For the last 54 years we have hosted the Round The Houses at Grangemouth Stadium. This is a very important race which is close to our hearts and on the day it’s a great experience to be part of.
We return this year after our two years absence due to Covid. This Event which hosts multiple Championships in the one day. This event is being hosted on Sunday April 17th 2022.
This Event includes the following
• Scottish Students 10k Road Championship • East District 10k Road Championship • British Masters Championship
This email is to ask for your help in any way you can to support this event to ensure it is as successful as the last 54 years. We require approximately 100 volunteers to support the day from within the Club to assist and if your child is over 16 years of age they can also support this event. There are Marshall roles, Declaration Admin roles to name but a few and all we require is a few hours of your time to give back to the Club.
Can you please complete this form link below and once we have your response we will be in contact.
Entries are now open via the link below for Central AC 2022 Pre Season Competition which will take place on Sunday 3rd April at Grangemouth Stadium. Closing date 23 March– No Late Entries
Entry Fee is payable when entering and is £5.00 for the first event, £4.00 for a second event and £3.00 for each event thereafter.
Firstly can I apologise to anyone that has ordered kit and had not yet received. As you can imagine when you set up a new supplier etc there can be initial teething problems however this seems to have taken things to a whole new level. Limited Stock and broken machinery on New Balance’s end has been the main delay. I received the first load of Competition Kit at the end of last week however on inspection I am not impressed with the finishing on some of the products and New Balance have agreed and asked me to return the products, this will unfortunately result in a further delay to which I can only apologise. However I’m sure no one would want a poorly finished product. Below are some of the pictures of the kit in the flesh that I will hopefully have back to distribute soon when I receive.
This was the 17th year in a row if you exclude last year’s cancellation due to the Covid pandemic. Local Club Falkirk Victoria Harriers had one of their best ever performances at the National Cross Country Championships with 3 team medals and an individual bronze medal won on an exciting days racing. Indeed only in season 1979 – 80, when the Under 17 women won Gold, and both Under 13 and Under 17 boys won Bronze has the club equalled the team medals won on Saturday.
With over 30 volunteers, made up of coaches, parents and athletes unable to compete, in the park before 8am to lay the course following the recent storms the Vics excelled throughout the day. The first race of 3.2km (2 miles) for Under 13 Girls at 11am set the tone with Emily Christie leading the Vics charge to finish a magnificent 6th position, with Corri McGougan 23rd, Josie Anderson 41st and Ruth Donaldson 94th edging out Hannah Johnson 95th the girls just missed a team medal finishing 4th.
The Under 13 boys inspired by this were next in action. After a fast start Ray Taylor and Hamish Hunter were well placed with the leaders throughout and finished strongly along the Callendar Road section of the course before turning down the drive towards the house. Ray timed his effort to perfection to pass a couple of athletes and claim a well deserved individual bronze medal. Hamish battled hard holding off fast finishing athletes to maintain his position, finishing just a few strides behind Ray in 6thplace. The platform for a team medal had been established and good packing saw strong runs from Cahal McAtarsney in 33rd and Luke Sedman 34th cross the line virtually together. The 76 points team total proving good enough for the silver team medal a feat only bettered in 1976-77 and 1977-78 when the Vics won team golds. You have to go back to 1975-76 for the previous Silver medals with Bronze medals in 1979-80 and most recently in 2005-06 when the current East District Senior Champion, Scott Stirling was a team member.
Hopes were high that the Under 15 Girls could also medal as they had done in November at the short course championships. Eleven girls toed the start line for the Vics ready to take on the challenge of a short and long lap of the park with two challenging hills add to the loop in the golf course. Strong running and excellent team packing was the order of the day as Charlotte Horne in 15th lead the team home followed by Lois Cant 25th, Isabella Ogg 34th and Chloe Davis 35th claiming team Bronze medals backed up by Hannah MacLeod in 44th, Leya Gibb 51st, Holly Holmes 66th, Sarah-Jane Kane 68th, Carys Forgie 98th and Eve Donaldson 101st. The current crop of Under Women being the only previous time the Vics had medalled in this age group since its inception in 1963.
The under 15 boys tackled the same 4.3km course as the girls and were one person short of a team. Luke Cuilton had an excellent run in 13th and Daniel Gray and Elliot Lees had a good race in 52nd and 53rd.
The next race was for Under 17 men and Gregor Hunter had a strong run to finish the 6.2km course in 21st place. Newcomer Broady Grindlay will benefit from the experience of a first national after finishing 70th.
Under 17 women were next to tackle a course now cutting up in places and the mud at the big dip next the bridge in the golf course had claimed a few shoes by this point and a number of fallers. The Vics women had won team bronze as under 15’s two years previously at the last running of the national championships and hopes were high of another team medal. A ferocious pace was set straight from the start as the field climbed the hill on to the “plateau” area before snaking round here, crossing the House lawn and crazy golf area to enter the golf course. The Vics were well to the fore with both Caitlyn Christie and Katie Christie in the leading group and Abbi MacLeod and Erin Hendry not far behind. Injury forced Katie to stop and Caitlyn was unfortunate to incur a heavy fall on the first of the two lap course. Abbi took up the challenge running a brilliant race to lead the team home in 14th place. Erin finished very strongly particularly in the last mile for 21st. With three runners to count Caitlyn in clear discomfort with a hand injury following her fall, bravely battled on to finish further back than normal but crucially in 28th which was high enough to secure team bronze medals.
Three long laps made up the 10km course for the senior women. 2012 Olympian Freya Ross led the Vics on the opening lap and was very well positioned before injury struck and Freya had to stop. Fiona Matheson who has been setting masters age group World Records indoors in recent months was performing brilliant again in a field that had European Cross Country medallists and GB Internationalists. Fiona adapted brilliantly to the conditions and the longer distance to recent indoor efforts, finishing an excellent 57th in what is the 5thlargest women’s field since the event started in 1932. Newcomer Megan Jane Campbell and Karen McAlister were both tackling the National for the first time and ran well to finish 203rd and 233rd respectively. Monica Anderson completed the Vics finishing quartet with a usual determined effort in 253rd.
The Under 20’s now took centre stage and whilst these are smaller fields they are packed with top quality athletes. None more so than the women’s defending champion Megan Keith who is the current European Champion. The men’s race of two long laps totalling 6.8km was first. Calum Little was the Vics sole entrant and ran very well to finish in 26th.
The final race of the day saw the largest field assemble for the start of the senior men’s race. As with all of the races athletes had travelled from all over Scotland including the islands to take part in the National Cross Country Championships. East of Scotland Champion, Scott Stirling led the Vics and produced another outstanding performance to finish 12th in a top quality field which again included British Internationalists, a former World Mountain running champion and many previous medallists. Former Under 15 Boys champion Lewis Pentecost made a good return to competition at this level finishing 165th. Masters Michael Ross, Colin Anderson and Mike McQuaid all ran very well finishing 210th, 222ndand 259th respectively. Peter Faulks had a fine run as the 6th counter in 399th. Malcolm Finlayson currently aiming for a 24hour race was 484th and Martin Gower was another Vic running their first national finished 611th in the massive field.
Thanks to Willie & Jacqueline Day we now have the points and placing from the Club Championships last year. To score athletes were required to compete in a minimum of 3 events (2 track/1 field or 2 field/1 track). Awards will be distributed to coaches to present at Training. Congratulations to Everyone and apologies for the delay.
Sunday saw the completion of the SAIL and Relays. Falkirk only entered a team in the U17 Girls age group and, unfortunately the team of Erin Partridge, Lexi Cattanach, Holly Ovens and Emily Fawkes failed to reach the final by one place. After running well they missed out on qualifying by around half a second. In the main competition Falkirk had four teams qualify for the final from the three qualification matches.
U13 Girls Team
The U13 Girl’s team of Aine McCartarsney, Josie Anderson, Sky Robertson and Ruth Donaldson and the U17 Girl’s team of Erin Partridge, Emily Fawkes, Holly Ovens, Lily Simons and Louisa Kane, although competing well with PBs from Skye, Ruth, Aine, Emily and Holly they failed to make the podium. due to the real strength in depth of the opposition.
U17 Girls Team
The U15 Boys team of Ethan Gallagher, Luke Culliton, Ray Taylor and Cahal only just missed out on the podium. They were only four points from second and three from third. Indoor PBs were recorded by ALL in a very tight match. In doing so Luke broke his own Club Record for the 400mtrs just 45 minutes from recording a victory in the 800mtrs. The U17 Boys eventually managed the podium duck by securing the Gold. The team of Luca Capanni, Andrew McKechnie, Harry McPhee and Caleb McLeod came from behind with only two events left. Luca produced two PBs with first places in the 60mtrs and 200mtrs with Andrew also producing PBs in both the HJ and Hurdles. Caleb boosted the points tally with a first in the 800mtrs and fourth in the SP. After a first in the LJ Harry secured the Gold by coming second in the fiercely contested final event, the 400mtrs.
U17 Boys Team
A great team effort on the day by all the girls and boys.
Just a reminder that the closing date for this event is Thursday 10th March. For anyone still wishing to enter, can you complete the Google form below by Wednesday 9th March to allow time to sort out teams. This event is for all athletes born before 01/09/2004
A reminder for any U13, U15 and U17 athletes wishing to enter this event that the closing date is this Thursday, 3rd March. Entry can be made through individual Scottish athletics portals by following the link below.
COMPLETING MEMBERSHIP FORM Your Membership Form must be completed and either emailed to fvh_membership@outlook.com or brought along to one of the membership evenings.
For Junior memberships, to ensure that the club and its coaches can comply with current welfare requirements, coaches require to endorse applications by signing Junior Membership Forms.
On completion of the form you can click on the SUBMIT box at bottom right hand corner and it will generate a prepared email to send your Membership Form to fvh_membership@outlook.com
– This function will not be available if completing the form on a smart phone – in this case attach your completed membership form to a new email message and send to fvh_membership@outlook.com
MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL PAYMENT
Payment by PayPal
– send to: fvh_membership@outlook.com – payment type: select “Friends and family” – no additional fee when this category is chosen
If you choose either of the above payment methods your Membership Form must be completed and emailed also advising method of payment to fvh_membership@outlook.com
• Postal payment by sending cheque made payable to “Falkirk Victoria Harriers” along with completed Membership Form to the Treasurer (address at the bottom of membership form). • Cash along with completed Membership Form can be delivered through the letter box of the Treasurer. The membership categories and costs are as follows: Membership Category £55 Senior £50 Junior £20 Student £25 Second Claim £25 FVH@RJT (RunJumpThrow) £20 Club Officer £5 Coach £5 Social £100 Family ( + £7 for each competing member)
The following evenings are also being offered for membership applications to be submitted in person. Grangemouth Stadium: A team will be available in the café on the following dates from 7.00-8.30 pm
▪ Tuesday 1 March Thursday 3 March ▪ Tuesday 8 March Thursday 10 March ▪ Tuesday 15 March Thursday 17 March ▪ Tuesday 22 March Thursday 14 March ▪ Tuesday 29 March Thursday 31 March
Please bring: ➢ Application for Membership – Coach’s signature required for Junior Membership Forms ➢ Appropriate payment by cash or cheque.
Any member who has not paid their annual subscription by 31 March 2022 membership shall lapse and they will no longer be regarded as a member or entitled to any benefits of membership.
If you have any queries regarding any of the above please contact us at fvh_membership@outlook.com
