Greenock Glenpark Harriers

Junior Section   

Greenock Glenpark Harriers Junior Section is open to any child aged 9 to 16. At present the club currently has approximately 40 junior members.

They train every Tuesday evening at Ravenscraig Stadium, Greenock between 6.15 and 7.15pm. They also train at various other times throughout the year. Training is overseen by SAL qualified coaches, all of whom have been vetted by Disclosure Scotland. See Training Page for up-to-date training information.

Although Greenock Glenpark Harriers are traditional 'Running Club' coaching will also be given to juniors in other athletic disciplines e.g. jumps and throws.

The Juniors have opportunities to compete throughout the year. During the Winter the focus is mainly on Cross-Country & the Indoor Track at the Kelvan Hall. In the summer the attention switches to the track the roads as well trips to the Highland Games.

Newcomers to the club are entitled to a 6 week trial period after which they will have the opportunity to become a member of the club at the excellent cost of just £23 per year.

Download parents welcome letter

http://www.freewebs.com/glenparkharriers/Parents Welcome Letter 2008 Amdt 1.doc

Every child needs to fill out consent form, please download and return completed form to any of the coaches.

http://www.freewebs.com/glenparkharriers/Junior Membership Form.doc

News Letters

Linwood open graded meeting 27th August 2008

Sprinter Matthew Deegan was the Harriers top performer at a very windy Linwood in the final open grade meeting of the season. Against a very strong wind(-3.2mps) he blasted home to win his heat in 12.52 seconds. He followed that up with a solid run in the 400m. Training with Craig Fleming among the best sprinters in Scotland has certainley paid dividends for the talented youngster. 

Peter Clare running his first 400m in 20 years surpassed his expectations running 61 seconds for the 1 lap race while William Graham set a new personal best in both 400 and 100m. There were also excellent debuts from George Taylor and David Reay in the jumps and sprint.

Long Jump - George Taylor 3.99m, David Reay 3.71m, Meighan McDade 3.82m, Shannon Kangley 3.65m, Michael O'Rourke 2.37m, Jack O'Rourke 2.12m.

High Jump - David Reay 1.30m

100m - Matthew Deegan 12.52(wind -3.2), David Reay 14.28, Carly Dalgleish 15.05, Gerard Smith 16.04, Shannon Kangley 15.89, Meighan McDade 16.36, Jack Harrington 16.46, William Graham 15.74, Lauren Mulaghton 17.78, Shona Webster 16.99, Michael O'Rourke 17.99, Jack O'Rourke 18.83

400m - Matthew Deegan 55.60, Peter Clare 61.73s, William Graham 75.16s

600m - Lauren Mulaghton 2.14mins

800m - Gerard Smith 2.35, Adam McCormick 2.40, Jack Harrington 2.42, Meighan McDade 2.47, Eilidh Hamill 3.07

1500m - Emily Pollock 5.09mins

BILL ELDER 2KM ROAD RACE 5/8/08

Prior to the seniors 10km race the Junior ran their 2km race, Under 13 Gerard Smith led from start to finish around the two laps of the Battery park.  Smith proved too strong for the rest of the field, finishing clear of Craig Knight who did manage to close the gap in the closing stages. First girl home was Meighan McDade finishing 5^th overall just ahead of Shannon Kangley.

 In the under 11’s Jack Harrington  was made to work all the way against a strong challenge from Ross Forbes, with Lauren Mulaghton finishing in front of Francesca Fisher.

    Gerard & Jack with seniors Andy & Alison

 Top under 15’s in the wet and windy conditions were Eillidh Hammil and David Reay.

    Ross does his best to hide his disappointment in finishing 2nd to Jack (Don't worry he was only acting)

 Results:  Juniors – G.Smith 7.36, C.Knight 7.48, J.Harrington 7.52, R.Forbes 8.00, M.McDade 8.06, S.Castles 8.25, S.Kangley 8.36, D.Reay 8.45, N.Moore 8.51, G.Taylor 9.02, L.Mulaghton 9.40, G.Fisher 10.05, E.Hammil 10.10, A.Fisher 11.00, S.Webster 12.07.

Bute Higland Games

The club will be travelling to Rothesay for the Bute Highland Games in August. After glorious sunshine in 2005 and 2006 games, heavy rain the whole day at last years competition couldn't dampen the spirits, as the young athletes recorded numerous victories in the track events. Below pictures of Cammy, Carly, Jack, Gerard, Ross and Shannon.

Linwood Open Graded Meeting  30th July 08

Matthew Deegan   was the Harriers star performer at Linwood on a warm humid evening. He made his stunning Glenpark debut finishing 3^rd in 100m in 12.34, then later in his preferred event  he posted  24.31seconds  to win the 200M. In a blanket finish, just 0.3 of a second separated the first 5 across the line.

In the 100M  new girl Shona Webster did well in her first club race, finishing just over a second behind Jack Harrington (16.05)

Eillidh Hamill  found the 800M tough, but can take encouragement from a very strong  first lap, she recovered quickly to take 5^th place (4.96M) in the Shot putt.

Still to get back to full fitness after their summer holidays Gerard Smith, Jack Harrington and  Meighan McDade  all in the same 800M heat  crossed the finish line within 4 seconds, Gerard leading the trio in 2.43minutes.

In their first ever official field event identical twins Jack and Michael O’Rourke leapt identical distances (2.56m) in the long jump.

Harriers take a Run and Jump!!!!

The junior athletes and the club coaches recently had the priviledge to have the National jumps and throws coach Sandy Robertson (Far left) down at Ravenscraig stadium.  On a scorching summers day, Sandy passed on his considerable knowledge on a variety of events including the High jump, long jump, hurdles, javelin, pole vault, shot put, and sprint starts. A long exhausting but enjoyable day was had by all.

Sinnamon & McDade take the honours in close finish at Glen Masson - 14th June08

The 2Mile junior contests proved much more exciting than the senior race with only one second separating 1^st and 2^nd in both boys and girls races. New boy Ryan Sinnamon and Gerard Smith quickly opened up a gap on the rest of the field. Smith bravely pushed the pace in an attempt to drop Sinnamon, but he could not shake his rival on this occasion, as Ryan held on through the forest section, before injecting a sprint finish to just edge ahead of the out of luck Smith. Third place was just as hotly contested with Craig Knight just holding off Ross Forbes and Jack Harrington. Taking a break from football, and in first race for a while Cameron Black was next ahead of Keir Abecrombie.

In the girls race, speed merchant Shannon Kangley, with her new found confidence, had opened up a 20m gap on Meighan McDade and looked certain to record her 1^st victory over the longer distance. But with 300m to go however she began to tire, giving McDade a new incentive to chase her home. In what was the most dramatic finish of the day McDade mustered just enough in the end to overpower her friend in the home straight. Kangley should however take great credit for what was yet another improved performance. Gabrielle Fisher another who continues to progress took the bronze medal for 3^rd spot. Others who ran well in what was a big step up in their usual distance were Greg Black, Lauren Mulaghton and Mari Shaw.

In the junior fun run Calum Abercrombie led home the cavalry charge of youngsters across the line.

Juniors – R.Sinnamon 11.26, G.Smith 11.27, C.Knight 11.43, R.Forbes 11.48, J.Harrington 11.49, M.McDade 11.59, S.Kangley 12.00, C.Black 12.32, K.Abercrombie 13.46, G.Fisher 14.10, L.Mulaghton 14.35, G.Black 15.05, M.Shaw 15.46

Warm sunny weather met the 11 competitors in the club’s 2^nd Orienteering run over the Greenock hills on Sunday. 

 The run followed a similar format to the previous week with each team consisting of 2or3 juniors with a senior along side, having to locate 9 control points on the moorland, this occasion on a different area of the hillside.

 And for the 2^nd week in a row it was a girls team who were victorious. Team C consisting of Shannon Kangley, Meighan McDade,(and Stevie McLoone), were first back 3 minutes ahead of Team A’s Gerard Smith, Jack Pollock, Adam McCormick (and Alan O’Rourke).

In 3^rd were Team B with Rebecca McDiarmid, Gabrielle Fisher,(and Ian Smith, and Irene McDade) although the most inexperienced team, they did exceptionally well, with the youngsters keeping the adults from getting too lost. Their only error was having to double back after dropping their control and card losing around 5 costly minutes.

Smith- King of the Hill - Cornalees Hill Race 28th May 2008

Gerard smith leads Ryan, Shannon, Jack and Meighan at 1/2 way stage

Gerard Smith secured victory by the closest of margins in a tremendously exciting junior uphill race.

The race starting at Woodstock road followed the path up over yellow hill to the bridge on the “Cut” covered a distance of 600m with a steep ascent of 80m.

 The young athletes set off at a frantic pace with the leading 6 all closely packed together. By the half way stage Smith had made a sizeable lead, but as hill got steeper and the finish approached Ryan Sinnamon and Shannon Kangley were closing the gap to within metres with Jack Harrington, Craig Knight and Meighan McDade all close behind.

 As he reached the finish line at the bridge he was put under tremendous pressure from Sinnamon, but Smith had done enough to hold on by less than a stride, with Kangley almost living up to the coaches pre-race predictions of a surprise victory finishing in third.

 The rest of the field followed close behind with youngest runner Callum O’Neill recording an impressive 4.36minutes.

Juniors .G.Smith 2.52, R.Sinnamon 2.53, S.Kangley 2.54, J.Harrington 2.55, C.Knight 2.57, M.McDade 3.03, A.McCormick 3.07, L.Davies 3.40, R.Fulton 3.43, R.McDiarmid 4.03, C.O’Neill 4.36,

Fishers' Net First Victory - 25th May 08

The Glenpark juniors held their first Orienteering competition on Sunday morning over the moors above the Greenock "Cut". The 9 starters were split into 2 groups, Team (A) Alexandra and Gabrielle Fisher, Dorothy McCormick and Stevie McLoone and Team(B) Gerard Smith, Adam McCormick, Shannon Kangley, Meighan McDade, and Alan O'Rourke.

Team B looked to be odds on favourites to complete the course in the quickest time, but in Orienteering it's not always the quickest runners that win, as Team B were to find out. 

Both teams had to locate 9 control points hidden around the moorland using their maps, and choosing the best route between the points, - which was left down to the junior runners to make the decisions.

At the half way stage Team A got a massive boost when they saw their rivals coming down off the wrong hill (after making a navigation error and costing them precious minutes) Spurred on Alexandra and Gabrielle reached each of the remaining controls with pinpoint accuracy. But it was very close in the end, with less than a minute separating the teams. 

Linwood Open Grade Track Meeting 30/4/08. – Juniors 1^st outing of the season

 Wet cold and windy conditions met the Glenpark youngsters for the first open graded meeting of the season. 10 youngsters travelled up to Linwood to compete in the 100m, 200m and long jump, (and 1500m for Emily).

Greg Black 16.37, 36.42, Jack Harrington 31.73, Ross Forbes, 32.74,Craig Knight 14.94, 31.67, Rebecca McDiarmid 16.99, 37.85, Shannon Kangley 14.92, 31.74, 3.37M, Meighan McDade 15.15, 32.68, 3.73M, Gabrielle Fisher 15.03, 33.15, 3.70M, Emily Pollock 5.17, and Ryan Sinnamon 14.47,29.99.

The youngsters have been all training for endurance events over the winter, so the sprints provided a chance to put a bit of speed into their training, and this resulted in a few personal best’s.  A Special mention to Rebbeca McDiarmid, in her club debut, who showed a great competitive attitude in both her sprint races, and to Ryan Sinnamon also his debut who recorded the quickest Glenpark times of the night.  

 Special thanks to all the parents who came through to provide transport and support the young athletes.

Scottish Primary Schools X-C Championships  Kirkcaldy, 26th April 2008 - CHAMPIONEES!!!!!!!!!!

St Patrick's girls (a.k.a. Glenpark Harriers under 13's) were triumphant at the National primary schools x-c championships. Meighan McDade 4th, Shannon Kangley 5th, Gabrielle Fisher 35th, and Lucy McCreadie 80th were crowned National champions after a stunning team performance by the young quartet. Only 1 second separated Meighan and Shannon who were only 5 seconds off the winning girl. Stepping up their training to 4 days a week has certainly paid off the youngsters who have done themselves their family and school proud.

Showing Glenparks strength in depth, we also had Louisa Davies (for Ardgowan), finishing between Gabrielle and Lucy with another excellent run. Jack Harrington was in good form in the boys P7 race finishing in 21st against some tough competition, also competing was Jack Pollock in 141st place for Ardgowan. Another St.Pat's boy Greg Black was in action in the P6 race finishing strongly in 86th.

Glenpark’s Summer Track Challenge kicked off on Tuesday night with a stack of personal bests and excellent debuts from the club’s rising superstars.

The 1^st race of the night, the 800m, set the scene with 6 PBs and 2 excellent debuts from the 8 runners. Gerard Smith took yet another expected best, leading the race from start to finish to cross the line in 2.42 to chop another couple of seconds of his time. Better pacemaking by club champion Andy McCall should have taken the youngster under the 2.40 mark but that will no doubt come in the coming months. Ross Forbes and Craig Knight started where they left off last year joined at the hip to drag each other to new PBs to finish in 2^nd and 3^rd with the surprise performance coming from sprinter Carly Dalgliesh, finishing 4^th. Biggest improvements came from Meighan McDade and Louisa Davies who both took a whopping 18secs off the 2007 times. Fine debuts came in the form of Jack McClarty and Dylan Campbell.

Next up was the 600m. Joanne Coyle cruised to victory in 2.18 some 9secs ahead of debutant Rebecca McDiarmid. Alan Grey grabbed 3^rd spot. Good performances also came from Lauren Mulaughton, Ross McManus and Johnny McDonald.

After a break the athletes finished off the night with a 200m sprint. Carly Dalgliesh opened up her campaign with a comfortable with crossing the line in 30.13. Making his debut at the distance was Craig Knight who was well clear of the chasing Gerard Smith and Meighan McDade crossing the line in 31.39. In the 2^nd race Louisa Davies carried her excellent form from the 800m to storm to victory in 34.37 almost 3secs ahead of Joanne Coyle. Good performances also came from Johnny McDonald and Aaron Salom.

The summer challenge will run until September and is open to all juniors. Juniors can score points at track events ranging from 100-800m as well as long jump, shot putt and javelin. The next known track challenge will take place on Wednesday 30^th April at Linwood.

Times:

800m – G.Smith 2.42(PB), R.Forbes 2.47(PB), C.Knight 2.48(PB), C.Dalgliesh 2.48(PB), M.McDade 2.50(PB), J.McClarty 3.06, L.Davies 3.09(PB), D.Campbell 3.15

600m – J.Coyle 2.18, R.McDiarmid 2.27, A.Grey 2.31, L.Mulaughton 2.39, A.Campbell 2.47, J.McDonald 2.57, J.Devlin 3.15, K.Bryce 3.18, R.McManus 3.20, A.Salom 3.43

200m (Race 1) – C.Dalgliesh 30.13, C.Knight 31.39, G.Smith 33.34, M.McDade 34.26, R.Forbes 34.26, M.Grant 34.26, J.McClaty 36.00,  D.Campbell 36.70

200m (Race 2) – L.Davies 34.37, J.Coyle 37.27, R.McDiarmid 38.03, A.Grey 40.62, L.Mulaughton 41.31, J.Devlin 44.56, A.Campbell 40.37,

200m (Race 3) – A.Salom 41.29, J.McDonald 45.93, R.McManus 47.77, K.Bryce 48.47, L.Smith 50.06

Willie Jukes 1.5 mile road race

In a fiercely contested 1.5mile junior race it was Ross Forbes who came out
on top to claim his first ever victory after a titanic battle with Jack
Harrington. Neck and Neck for the entire race Forbes turned into the home
straight just ahead of Harrington. His chances of glory looked doomed as
Harrington edged up alongside him with only 20m left, however Forbes had one
final kick inside him to get across the line by the narrowest of margins.
Closely following in 3rd spot was Craig Knight.
Meighan McDade gave the boys a run for their money but found the fast pace
in the closing stages too hot to handle. She was nevertheless happy to come
home in 4th and leading girl. The In-form Shannon Kangley continues to edge
ever closer to McDade, on this occasion only13 seconds adrift, just ahead of
the improving Gabrielle Fisher.
Whilst the group are still all relatively young they have made incredible
progress during the winter and their coaches can't wait to see the juniors
track times tumble in the forthcoming summer season.
Special praise goes to Aaron Salom and Katrina Bryce who successfully
completed the distance for the first time.
Biggest cheers of the day went to the mini Glenparkers who ran a 300m race
prior to the main event with Michael O'Rourke leading the charge to the
line.

Welcome the World X-C relays

The world X-C championships in Edinburgh were preceded by the Junior relay race the day before, and the Harriers took 3 teams through, the under 11 boys and under 13 boys and girls. After an unintentional detour towards Stirling, and several tours of Edinburgh the teams eventually arrived at Holyrood park

Jack Harrington had a cracking first leg  for the under 11's finishing in 9th before passing onto Ross Forbes, without doubt the star of the day recording the 3rd fastest time on his leg to bring the team into 5th position.

Both Under 13 teams finished 12th, Gabrielle Fisher, Shannon Kangley and Meighan McDade, for the girls, and Gerard smith, Craig McKnight and Michael Grant for the boys. All showing big improvements from their performance in the National x-c a few weeks earlier, with Shannon and Michael probably just shading it for the best runs.

After the races the youngsters met up with a strange character called Raven, and someone even stranger  Bryan Burnett of STV's Holiday programme who interviewed the unimpressed young Glenparkers, who asked  "Who's he?"

                  The Juniors at the start line of their 3/4 mile dash along the front of Gourock.

Following his impressive run at the National Schools Championships Gerard Smith claimed the honours in the Junior ¾ mile race along Ashton Promenade. He did it the hard way, running from the front all the way. Pursued by a group of 4 including the vastly improved Meighan McDade, Smith was made to work all the way to the line with Ross Forbes snapping at his heels. This pair were closely followed in quick succession by Craig Knight and Meighan McDade. The diminutive Lauren Mulaughton and Alexandra Fisher were worthy of special mentions in their first club race, even though they were almost blown to a standstill by the strong wind on the 2^nd half of the race, a fantastic effort saw Lauren go comfortably under 6 minutes.

 Results:

¾ mile: G.Smith 4.25, R.Forbes 4.28, C.Knight 4.32, M.McDade 4.33, M.Isaac 4.43, C.Dalgleish 4.45, S.Kangley 4.47, G.Fisher 4.54, L.Mulaughton 5.44, A.Fisher 6.03, H.Rankin 6.42

February 08: The juniors in medal winning action at the local schools cross country races

Juniors Girls Shine at the National Cross Country Championships - 23^rd  February 2008

Meighan McDade was Greenock Glenpark Harriers top finisher as the Orangefield club travelled through to Callendar Park Falkirk for the National cross-country championships.

Meighan along with the rest of the under 13 junior boys and girls squad, displayed no signs of nerves, despite it being their first National championships, performed beyond expectations in the top domestic event of the year.

The best team performance came from the girls, where they judged their 2mile race perfectly. They never got carried away in the early cavalry charge at the start, but held back in the early stages, and their tactics paid great dividends, as at midway Shannon Kangley closely followed by Meighan McDade were lying in 70^th position. With athletes all around beginning to tire the pair dug deep into their reserves and picked up the pace, passing runner after runner, all the way to the finish in front of Callendar House with Meighan just edging ahead of Shannon to finish 46^th and 50^th respectively. Gabrielle Fisher had the outstanding run of the day of all the Glenparkers, finishing just over a minute behind, a massive improvement from her previous run in the district championships.

            Very little separates the junior boys in training and the same can be said when it comes to racing. However Michael Grant managed to put some daylight between the chasing trio of Craig Knight, Gerard Smith and Jack Harrington. Michael's lead was 12 seconds while all 3 of the boys were given the same time as they crossed the line together in a blanket finish.

Results: U13Boys(3.2km): M.Grant 13.35, C.Knight 13.49, G.Smith 13.49, J.Harrington 13.49. U13Girls(3.2km): M.McDade 14.20, S.Kangley 14.25, G.Fisher 15.49,

Training sessions for February 2008. For further details of the training sessions contact any of the coaches.

Renfrewshire Road Race Championships,  Battery Park, 3rd February 2008

Meighan McDade was the star performer for Greenock Glenpark juniors on Sunday when she stormed to victory in the Renfrewshire Primary Schools Road Race held at the Battery Park.

Shooting straight into the lead, the only athlete able to live with her blistering pace was her friend and team-mate Shannon Kangley. With the wind behind her McDade turned up the heat again and soon opened up a 50m gap, a lead she maintained all the way to the finish. Kangley suffered from the fast pace at the start and with 400m to go was down in 4^th place. To her credit however she rallied fantastically and picked off the leaders one by one to claim a superb silver medal. Both girls performances came as no surprise to the coaches however as they had stepped up their training in recent months and are now reaping the benefits. Gabrielle Fisher, Louisa Davis also put in terrific performances, resulting in top 10 places for the pair, just ahead of young Melanie Morgan, Kathern Carberry and Lucy McCready who did well to beat much older girls.

Under 11 boys Jack Harrington, Michael Isaac and Ross Forbes claimed team Gold in the closest of contests with only 2 points separating them from County rivals Inverclyde and Kilbarchan. Harrington decided to go with the leaders and remained in 3^rd spot until half way. Isaac, tracked by Forbes ran more conservatively gradually pulling in Harrington, who had now dropped to 4^th. With 100m to go Isaac mounted his charge and overtook Harrington just before the line with Forbes close behind, with Gregor Black providing the necessary back up in a promising first outing of the year.

Gerard Smith and Craig Knight both put in strong performances in the U13 race at the longer distance. Both found the cold, windy conditions tough but did well to finish in 7^th and 8^th respectively.

Rounding off the day for the juniors was their elder stateswoman U17 Emma Baxter who put in her usual gutsy performance only to narrowly miss out in a bronze medal to finish 4^th.

Glenparks top finishers at a windswept Battery Park.

1 mile

Gerard Smith was made to work all the way to the line by Michael Isaac and Jack Harrington in the 1.5mile junior race. The trio had earlier broken the challenge from Craig Knight, and as they approached the final 100 metres only a few strides separated the three. Smith responded best to the uphill finish and powered away for a hard fought double victory as he also won the handicap competition. Ross Forbes edged ahead of Jack Pollock for 5^th place.

Meighan McDade kept her unbeaten run going, and she had to be at her best to hold off the dual threat from Shannon Kangley, and the improving Gabrielle Fisher in 3^rd, with Claire Nellis further behind in 4^th.

In the 3mile girls race Emily Pollock completing the course in just over 20 minutes, retained her title from last year, clear of runner-up Emma Baxter and her sister Katie.

 Junior Results (handicap time in brackets)

1 Lap race: G.Smith 09:51(09:51) M.Isaac 09:54(09:54) J.Harrington 09:58(09:58) C.Knight 10:14(10:14) R.Forbes11:06(10:41) M.McDade11:25(10:45) J.Pollock 11:27(10:57) S.Kangley  11:40(10:20) G.Fisher 12:24(11:39) C.Nelis 14:01(10:31)2 Lap race: E.Pollock 20:34 E.Baxter 22:03 K.Pollock 25:34 

Below: the Junior athletes in Action at Coves Reservoirs.

7 juniors travelled down to Ayrshire for the Annual Beith Road Race for their 1st race of 2008.

The most successful were the under 13 boys where the young Harriers took 2,3,4 and 6th places in the 1.2 mile race. Gerard Smith (7.30)managed to hold off Craig Knight (7.34)and Jack Harrington (7.36)on the finishing straight, and just behind  the trio was Jack Pollock(8.35), who despite suffering a bad stitch put in a brave effort just failing to catch the 5th placed athlete.

Meighan McDade (8.28)and Shannon Kangley  (8.40)were closely matched again, with the pair shaking off  the effects of a cold to finish 6th & 7th in the girls race.

Emily Pollock was just off the pace when finishing 3rd in the under 15girls race in 7.10 minutes for the undulating lap of the Lochshore industrial estate.

Wilson Trophy Race 22nd December 2007

Wind rain and hail didn't stop a dozen of the juniors turning out for the 2nd race in the club championship. In a very close race Gabrielle Fisher held off the fast finishing Keir Abercrombie to win her first club race. Fastest runners on the day providing an upset to the pre-race favourites were Craig Knight and Meigan McDade

The Juniors just before the start of the 2007 Wilson Trophy Conceding Handicap Race above the Greenock Cut.

Junior athletes at Renfrewshire County Championships 2007