Brampton or Bus(t) - you can't have both.

Kay Conneff confirms the number of miles from
Brampton to Carlisle

As I arrived at Glasgow Airport on a flight from Dublin at about 8am on the day of the Brampton to Carlisle 10 Mile race, I was disappointed that there was not an earlier flight that would have allowed me to get back to EK in time for the departure of the bus full of Harriers leaving the Sports Club also at 8am for Brampton. Instead, my plan was to drive down to Carlisle, stopping off in Gretna for breakfast, arriving at the finish line in time to be official club photographer for the day. As it turned out, my journey was just about the only one that went to plan.

About 20 miles north of Gretna I watched as a silver Peugeot tailgated me and then pulled slowly alongside. As the passenger window wound down, I saw it was not some boy racers but a pair of old boy racers; Billy and Kenny with Sandy and somebody else as rear seat passengers, waving and shouting furiously. Oh well, I thought I heard Kenny say on Thursday that he was giving Billy a lift. He must have meant a lift all the way to Brampton so I thought nothing more of it other than that they were leaving it a bit late for a good warm-up, especially as they were now following me and I was in no hurry. A few minutes later Stuart Waugh's distinctive Range Rover breezed past with Maud waving at me from the passenger seat. Again, I thought nothing of it as it was possible that Stuart could not stay for the whole day and was bringing his own car. However, the privacy glass on the back windows of Stuart's car prevented me from seeing that there were other Harriers in the back seat too. I turned off at Gretna, followed by Kenny, and, after pulling over at the side of the road to tell Kenny not to follow me as I was going for my breakfast, not to Brampton, I carried on. Then I got the phone call from Eddie and in one sentence I heard that there was both chaos and normality surrounding the Harriers' annual trip to Brampton: "The bus didn't turn up, we are all in cars, what do you want for your main course; steak pie, fish and chips, etc?". All became clear! Apparently numerous Harriers in cars had passed me, waving (you got to get more distinctive cars like Stuart or be more blatant like Kenny if you want to be noticed; I saw none of you).

A bit damp in Carlisle

But the race must go on. The usual pre-race routines of gathering the menu choices and finishing-time sweep stake were completed by Eddie and Russell from "mobile communications hubs" in the back of various cars as they drove down the M74. This is what mobile technology was invented for! Apart from a slightly shorter warm-up than usual (and a few Harriers who had decided not to go to Brampton when the bus did not turn up) it was situation "normal" for Brampton and a still very impressive line-up of 27 Harriers assembled to run the race. Unfortunately I don't think there is a pre-race team photo in front of the bus this year, given the lack of a bus. A few cars and non-running supporters were tasked with driving all the kit bags from Brampton to Carlisle and all in all, the Harriers coped well with the potential disaster.

Ian Hughes

The next problem for the Harriers was Hurricane Abigail which was blowing from Carlisle to Brampton and brought with it "unprecedented rainfall" the day and night before. Five or six years ago the country lanes were flooded and the course was shortened. I had visions of the same situation this year, especially when I saw that the River Eden had burst its banks in Carlisle.

Gerry Mullen

The race started at 11:30 and I arrived in Carlisle in plenty of time to wander a kilometer up the course to find a good place for photography. I can't say much about the race but, assuming that the race had started on time, I knew that the conditions must have been bad given that it was well over an hour before the first Harriers appeared (Ian Hughes, closely followed by David Herbertson). There had been three significant floods between 5 and 6 miles, which were over ankle depth and very cold. To add to that, the wind was right in the face of the runners as predicted. However, it was not raining during the race and it was very mild (13 degrees C).

Chas Steven

The 27 Harriers running this year included many new members and first timers (8 running Brampton for the first time) and this was brilliant to see. However, we also had the two most experienced Brampton to Carlisle Harriers of all, with both Gerry Mullen and Chas Steven completing their 30th Brampton to Carlisle races this year. This was a stunning milestone for both. We all know how difficult it is to stay injury free and healthy at this time of year and to do so for 30 out of the past 31 or 32 years is amazing. Looking at both Gerry and Chas running, I think the half century is achievable!

Brampton is usually a banker for setting 10 mile performance standards but this year the elements were against us. Fortunately, there are always those capable of exceptional performances, irrespective of the conditions. Billy Buchanan continued a fine year with an M65 Silver performance (74:34) and second M65 in the race. First M65 in the race was Stuart Waugh (73:15), setting an amazing Gold M65 standard in the process. Frances Maxwell continued her great, late season form with an F50 Silver standard of 74:39, finishing as 2nd F50 in the race. Richard Lawton has run several 10 milers over the years but never Brampton. This year he established a new 10 mile pb of 77:53, a fine performance. Not surprisingly, no Harriers except first timers, established course bests this year due to the conditions, but encouragingly, Russell Couper ran his fastest time for 4 years, finishing in 1:35:59.

All the Harriers' times are listed below:
Ian Hughes 01:09:21; David Herbertson 01:09:30; Martin Howell 01:11:25; Jim Holmes 01:12:45; Stuart Waugh 01:13:15; Kenny Leinster 01:14:21; Billy Buchanan 01:14:34; Frances Maxwell 01:14:39; Joanne McEvoy 01:14:47; Joe Shields 01:15:01; Graham Ramage 01:15:59; John McBride 01:17:34; Richard Lawton 01:17:53; Gerry Mullen 01:17:58; Kay Conneff 01:18:52; Karen Allen 01:19:35; Colin Banks 01:23:19; Gordon McInally 01:26:03; Phil Marshall 01:26:35; George Stewart 01:31:12; Alisdair Berry 01:33:56; Russell Couper 01:35:59; Chas Steven 01:38:12; Alison Johnstone 01:41:17; Hugh Simpson 01:42:36; Cheryl Simpson 01:42:36; Philip Kerrigan 01:49:50.

Once again, Calderglen Harriers represented a significant proportion of the field in this fantastic, high quality race which is growing in popularity again with around 550 finishers this year. All the Harriers' times from this and previous years are here.

After the race, a shuttle service back to Brampton soon had all the cars and drivers reunited and the Harriers gathered for a few refreshments in The Turf. By mid-afternoon we were all ready for a feed and the fleet of cars headed north to Moffat, except for Billy and Kenny who headed north and then did a U-turn back to Carlisle to collect Billy's sports bag from the Sands Centre. In a senior moment for which neither is admitting responsibility, Kenny allegedly did not hear or ignored Billy's instruction to take his bag and put it in the boot of the car after the race.

As always, the Star Hotel coped admirably with the large crowd in a narrow space and energy and hydration levels were soon restored. The prize giving followed the dinner as reported elsewhere in the blog. The icing on the cake was that the money saved by not having a bus paid for the dinner and petrol; so smiles all round. Congratulations to all who carried on regardless and ran the race. To our newcomers, hopefully you got the Brampton Bug. You can look forward to being even fitter and faster next year when hopefully the conditions are more favourable. A big thanks too are due to Eddie for carrying on regardless with arrangements when his bus didn't turn up, to Russell for coping with the extra stress in very good spirits and to Kenny who apparently was the mastermind coordinating the car sharing plan.

All my photos from the day are here (there are half a dozen or so photos before the first Harrier appears as I was initially getting the camera set up for the dark conditions and subsequently wondering if any Harriers were coming at all so thought I had better get some photos anyway!). Apologies for missing some of the new members; all I look out for are Harriers' vests approaching in the crowds. So no vest, no photo. Good excuse to get a vest.
Alan