Vertical Mile & Grand Prix Final Results

A Long Report on a Short Race

LADIES' TIMES CORRECTED!

The Grand Prix and Club Championship series were decided in the traditional fashion last night with the hill that must be respected, the Vertical Mile. Although the winners of the ladies and Men's Club Championship titles were already decided, there were still men's Grand Prix podium and age category positions to be won in this the 16th race in the 2009-2010 series. Despite many Harriers already away on holiday we still had a field of 13 men and 3 women plus copious eager volunteers to help with the timing, sweeping-up, crowd control, VIP hospitality and all the other important jobs that made it worth sacrificing the chance to ascend this vertically challenging mile at full pelt.

Pre-race, the psychological battle was lead by Russell Couper who tried gamely to convince anyone who would listen (which to be fair, wasn't many) that he still had a chance of taking the Grand Prix title from the long-term leader, David Wardrope, if only he could finish in the first four. With David on holiday, there were clearly multiple arithmetic scenarios in which Russell's long term dream could be realised. However, by introducing the concept of probability to the evaluation, even the most amateur of mathematicians could conclude that the answer was CHANCE = NANE. David could (and probably did) rest easy on the beach.

On to Auchentiber where the race started uphill and into a headwind. As always on this course, the finishing order was established early on with Ian Hughes stretching away from an undoubtedly (Half Ironman) fatigued Colin Freeman. In only his second attempt at the event, Ian won in a time of 6:31, a couple of seconds outside his previous best. Colin improved on last year by 8 seconds to finish in second (6:43). Finishing third in 6:54, Alan Cullie joined Russell Couper as the only Harriers to complete all 16 races in the season, a remarkable feat given the juggling of shifts and family that Alan in particular somehow manages. Just reward for Alan was victory in the inaugural Club Scratch Championship running over the same 16 races in parallel to the Grand Prix.

Charlie MacDougall last ran the Vertical Mile before he was a vet! Time clearly dims the memory and now at the age of 61 Charlie thought it was time for another go. This he accomplished in an impressive 7:03 in 4th place. Multiple Grand Prix winner and Mr Consistent, Jim Holmes was next in more or less his usual time of 7:07. This secured Jim 3rd position in the Club Championship. Brian "son of" MacDougall wasn't far behind his dad in this his debut Vertical Mile in a time of 7:10. This race was surprisingly not too long for George Stewart who even more surprisingly was asking for a re-run after a lonely ascent between packs to finish in 7:40. Graham Ramage was also a first-timer and set a benchmark of 8:12 which he will definitely improve on. Absent injured for many months, forget David Herbertson at your peril. Mindful of his injury, David ascended in a cautious 8:23 and in the process displaced Alan Cullie from 3rd place in the Grand Prix. Andy Henderson is also treading cautiously these days and finished in a sedate (by his standards) 8:38. Having never raced in his life before last week, Michael Daly has now completed two races in the space of a week, following his Trail Race performance with a 9:03 in the Vertical Mile, closely tracked by Colin Banks (9:05). And then Russell Couper who did not achieve his top four ambition but still improved on last year by 30 seconds to finish in 9:27. This gave Russell a well deserved 2nd place in the Grand Prix. Well done to all for keeping the competitive spirit going right to the end of the Grand Prix.

Closest finish of the evening came in the ladies' race. Although Frances Maxwell has been unchallenged throughout the Grand Prix series (the nearest rival having completed 2 races to Frances' 13), she was certainly challenged tonight with Genevieve Freeman swapping Ironman endurance for sprinting power over the final 20m, closing a 10m gap to virtually nothing on the line. The multiple judges on the rather imaginary finish line concluded that Frances just held on by a whisker (next thing for Genevieve's wish list, whiskers!). Both recorded a time of 7:56, certainly a pb for Genevieve (by 18 seconds) and most probably also for Frances (subject to trawling through the old results). First timer Laura McConnell was encouraged all the way by sweeper Eddie Reid to finish in 10:38. Of course Frances deservedly wins the inaugural Club Scratch Championship. Congratulations to David Wardrope on winning the men's Grand Prix at his first attempt. The early season coaching (on the Grand Prix scoring system) received from Russell Couper may not however be on offer next year!

Thanks to lead bike Malcolm Buchanan (technically, he should probably have started with the runners rather than 10 minutes beforehand from half way up the course), results recorder Stuart Waugh, course traffic management Graham Allan and starter/sweeper/finisher Eddie Reid who maintained his second place in the Club Championship.

All the final scores and positions are available using the usual Grand Prix links on the left.

(PS Could Andy B get the Vertical Mile trophy/plate back to the club please so we can present it to Ian. Thanks Alan)

Alan