CALUM JOHNSON delivered against high expectations on his first appearance in the Babcock Helensburgh 10K on Thursday.
The Gateshead runner, surprisingly wearing an East Kilbride vest, was quickly to the fore against a field of 770 entries, the highest in more than a decade, and set an unrelenting pace in the men’s race well inside three minutes per kilometre.
He was initially joined by Dumbarton race winner Jamie Burns of Shettleston and Ryan Thomson from Cambuslang, but once Johnson crested the sharp incline at around two kilometres, he was away and running his own race.
The Babcock Helensburgh 10K brought this year's Babcock 10K Series to a close on Thursday, May 30. (Image: Daren Borzynski)
The Babcock Helensburgh 10K brought this year's Babcock 10K Series to a close on Thursday, May 30. (Image: Daren Borzynski)
Last year Johnson set a new course record in winning the Babcock Shettleston 10K in 29 minutes and 45 seconds; this year he was even quicker at 29:41, but frustratingly came up just nine seconds short of Weynay Ghebresilassie’s course and series record on a fine but blustery evening.
Burns displayed remarkable consistency in holding on to a comfortable second place in 30:24, ahead of Thomson who closed out in 30:35 and Shettleston’s Taha Ghafari in 30:58.
The Babcock Helensburgh 10K brought this year's Babcock 10K Series to a close on Thursday, May 30. (Image: Daren Borzynski)
The Babcock Helensburgh 10K brought this year's Babcock 10K Series to a close on Thursday, May 30. (Image: Daren Borzynski)
Burns, Thomson and Ghafari took gold, silver and bronze in the Scottish Athletics West District Championships, incorporated in the race and presented by 1986 series winner Jerry Gaffney.
In the ladies’ event, Nynke Mulholland-Stümmer of Inverclyde triumphed for the second week in a row, having won in Dumbarton in rather less benign conditions seven days earlier.
The Babcock Helensburgh 10K brought this year's Babcock 10K Series to a close on Thursday, May 30. (Image: Daren Borzynski)
The Babcock Helensburgh 10K brought this year's Babcock 10K Series to a close on Thursday, May 30. (Image: Daren Borzynski)
This time she produced a 35:37 run to keep local girl Emily Carroll off top spot. Emily, still relatively new to the sport but displaying great promise, finished in 36:13, well ahead of her dad , Peter.
Rebekah Russell of Bellahouston Road Runners wasn’t far behind in 36:48 to complete the top three, with Garscube’s Monica Blair fourth in 37:45. Mulholland, Carroll and Russell made up the West District Championship podium.
The Babcock Helensburgh 10K brought this year's Babcock 10K Series to a close on Thursday, May 30. (Image: Daren Borzynski)
The Babcock Helensburgh 10K brought this year's Babcock 10K Series to a close on Thursday, May 30. (Image: Daren Borzynski)
The series titles, for the best aggregate finishing positions across the Shettleston, Dumbarton and Helensburgh races, went to Taha Ghafari and Nynke Mulholland-Stümmer.
The leading Team Clyde runners, comprising entrants from Babcock, the Royal Navy and the MoD, were Michael McCallum in 39:06, who picked up the Chris Moses Quaich, and Michelle Melville, who led her teammates home in all three races, in 44:58.
The Babcock Helensburgh 10K brought this year's Babcock 10K Series to a close on Thursday, May 30. (Image: Daren Borzynski)
The Babcock Helensburgh 10K brought this year's Babcock 10K Series to a close on Thursday, May 30. (Image: Daren Borzynski)
The age group races produced a familiar outcome with Oscar Coetzee of Bellahouston Road Runners making a clean sweep of the over-40 category in eighth place overall, in 33:15.
Jill Cox did likewise in the women’s race in 37:58, as did Nicholas Gemmell of Garscube and Mary Senior in the ove-50s, in times of 34:54 and 39:55 respectively.
The Babcock Helensburgh 10K brought this year's Babcock 10K Series to a close on Thursday, May 30. (Image: Daren Borzynski)
The Babcock Helensburgh 10K brought this year's Babcock 10K Series to a close on Thursday, May 30. (Image: Daren Borzynski)
Grant Matheson of Falkirk Victoria led the over-60 men home in the impressive time of 38:56, and Pauline Henderson of Bellahouston Harriers took the women’s over-60 prize in 47:12.
There was a Helensburgh winner in the under-20 male race in the shape of Allan Mackenzie, who crossed the line in 44:30, while Grace Campbell of Strathclyde University was first U20 female in 42:19.
The Babcock Helensburgh 10K brought this year's Babcock 10K Series to a close on Thursday, May 30. (Image: Daren Borzynski)
The Babcock Helensburgh 10K brought this year's Babcock 10K Series to a close on Thursday, May 30. (Image: Daren Borzynski)
Helensburgh’s Claire Heasman, who recently returned from the USA, picked up a surprise silver medal in the West District over-40 championships, behind Jill Cox, finishing in exactly 39 minutes.
Shettleston Harriers, great supporters of the Babcock Series, took both the men’s and women’s team titles, ahead of Cambuslang in the men’s race and Garscube Harriers in the women’s event. Bellahouston Road Runners were third in both events.
The Babcock Helensburgh 10K brought this year's Babcock 10K Series to a close on Thursday, May 30. (Image: Daren Borzynski)
The Babcock Helensburgh 10K brought this year's Babcock 10K Series to a close on Thursday, May 30. (Image: Daren Borzynski)
Babcock’s sponsorship continues next year, with the dates for 2025 shortly to be announced for the series, which began in 1983.
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