For the second year in a row our veteran men's team clinched the bronze medal in the Scottish National 6-Stage Road Relay at Livingston today. Despite several regular team members being absent due to injury and holidays and several of the team being on the way back from injury and illness, those who ran coped admirably with the pressure.
Jim Holmes was advised at training on Thursday that he was selected to make his début in the first veteran team and by all accounts he did not sleep a wink between then and race day. The pressure increased when he found out he was on the first 3.1 mile leg and wasn't helped by several of his team mates trying to boost his confidence with the words "No pressure but.........".
However the extra adrenalin that comes with that level of expectation really does make a difference and Jim got us off to a great start running the leg 40 seconds faster than he has ever done before to record a time of 19:44. The experience of multi championship winning M60, Charlie McDougall was called upon for leg 2, the 5.85 mile leg, pulling us through the field to finish in 35:33. Charlie handed over to the club's other veteran champion M60, Stuart Waugh for the next 3.1 mile leg. Stuart has been injured recently but came through last week's Grangemouth 10k in good shape and so proved himself fit for the team. At the finish it was clear that Stuart had driven himself hard but he was disappointed with the lack of sharpness resulting from his recent lay off. Stuart recorded a very respectable time of 20:40. Eddie Reid is in very good shape at the moment and is a regular in the vets team so had no problems recording his fastest ever time on the long leg to finish in 36:06 and a few more places higher up. Alan Derrick was another of the walking wounded, having only been back light training for two weeks after a 7 week calf injury. In fact, all the recent physiotherapy and massage treatment on the injured calf meant that this was the only part of his legs that did not hurt during the 3.1 mile leg, recording a time of 18:21, by no means anywhere near his best time but glad to be back racing. Completing the team, Davy Watt made his first competitive outing of the year having been weakened by a lingering virus since early January. Incredibly Dave ran 10 seconds faster than last year and pulled in a further 7 places to finish in 33:02, 26th overall and third masters team.
Adding a tinge of disappointment, at the end of the race we were convinced we were in 2nd place having carefully counted and timed the gap to each veteran team (to be identified by a "large and clear V on their numbers" according to the race regulations) at the end of each stage. However this rule must only have been loosely applied as we were surprised to find Cambuslang being called up for the silver medal ahead of us, none of us having seen a V on any of their team's numbers. The time gap to Cambuslang was large enough for it not to have mattered whether we knew they were a vets team or not but had the gap been less than 30 seconds we would have been justifiably aggrieved, some of our recently injured runners having held back a little on the basis that the gap to the leader was too big to close and for fear of further injury. This does not detract from the achievement of the team and it was particularly pleasing to see stalwarts of the club Jim Holmes and Stuart Waugh receiving their first ever National Championship medals.
The club was well represented by a further one and a half men's teams and three quarters of a women's team. Mary Goldsmith got the ladies off to a good start recording a time of 23:25, only seconds outside last year's time. Frances Maxwell found the long leg to her liking, recording a time of 42:08, a full 2 minutes faster than her last appearance on this leg. Finally Genevieve Freeman made a rare but much appreciated appearance on the third leg on the first of 3 races she was tackling this Easter weekend (1 running and 2 cycling races). Genevieve was typically disappointed with her time of 23:38 but ran the whole leg solo, a tough thing to do on a twisty course when you are not running short races often.
Blair Matthew made his eagerly anticipated return to Calderglen team action after an absence of 3 or 4 years and did not disappoint. Blair ran our fastest short leg of the day, leading out the B team finishing in 16th position in 17:06. A few more races and some speed endurance sessions and Blair will be right back at the sharp end. As a relative beginner, Brian McDougall had the unusual experience of leading out his father Charlie on the second leg courtesy of the 2:39 start that Blair gave him. Brian responded well to the challenge recording a time of 39:01, only being caught by Charlie with a mile to go. George Stewart was coaxed out to race and put in a solid performance, recording a time of 21:27, showing that he is on the way back to possible selection for future vets teams. David Herbertson was assigned the next long leg and made up a couple of places to finish in 39:09. David Wardrope was given a shorter leg and was pleased with his time of 21:39. Finally Graham Lindsay had the long lonely last leg, completing that in 42:22.
Colin Banks got the C team off to a very fast start before curbing his enthusiasm to finish in 22:14. Russell Couper does not usually do the long leg here and struggled a little in the latter stages, finishing in 51:51. Finally Chas Steven completed the team with a time of 25:09 for the short leg.
Very well done to all who competed and thanks to the many Calderglen supporters and photographers around the course. The event clearly demonstrated the strong team spirit in the club and emphasises why the relays have always been a key part of the club's race programme.
Click here for further photographs from Scot.
Alan
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