Ladies Dig up Prizes at Dechmont Law!

After a day of heavy showers on the Saturday, the Dechmont Law 10k trail race took place in almost perfect running conditions. Only the strong wind could have caused problems but as most of the course is on trails through the woods, the wind was hardly felt.

Nine Harriers lined up for the 10k eager to emulate the performance of Lewis Moir who had won the youngsters' 2.5k earlier in the morning. After an initial, undulating 3k circuit of the hilltop woods, the course headed north and down towards the M8 motorway where a steep little pedestrian bridge lead to the Woodland Trust's North Wood and some fine trails through ancient Scots Pine.

Andrew J Buchanan was following advice this week and started off steady with a view to finishing strongly rather than vice versa. This strategy worked fine although, even with an easier pace at the start, the eventual climb from halfway back up to the finish is always difficult. Andrew finished in 16th place in 41:56.

Julie Beveridge is in great form now, following up a consistent period of marathon training with the addition of some speed work in recent weeks. Julie was competing in a very strong ladies' field in which she finished 4th in a time of 44:43. Joanne McEvoy ran a well paced race and was closing up on Julie in the final km, finishing within sight of Julie in 45:12.

Jim Holmes still has the Stirling Marathon in his legs and was lacking his usual sprint in the final downhill 100m. However Jim managed to split the Calderglen ladies, finishing in 47:25.

Kay Conneff shows no signs of slowing up despite racing virtually every weekend since the Stirling Marathon and doing another marathon (on Arran) this coming weekend. This was Kay's first time on this course so every twist and turn revealed another surprise. Kay finished in 47:46.

Although Frances Ferguson set a 5k personal best at Victoria Park parkrun last weekend, a virus has been slowing her up this week. Frances struggled more than usual but still recorded a respectable 49:09 for this tough 10k.

Gordon McInally knew exactly what to expect having done the race last year. However, the main benefit was another year of training under the belt which resulted in Gordon taking almost a minute off his time to finish in 51:02.

First timer, John Boyd, is struggling with knee problems and awaiting an operation. The run did at least temporarily ease the knee off a bit allowing John to focus on "enjoying" the course. John finished in 54:54.

Russell Couper is another one with knee tendonitis but it takes more than that to cause Russell to miss a Grand Prix race! Hopefully Russell has not done himself even more damage, finishing in 65:59.

The final surprise was that Calderglen won the ladies' team prize, a great result in a strong field. However, the surprise was not the winning but what they won, a hanging basket each! Well done ladies.

More photos in this album. Full results are here.
Alan