Although the frost had lifted it was still a bitterly cold day in Strathclyde Park for the annual Scottish Masters Road Relays. The course was the usual 3.7 mile single lap of Strathclyde Loch but with the benefit of only a light headwind on the far side and a few icy patches to focus the attention. Even the pedestrians and dogs were well behaved today!
Calderglen assembled one M35+ team (but none of us were in our 30's), one M50 team and an incomplete M35 team. I took first leg for the M35 team and as usual the first leg pace was crazy from the start. The first 4 were off like a shot and I joined a second pack which was also shifting at around 5 minute mile pace. This did not last a mile though. By the end of the loch I had stretched into 5th place dragging the pack along but as we hit the first incline at the top of Strathclyde Loch my legs and breathing buckled and 4 runners streamed past. Although my pace dropped gradually I did maintain 9th place to the finish in a time of 20:35. It felt like a terrible run due to the poor pace judgement but subsequent inspection of previous results showed it to be a pb by around 20 seconds. Mark Saez was able to make a rare race appearance due to the event being on a Sunday and was dropped into a fast paced leg 2. Mark ran very strongly, despite finding the undulating far side of the loch tough and finished in 23:09, an impressive 30 seconds faster than last year. Scot Hill arrived in plenty of time for leg 3 but declared that he would try the Martin Duthie method of motivation which was to do a late warm-up and then strip off in a panic just before his leg. This seemed to work although in the panic he did forget to start his watch. His official time was around 23:33, similar to last year. David Herbertson, still sporting his Christmas Australian tan, steamed around the course, finishing at some speed in a time of 24:27 on the final leg.
For the M50's, full time athlete Stuart Waugh was the oldest and fastest member of his team, recording an excellent 23:41, 15 seconds faster than last year and very happy to beat fellow M60 Andy Rennie of Irvine who he has never beaten before. By the second leg, Gerry Mullen was lying in 4th place in the M50 event and responded well to being advised of this. Gerry finished in 24:31, almost identical to last year, handing over to Andy Henderson. Andy was feeling a little bit tight but even so held 4th place and just behind Gerry in a time of 24:33. Another one which will require scrutiny of the official results! This left Hugh Simpson with the no-pressure situation of having to pull back at least one place for a medal! Hugh likes a challenge (he had his twin grand childrenwith him) and ran very well for his first time at this event. Hugh's time was 26:38 which must be close to the equivalent of a 5k pb. Alas, we don't think we moved up to a medal position but the official results will reveal all (confirmed). Russell Couper was the lone runner for our second M35 team and, despite his recent injuries was competitive with last year's time, finishing in 30:51.
We had plenty of support out on course, with Barry Cockburn doing the video and stills photography and Eddie, Sandra, Maud, Frances and Stephen McIntyre providing the support. Photos from Frances and Kenny Phillips here (see also http://www.roadrunpics.com) and official times now added. Well done to all.
Alan
