SVHC Masters' Road Relay

Gordon McInally ready to go.

Last weekend was a busy one for the Harriers. With 12 Harriers doing the Devil's Burdens Hill Relay on Saturday, one doing the Buchlyvie 10k, several doing parkruns and another 12 at Strathclyde Park on Sunday for the SVHC Masters' Road Relay Championship, we were definitely confirming our reputation as a very active, racing club. Some of our members even raced on both days, including David Herbertson, Frances Maxwell, Gordon McInally, Martin Howell and myself.

Martin Duthie flys to the finish

With three complete teams at Strathclyde Park on Sunday morning, this was one of our best turnouts at this event for a few years. Although the weather was stormy, with strong winds whipping across the loch, the temperature was very mild, reaching into double figures and it was not raining. However, the wind was always going to make this otherwise quite flat course a challenge. Each team comprised 4 runners who each completed one 5.9km lap of the loch. As usual, the distance actually covered depended on how many dog walkers had to be circumvented on the relatively narrow paths.

David Herbertson explains how
high the hill he ran up yesterday was.

We fielded an M50 team and two teams in the M35-49 class. The M35+ A team comprised Martin Howell, Joe Shields, David Herbertson and Ian Hughes in that order. Martin had a parkrun and a heavy "session" the night before but still ran well to finish in 23:51. Joe is a relative newcomer to the club and hence to relays but hit the second leg hard to finish in a good 24:55. David Herbertson was running the longest leg at the Devil's Burden the day before and although he knew his legs were not fresh, still ran a very competitive 24:52. Finally, Ian Hughes, who has been working on stamina for a while, was using this as a speed test and finished fastest in the team in a time of 23:41, bringing the club home in 25th place.

Ian Hughes flys to the line.

The M50 team comprised myself, Stuart Waugh, Martin Duthie and Gordon McInally, running in that order. I wanted a good, hard run, despite very tired and sore legs from the Devil's Burdens hill relay the day before so went with the pace from the start. By the time I had reached the top of the loch, I was regretting this decision as my quads were shot from the day before. Still, the decision was made, so I had to hang on and I was not losing any places. By the time we reached the small hills on the far side of the loch I was spent and a few runners slipped past. However, I picked it up again for the final 400m and finished in 21:46 which turned out to be the third fastest M50 time of the day, although I strained a tight left quad in the process. Stuart had warned me not to deliver him too far up the field, but I must have forgotten! So Stuart took off, running well initially. Unfortunately, also at the top of the loch, Stuart had a sudden, sharp pain in his hip which virtually stopped him in his tracks. Stuart limped on for the team and was in some considerable discomfort when he finished in 25:58, a few minutes outside his current form. We hope Stuart is not out of action for long. Martin Duthie was looking lean and mean although also with a recurrence of his niggling calf injury. He was not confident that it would survive the lap but gave his all as usual. Thankfully the calf stood up and Martin flew around in 22:03 (6th fastest M50). Gordon McInally had run the Buchlyvie 10k the day before and was far from fresh. Furthermore, he was dumped in at the deep end being part of our normally very competitive M50 team. These things do not phase Gordon and he set off with his usual smile to finish in 28:08 and 7th M50 team.

Russell sets off in good form initially

Our third team was a mixed team. Colin Banks led off the team and relished the challenge of a good, fast run with plenty of people to pull him around. Colin finished in 27:11. Frances Maxwell had also run the longest leg in the DB Relay the day before. With all the marathon training safely in the bank from last Autumn, two races in two days is no problem for Frances and she ran a fine 27:03 lap. Richard Lawton is one of the most improved runners this year. Purely down to hard, consistent training so this made him one of the few to get a course best today, finishing in 26:29. Finally, Russell Couper was on the last leg and running off the back of a fine 5k time on Wednesday evening. However, something was not quite right today and Russell took a small step backwards compared to last year, finishing in 31:35. He is definitely in better form than that time suggests and his sprint finish shows that he is coming back into good, injury free condition.

Well done to all our supporters out on the course on a blustery day, including Mandy, David Herbertson's daughter and Neil Green and son. The shouts were all appreciated even if we were all too on the limit to respond at the time!
Full results on the SVHC web site here.
Alan