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| All four Calderglen ladies power away at the start. |
In complete contrast to the last few years (and the last few months), the weather was perfect in Falkirk for the National Cross Country Championships on Saturday 27th February. A large Calderglen team of men and women traveled through to Callendar Park for this prestigious culmination of the cross country season. Due to a change in IAAF policy, this would also be the last National XC where the men would compete over 12k and the women over 8k. As of 2017 the men and women will be harmonised to a common 10km distance. This fact no doubt tempted a few more of the Harriers' men out for their final go at the longest of cross country races. In fact, some detail modifications to the course this year meant that it would be an even longer than usual race for both the men and women, the distances being 12.6k and 8.4k for the three and two lap courses respectively.
A week without rain had allowed the course to dry out considerably and consequently their was plenty of good running on the course plus the usual mixture of punishing hills. After zig-zagging up the first hill and back down and around the pond, the route headed back up the dreaded hill through the trees (which was the only really muddy part of the course as usual) before descending into the golf course. We headed further out through the golf course this year before doubling back, then in and out of the Antonine Wall ditch and back to the main arena in front of Callendar House. This year the course did not head out past the high rise flats but instead ascended and immediately descended the hill in the tented village and then went back up the edge of it again, dropping once more in and out of the Antonine Wall ditch and then a sharp turn onto the gravel drive heading towards the House. The women completed two laps of this course and the men three.
Despite a few last minute call-offs, we still had a great turn out for the ladies with Joanne McEvoy, Frances Maxwell, Alison Lessells and Karen Allen forming the familiar team. Joanne has not been racing much recently but has been training hard and this showed as she gradually pulled away from her team mates to finish in an excellent 39:14 and 128th position. Frances had picked up a quad strain in the preceding week and struggled on the downhills. Fortunately there were plenty of uphill and flat stretches though which Frances managed fine, finishing in 41:38 and 16th F50. Both Alison and Karen are on the way back to fitness this year. On this occasion is was Alison who was the faster, finishing in 42:04 with Karen in 43:49 and vowing that next year, she would be back to full training and fitness.
The men also experienced a few last minute call offs with injuries and work commitments but with 9 running, that was still our best turn out for a few years and included Andrew J Buchanan making his National XC debut. A record entry of over 800 resulted in about 630 finishers on the day, a very impressive sight. After racing poorly for the past 3 or 4 months, I was looking forward to a better run here and indeed the warm, dry and relatively calm conditions helped me feel a lot better than usual, even during the warm-up. On the start line I found myself standing right behind Colin Banks who had made his way to the very front of the field. I didn't think this was too sensible but as everyone was so tightly packed on the line, there was no way back!
A highly charged mass of runners were then released by the starter and I followed closely behind Colin for the first 100m as he cleared a path until we started to climb and Colin slowed whereby I nicked past and worked my way carefully through the swarm of kicking spikes ahead of me. By the time we had made our way to the narrow path around the pond, the pace naturally reduced as the course became congested. At this point I was being periodically pushed in the back by someone which was really getting on my wick so I put on a 10 second blast to zip past 5 or 6 runners, taking a chunk out of my right arm in the process on a rhododendron bush that was more solid than it looked. The first time up the muddy hill was quite comfortable; I wondered why I had such bad memories of the hill. Then down into the golf course which was good, firm running. The ditch was, however, as bad as I remembered with a muddy puddle at the bottom and a quad burning climb back out. The hills in front of the house were a real test, coming in close succession with no time to recover from one before you hit the next. The main drive gave a chance for a slight recovery, albeit whilst running fast, before the whole show started again. The second lap is one of consolidation, gathering for the final lap but I found myself working my way past the odd runner here and there and not being passed. The exception was an Edinburgh AC veteran who kept sprinting past me every so often and then fading. I knew I had to drop him before the finish as he obviously had a sprint in him and looked as though he could also be an M50.
By the final lap I had confirmed that my memory of the muddy hill was indeed true and it was extremely tough. I did temporarily lose a few places at the top of that hill but regained them in the golf course. As is usually the case in multi-lap races, familiarity seemed to shorten each successive lap and before I knew it I was in the final sequence of hills leading to the finishing straight. Up the first of these hills I was running strongly and passing people but on the next descent, the Edinburgh AC sprinter came hurtling past. Oh no! At the top of the next climb I cruised past and tried to keep the pace on from there to the main drive to drop him. As soon as I hit the drive I sprinted flat out for the line 150m or so in the distance. After 5 or 10 metres the Edinburgh athlete arrived on my shoulder and it really was a sprint as we both passed several struggling runners. But I just didn't have the pace and in the final few metres he eased ahead finishing in an identical time to me of 49:20. The final results confirmed that I was 7th M50, which I was momentarily happy with, until I saw that 4th to 7th M50's were covered by only 3 seconds! I didn't recognise any of them (including the Edinburgh athlete) but wished I had known earlier in the final lap and may have been able to make a move well before the final sprint. The most pleasing part of the race was that I was strong from start to finish and each successive lap was faster than the preceding one; something I have not managed in recent races.
Andrew Buchanan is growing in experience and will definitely be the leading Harrier at the National next year if he continues to progress at the current rate. Andrew finished in 51:28, cheered on throughout by the complete family and was pleased to be ahead of runners who had recently beaten him in the East Kilbride Cross Country. David Herbertson is maintaining a reasonable training mileage despite lots of work travel and this brought him in next in a time of 57:53. Jim Holmes was doing his first race wearing a Garmin GPS watch, a very recent birthday present. The appliance of science on Jim's wrist is already proving to be a real motivator and we will see the benefits in future races. Jim had a strong run, finishing in 59:36. Richard Lawton is the biggest improver this year and was delighted to be fifth Harrier in a time of 62:35. Having had a year of setbacks, Stuart Waugh was initially very disappointed with his run and time of 63:41. However, when the final results revealed that he was third M65, his disappointment was downgraded but only slightly as he knows that with consistent training, he would have been first. Stuart reported that Colin Banks was running well and indeed was ahead of Stuart (and me) at certain points of the race. Colin finished in 64:07. John McBride has a big frame to haul around a hilly course like this but he does not lack strength. John finished in 67:04. Hilly courses don't suit Russell Couper either (he would have preferred mud) but even so he competed hard as always, finishing in 75:58.
All those racing had the benefit of many Harriers and family members shouting their support around the course, including Maud, Lorraine (and children), Eddie, Charlie, George and Davy. Thanks for the shouts; they were all heard and appreciated.
A few photos taken by Eddie are in the album
here. More will be added from Lorraine, so keep checking back at this link. Also check out
the highlights video on Scottish Athletics web site and hundreds of photos on Bobby Gavin's web site
here.
Alan
