Dechmont Law 10k Trail Race

After a gap of a few years, the Harriers returned to Livingston for the Dechmont Law Trail races; the 10k race being race 15 of the Harriers Grand Prix and Kai Wheeler competing in the 6k race. The course was the original course that we have run on many times before but an element of disorientation was introduced by the fact that the car parking was a couple of km away rather than the usual school at the foot of Dechmont Law. This provided a very good warm up though!

After collecting our numbers and timing chips and a some more warm ups and photos, it was soon time to line up for the uphill start, but not before a personal trainer had taken us all through a dynamic warm up. Then we were off. I dropped in behind a tall guy as we climbed off the grass and onto the gravel trail, so I couldn't really see how many were ahead but I knew my limits. As the climb steepened slightly, I passed the tall guy and pulled away, and that was it for the rest of the race, sitting 50m to 100m behind the young guy ahead and having nobody near me behind! After about 800m we descended into the woods and the first of the very muddy and slippery sections of the course. I had decided to wear my usual road shoes and was slipping and sliding a bit but felt more comfortable with them than I would have in trail shoes which I have hardly worn for a year. As we descended through the woods, we discovered that the green aliens were out in force, cheering enthusiastically at several points on this short loop. After a few km we emerged from the woods and repeated the initial climb before descending again into the woods onto the big loop. This descended down to the M8 and was generally quite good underfoot until the section parallel to the M8 which was an absolute quagmire. The 5km mark was at about the point where we passed through a tunnel under the M8 and a drinks station was a few hundred metres later on the other side. This was the lowest point of the course and that meant a gradual climb for the final 4km or so. This was also an extremely muddy section but perfectly runnable. The steepest climb on the course was when we crossed back over the M8 on a pedestrian bridge at about the 8km mark and I just about ground to a halt crossing that. From there we climbed back gently along trails. Just before we entered the woods for the final time, Kai's mum and dad were spectating and shouted that I was fourth, which was a surprise as I thought there were at least a handful in front of me. Briefly I wondered if I could close the gap on the young guy 50m ahead and get on the podium. However, as we descended again into the woods he stretched away on the downhill. When we turned at the aliens and climbed back towards the finish, I was closing again but there was not enough uphill left as we emerged on the trail at the point we had first entered the woods. The final 400m started with the end of the climb to the high point of the course and then a nice final 300m descent to the finish on the grass.

I finished 4th overall and first M60 in a time of 42:46, about as close as I am likely to get to an overall podium finish these days! The last time I did this in 2016 I was almost 4 minutes faster and the year before that I was almost 5 minutes faster, however, these were the worst underfoot conditions I have done this race in so it wasn't just age slowing me down. Next Harrier to finish was Jason Grant in 46:04. However this had been quite a close battle in the middle of the race between Jason, Julie Beveridge and Stephen Phimister. At the water station at the 5.5km mark, Stephen had twisted his ankle in a deep puddle and even stopped briefly at which point Jason stretched away. By the finish, Julie had opened a small gap on Stephen, finishing in 46:59 and 3rd F40 with Stephen limping home in 47:04 and heading straight for the physio's bench where an ice pack was attached to his ankle. Stephen and I had had a pre-race conversation about which shoes to wear; road or trail. I had said that road shoes would do me and Stephen had gone the same route. What I didn't realise was that Stephen had gone the road "racing" (semi-cheat) shoe route which was a poor choice given the lack of stability of these shoes and most likely explains the twisted ankle. Oh well, the coach's fault apparently for poor shoe advice!

Craig Ferguson had already been at his work that morning but that didn't stop him finding the strength to power all the way to the line in 55:46. Gordon McInally continues to get over his toe operation and confirmed that the toe was the least of his concerns on that course, finishing next in 57:47. Richard Lawton had a strong finish and crossed the line in 58:57. Frances Ferguson was "just taking it easy" due to the on-going injury but enjoyed being out again in the Harriers' vest finishing in 60:20. Russell Couper found it difficult from the moment the race started but as usual carried on regardless to finish in 69:02.

Meanwhile the 6km race had started shortly after the 10km race. Kai had finished 2nd in the 6km race last year but found that Lothian Road Runners, the organising club, had some speedy individuals out this year. Kai finished a very respectable 5th position, 2nd under 20, in a time of 27:29. Not only was Kai running, but he was also off getting some practice in with his very fancy new camera before next weekends WHW Race where Kai will be on a mission to get photographs of every single competitor.

Thanks to Jim Mearns for the support on the course and for distributing flyers for our own trail races. As was pointed out, given the state of some folk when they crossed the line and dropped to their knees, perhaps the last thing they wanted was a flyer for another tough trail race but as far as I know, nobody told Jim where to put his flyers.

Now we move on to the final race of the Grand Prix series, the Vertical Mile, this coming Thursday.

Alan