Round the Houses 10k - Time to Act Your Age!

The prospect of a fast, flat course and potential pb's inspired 15 of our Harriers to sign up for this annual fixture in the Calderglen Grand Prix. With the unavoidable impact of injuries and illness, 13 of these Harriers made it to the start line on the day, still an impressive number. As the first, fast 10k of the season and with its easily accessible location, this race always draws a large and competitive field from all over Scotland along with hundreds of runners just out for the challenge of perhaps their first 10k. Amazingly, this race is now in its 49th year with only minor adjustments to the course over the years, testimony to the quality of the course and the organisation of Falkirk Victoria Harriers. Compared to the balmy, early summer conditions of the preceding week, Sunday did not look promising with freezing showers and overcast skies. However, by the time the field of almost 800 lined up on the main road with the stadium on one side and the stacks and flumes of an oil refinery on the other, the weather had calmed down, it was not raining and some heat could be felt from the sun (or the flames on the stacks) albeit dispersed somewhat by the clouds.

I had been suffering with a recurring sinus problem overnight which results in headaches and little sleep and is usually the precursor to a cold. A groggy 2km jog at home before leaving for Grangemouth did little to convince me that I was ready for my first 10k road race in 3 years. However, another few km's on arrival in Grangemouth, racing flats on and some gentle strides with the slight breeze behind me and I was actually beginning to feel worryingly good. I lined up about 4 rows back from the front line and noted that older vets were lined up in front of me (Andy McLinden and Fiona Mattheson) so felt happy that I was taking a conservative approach. I had a time in my mind of 37:30 to 40 minutes given the long time since I last did this race distance. So when the hooter went I was torn between being cautious off the line or chasing down those older vets who were pulling away from me; maybe I was not running quite as well as I felt. After about 200m, I did something I never do during a race, I glanced at my Garmin to see that my pace was 5:12 per mile, way too fast for my target time and most likely way too fast for those vets in front of me, so I had a rush of common sense and eased back to about 5:30 mile pace. Another 400m later and I had breezed past one of those vets and was on the shoulder of Fiona Mattheson (who had beaten me in my previous 10k, 3 years ago, an event that had subconsciously damaged me as at that time, I was not used to being beaten by ladies unless they were Kenyan or called Paula or Liz, let alone those 5 years older than me, world record holder or not!). At this point I was gliding through the packs, taking Fiona with me for a while and could still see Andy Buchanan 100m or so up the road. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the course had changed to cut inside the railway line and through some new housing estates; absolutely pan flat and not even a railway bridge to climb over.

The packs had thinned out by now and I was at this stage side-by-side with a young lady from Inverness Harriers (Jenny I subsequently found out) who was going very well. When the 5k mark came up, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the time was about 17:20, well inside the time of my last 5k race a month previously in Portugal, although I did feel that I was absolutely hanging on to that 5:30 to 5:40 pace. However, a good time was on the cards so there was no way I was going to ease back. Soon after, I started to pull away a little from the Inverness Harrier and had a clear road in front of me. However, when we turned onto the home straight (all 3km of it!), Jenny burst past me and opened a gap. A few minutes later an Edinburgh University Hare and Hound sprinted past me and those were the only people to pass me during the race. I dug in, spurred on by a shout from Stuart Waugh as we approached the stadium for the first time and shut out the pain down that long, long straight to the far end of the industrial estate. Due to the course cutting inside the railway line, the extra distance was achieved by taking us around the corner at the end of the straight and along a 100m or so before doubling back on the parallel industrial estate access road. Connell from Kilmarnock Harriers appeared on my shoulder at this point (on his way to a pb apparently) but I was taking no prisoners at this stage. In fact I was closing down a pack of 3 in front including Jenny. I caught one as we turned into the car park and passed the other two steps before entering the track and even mustered a sprint but could not quite catch Jenny.

I could not believe the time when I stopped my watch, 35:27 (:24 in chip time), faster than my previous 10k from 3 years ago and close to what I ran 4 years ago. I was delighted. I then met up with Andy B who had smashed his previous pb by a magnificent 40 seconds to finish in 34:02 and 23rd position. Next Harrier in was Ian Hughes (still missing from the official results; Ian, please leave your race time as a comment to this post) but comfortably under 38 minutes I think.Martin Howell maximised the benefit of this flat course to knock 2 minutes off his previous (harsh conditions) 10k, finishing in a fantastic 39:15. Stephen Phimister is back under 40 with a 39:51 whereas Andy Henderson continues to log consistently high finishes in the M60 age group with a 41:26 and 5th M60. Jim Holmes was hoping for slightly faster but should be satisfied with a solid 42:39, despite a few niggles. Frances Maxwell is holding on to great form and finished 3rd F50 in 43:28 with Joanne McEvoy finishing a very competitive 4th F35 in 43:41, despite not feeling too well throughout. John McBride used panic as his warm-up tactic, forgetting to bring his registration e-mail and this paid off with a fine 45:32. Davie Searil dropped down in distance by an order of magnitude and still demonstrated decent pace in those ultra legs to finish in 49:19. Hugh Simpson sounded as ill as anyone I have ever heard before a race (its not clever Hugh!) but eased himself around in 49:35. Finally, Russell is keeping well away from that hour mark and finished in 58:39, by which time the weather had really deteriorated again.

After cool downs, showers and hot soup/coffee, we were hanging around in the excellent indoor track hall when the prize giving got underway. Over the general hubub of the crowd, I thought I heard Calderglen Harriers being mentioned and, sure enough, my name was read out as winner of the M50 category. In all the years I have been to the Grangemouth 10k, often in very good form, this is the first time I have won a prize, so I was doubly delighted and surprised. Maybe I am in good form after all!

A big thanks to all of our supporters out there, including the Phimister family, Stuart and Maud Waugh, Alison Searil and photographer extraordinaire, Sandy Hayden. Your shouts were heard!

Many photos from Sandy are here.
Alan