WOMEN, they say, don't have the same competitive edge as men in sporting activities. Men always want to win; women are content to compete, supporting their sisters as they go, writes Marian Pallister.
Not so, say the women who have experienced the Glasgow Women's 10K Run. Once she has experienced the exhilaration of being able to cover the distance, even the least experienced runner begins to want to better her time, and even hankers after a place with the club runners who cross the finishing tape first.
This year, Glasgow City Council cultural and leisure service and Britannia Asset Management, sponsors of the Glasgow Women's 10K event, expect 5000 women to run the west end course. Last year, according to Debbie Naylor of the cultural and leisure service, the event became the largest women-only 10k in Britain, with 4344 runners. Naturally, with the event becoming increasingly prestigious, it attracts more serious runners, but each year at least half of the entrants are first-timers, and some happily confess to never having run for a bus before starting to train.
Despite the presence of serious runners, there is always a carnival atmosphere and runners say they are helped by the friendly encouragement of the spectators and fellow competitors. Entrants have a whole list of reasons for running, from a focal point for fitness to achieving a flat tummy, from having a good laugh with friends to raising cash for charity. The average runner rarely says she is in it to win.
So where is the evidence here that women are becoming more aggressive in sport? Is this a myth, or do women display a different brand of competitiveness? Irene Brodie, a business development manager with Britannia Asset Management in Glasgow, got back into exercise a few years after leaving school to do something about her health and her ''flabby bits''.
Five years ago she did the Glasgow half-Marathon, and entered a 10K race as part of her training. Now 32, she enters three events a year. Her only aim when she began to enter events was to get round the course. Now she says: ''The second time was a bit more of a challenge. You know you can do it so you need to set yourself another goal to give yourself some kind of an incentive.'' Beating her previous time became that incentive.
Michelle Rae, 35, is an investment product manager who will be running with the Britannia team to raise cash for a charity on May 16. Last year she was a beginner: this year she is looking to cut her time substantially. Rae says: ''I have always done some kind of exercise bar running. I had no real focus for running the event.'' The breakthrough came when, within a matter of weeks, she found herself actually running for 10 minutes. ''You reach these different milestones and get a buzz from that. Because I hadn't done it before I didn't know how my stamina would go.'' she says.
She covered the course in 57 minutes, and says: ''The fact that it wasn't as difficult as I thought meant I decided to go in for it again this year.'' She is aiming ambitiously for 50 minutes. She adds: ''There is no doubt about it that there is an internal competitive thing in you. I didn't like people overtaking me one little bit.''
Alison Wright, a 26-year-old investment analyst for Britannia's US market, did have a sporting background but had never enjoyed running because she saw it as a solo activity. Entering with the Britannia team she realised it could be a ''team'' sport and enjoyed it, but she also was keen to raise cash for a head injuries charity. Now her game plan is to improve either on her time or the amount of money she raised, or preferably both.
Tricia Mullen, 33, a recreation policy assistant with Glasgow City Council, agrees that the 10K can be as competitive as you want it to be. Mullen took up running as an adult and has run a number of events. She says the Britannia 10k is by far the friendliest and supportive. She always aims to beat her own time, but there are other reasons for running, including an increase in self-confidence. She believes running brings out a part of her personality which is more competitive than she had thought possible. ''Doing a good time is the icing on the cake. It gives you a buzz,'' she says.
Wright believes the better we get at something, the more competitive we become.
n You can test your own competitive edge by training with Glasgow Women's Jogging Network (phone Women In Sport on 0141 287 5933 for details) and entering the Britannia 10K (hotline 0141 287 5991).
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