A Foggy Afternoon in Livingston

We have had all sorts of weather over the decades that Livingston has hosted the National Road Relays but today was probably the first where we had thick fog to deal with. On the highest point of the long leg visibility was so bad that only runners within touching distance were visible and it even seemed to us spectating as though some of the leading last leg runners must have gone off course such was the gap between the winning team (Central AC) and the following teams.

Of course Calderglen has plenty of experience (mainly bad) of races in poor visibility and so this was of no concern to the very enthusiastic Harriers who joined the record entry. Our ladies team was extremely strong and very much "up for it!". Karen Allen led the team off on the 3.1 mile short leg with a very competitive run of 21:29 (which included a 10s stop to tie a shoe lace). Alison Lessells was on leg 2, the first of the 5.8 mile legs. Alison is in ever improving form as demonstrated by an excellent time of 41:07, maintaining the 23rd position established by Karen. Frances Maxwell loves this event and is also in great form now, dispatching with the short leg in 22:23 moving the team up to 20th place. Finally, with all of her health problems "ironed" out, Joanne McEvoy ran an absolute stormer, breaking her target of 40 minutes by some margin to finish in 39:27, bringing the team home in 15th position. With one week to go before the Lochaber Marathon, Ruth Kelly was looking for a no-pressure run to keep the legs ticking over, so a solo first leg in a team of her own was perfect. Ruth finished in a comfortable 26:46. Well done to the ladies.

Our M50 team (of 4) had the most competitive chance in the men's races with a very strong line-up. Eddie Reid was glad to be free of any injury worries following the warm weather training camp and ran the opening 5k leg comfortably faster than he did the 5k race in Portugal to finish in 20:31. Andy Henderson seems to get faster each year, despite being in the M60 class now and covered the 5.8 miles of leg 2 in an excellent 39:27. Stuart Waugh has raced himself back to form in recent months and the good progress continued with a time of 21:35 for the 3.1 mile leg 3. Finally, Davie Watt always delivers and despite being somewhat isolated on leg 4, he covered the 5.8 miles in 34:32 bringing the team home in 4th place in the M50 competition.

Alan Derrick led off the M40 team and after an easy week is starting to recover from the high mileage warm weather training, running a well controlled 17:54 for the 3.1 mile leg, finishing in 16th position overall and the leading M40 team. Stephen Phimister had never been to the 6-stage before but the complex twists, turns, climbs and descents did not catch him out, posting a fine 38:03 for the 5.8 mile leg. Jim Holmes continues to progress after injury and was happy enough with his time of 21:08. He is definitely on the way back. Andrew McAffery has only run here once before and was just getting over an injury at that time. He was therefore glad to be significantly faster this time, finishing in 35:48 and perhaps experiencing the worst of the visibility conditions as the field became more stretched out. Jim Mearns was another first timer and thought that the 3.1 mile leg was a fantastic little route with lots of variety. Jim finished in 21:48. The team was rounded out by Kenny Leinster who was sent off into the mist for a 5.8 mile lap. As an experienced hill runner, Kenny was not phased by the poor visibility and followed the arrows around to the finish in 41:43, taking the team to 30th position and 5th M40 team.

Colin Banks not only led our incomplete B team off on the first leg but also the entire field after false starting, heading off on the "R" of the "Ready" rather than the "B" of the "Bang". Colin has some starting speed and led the A team for the first 400m or so but faded somewhat to finish in 22:03. Richard Lawton completed the incomplete team with a 5.8 mile leg of 42:51. Well done to all our runners. A fine spread of meals, cakes and hot drinks in the school cafe rounded off a great afternoon of racing. We can only hope that our suspicion that some leading teams went off course on the last leg is unfounded as this is a fabulously organised and situated event.

It is fair to say that the Calderglen teams were among the most enthusiastic on display which was great to see and a credit to the club. A big thanks to Geo for his support and photography. Photographs will follow in due course. "That One Moment" official photos (first leg only) are here.

Alan