Ardochrig last Sunday was blessed with perfect running
weather, so good that two harriers ran PBs, Graham Ramage in 40:30 and grandfather-to-be
Hugh Simpson in 45-something. I covered the course in 46:32, my fastest 10k in a
long time although sadly no-where near a PB. Still heavy-legged from her
sub-four hour Loch Ness marathon Mary Goldsmith struggled along to record
47:01.
As for the race four kilometres downhill followed by two up
makes for surprisingly sore legs. After
that it was just a question of hanging on in there until what appeared to be a
gentle, slightly downhill run to the line turned into a vicious wee climb up to
Kirkland Park. I lost both my impetus and a place and had nothing left to catch
up over the long grass to the finishing line.
Although overall downhill (the race drops nearly 200 metres
over the route) there are also a few nasty climbs which make this a tough and
interesting race. A free cup of hot soup and a roll were very welcome and went a long way towards restoring the runners
morale and energy.
The organisers appear to be having trouble with their chip
timing as, at the time of writing, Hugh’s name appears among the DNS and DNF at
the bottom of the results. Of course technically that makes me second harrier overall
but…
Once again there was
a clean sweep for the east of the country with Richard Meade of Edinburgh AC
winning in 33:51 and the leading female being Jillian Gordon from Kinross Road
Runners coming home in a time of 37:57.
There are two links to photographs of the race
on the Strathaven Striders website, Gillian Scott was there again and our very
own Francy & Josie, otherwise known as Frances & Joanne were at the 6k
mark taking pictures & cheering us on. Much appreciated ladies! Frances' photos are here.David Searil
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