Devils Burdens Hill Relay - Harriers Spiked!

Stephen Phimister alone in the Lomonds of Fife

Two Harriers' teams travelled through to Falkland in Fife on a bright and frosty morning for the Devils Burden Hill Relay. The 30km course is split into 4 legs and each team has 6 runners, the longest legs (2 and 3) being run in pairs for safety. This year we fielded two evenly matched teams with a mixture of experienced runners and first timers. Team "9" members were Sandra Reid, Stephen Phimister, Alan Derrick, Billy Buchanan, Eddie Reid and Chas Steven. The perfect "10" team comprised Sandy Hayden, Jim Holmes, David Herbertson, Frances Maxwell, Geo Ferguson and Kenny Leinster. The first leg is a hilly run through 7.5km of forest trails. The finishing few km of descent was particularly treacherous due to ice and there were a few fallers but our first leg runners had no such problems with first timers Sandy and Sandra finishing within a few minutes of each other.

This gave Jim Holmes and late substitute David Herbertson a head start over Stephen Phimister and Alan Derrick. We were grateful to David stepping in at the last minute and on the (very) bright side, it did give him a chance to try out his brand new trail shoes of many colours. Stephen was another trialling footwear options and eventually made the correct decision to run in studded trail shoes rather than an older, treadless version. Leg 2 is the toughest, covering only 10km but with two major ascents totalling 2500 feet. To be honest there is not much running in leg 2 but Stephen and Alan did manage to catch Jim and David after a few km and opened up a further few minutes gap which they maintained to the end of the leg, completing in about 90 minutes with Jim and David not far (enough) behind.

Geo power lifts his fellow leg 3 team mates

Meanwhile a costume drama was unfolding at the leg 2/3 changeover where Eddie's careful preparations were thrown into disarray on discovering that he had brought his cross country spikes rather than his trail shoes! Apparently shoes were seen flying across the road accompanied by some hilarity and a complete lack of sympathy from his team mates. Fortunately Eddie had a pair of brand new fashion trainers to change into post-race and these were pressed into emergency race service. Needless to say they were not so fashionable after 11km of muddy trail, including a detour through a bog on the pre-race advice of Harriers' navigation consultant Kenny Leinster. However Billy Buchanan was not complaining as this kept Eddie's pace in check and both of them ran very well to extend the team "9" lead by some more minutes. Chasing them were Frances and Geo who navigated the perfect route through the various tracks and lanes to arrive at the changeover in Falkland Estate in fine form and looking remarkably clean having gone nowhere near the Leinster bog.

Chas takes the final steps

Eddie and Billy's problems were magnified at the changeover when they discovered that Chas was not there. A few minutes passed before a very out of breath Chas appeared and he was off on the shortest but steepest leg up and down East Lomond. Kenny Leinster had about a 7 minute gap to close when he took over from Frances and Geo and this he did about half way up the ascent. Team "10" in the shape of Kenny were therefore first to finish back in Falkland with Chas only about 5 minutes behind. All in all it was a very close finish for a 30km race with all the Harriers running to the limit and very deserving winners emerging in the shape of  team "10".

It was nice to see former member Kenny Davidson at the leg 2/3 changeover where he was running for his club Moorfoot Harriers from Peebles. Kenny looks to be as fit as ever.

Finally, there are a few photos in this gallery. More will be added as I receive them (26/01/15 - photos from Sandra and Frances now added). Thanks to the team for a great day taking part in a fantastic event.
Alan


Postscript: an internal enquiry may be commissioned to determine if there is a common link between the following episodes which afflicted team "9":

• Eddie's trail shoes turning into cross country spikes
• Kenny (team "10") administering dubious navigational advice to Eddie (team "9") leading to a detour into a bog.
• Kenny (team "10") guiding Chas (team "9") to a parking space in Falkland about as far from the race location as was possible.
• The mysterious transfer of Chas' club vest from his race bag to his car, which, as mentioned above, was about as far away as it could possibly be from the changeover, with the consequence that Chas was late for his changeover (and out of breath).

We shall put the enquiry in the hands of the club president, Kenny Leinster!