2023. However, it took me a whole year to pluck up courage to attend a training session. I’m not sure what I was worried about, everyone was so friendly and welcoming. Tuesday track has become a highlight of my week. I should have done it sooner!
JH: What do you do when you’re not running?
LO’H: I work as a Consultant Paediatrician in NHS Lanarkshire and have two children who are currently in Primary 2 and Primary 7. So, I’m fairly busy both at work and at home, plus the usual “Mum’s taxi” duties. I’m lucky that my husband can keep an eye on things at home to allow me to get out as often as I do. We have an 8-year-old cocker spaniel, Duke who runs with me when he can be bothered to! Other than running, I love musicals and frequently visit the theatre. Hamilton is my favourite! As a family we love rugby, and we passionately support Scotland at Murrayfield home games. I also spend many Sundays watching my son play rugby with Linlithgow RFC.
JH: I’m really pleased that someone has offered to take on the Welfare Officer role. What made you consider this?
LO’H: As a Paediatrician I specialise in Child Protection and Neurodevelopment so I recognise how vital the role is. I’m passionate about inclusivity and making sure that access to clubs like LAC is available to all, no matter what their background is. I’m looking forward to the challenge of promoting inclusivity and to meeting you all at training, races and social events.
Later I spoke to Tor Munday who has agreed to take on the new role of female club captain.
JH: How long have you been running and what was your motivation to start?
TM: I’ve been running for about 12 years. I did quite a bit on my own early on and did the occasional 10k as something to work towards. I was running with Witney Road Runners when we lived in Oxfordshire which was great for interval sessions. They did some really nice off- road trail runs through the summer too. It was beautiful running in the Cotswolds. I really enjoy running with LAC now and the coached sessions are great. We ( my husband Sam and I)do quite a bit of parkrun tourism, we’ve only got 8 Scottish parkruns left to do. We do lots of run exploring if we’re away for a weekend and have done some of the long-distance trails including Fife coast path and John Muir Way (in small sections).
JH: You’ve only been a member of LAC for 2/3 years. What made you choose our club?
TM: We tried a couple of clubs when we first moved up to Scotland but for various reasons they just didn’t feel quite right for us. Post-Covid I was keen to join a club again and went to a Thursday session with LAC and haven’t looked back since. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming. It’s a really nice size club, big enough that there’s always someone to run with at your pace, but small enough that you get to know people quickly. I loved it so much have that I’ve since roped Sam into joining too.
JH: I know you’ve been struggling with an injury for a while. What else are you doing to keep yourself fit and sane at that moment?
TM: I cycle (mostly on the turbo through winter) and do strength work and Pilates to help me get back to running. I spend lots of time walking Harris, our Golden Retriever.
JH: Thanks for stepping up to the club captain role. What made you volunteer and what are your main aims?
TM: I’ve really enjoyed the last couple of years running with LAC and wanted to be able to give something back to the club. (When I’m not injured) I try and get to Tuesday & Thursday sessions and love catching up with everyone. I work as a User Experience Designer so I’m really interested in people’s motivations behind actions and experiences. User experience design really focusses on understanding what a user wants/needs and ensuring the offering/service meets their expectations. We’ve got a really great club but I’m keen to explore some of our assumptions and see how we could even better support our existing and prospective members. A club member survey and conversations are great for surfacing these insights.
Interviews conducted and article written by Jill Horsburgh
SAVE THE DATE - Linlithgow Athletics Club 10K 2024
Get your 2024 diaries ready people.
LAC ANNUAL AWARDS NIGHT
The 2023 Linlithgow Athletics Club Annual Awards night was held on Saturday 9th December at Linlithgow Golf Club and what a night it was. First of all thanks to club members Kathryn Holm and Claire Rice who organised the event and provided the entertainment, Kathryn probably more than she intended to, by winning the Best Race Face award!
Club President, Angus Gaillie, was our MC for the evening giving us his annual Presidents welcome and reflection of 2023 and also presenting the President’s Award and Club Member of the Year award, voted for by club members. More of that award later.
Alison Marshall presented the LAC Monthly Handicap award to Karen Hunter.
Paul Dudchenko presented the club awards for the following categories;
Men’s & Women’s Scratch - awarded to the athlete with the most points gained in the selected club championship races
Men’s & Women’s Handicap - awarded to the athlete with the most points gained in the championship races based on their handicap.
Men ‘s & Women’s Cross Country
Men’s & Women’s WAVA (World Association of Veteran Athletes, WAVA ratings are a way to measure your performances that takes your age into account)
AND THE WINNERS ARE……
Men’s Scratch
1st - Sam O’Neil with 500 points
2nd - Martin Hawksey with 494 points
3rd - Darren Dick with 490 Points
Women’s Scratch
1st - Lynsey Hay with 498 points
2nd - Sarah Little with 498 points
3rd - Clair Howison with 493 points
Men’s Handicap
1st - Sam O’Neil with 500 points
2nd - Paul Dudchenko with 497 points
3rd - Darren Dick with 494 points
WOMEN’S HANDICAP
1st - Clair Howison with 500 points
2nd - Salma Windle with 496 point
3rd - Sarah Little with 495 points
MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY
John Redding with 300 points
MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY
Vicktoria Munday with 297 points
MEN’S WAVA
John Redding at 2023 Edinburgh Half Marathon. Finish time of 1:14:33. WAVA: 84.5
Women’s WAVA:
Christine Mulholland at 2023 Grangemouth 10K. Finish time of 41:11 . WAVA: 83.4
WINNERS GALLERY
For the Club President’s Award 2023 Angus Gaillie chose a member of the club who has taken on the role as Race Director for the Linlithgow 10K for the last three years. Angus acknowledged the hard work and dedication of all members of the 10K committee, it is a significant undertaking organising and ensuring that the event goes as smoothly as possible and it starts almost as soon as the event is finished. 95% of the work that goes into organising the event goes unseen by anyone not directly involved. Taking all this into consideration the President’s Award 2023 was award to David Main-Reade. Unfortunately David was unable to attend the LAC Awards night, but will be in receipt of his award soon.
The final award of the evening is voted for by the club members themselves and the recipient of the award is only aware of their achievement when their name is called. This years the winner is a member who is a constant source of support, encouragement, fun, inclusivity and dedication. He is a regular and familiar face at nearly all LAC training sessions during the week and is a stalwart of Polkemmet Parkrun, both as participant and runner. He can also be relied upon to dress up on occasion and notable dates are always marked with a variety of sweet treats. The winner of the 2023 Club Member of the Year is David Mumford.
Finally, thank you to everyone who organised the event and to all who attended.
Inclusion Spotlight
Hi everyone. This is the second of our interviews looking at the benefits of running as we get older. This time I’ve been chatting with the multitalented Roddy Simpson, who had a very special birthday earlier this year.
When did you join Linlithgow Athletic Club?
I had done some running when I was younger, but I hadn’t been for a long time because of other commitments. I ran my first Linlithgow 10K in 2009, age 61, after being encouraged by my daughter-n-law. She said ‘if I can do it, you can do it’. At first I did a mixture of running and walking around Rosemount Park and gradually built up from there. After that I started going to some of the Linlithgow Athletic Club sessions and entering the races which were part of the club championship. I have been going to parkrun since 2013, mostly at Falkirk, as a regular weekly run where I bump into lots of familiar faces from LAC. I have got to know many of the club members over the years and there is a great sense of camaraderie.
You have coached lots of runners through the Couch to 5K programme, including me. How did you get involved with that?
In 2018 Lorna Simpson, who originally set up the club’s Couch to 5K programme, was looking for club members to give her a hand. I volunteered along with Alex Wood and did my Jog Leader training later that year. I’ve been involved with Let’s Go Linlithgow ever since. It’s such a great way to get people running because so many people just don’t see themselves as runners. Last year I started helping Rachel Waugh with the Walk/Jog group. I’m also hoping to set up a walking group next year.
Many of us will be aware of the fantastic photos that you take for the club. Tell us about that.
I was offered voluntary redundancy in the 90s and I used the opportunity to make my part-time photography full-time. I did work for newspapers and magazines and lots of different organisations, including the Scottish Poetry Library and Scottish Volleyball. I was official photographer for Scottish Athletics for several years, although I wasn’t running at the time. In 1995 I photographed The World Mountain Running Championship at Holyrood, a spectacular course designed by Martin Hyman from Lothian Running Club. I took photos at the first ever Linlithgow 10K and recently had a photo of the 0K on the BBC website. I regularly take photos at our local junior parkrun, West Lothian Cycle Circuit. It’s a great way to keep my hand in with photography along with lecturing and archiving. My real passion is black and white film photography, though I only get to do this very rarely now.
Tell us about some of your running highlights
I always enjoy running with my daughter-in-law, Kate. I’m so grateful for her encouragement. One of my LAC highlights is being part of a Veteran 70 relay team at the Shale Trail in December 2021 along with Alex Wood and Graham Burrows. We ran 5 miles each. I have run 270 parkruns and volunteered over 70 times. I’m really proud of this because I never ran a parkrun until I was 65. My parkrun highlight has to be being mentioned in a Ronnie Scott poem at a Falkirk parkrun briefing!
You had a special birthday earlier this year. What was your birthday treat?
It was my 75 th birthday and I treated myself to some carbon plate trainers. I only wear them for racing. They’re fantastic. I’m about 2 minutes faster over 5K when I wear them!
I hope you enjoyed reading this. A huge thank you to Roddy for talking to me. As you can imagine Roddy had some great photos to share, a few of which you will find below. By Claire Emery, Linlithgow Athletic Club Inclusion Group.
Santa Dash Success
Last Saturday, 25th November saw the inaugural Linlithgow Athletics Club Santa Dash, which is now firmly established as part of the town Advent celebrations.
The event raised an outstanding £940 for MacMillan Cancer Support and saw approximately 135 Santa’s dash from Linlithgow Cross to complete two lengths of Linlithgow High Street before crossing the finish line back at Linlithgow Cross. The first three male & female runners to cross the finish line each received; £50, £30 & £20, respectively, to donate to a charity of their choice. The winners were presented with certificates by Councillor Tom Conn:
Male Winners
1st - Kayden Day (MacMillan Cancer Support)
2nd - John Redding (MacMillan Cancer Support)
3rd - Mathew Sweeney (Cancer Support UK)
Female Winners
1st - Kathryn Holm (Myloma UK)
2nd - Clair Howison (MND UK)
3rd - Suzanne Wood (CHAS)
A huge congratulations to everyone who took part in the run it was an amazing event and a boost for the local community.
Also a BIG THANK YOU goes to Ian Fyfe, Frank Clement, Angus Gaillie who organised the event which was no small undertaking. And thanks to all those who in some way contributed to the clubs first Santa Dash to make it a resounding success.
Picture of the event can be viewed here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/xnH6TqjaunRDMh8c9
Sam O'Neill WINS Bridge of Orchy 10k
Please put your hands together for club member Sam O’Neill who won the Bridge of Orchy 10k on Saturday with a time of 38:30.
Other club members who participated were; Darren Dick, Paul Dudchenko, Sarah Little, Liam Cavin, Victoria Munday, Gerry McCardle, Steen Hunter, Karen Hunter, Salma Windle, Brian Couper and Sarah Moody
Congratulations to you all and a big thank you from the club for such great representation.
Linlithgow Athletic Club - Linlithgow Advent Fayre Santa Dash
Ho! Ho! Ho! Did someone mention a Santa Dash?
Yes they did!
The inaugural Linlithgow Santa Dash!
Please come and join us on Saturday 25th November 2023 at 4:05pm, before the Linlithgow Advent Fayre, for this fun, charity, 3k event. You’ll be running up and down the iconic Linlithgow High Street, which will be closed to traffic for the event., in your finest festive lycra.
Tickets are available at Entry Central and cost £5 each with all proceeds, after costs, being donated to MacMillan Cancer Charity. The races is limited to 250 and open to individuals ages 15 and above.
There will also be prizes for the first three male and female winners in the form of cash to donate to their chosen charity.
All we ask is you dress festively, ideally as Santa, to make this a pre-Christmas spectacular!
Scottish Athletic Awards
Last night (Saturday 28th October 2023) Frances Wood LAC’s Head Coach was nominated for Community Club Coach of the Year.
Frances, Alec their daughters Alison and Kath along with coaches, David Main-Reade, Geoff Pendrill, Iain Fyfe, Paul Dudchenko, Club President Angus and his daughter Karen, Malcolm and I attended the evening.
It was an amazing evening with some very worthy and inspiring nominees. Gordon Burnett was the MC for the evening and Eilidh Doyle was the guest of honour who gave an uplifting and inspiring interview.
One of the key take-aways for me was the inclusivity of the event. It was truly wonderful see such support, encouragement and genuine desire for others to “win” throughout the evening. It is something I have seen and felt in abundance at Linlithgow AC too. It is testament to the club and Scottish Athletics as a whole and to the rage of categories that individuals were nominated in, from Under 17s to the evening’s sponser (4J Studios) Para-Athlete and Athlete of the year. Athletics is not only an elite sport.
Another notable award was the SAMH Jog Scotland Group of the year, which went to a group who formed following the death of friend of the group leader.
Another notable achievement from earlier in the day was Alec completing his 200th Park Run. Quite a day for the Wood’s!
Inclusion Spotlight
As part of the club’s Inclusion Group activities we are highlighting the huge benefits of running as we get older. Two of our members have very kindly agreed to chat to me about their experience. First up is Yvonne McHugh, our much loved, and slightly revered leader of Let’s Go Linlithgow (the Jog Scotland side of Linlithgow Athletic Club). She was also voted LAC Club Member of the Year 2022.
How did you get into running?
I ran in school and in my early twenties, but hadn’t run much since then. I had retired early due to my mum’s illness, so I could help take care of her. This experience made me determined to stay fit and active as I grow older. I mentioned to a friend that I was looking for something to do for fitness.
She had seen an advert for Couch to 5K on Facebook. So from April to June 2019 I completed the course, led by Alex Wood and Roddy Simpson, followed by the 5K to 10K course with Lorna Simpson and have never looked back.
When did you start coaching?
I completed my Jog Leader course on 31 st August 2019, and followed that up with helping at Linlithgow 10K as a marshal. In 2020 I helped lead a Couch to 5K and then 5-10K course. I also qualified as a Coaching Assistant and began helping at the club’s Juniors sessions. During 2022, with the help of two of my fellow Jog Leaders we restarted the Girls Run Group for 14-18 year old girls. In January 2023 I completed the next tier of my coaching training, Coach in Running Fitness.
How have things changed since you joined?
Covid had a big impact. Although it meant restrictions at the time, it actually led to a growth in what we offer to runners. At a Zoom meeting of Jog Leaders in September 2020 we agreed to start the 30 minute groups on Mondays and Fridays and the 45 minute group on Wednesdays. At the time we also offered a Saturday group in lieu of parkrun. There were limits on numbers and rules on social distancing initially, but we were getting people back out running which was great.
Let’s Go Linlithgow is an award winning Jog Scotland group. Tell us about that.
We were nominated for Jog Scotland Group of the Year in 2021 by our members. The club booked a table for the awards night and we went along not knowing whether we had won. Winning (pictured below) was amazing. It was a huge boost to everyone involved in Let’s Go Linlithgow and the club as a whole.
What have you found to be the main benefits of running as you get older?
The running is keeping me fit and healthy, but that’s only part of it. It’s kept me learning and developing through my coaching training. Running as part of a group has had a huge positive impact on my mental health. I love meeting lots of different people. Also, encouraging others to run is a great feeling too.
What are your plans for the future?
I am now 66 years old. I have just run The Great Scottish Run half marathon in Glasgow and running longer distances at a slightly slower pace is something I want to keep doing. I have been a pacer at the last three Linlithgow 10Ks. Next year I’m going to run it for myself. I regularly marshal at Auldcathie Parkrun. As well as running I plan to keep doing Yoga with instructor Aileen, one of our runners at the Friday morning group. I’m still hoping to be leading Let’s Go Linlithgow, as well as being a representative on the club’s board of trustees. Although I am still coaching, it’s been a pleasure to hand over some of this responsibility to our new Jog Leaders.
By Claire Emery, Linlithgow Athletic Club Inclusion Group
I hope you enjoyed reading this. I will be posting our next ‘interview’ in a few weeks time.
Photo taken at Jog Scotland’s annual awards night 2021. Yvonne is pictured middle.
Update on Club Championships
These are the Club Championship standings after eight races (Scally 5k relay, Alloa Half Marathon, Grangemouth 10k, Dechmont 10K, Club Mile Race, Stirling 10K and Linlithgow 10k).
(the standings in the handicap competition will be updated separately)
The best five races count for each runner.
Remaining races:
Bridge of Orchy 10k
Auldcathie Parkrun in November
any half marathon
any full marathon
Please message Paul Dudchenko directly to provide half or full times (and London and Edinburgh marathons are already entered, so no need for these).
Women and Girls In Sport
Next week marks Scottish Women and Girls in Sport week.
The theme this year is 'Celebrating Inclusion for Women & Girls in Sport & Physical Activity.
Scottish Women and Girls in Sport Week, first established in September 2017, aims to raise awareness of the benefits for women and girls of sport and physical activity on their physical and mental health.
Did you know that over half the membership of LAC is female. Amongst the senior members the split is exactly 50:50, whilst among the junior and youth sections the number of girls exceeds the number of boys.
Karen after a massive PB at the Great Scottish Run
New member Karen Hunter recently moved to the area and tells how she found the support and camaraderie of running invaluable when she faced health issues.
Karen said “Like many women, my running had been sporadic with gaps due to workload, family, and illness. Finally in 2019, I completed my first half marathon aged 51, shortly followed by a second one. Then in July 2021 age 53, I was diagnosed with a chronic health condition and in February 2022, I was told my condition was secondary to a brain tumour.
I struggled on for a year with the side effects from drugs, regular blood tests, a heart condition (SVT) and a demanding job, until I just couldn’t cope anymore and in January 2023 aged 55 I had to resign from work. I have been through a roller-coaster of emotions, but I can hand on heart say that without running, the support of clubmates I could not have coped.
I have come to the realisation that running is an aspect of my life that I am currently in control of, and it is a massive enabler to maintain a positive outlook on life. In July, I underwent a surgical treatment for my SVT and since a change in my drugs, I am experiencing less side effects and now feeling much stronger. At some point in the future, I will undergo surgery to remove the brain tumour.”
Karen is a regular participant at Wednesday social runs and Thursday interval sessions and enjoys the camaraderie of a parkrun most Saturdays. She also loves racing and recently took over four and a half minutes off her PB at the Stirling 10k and has other 10k races and the Glasgow Half marathon in the pipeline. This year, with encouragement from teammates she has entered the East District Cross Country relays and will hopefully do more cross country over the winter.
Karen’s story illustrates how running can help with both the physical and mental effects of illness and also how supportive and encouraging being part of a club can be. For details of all LAC and LGL (Lets Go Linlithgow) sessions check out Club Training — Linlithgow Athletic Club (linlithgowathletics.org)
(many thanks to Karen, and our welfare officer Jill, for putting this article together)
10k weekend
Before we talk about the 30th edition of the Linlithgow 10k, a couple of special shout outs…
Earlier this month, we had 2 ‘graduates’ from Let’s Go Linlithgow participating in the GREAT NORTH RUN. What an awesome progression from the LGL programme.
Congratulations go to Lyndi McGinty (2 hr 37), and Karen Graham (3 hrs 10)
And what about John Redding?!
John was running at the Berlin marathon on Sunday morning, and achieved a lifetime best of 2:37:32!
According to Power of 10, John’s annual marathon numbers look like this:
John's unstoppable march to sporting immortality
As you can see, if the current rate of improvement continues, John will smash the 2hr barrier in 2035. Congraulations John!
30th edition of the Linlithgow 10k
Okay I’m going to call this one as the best ever. From the participant’s perspective, it was SO well organised, the people we SO nice and the atmosphere was SO good.
Massive thanks and congratulations to the organising committee and all the volunteers - you made it look easy, although we know it wasn’t.
Just some of our superheroes:
You’ve probably all seen the masses of excellent photos on social media, so I’m not going to copy them here, although I also managed to capture some video - from inside the race:
…and at the finish line:
It's nearly 10k time!
This month sees the 30th anniversary of the Linlithgow 10k.
Let’s have a closer look at these 10 million millimetres…
First of all, the 10k hasn’t taken place every year…
The first running was in 1992. Then there was a lost year in 2011 (perhaps due to Lothian Police dragging their heels with confirming permission to close the road? or maybe it was the council dragging their heels? Angus will know…)
And there was a lost year in 2020, due to the covid pandemic.
It wasn’t always 10k in length! (Probably?)
The route originally started at the Swan Tavern and finished at the Cross - which is supposedly less than 10k. The fact that the course record was set on this old route - perhaps lends some credibility to this theory. Rest assured that our current route has been accurately measured by the association of course measurers (sound like a wild bunch of guys) - so we’re confident that it’s now 10k.
The old finish line on the High Street
Photo Credit: Roddy Simpson
Some numbers:
This year we have 93 volunteers
We have 1,038 confirmed entries - which is a new record
There are approx 80 entrants from Linlithgow Athletic Club - another new record
We have over 100 kids in the fun run - an upwards trend from recent years
It costs around £19,000 to run the event. Eeeek.
Despite the costs, we typically make a profit - which is then used to fund ‘health and well-being’ initiatives in the community (e.g. helping with the start-up costs for junior parkrun)
We will have approx 350 entrants are from Linlithgow
In total, 73 athletics clubs are represented this year.
Angus Gallie has ran 25 of the previous events - an attendance rate of 86%
There’s only 1 David Marshall
Runners starting from the Swan Tavern
Finally - massive thanks to the 10k committee - who devote a lot of their time to making this happen every year:
David MR - Race Director
Malcolm Hughes - Race Secretary
Stuart Allan - managing >1000 entries
Jim Bird - ‘elder statesman’ vibes / wealth of experience
Frank Clement - ‘font of knowledge’ vibes / even more experience
Angus Gallie - ‘steady hand on the tiller’ vibes / 86% participation rate
Kathryn Holm - PR / Influencer / mixologist
Mr Marshall - cocky microphone guy (every race needs one)
Mrs Marshall - money stuff and prizes
Graham Chambers - race registration and a million other helpful things
Ian Fyfe - volunteer coordination / voice-of-reason-in-a-world-gone-mad
Seriously though - we can’t list all the things these people do.
This club and this community thank you all for your service.
