SVHC/Bathgate Highland Games Hill Race/Treasure Hunt

A last minute decision saw me join Frances Maxwell and Sandy Hayden in Bathgate for the next race in the Scottish Veteran Harriers Grand Prix series (my first of the season but Frances is right up there in contention), the Bathgate Highland Games hill race. You will have spotted the immediate flaw in this introduction as, at 24 years old, Sandy is by no means a veteran but that was a minor concern at this very low key event. I did this race a few years ago in atrocious weather and was expecting an out and back race which was essentially an uphill road race with the final 300m ascent on a tractor track and then back the same way to the start in Bathgate town centre, totalling 6 miles. However, due to the incorporation of the British Pipe Band Championships, the Highland Games had moved to a much bigger venue at the sports centre/golf course on the edge of the town (scene of Calderglen's silver medal at the British Masters Cross Country Relay Championships 10 years ago). Having found the venue, the next problem was finding registration. After wandering aimlessly for a while, I eventually noticed a member of the (closed) sports centre staff guarding a fire exit and indeed, this was the entrance to a small room where registrations were being taken. I was number 9 to register which did not bode well for a large field given that I arrived late. It turned out that Frances and Sandy were numbers 1 and 2! Sandy was declared ineligible for a prize due to being too young, an unusual situation for a Harrier, but Frances and I passed the age test. Eventually another couple of handfuls of runners appeared taking the potential field up to about 20.

The next problem was what course would we run? There was an animated debate going on among the organisers on whether we should just run out onto the main road and pick up the old course which would give us about 3 miles total or, as the lead motorbike rider suggested, we follow the old course up the hill to the mast and then on the way down turn right to Torpichen and take in a loop around there (all downhill I was told) before rejoining the main road back to Bathgate. This would be about 6 miles. Luckily, minutes before the start, the decision was made, it would be the 6 mile course (which turned out to be 5.4 miles but I was not complaining).

Then we were off, immediately uphill onto the main road and then a back road, climbing constantly. Despite not being a traditional, cross-country hill race, this event has atmosphere, at least for the leaders due to the lead bike being a 1950's BSA motorbike which was burning a bit of oil! I soon found myself and another local runner leading and pulling away but was cursing myself for not being able to just let someone else set the pace for a change, pushing on uphill in the hope that I could drop him and relax. Unfortunately last weekends 1500 foot WHW climb, a lingering cold from earlier in the week and a big climb on Thursday's club run meant that my legs were not at their springiest. Still, I made it to the radio mast just in front and turned for the descent. On reaching the road after 300m downhill, I saw to my surprise that we were going up again which the local guy explained to me was only a brief climb; I was not expecting any up hills on the way down, if you see what I mean. But I was soon to regret the course being so downhill as we had essentially 3 miles to charge downhill at speeds which were often at 4:30 miling which hurts whether it is downhill or not. After a mile of descent my legs were dead and I had to let the local, younger guy go, staying about 20m or so behind him. There were a few more slight up hills before the finish where we both struggled and I had brief thoughts that I might manage to accelerate back on to his heels on these sections but the legs and heart said no. I crossed the line 9 seconds behind the winner in a time of 32:14, 2nd overall and technically first M50 (much to the disappointment of 3rd place Hamilton Harrier who was also M50 and thought I had to be 40 something!). Some 7 minutes later, Frances was in a downhill sprint finish, which, as I expected, she won and was first lady and first F50. Sandy was doing this race as a pre-holiday strength builder, confronting here hatred of hills. This she certainly did and has taken another step towards becoming a great runner in years to come. As is traditional, the treasure hunt ended with a search for a nice cafe. Despite some locals saying we would need a car to get to a cafe, we found a nice Italian restaurant in the high street a short walk away (closer than where my car was parked anyway) and tucked into banoffee cake and coffees all round. A great wee afternoon.
Alan

West Highland Way 2015

Last Saturday, the 23rd May, the Harriers made a 4am start from East Kilbride to make the short drive to Milngavie and the start of the West Highland Way. Eddie Reid was on a mission to get us to the start for a 5am prompt start, giving us every chance of getting to Fort William by around 19:00 with time for a swim in the hotel pool, a jacuzzi and sauna before dinner. That is what I call thinking ahead. We even had a minibus with a spare tyre this year.

After the team photo we were indeed ready for a 5am start and Joanne McEvoy was selected to cover the 4.1 mile stage from Mingavie to Carbeth, a beautiful leg considering it is so close to the city. The ever enthusiastic Stephen Phimister volunteered to run with Joanne on this leg whilst the rest of the team proceeded to Carbeth by minibus.

Despite the early start, always the main problem with this leg, Joanne flew around this undulating route in 31 minutes, leaving Stephen gasping and more than warmed up for his upcoming leg. After several years of injuries and other setbacks, Russell Couper's fitness is heading in the right direction again and he was champing at the bit to get going on leg 2 from Carbeth to The Beech Tree Inn at Dumgoyne, a distance of 3.1 miles, finishing on the flat but with some hills in the first half. Russell has Davie Watt and Davie Herbertson, who we all thought was a veteran of this event but who was in fact participating for the first time. Russell finished in fine form in a time of around 25 minutes, the first of many runs that Russell was to do today.

Sandra Reid had not participated in the WHW Relay for several years due to injury and was very happy to be lining up for leg 3 from Dumgoyne to Drymen (5.1 miles) despite the still very anti social time of day. Davie Watt carried on running with Sandra to continue building his mileage. We had a brief sighting of Sandra and Davie at the Killeran Road crossing after about 2.5 miles at which point Russell (starting early) and Jim Holmes decided to complete the remainder of the leg too. Sandra reached the changeover at Drymen in a time of around 46 minutes. The next leg was the longest one so far up and over Conic Hill and into Balmaha. Due to some last minute injury call-offs, it had been decided to extend this leg a mile or two to its original finish at Milarochy on the "Bonnie Banks" of Loch Lomond rather than in the car park at Balmaha. This was perhaps a point that Stephen Phimister had failed to appreciate at the pre-race briefing and he came storming into the car park at Balmaha where we were all amusing ourselves with a frisbee only to be told that he was carrying on to Milarochy to give a total of 8.8 miles, a distance he covered in 1 hour 18 minutes.

WHW newcomer Sandy Hayden was lined up for a tough, hilly leg along the shores of Loch Lomond from Milarochy to Rowardennan, a distance of 6.1 miles but with two severe climbs. By her own admission Sandy does not like hills, not having been running for long and still needing to develop the strength, so she was accompanied by me in a coaching capacity to keep her pace under control and to encourage her up the hills (and to keep her on the correct route!). At least that was the plan; I was not quite ready when Stephen arrived so Sandy set off without me. Could I catch her from a cold start? No, it took me a good couple of miles of breathing out my ears to actually catch Sandy, so she was going well. I caught Sandy before the first big climb which was really too steep to run up, so power walking was the order of the day, although we were still passing some hill walkers. Unfortunately, the second climb was even longer but we did manage to start running again just before the top and thereafter maintained a good steady pace (with some verbal encouragement) to the finish.

Gerry Mullen was on the feared Lochside leg, the longest leg of the day at 14 miles, starting at Rowardennan and finishing at Bein Glas Farm at Inverarnan. Gerry has been training for the Edinburgh Marathon (today), so had enough miles in the legs. But it is not the distance that is the problem with this leg, it is the terrain and the underfoot conditions. The first 3 or 4 miles are OK but from Inversnaid Hotel the "path" is a rough ribbon of rocks, tree roots, 90 degree turns, big steps and even a ladder, so it is as much scrambling as it is running. The minibus has quite a long but relaxed drive around from Rowardennan to Inverarnan, so we had plenty of time to relax, have a coffee and generally muck about waiting on Gerry's arrival. This he did after 2 hours 30 minutes of tortuous running but as always, Gerry still had a smile on his face.

After last year's minibus problem which resulted in Davy Watt having to run back to back legs on very tough terrain, we gave Davie an easier task this year to run the 6.1 miles from Bein Glas Farm to the high level trail above Crianlarich. Of course, being a high level trail, this meant that the entire leg was uphill! No problem to former Scotland international marathon runner Davie who sailed majestically to Crianlarich in 46 minutes.

Eddie Reid has been suffering from a sciatic nerve problem for months, severely limiting his training. However, it seems to be not so bad going uphill so he was at least pleased with the very steep uphill start of his leg from Crianlarich to Tyndrum (another 6 mile leg). Stephen Phimister once again tagged along, perhaps not realising just how steep this stage was. After 2.5 miles, the route crosses the busy A84 and at this point Stephen decided to drop out and David Herbertson took over the job of keeping Eddie company. By this time the early morning sun had given way to more overcast conditions and it was definitely one of the coldest occasions that we have run this event. In those conditions, Eddie arrived and with a virtual "tag" across the busy A84 (time 52:26) Jim Holmes took off for the spectacular leg from Tyndrum to Bridge of Orchy, following the a path very close to, sometimes above and sometimes under the railway line but always dwarfed by massive mountains on either side. This is one of the most runnable routes and it was the first time that Jim had been assigned this route after many previous WHW weekends. Jim was delighted to have this leg and

completed it in 49:03, a great time.

Russell Couper was on for his second official leg next, a short but sharp 2.2 miler from Bridge of Orchy to Inveroran with a 171 metre climb and similar descent. Russell was joined by Sandy Hayden and George Stewart who was fragile with a calf injury and not taking an individual leg. All three fairly flew over the hill with Russell setting the official time of 25:15.

Frances Maxwell is in fantastic running form at the moment and was assigned one of the classic, hard running legs of the WHW across Rannoch Moor, a distance of 8.7 miles from Inveroran to Black Rock Cottage just below the Glencoe Ski Centre, very appropriate for a keen skier like Frances. Frances was expecting to meet Harriers Davy Searil and Ian Rae on this leg, both of whom were on a WHW Race training run from Tyndrum to Glencoe and back again! Frances duly met the dynamic duo after a couple of miles and stopped for a chat and photos and much adulation before continuing on her way at speed to come flying to the finish in an excellent 71 minutes.

Now it was the turn of Davy Herbertson to do
his actual, assigned leg, despite the fact he seemed to have run several times the distance of his 6 mile leg from Black Rock Cottage to the Devil's Staircase already. At least Davy had a downhill start for a mile or so to break him into it (again). Davy always gives his all and there was no doubt that he was pushing himself to the limit on this, he supposedly final run of the day, when he appeared in view approaching the changeover at the foot of the Devil's Staircase. Davy completed the leg in 33:09 and handed over to Geo Ferguson for the steep climb and equally steep descent of the Devil's Staircase leg to Kinlochleven. Stephen Phimister once again chose this uphill leg to join in on with every tiring legs. Perhaps because of these tired legs, Stephen took a trip on the descent but by all accounts managed to forward roll back on to his feet with hardly a stride lost and only a skint knee to show. Geo is really taking his training seriously now and the results are showing. He came flying in to Kinlochleven in 54 minutes to hand over to me (Alan Derrick) as I psyched myself up for the tough 8 mile leg climbing 1500 feet out of Kinlochleven into the Mamores and finishing at Lundavra, high above Glen Nevis.

Due to rain in the preceding week, the rocky ascent was slippy and it felt like I was going nowhere fast as I lost momentum here and there and had to power walk one short, steep stretch. However, after 15 minutes or so the steepest path was over and I was on a more gradual but still rocky ascent for another 3 or 4 miles. The scenery was spectacular and the weather threatening and, sure enough, before I was half way, the head wind was joined by driving rain. I had run this leg many times over the years and was used to having to jump the many burns which cross the old military road. However, on this occasion there was more deeper water and the burns were wider than usual so eventually I gave up jumping and just ran through the shallowest parts as I was already soaked. This is a lonely place but that makes it all the more atmospheric and I was really enjoying myself as I seemed to be running well despite the wind and rain.

This leg is one of constant concentration as the road is like a rock strewn river bed and it is a case of twisting and turning and jumping from rock to rock to find solid footing, particularly in the final 3 miles where the road gradually descends. Finally I saw the white minibus a few hundred metres ahead and was glad but surprised to see Davy Herbertson lining up on his own as a) he had finished running for the day and b) Joanne was assigned this leg. However, as Joanne was not feeling too good, Davy decided to go it alone again. I thought momentarily of carrying on with him but the steep uphill start to his leg convinced me quickly not to. A glance at my watch confirmed the time as 64:11 which I was surprised to find was 10 minutes faster than my previous try in 2012 and 3 minutes faster than my 2008 time, despite stopping for a half minute for en-route photos. This was also the most extreme leg for the minibus, culminating in a very steep reverse to a turning point, so the drive back down to Fort William and the final change at the Braveheart car park in Glen Nevis was scented with burning clutch.

One good thing about the colder than average weather was that the midges were noticeable by their absence and this was indeed the case at Braveheart car park which is usually a midge feast. We all now realised that Davy had never been on the West Highland Way relay before and so he had been well warned to absolutely not deviate from the forest road despite what any signs said and must not on any account end up in Glen Nevis camping site. This message seemed to have been well received and Davy once again came powering into sight having taken around 50 minutes for the 5.9 mile leg. As is traditional, as many of us that were able to then completed the final 0.8 miles along Glen Nevis to the finish of the West Highland Way at the entry into Fort William. Sandy Hayden was still full of running and was the first Harrier in and stopped the clock at an excellent 14 hours and 12 minutes for the 96 miles of the West Highland Way, an amazing accomplishment from a group of Harriers of all abilities. The final team photo was duly taken and we were in very good time for a swim, jacuzzi and sauna before dinner as planned.

Sunday was a relaxing day with a late morning start, stopping off at the Glen Coe visitor centre before heading on down the A84 to Callander for (more) well earned cakes/soup and coffees. Next year is, we believe, the 25th edition of the Calderglen Harriers West Highland Way Relay, an event which we started when Calderglen began a 10 year stint of organising the West Highland Way Race and we thought that doing it as a relay a month beforehand would provide a good way of familiarising all the Harriers who would be marshalling with the route. It remains one of the highlights of the Harriers' calendar and we look forward to something special next year. Book your space early!

Thanks to Frances for her perfect organisation of the weekend, to Eddie and Gerry for sharing the driving and to all the Harriers for approaching this event so enthusiastically.
Full album of photos and comments to be found here.
Alan

The Harriers Tackle the West Highland Way Head On (or maybe Side On)

To whet your appetite for the full event report, this album takes you through the weekend in full technicolour. The comments accompanying each photo explain all (at least as much as can be published!).

Alan

Tight at the Top

With only 4 races to go in the Grand Prix and Scratch Championships, it is tight at the top of the men's events where the "best 11 from 16" rule is coming into play and all to play for in the ladies' events where the 11 race mark has not yet been reached. Next stop up, Land O'Burns 10k. Check the latest positions using the Grand Prix menu on the left.
Alan

Victoria parkrun part 2

It was the second half of the Victoria parkrun grand prix this week and 6 harriers plus 1 junior harrier went along to take part.
Martin Howell led the way with an excellent pb of 19:01 (tho he'll be a bit disappointed the official time didn't match his watch time of sub-19!) finishing in 20th position. John McBride was next home with a time of 21:42 in 68th place with Richard Lawton not far behind in 22:18 and 81st place. Stuart Waugh was pacing grandson Lewis Moir round, ...Lewis out sprinted grandad at the end to finish in an excellent pb of 23:15 in 102nd place (need to relook at the results but can't imagine anybody of his own age beat him!). Stuart wasn't far behind, finishing in 23:26 in 107th place. Next home was Hugh Simpson in 24:10 in 130th place. Russell Couper was still feeling the effects of his cold finished in 27:17 in 208th place.
Apologies there are no photos of John or Hugh but didn't spot you without your vest on!

Thanks to Alison for the report 
 
 

Islay Deadline

Time is running out to book in a place in The Bowmore Cottages for the Islay Half Marathon weekend. We will keep the places until the end of May and then cancel those rooms we do not need to avoid losing our deposit. 6 places left. Speak to Eddie Reid to secure a space. Full details available further down the blog.
Alan

A race too far

 

Let me start by apologising for the tardiness of this report which can be easily explained – I simply couldn’t be bothered. I had a definite case of post-race blues following this year’s Fling and am only now starting to believe again that my long-term ambition, the WHWR itself, is still possible. Now that I am in a slightly better place, here goes.

 

Hoka One One Highland Fling, Saturday 25^th April

My race weekend started well enough, collecting my number and timing chip at the Lorne Hotel in the west end on the Friday afternoon and enjoying meeting old friends. This distraction presumably also explains how I managed to lose said chip only minutes after getting it and crucially not noticing until we were almost back in EK. Frantic phone calls to RD John Duncan and his other half Noanie eventually led to a very welcome text around seven o’clock that someone had found it on the street outside the hotel and handed it in. A friend, Emma, was going to bring it to the start in the morning, phew!!

At 06:00 the following day, suitably chipped and having apologised profusely (and been warned that in future I was going to be held down at registration and have my chip stapled on to me, ouch), I watched as Ian Rae was given the unexpected honour of starting the 700 or so runners as he is now the only ever-present and this year, 2015, would turn out to be his tenth consecutive Fling finish.

After doing so Ian, John McGregor (in the blue and yellow of his new club, Giffnock North) and I ran the first few hundred yards together before my pace became more sensible and I dropped back not to see them again until Tyndrum ( in fact I haven’t actually seen John since but we have spoken over the phone)

Given that this was my 14^th ultra you would be forgiven for assuming I had a pretty good idea of what I was doing when it comes to the longer distances – not so. As any good coach will tell you, look for the positives, so on that score;

I finished the race, I wasn’t a physical wreck and I managed not to fall over - that’s about it really, now for the negatives; (don’t read this while within reach of prescription drugs, it’s depressing)

Never, ever do something in a race you haven’t practised before – how many times have we all heard that one?  Yet, a few days before, I decide on muesli as my main meal for the first dropbag at Balmaha. A logical choice, I eat it almost every morning of my life and I still intend to use it again but…mistake number one, on the day of the race I somehow get it into my head I’ll be eating my breakfast of choice at Drymen, thirteen miles in to the route which leads me to eat nothing during that first stage (I still don’t know what happened to the banana I had in my hand at the start). Even the unexpected delight of meeting Colin and Genevieve Freeman didn’t jolt my memory, after big hugs, turning down Gen’s proferred jelly babies with a ‘ no thanks, I’ve got a whole bag of stuff just over the road there’.

Ploughing on after only being able to take on water I went up and through what little remains of the Garabdhan forest and eventually up and over Conic (Chronic) Hill itself, reaching Alabama almost twenty miles in and by now searching for a horse to eat (apologies to vegetarians and horse-lovers everywhere), which brings me to mistake number two; having specially bought a tub for the muesli I failed to check it was leakproof (I now have a water-tight screwtop tub for the next time) resulting in a marshall handing me a dropbag which was basically a polythene bag of milk with bits floating around in it. Fortunately the items in the bag were individually wrapped so were rescued but not so the muesli. All that was left was an unappetising dry’ish mush which was made marginally more edible by adding the only liquid I had available, Nuun, an elctrolyte drink. Not a great combination, let me tell you but I had finally managed to get something solid into my protesting stomach. And did it protest! So much so that I didn’t eat again, other than jelly beans, until Rowardennan, another seven miles up the road and the scene of mistake number three;

I should add here that other than my mounting nutritional disasters I was having a ball running with and chatting happily to various pals, Rhona, Lois, Ada, Wilson and ex-harrier Dawn Buchanan who had her very own car full of support/cheerleaders in the form of mum Jean, dad Billy and fiancee Matt. Indeed for most of the race they managed to make me feel as though they were there to support me too.  Anyway, back to Riverdennan.

Trying to avoid sitting on the ground while eating (getting up again is a major difficulty in any ultra) I cleared a wee space on a huge table-like boulder to set out my food and drink. I was aware the remainder of the flat stone was being used as an overflow table for previous runners unwanted dropbag contents but failed to keep my wits about me. You’ve probably already guessed what happened next - while necking my banana milkshake someone grabbed my mandarin orange segments (the one item I look forward to the most) and walked off shovelling them down his gob, leaving me laughing out loud at my own stupidity. However the real stupidity was yet to come for instead of replacing my lost item from among the smorgasbord of goodies lying in front of me I turned on my heel and continued on my way.

Inversnaid was the venue for mistake number four; so busy was I helping other runners’ by handing out Nuun tabs left, right and centre I left my beautifully-chilled bottle of flat coke sitting on the table and ran for at least half a mile before noticing I only had around one inch of fluid left. If you recall it had hardly rained for weeks in the build-up to the race so all the burns where I could normally have re-filled my bottle quite easily were bone-dry. Eventually a friendly walker assisted me by simply handing me an entire bottle, cheers pal. Aren’t folk really, really nice? With hindsight I should have gone back to the checkpoint for my drink as I ended up bonking a few miles later, legs wobbling and head dizzy which led to me sitting down and cramming almost everything edible in my pack into my mouth in an effort to recover from the cumulative effects of my beginners’ errors and on top of that I was now dehydrated too, no longer ‘peeing clear’  

By this point I was a long down mentally and very aware that almost everyone I knew in the race had long-since disappeared into the distance but the belated nutrition, the gifted water, finally finding a burn where I filled my bottle again and a long spell of walking along the infamous ‘lochside’ where running is more of an ambition than an option seemed to rejuvenate me so that by the time I reached the final checkpoint at Beinglas I was nearly back to my normal self. The fact that Billy, Jean and Matt had waited for me even though, as I subsequently discovered looking through the splits, Dawn was there fully thirty minutes before me made a huge difference – thanks guys, your help and support there and at other places helped me drag myself through. Jean told me later she even got to use her skills by bandaging up a couple of runners who had had nasty falls.

Thanks to my improving physical and mental state I plodded quite impressively (for me) to the finish with the enormous fillip of meeting Coach, Geo and Eddie on the hill above Crianlarich just prior to entering the forest. Knowing they were waiting there and also knowing I was way behind the tentative timings I had given Alan the day before undoubtedly acted as motivation and afterwards also gave me a tremendous mental lift as I ran almost the whole way up and down the ‘rollercoaster’ and through Auchertyre to the finish.

Six weeks of no running from November to mid-December last year plus one or two other problems this year meant I hadn’t really expected to run a good time so shouldn’t be too displeased with my time of 13:22:11. It was a full 38 minutes slower than last year and only 8 minutes quicker than my first Fling two years ago. At least I can look at many areas of improvement for next time and, in fact, during my next ultra I will have a team to make sure I eat and drink enough which will be an unusual but very welcome experience. Let's hear it for team Searil! I finished 516^th of 647 finishers, a bit closer to the back of the pack than I would have liked but hey-ho.

Having run the 34 miles to Inversnaid together only then did Ian leave John lying on the ground, beaten and apparently vowing to DNF, with Ian going on to finish in Tyndrum in an excellent 10:36:35. John meanwhile spent some fifteen minutes or so regaining his composure and indeed recovering so well that he ran to Tyndrum nine minutes quicker than Ian and only seven minutes behind him overall, quite astonishing. It should also be noted that John didn’t really train properly for the Fling, his main focus having been the Manchester marathon at which he ran a fourteen-minute pb of 3:01 only six days before -  an improvement of over thirty seconds per mile! Ian and I only hope he never takes his ultra running as seriously. Dawn meanwhile had a absolute stormer of an ultra-debut, coming home to big hugs from her entire crew in 12:36:05, well done you.

As the only one wearing the black and amber during the race I hereby officially claim my spot as leading harrier! And by the way Ian assures me his beautifully co-ordinated all over blue racing attire was entirely fortuitous and was actually the result of just grabbing the first things that came to hand. Aye right.

Matthew Lay from California won the race in 7:04:07, the second-fastest time ever recorded. Paul Navesey was a close second in 7:06:44 and Donnie Campbell (better known as Dr Andrew Murray’s running partner and only a week after running a 130k ultra in Turkey) came home third in 7:17:28. His real partner, Rachael Campbell, won the female race in 8:42:59, only a month after they were married.

I haven’t included any photos as Alan has already done so in his previous report and also I think the EK News has a slightly larger circulation than this blog...

 

Edinburgh to North Berwick Road Race, Saturday 2^nd May

 On the face of it, entering this race, seven days after a 53 mile hilly trail ultra, was a foolhardy thing to do but I had a plan. No, really, I did.

With eight weeks until the big one and knowing I was more than likely to be lazy for a couple of weeks after the Fling I decided a flat twenty mile road race would be perfect for keeping me honest, forcing me out the door instead of having a lie-in and using my muscles in a completely different way thereby not damaging already very tired legs.

It worked! I ran a decent time of 3:07:15, nine minutes slower than three years ago when conditions were much more in our favour, in fact then we had a slight tailwind (apparently very unusual for this part of the Forth Estuary) This year was not so benign and was run into a gale-force wind. The sunglasses even had to come off during the one and only, but very heavy, downpour. Once again I managed to overtake a good number of runners over the last few miles whilst avoiding being overtaken myself. I always like to finish well even if the rest of the race isn’t so impressive.

The race was won in a time of 1:59:00 by Ross Milne of Corstorphine AC and the first lady home was Nikki Gibson of Edinburgh Ac in 2:19:42. I was 138^th from 170 finishers, again a wee bit further from the front than I would have liked.

 

Troon 10k, Wednesday 13^th May

I entered this race for sentimental reasons more than any cogent, though-out racing plan. More years ago than either of us care to remember my wife and I would spend a pleasant afternoon in Troon, I would run the 10k having first entered at the Walker Hall by filling in an A4 entry form and handed over my £4 or thereabouts and cap the day off by having fish and chips on the beach at Barassie watching the sun go down over Arran - happy days. Sadly the weather was not so nostalgic last midweek and Alison decided to stay at home (sensible girl) and so I travelled with a friend from one of my yoga classes and a Motherwell AC member, or MACs as they call themselves.

On what turned out to be a surprisingly dry evening well over 900 runners lined up for the 30^th running of what is probably one of the most perennially popular spring 10ks around. Although grateful for the lack of precipitation all the runners had to endure an extremely strong wind unusually coming from the north-west meaning we were blown along the prom from the gun but had to work very hard indeed on the way home. I grafted all the way round so was mildly dejected to finish in 48:50, which seemed to improve on subsequent reflection. My travelling companion Helen meanwhile struggled home in 57:52, a consequence perhaps of the training required for a 14 mile leg at the Fling relay ten days before. Managing to miss each other completely at the finish area we eventually met up again back at her car fully 30 minutes after I had crossed the line so most of the journey home was spent holding my hands over the car heaters trying to restore some feeling to my fingers!

Photos courtesy of Kenny Philips and Gillian Scott of Scott Sports Photography respectively

 There were 933 finishers and the race was won very impressively by ex-harrier Stuart Gibson who had over a minute in hand over the second place runner. I did see him later in the hall doing his best impression of Alf Tupper getting stuck into a helping of fish and chips (I think there’s a theme developing here, Troon = fish and chips)

All in all maybe not the weather I remember but as always a very well-organised and enjoyable local race. Nostalgia just ain't what it used to be...

Auldhouse Time Trial, Thursday 14^th May

Not too much to say about this as Coach has already reported on our first time trial of the year but suffice to say I was delighted to almost break the 24 minute mark with a strong 24:07, on the day after Troon. 

Penicuik 10k, Saturday 9^th May

This was my 'race too far', the day the wheels came off, big time, as I struggled badly from the 1k to 2.5k marks but still recovered during the run to manage a strong finish. Again I won’t bore you by repeating what Martin has already said in his excellent report but I can confirm the locals were very friendly, that hill was ever so big and the home baking afterwards was wonderful.

To give you a clearer idea of the climbing involved the elevation of our time trial course is 44m whereas the Penicuik race route has a elevation of 138m (according to my GPS)  

Depressingly (there’s that word again) I have just checked and my time of 52:33 is the slowest 10k of my life. With hindsight perhaps I should not have pushed my luck any further after Auldhouse and stayed at home on Saturday but would then have missed a lovely day out, a large part of the credit for which goes to my fellow traveller Martin Howell. Cheers Mart

 

You will all be delighted to hear there will not be any more reports from me at least until after the 20th June, so you can relax until then.

Penicuik Harriers 10k

Following a plea to find a buddy to run this race, now in its 32nd year, with me, the ever reliable and intrepid Davie Searil threw his hat in the ring and entered two or three days before the off.

Getting the logistics arranged we set off in plenty of time to arrive in Penicuik with a good three quarters of an hour to spare. We registered and immediately got a feel as to how friendly a bunch the Penicuik Harriers were, very welcoming and genuinely, it seemed, delighted we had entered their race.

Having dealt with the fumbling’s of the safety pins we headed back to the car and got “race ready”. The weather had again done me a favor with the sun coming out just in time for the off.

We then headed down to the start line and were immediately drawn to spectate for a short time a very serious and competitive Archery competition that was well underway in the field adjacent to the start and finish line – fortunately the targets were positioned such that any speared runners would have needed to be seriously off course or a very errant arrow! Davie mentioned there used to be such events at our club.

A warm up took us down through the town and made us realise that the finish would involve a climb – magic!

Lining up and with the local constabulary giving their approval the starter got us underway. The usual frenetic sprint at the start sorted the field out and on this occasion I was happy to take it easy bearing in mind what I had been told to expect. Davie, likewise took his place at the start to allow a modest start – conserving the legs and lungs for what was to come.

Down through the town, we were cheered on by a decent contingent of well-wishers.

Then we made a left turn in to Pomathorn Road.

Having documented my recent Ballyliffin adventure and it’s hills I honestly didn’t think I’d be running up the likes so soon again. How wrong. Over the space of about three quarters of a mile we ascended 850 feet. Sorting the running order out significantly, I was content not to lose any positions and in the knowledge that this was a circuit race, we would reap the benefits of going back down somewhere along the line. Davie reported that near the summit he was succumbed and had to work hard to keep any running motion going.

At the top of the hill we made a right turn and thankfully the course levelled out to nothing more than gentle undulations with eventually the hoped and anticipated for steady long down section lasting for about two miles. Managing to up the pace I passed three of four runners before arriving at the outskirts of Penicuik and ultimately with the finish getting closer.

From our warm up we knew that the route to the end would involve another climb. Routing off the main street we were greeted with a 400m stinger that winded more than me. Digging in as hard as possible I peaked the hill and ran the final 200m with as much gusto as I could muster although with my finishing strength to sprint to the line these days being seriously lacking one of the runners I had passed earlier managed to jump me with 50m to go.

Interestingly, as a result of all of the recent rain the fast sharp right turn from the tarmac on to the grass leading to line had become waterlogged in places and more than one runner had a close encounter with their face in the mud, though crucially neither Davie or myself involved among the tumblers.

A junior athlete won the race in 34.15, my official time was 41.19 and Davie managed a superb 52.37 (remembering he ran the 20 mile Edinburgh to North Berwick last week and the 53 mile Hoka Highland Fling the week before!).

A short walk back to the High School was made very worthwhile by the amount of food, tea, coffee and soft drinks on offer all served by members of the Penicuik Harriers.

Fed and watered and having chewed the fat in post race analysis Davie and I set off for home in firm agreement that overall the race was very well organised, marshalled extremely effectively and the course although challenging in it’s early stages was a good test of the fitness offering a bit of everything from steep climbs to fast downhill’s.

It’d be really good if we could take a larger contingent of our Harriers to next year’s event (16th May 2016) though it falls at a time when there are many alternative events to choose from. I for one will probably chuck my hat in the ring.

Many photos of the event are to be found here (and a video too).

Martin H.

Kintyre Way Relay

View from Anchor Hotel, Tarbert

This would be a very rare case of me running in a race without a Calderglen vest but it had to be done as my employer was sponsoring the Kintyre Way 67 Mile Ultra and Relay (there was also a 35 mile ultra and relay starting part way around the course) and we had entered a works team and I was apparently a key man.

The race starts in Tarbert (Loch Fyne) and finishes in Campbeltown following the Kintyre Way long distance path; a very scenic part of the country. The 67 mile, 6-stage relay race started at about 6am on Saturday morning (5:30 for the solo ultra runners) which meant an overnight in Tarbert. The bad news was that I had a 4:30 am start on Friday, a long day at work and therefore a late drive from Glasgow to Tarbert, arriving at about 10pm at the very nice Sea Bed Anchor Hotel with a beautiful view over the harbour; pity I didn't spend long enough there to enjoy it though, arriving too late for dinner (I had stopped in Inverary for dinner anyway) and leaving too early for breakfast. I was already exhausted on the Saturday morning when we left for the start 100m from the hotel but regained some sleep by driving to my changeover at Tayinloan and sleeping in my car for a few hours. Perfect preparation for a 16 mile run! I had volunteered to do the longest leg, a 16 mile route starting at Tayinloan on the west coast of the Kintyre peninsula and climbing 600m over two peaks to finish back at sea level in Carradale on the east coast.

Leg 4

Runners gradually trickled in, including the first two 67 mile relay teams; a good team from Irvine AC closely followed by Stonehaven AC. My team mates arrived in the support car to confirm that we were second after the first leg but were slipping backwards on legs 2 and 3. The route instructions for my leg looked complicated for the first 2 or 3km with multiple gates, a beach and field boundaries to follow so I decided to run the first few km as a warm-up and was glad I did as some of the KW marker posts were a bit hidden by gorse. But what a beautiful start to a run, the section on the beach being amongst the most spectacular I have ever run on.

Beach at Tayinloan

Our third leg runner had doubled up with one of our reserve runners. A half hour after the 2nd team came in I saw one of those runners approaching and rapidly threw my gear in the car and rushed to the changeover only to see that it was the reserve runner and he did not have the official electronic tag to handover. It was a full half hour and several false warm-ups later when the official runner came in. Apparently this 9 mile leg had a killer section on a really stony beach and he had to walk there. By this time Irvine had been gone for over an hour (and it was David Millar, former Scottish 10k champion and still unbelievably fast who I was "chasing" along with Stonehaven, Irvine B and another non-club team, all of whom were at least a half hour ahead), so my thoughts were really on having a nice, steady run without killing myself too much as there was no hope of catching anyone.

After the first few km of beach and fields, I crossed the A83 to join a forest road (actually a wind farm access road, so  bit of a bus man's holiday for me), which climbed relentlessly for 9km from sea level to 340m above sea level. I passed one struggling ultra runner on this ascent who shouted that I was making it look too easy and he would rather be doing my leg than 67 miles (I had to agree with him). The wind turbines were visible for many miles but the road wound around the hill ascending gradually so it took a long time to actually get to the turbines at the top where I was surprised and glad to see some marshalls with water. I stopped for 30 seconds for a drink and to return their cup and heard that the conditions last year had been horrendous before starting the first stage of the descent, picking up a decent pace well below 6 minute miles for a few km.

Leg 4 profile

Being Scotland, the course had a few further climbs on what was supposed to be the main descent which buckled the legs temporarily but eventually I was in the bottom of the glen and spotted a relay runner. Soon 4th place was mine although I still thought there was no chance of catching the Irvine B team. The next section undulated through farmland and I passed several more ultra runners. As the second big hill was still to come I kept something back for that. This hill started in a forest car park and ascended up a very steep, grassy (i.e. muddy) path. Half way up this ascent it re-joined a forest road, climbing more gently for a while. Unfortunately, this was not to last as the final part of the ascent was on a very steep, rocky footpath. I would have been as well walking the first 20m of this but carried on with a running on the spot sort of style making slow progress. A supporter confirmed that I had only 100m to go to the top where the path dropped and twisted very steeply back down towards the coast. Near the bottom of this descent and only two miles from the finish I spotted an Irvine AC vest and thought that it had to be one of their runners out on a cool down run. However, on catching and passing I saw that it was the 3rd place Irvine B team and I had indeed made up another place.

We were approaching a reasonably flat single track road by this point and I thought all I had to do was hammer it to the finish a mile or so up the road and establish as big a gap as I could to Irvine. Unfortunately I had missed a key detail on the route map as the route left this road after a few metres to climb back up the hill I had just run down and approached the finish from the back rather than along the main road. The legs were burning on this last climb and the pace was not great but by now I was catching many of the ultras (probably the 35 milers who had started later). Finally, the path dived down a very steep, dark forest path with plenty of tree roots and rocks to avoid, finishing with a flight of steps (which I by-passed to avoid a trio of ultra runners who I was going to crash in to) in Carradale. I sprinted to my colleague, dibbed my dibber in the slot (don't worry, its an electronic timing device) and handed it over, stopped my watch and relaxed. Then I heard words that I have never heard in a race before: "Give me your pins!". My colleague and a support crew member descended on me like a not very well trained F1 pit crew and started trying to remove the pins from my number as they had none! All the time I am thinking I have just burst my gut for nothing catching and passing Irvine only to have them pass me standing here! But they didn't appear for a few minutes and soon my team mate was off with only a few pin jabs in his chest and fingers. My time was 1:57:01 for the 15.7 mile leg with 600m of ascent. I was happy with this given that the course had much more climbing in it than the Loop of the Loch 16 miler a month previously. I do need to work on the endurance though as I did run out of gas during the last quarter of the event, just as I did in the Loch Venachar race.

Changeover at Carradale Tearoom

Numberless, it was now time to relax for real with home made flap jacks, soup, tea and coffee available for the runners at Carradale Tearoom. Our support team soon had me fed and watered and we were on the road again to the next changeover at Ifferdale Farm. One benefit of being a race sponsor was that we could drive all the way along the farm track in our official support bus to the changeover whilst others had to leave their car and walk the 1.5 miles! This back-fired on the way back out when we encountered a local traffic problem; sheep being herded. I have never seen such stubborn sheep setting a bad example to the lambs, the sheep and lambs regularly standing up to and head butting the sheep dog! This mile and a half took a very long time.

Traffic jam at Ifferdale

As our last leg runners (a doubled up boyfriend/girlfriend pairing) were now on their way to Campeltown (14 miles and 400m of climbing away), we had a relaxed drive back to the finish where we had some sponsors duties to perform. It seemed that a few relay teams had re-passed us before this last leg although there were tales of several runners going off course (including our own runner briefly), so the situation was not at all clear. I was quite relaxed by now and had time for multiple cakes, teas and coffees at the finish. I was also early enough to get a complimentary leg massage which soon has me feeling brand new. An hour or so later, our jubilant duo came into sight and sprinted across the line (not forgetting to dib their dibbers!). To my surprise we had maintained third place ahead of Irvine B and the "Work in Progress" team although hours behind the first two. The confusion had arisen because there were also a 35 mile relay event running alongside the 67 mile event we were in. Biggest surprise was that Irvine A had dropped to second place as their 5th leg runner had missed a marker post (as so many had done) on the 6 mile leg and David Millar's destruction of my 16 mile leg (1:37 he did I think) had been in vain. So Stonehaven AC's long journey down had been worh it as they emerged as winners. Full results here.

Fully fed, watered and stretched, I got a lift back to my car and started the 3 hour drive back to Callander. It was definitely a day where the weather and scenery showed Scotland at its absolute best and especially on the drive back I reflected on the fact that Scotland offers so much to us as runners that why would we ever want to go anywhere else. Maybe an event for a Calderglen team in future years (although my work may have first call on me if we are still sponsoring it!).
Alan

Victoria parkrun part 1

The first part of the GP double weekend took place on Saturday with 5 Harriers taking part.
These results will be added to part 2 on the 16th. First Harrier home was Joanne McEvoy 20.28, followed by Jim Holmes 20.34 and Alan Bow 20.44. A small gap to Frances Maxwell 21.16 then making her return was Alison Lessells 26.18. Hopefully we can have as good if not better turnout for part 2 on Saturday. Please be there in plenty of time so we can leaflet the cars for the Trail Race.

May Auldhouse 5k

Good conditions for the first Auldhouse time trial and plenty of Harriers old and new setting some fine season opening times.  Preliminary results here. I shall update the Auldhouse results archive at the weekend. Thanks all for your committed performances.
Alan

The Auldhouse Summary has now been updated to include last Thursday's times and you can access this from the menu on the left. Many fine performances and some performance standard times achieved (Ian Hughes, Andy Henderson and Frances Maxwell all achieving age group bronze standards whilst Charlie McDougall is returning to form with an M65 silver standard, seconds away from the gold standard). A fine performance too from Claire Mennie on her first night at the club, thrown in at the deep end with an individual 5k time trial. Finally, biggest improver and most encouraging performance came from Russell Couper who ran faster by minutes than he has over this course since 2011.

Alan

Victoria parkrun GP event 9th May

This Saturday is the first in a two part GP event at Victoria parkrun. Just to explain over two weekends 9th and 16th the results will be combined into one for our GP. Only your first time will count if you run both weekends. If anyone is running on the 9th and wants to play jokers then you will have to declare them beforehand by either sending myself or Alan a text or leaving a comment on this post. Alternately tell us at the club on Thursday.

The London Marathon - Julie's Ambition Realised

Julie and Louise Beveridge looking very fresh after London

I could not let this race pass without writing up a report for the blog.  This has been a race I have wanted to run for a number of years and certainly in the last year there was no other race that meant as much to me as this. It is such an iconic race that I have watched many a year on the TV and I would never have considered that one day I would be a part of it.

I set off from Blackheath having been given a 'green start number'. Pre-race this looked quite a good start as there were only about 4500 runners at this starting point. My intention was never to achieve a time in this race - it was all about participating in the London marathon. Therefore I set off running to how I felt rather than a target mile by mile pace. Nevertheless I was not foolish enough to go out hard and attack it like half marathon for instance.  I always had envisaged London being very crowded and having done the Great North Run in September I thought it would be similar at the start. How wrong was I - I crossed the start line within 45 seconds. I felt from this point on I was able to run freely and never felt as if I had to reduce my pace because of over crowding.

As I passed by the Cutty Sark quite early on in the race this was the point where it hit me that I was running the London Marathon. I do remember about 12 miles in someone shouting the 'Calderglen' name and not long after this I ran over Tower Bridge, another iconic landmark of this race. I was able to see the leading male runners pass me between 13 and 14 miles at which point I think they would have been roughly at mile 21-22.

Everything seemed to be going well up to mile 16. All my miles had been under 8.00 min miles (by this stage in Manchester I had two miles over 8 mins). However I went through a tunnel at Canary Wharf and my Garmin lost its signal. By the time I came out of the tunnel I was supposedly on 13-14 min miles! When the Garmin beeped for mile 16 it recorded 8.48. However I then did miles 17, 18 and 19 in 7.49, 7.48 and 7.51.  I did begin to feel the going getting a bit tough from about mile 19 onwards but the crowds in London helped carry me along.   I soon encountered another tunnel between miles 23 and 24. Yet again the Garmin seemed to lose its signal and by the time it beeped for mile 24 it had registered a time of 9.13. I don't know what happened on this mile but what seemed even stranger was that I then ran mile 25 in 7.15 -  2 minutes quicker - I did say the crowds, particulary on the Embankment as I was by this stage, pull you along. I completed mile 26 in 8.01. (By contrast in Manchester miles 25 and 26 were 8.31 and 8.40).  I would like to think that perhaps my last few longer runs where I had ran to Pollock Park on a Saturday morning and finished it off with a Parkrun had helped me to find this extra burst of effort on the last few miles, although the crowd mostly certainly helped me as well.

Overall I crossed the line in 3.28.13 - an improvement on Manchester by over a minute. However the achievement for me was completing the London Marathon.  Based on my experience of this race I am sure I will be back to run it again, possibly as soon as 2016!

Julie

Scottish 5k Road Race Championship - Silverknowes

Lately I've been on a mission to massivley improve my race times through a combination of structured training, diet and core work.  However selecting fast races with strong fields is also an excellent way to test yourself against competitive fields and bring out the best in yourself.  Several months ago I had picked out the Scottish 5k championships being held on Wednesday 29th April to be one of these such races.

Unlike recent races I decided to taper down a little in the previous 3 days, taking rest days and dropping mileage, inevitably during this time I began worrying I was "piling on the pounds" and my " legs were stiffening up" and other such nonsense but I stuck to plan and rested up.

I traveled to the race with my full entourage of support being my Mum, Dad and Sandy, leaving in plenty time to beat the rush traffic.  A very generous four and half hours before the race start time no less!  This meant I could have no trouble getting a full hours warm up done with plenty time to change, stretch and drink what is now my ritual pre race coffee.

The race itself was run on silverknowes esplanade and was pan flat with literally no elevation.  The course set off East for 800 metres before doubling back to the start and contininug for some 3k before a small loop then heading back to the start/finish again approaching from the East.  Strong westerly winds made the opening half mile and final 2km testing on the very exposed course.

For days before I had been mentally preparing to take the race on aggressively, going out very hard and giving it everything until the line and not "shy away from the suffering" when the inevitable lactic fireball reached its zenith.

From the start I set off hard (perhaps sprinting!) and unlike a previous 5k,  I refused to let myself be engulfed by the masses of fast starters.  I held the hard pace until the field around me became slightly less dense and then focused and pushing myself hard and racing those around me.  On finishing I was pleased with my time of 16.09 and 36th place.  I was most happy with how I ran regardless of time as I truly believed I had ran as hard as I could.  The feeling after the race and following days proved this to me as I felt mentally and physically exhausted.

Obviously after a few days rest the PB demons have began to raise there heads and are taunting me with the grandeurs of a sub 16- 5k or a sub 33- 10k.  It only makes sense to try and slake their demands by getting back training and having another go at pushing yourself that bit harder than you did the last time!
Andy B.

SCOTTISH VETS WALTER ROSS 10K

3 Harriers and a couple of old friends made it into a field of 30 runners for the Vets 10k race today.
Frances, Richard and Russell where joined by Gerry Connelly and Scot Hill. A new course for the event led to some interesting runs but I will get to that later. Starting near Pollock House the race starts with a brief incline followed by a long downhill but the old adage comes in what goes up must come down only in reverse. After the long down comes a long up then a sharp twisty down to the stables and along to the rugby club. That's the extra part of a 2 + a bit loops. From here along Dumbreck Rd and back into the park taking a left and heading to the playing fields near the Burrell. Along the road towards the Burrell and this is where mistakes came in to play. The instruction I got from the previous marshall was 500yds then left down the path towards the main road into the park. Turned right on the road and headed towards the house again. After a short run I passed a marshall where the next path comes out and im told you should have come out here. Should have taken the 2nd left which is only 10yds after the first one. Head went down as I really didn't want to be running any extra and nearly just gave up but I just plodded on to complete the race. Im told race winner Robert Gilroy missed the paths and just ran past the Burrell so some confusion on the new route. Anyway back to running towards the house and a right turn takes us back to the starting point another full lap on the right path this time and the part lap to the finish. Scot ran best of all out of us to finish in 42.58 with Gerry in 44.52. 1st Harrier was Frances 45.06 with Richard not far behind in 47.17. For myself a day to forget as it was never going to be good even without the extra 63.53.

Further photos from Eddie are here.

Land O' Burns 10k Filling Fast

Note that this GP race is now more than half full, so get online asap if you want to do it. Thanks to Alison for pointing this out.
Alan

Miss May

Just changed my Harriers calendar to May and I see we have the Pride of Waterfoot posing on the WHW. Not sure about the pose Mary, perhaps you missed that day at finishing school!

Penicuik 10k

Martin Howell has entered this 10k in the far East next Saturday 9th May and wondered if anyone else would like to do it and travel through with him. Please leave a comment here or let Martin know directly. Full details of the race are here:
http://penicuikharriers.org.uk/10k-road-race/road-race-details/

Alan