Babcock Helensburgh 10K route and Dumbarton race report

The Babcock Helensburgh 10K, the final event in this year’s Babcock 10K Series, will be run on the streets of the town on Thursday, May 30.

In past years the Helensburgh race has been the one that kicked off the series – but this year the organisers have shuffled the pack to make the Helensburgh event the climax in one of the most popular annual road race series in the west of Scotland.

The route, however, is no different to 2023, with runners starting and finishing at Hermitage Academy.

The outward leg of the route will see athletes hit the quiet residential streets of Colgrain, including Cardross Road, Campbell Drive, Kenilworth Avenue, Ashton Drive and Waverley Avenue, before heading west along Drumfork Road, Redgauntlet Road and East King Street.

From there it’s a short uphill climb along Lomond Street, then left along Argyle Street and a right turn up Woodend Street, continuing westwards along Rhu Road Higher and downhill on Cumberland Avenue to the westernmost point of the course on the seafront.

The homeward leg follows Rhu Road Lower before turning left up Cairndhu Avenue and right along West King Street until a left at Colquhoun Square, returning to Argyle Street.

From that point the course follows the same route as the outward leg until just past the West Highland Line railway bridge, where the course turns right along Talisman Crescent and follows Cardross Road back to the Academy and the finish line.

One thing that both organisers and competitors will be hoping for in Helensburgh is a distinct improvement in the weather conditions compared to the second event in the series, the Dumbarton 10K, which took place in appalling weather last Thursday, with heavy rain throughout.

Jamie Burns of Shettleston Harriers overcame the challenging conditions to push the pace alongside defending champion and clubmate Taha Ghafari and Cambuslang’s Ryan Thomson, who each churned out kilometre times of just outside three minutes to stretch away from their pursuers.

At the finish, Burns’ relentless pace saw him eke out a 13-second margin of victory ahead of Ghafari, with Burns crossing the line in 30:37 and Thomson completing the men’s podium in 30:54.

Nynke Mulholland-Stümmer successfully defended her title from last year in 35:10 with a comfortable margin over Corstorphine’s Kara McKenzie-Tait who closed out in 36:20, with Garscube’s Monica Blair just eight seconds behind in third.

Cambuslang edged the men’s team race ahead of Shettleston, with finishers in third, fourth and fifth place, while Garscube took the ladies’ team title ahead of Shettleston and Greenock Glenpark.

In the age group races, Oscar Coetzee of Bellahouston took the over-40 prize for the second week in a row, with an impressive finish of eighth overall.

Similarly, Nicholas Gemmell did likewise for Garscube in the over-50 class, clocking 34:32 and Scott Elliott of Kirkintilloch claimed the over-60 award in 40:23.

Runners battled appalling weather in the Babcock Dumbarton 10K race on May 23. (Image: Daren Borzynski)

Jill Cox was a fine sixth overall in winning the women’s over-40 award in 37:42 for Greenock Glenpark, while Mary Senior of Garscube triumphed in the over-50 category in 41:30 and Jacqui Thomson of Cambuslang took the over-60 prize in 41:51.

The under-20 men’s winner was Danny Stevenson in 42:28 and his female counterpart was Kenzie Mackintosh in 49:07.

The first local runners were Peter Walsh and Nikki Lyons of Dumbarton AAC, while the fastest runners for Team Clyde, comprising military and civilian personnel from HMNB Clyde, among them a large contingent from series sponsors Babcock, were Alistair Jardine and Michelle Melville.

The starting gun for Thursday night’s Helensburgh race will be fired at 7.30pm.