Devil's Burdens Hill Relay

 

Sandy on 1st leg for
our Open Seniors team

Many photos from Billy now added to the album; link further down. Individual leg times now added.
The Harriers were out in force for fun in Fife again today with two very enthusiastic teams entered for the 31km Devil's Burdens Hill Relay. Thanks to Kenny's network of running contacts, we managed to fill the space in the Open senior team with David Stakes of Bellahouston Road Runners who was "head hunted" to accompany Kenny on leg 2. The full senior team was Sandy Hayden on leg 1, Kenny Leinster and David Stakes on leg 2, Jim Holmes and David Herbertson on leg 3 and George Stewart on leg 4. Our second team was entered in the Open 50+ class and consisted of Sandra Reid on leg 1, Eddie Reid and Alan McLelland on leg 2, Frances Maxwell and Geo Ferguson on leg 3 and Alan Derrick on leg 4. The longest and toughest legs were 2 and 3 which had to be run in pairs. We were ably supported by Billy and Samantha on shuttle duty, helping transfer our runners and their gear to and from each leg changeover.

Sandra approaches the
changeover in good form.

It wouldn't be a Harriers' Devil's Burdens without either a navigational mishap or a shoe disaster. This year Kenny chose the latter option by forgetting to transfer his shoe bag from his car to Jim's car before leaving EK. Fortunately Kenny realised this before they were too far down the motorway and they were able to turn back and still get to the Strathmiglo in plenty of time.

There were several of our runners competing in their first races for a while, including both Sandy and Sandra on first legs and Alan on leg 2. Sandy and Sandra had to contend with severe mud and muck in the early stage of their leg and a flooded road which was more like a river in the final stages of the leg before finishing in a sticky potato field. So not a day to be too precious about the cleanliness of your shoes. As was the case last year, Sandy and Sandra were closely matched with Sandy (41:09) finishing a half to one minute ahead of Sandra (41:58).

Kenny and David exit the potato field as the leading
Calderglen team

Strictly Come Calderglen
Eddie employs perfectly sporting tactics

So Kenny and David set off with a lead over Eddie and Alan. Although we knew that Kenny was strong on the hills and descents, David was an unknown quantity, making it difficult to judge if they would maintain their lead. Alan had not raced for a long time either and had been sold the event on the basis that it was more like a hill walk with some running! However, Alan has always been strong on the rough stuff and we knew he would relish the climbs and the good running on the tops. This proved to be the case and it was only the steep, rough descents that he (and the rest of us) struggled with. The two teams remained close but with Kenny always ahead until the final very steep descent. At this point both Kenny (01:31:08 - time for pair) and Eddie (1:32:05 time for pair) left their team mates only to have to wait for a minute or so just short of the changeover as the hand over and time had to be taken from the second runner of each pair. David  soon discovered the very competitive nature of Calderglen as Eddie reverted to American Football rules to delay his arrival to the finish line!

Alan descends to the changeover

Despite Eddie's best delaying tactics, Jim Holmes and David Herbertson set off back up West Craigs with a few minutes lead over Frances and Geo.

Jim and David perfectly synchronised.

As we discovered on the recce last weekend, the new leg 3 had two challenging climbs and at 11km was the longest leg. We thought this leg would take about the same time as leg 2 (1:30) to run and that we would have plenty time to drive back around to Falkland for the leg 3 changeover. How wrong we were!

Frances & Geo ready for the off.

Frances & Geo start the climb.

Frances and Geo kept Jim and David visible until the second climb. Last week the path to the second climb had been a very pleasant, smooth, snow covered surface but this week the snow had gone, exposing sticky clay which soon weighed the feet down. Frances had agreed to give me three rings on my phone when she reached the second last checkpoint with about 3k to go so I could start my warm-up. Unfortunately, when I got the call I was still trying to find a parking place in Falkland and was 10 minutes or so from the changeover and, more importantly, not changed into my racing gear. As always, panic provides an effective method of warm-up and I panicked even more when I arrived at the changeover to find Jim and David (1:10:01, time for pair) already there and looking as though they had been there for quite some time. George clearly had a big start on me. Just as I got my trail shoes tied on, Frances & Geo came charging in (1:15:54) and I was off on the continuous climb to the top of East Lomond, about 300m ascent in 3km. After the first 1.5km I was on the open hill side but could not see a Calderglen vest among the line of runners stretching up to the summit. I carried on regardless. At the steepest point of the climb, the path splits into a slightly more gentle spiraling path or one that goes straight up. I followed an East Fife AC lady straight up. After a few minutes of steep power walking, I crested the summit and followed the East Fife athlete to the checkpoint where I punched my card (and my finger. Ouch!). I had only just started the steep descent when I heard my name being shouted and there was George at the top, having taken the slightly longer route to the summit. For the first time, Calderglen's 50+ team was ahead. I fully expected George to come running or tumbling past me on the very steep descent through clumpy heather, grass and bracken as it was too rough for me. But he didn't. The final checkpoint was at a style over a barbed wire fence and as I clumsily half vaulted it, I landed facing back up the slope and saw George about 50m behind. With about 1k to the finish on a mixture of muddy but runnable trails, I thought I would be safe and indeed this proved to be the case as I ran quickly down to the crowd on the finishing line (34:09).

George on the gentler part of the climb

A few minutes later, a numberless George (43:33) arrived at the finish line (we had not made it to the changeover in time to give him his number, adding to his stress!).

As hoped, the two teams were very evenly matched and it could have gone either way. The official results show that the 50+ team finished in 80th position (6th in the 50+ class) in a time of 4:04:06 with our senior team finishing in 83rd position in 4:05:51. Too close for comfort from my point of view!

After a short walk downhill to the village hall, we were soon filled with soup, rolls, tea, coffee and cakes and swapping stories of the conditions on our runs (including a catch-up with former Harrier Kenny Davidson who was running for Moorfoot).

Once again Fife AC put on a great event with almost 800 runners competing and there can be no doubt that Calderglen will be back next year. A huge thanks to Billy and Samantha for their support throughout the event. Photos from George, Frances and me are in this album, with more to come from Billy. Official photos are on the Fife AC web site here.

Alan