The AGM this year will be held on Thursday 7th December at 8.15pm.
The run this night will start at 7.00pm to allow you time to get back and showered for the meeting.
Nominations are welcome for the committee posts and should be put in writing to the secretary.
Any proposals should also be put in writing to the club secretary.
Over the years its noticeable that a lot of members don't come to this and for many reasons.
Can I urge you to come along if you can as its your club and it needs your input.
Thursday, 16 November 2017
BRAMPTON FINAL INSTRUCTIONS
The timetable for Sunday is as follows
8.00 Bus departs the Sports Club ( DONT BE LATE )
11.15 Bus departs Brampton to go to Carlisle.
11.30 Race starts
15.30 Bus leaves Carlisle to go to Moffat
19.30 Bus leaves Moffat returns to East Kilbride.
The bus will go direct to Brampton so bring food and refreshments with you.
REGARDING THE COMMENT BELOW ABOUT SHOWERS/CHANGING AT THE SANDS CENTRE IVE SPOKEN WITH THE RACE DIRECTOR AND THEY WILL BE AVAILABLE.
8.00 Bus departs the Sports Club ( DONT BE LATE )
11.15 Bus departs Brampton to go to Carlisle.
11.30 Race starts
15.30 Bus leaves Carlisle to go to Moffat
19.30 Bus leaves Moffat returns to East Kilbride.
The bus will go direct to Brampton so bring food and refreshments with you.
REGARDING THE COMMENT BELOW ABOUT SHOWERS/CHANGING AT THE SANDS CENTRE IVE SPOKEN WITH THE RACE DIRECTOR AND THEY WILL BE AVAILABLE.
Monday, 13 November 2017
Glen Ogle 33 Saturday 4th November
The night before the race a friend described it as 'the last day of school' and, as the final ultra of the Scottish season, it did indeed have that end-of-term, don't take anything too seriously feel to it. It may have been down to business as usual for the front-runners but Ruth, Jim and I were just damned glad to be there. I had only managed around five weeks of training since June and both Ruth and Jim had experienced their own injury problems in recent weeks, achilles and suspected shin splints respectively. Our longest runs since the summer were somewhere in the high teens for the two of them whereas I had only managed around 14, hardly ideal preparation for a hilly 33 mile race.
Nonetheless we pitched up to the start line having seemingly recovered enough to give us hope we wouldn't embarrass ourselves too much, after all we do have reputations to keep up - Jim now being a WHWR finisher and Ruth having conquered the Great Glen. Not content with coping with injury Jim, due to childcare difficulties, also had to get out of bed at some ungodly hour in order to be at race registration in Killin for seven o'clock unlike Ruth and I who had a leisurely stroll across the road from our hotel.
The start was typically BaM (standing for Bill and Mike, the joint organisers of four such ultras each year in Scotland, also known at their web address of www.runyabam), low-key and relaxed and we had plenty of time to have our photo taken together as we waited for the gun. I say gun but I think Bill simply shouted go and that was it, we were well back so didn't hear a thing!
If you've read or heard the story of Gobi, the dog brought back to this country by his ultra running adopted owner Dion Leonard of Edinburgh, you'll understand dog-lover Ruth's excitement at finally meeting him at the start of the race, Gobi that is, not Dion. She dashed off into a crowd of people leaving Jim and I to stand there wondering what was going on.
Canine celebrity meetings over the race was finally underway and the 423 starters ran, plodded and shuffled their way along the meandering road through Killin, over the bridge at the lively Falls of Dochart and eventually turning off the tarmac and onto the first of many forest tracks. This led almost immediately to the biggest climb of the race up and out of the village and had most of the field walking.
We walked up the ascent and stayed together heading down the other side to the crossing over the A85, leading to the famous Glen Ogle viaduct, below.
Other than a heavy shower of rain (I even had to take my sunglasses off) the first half of the race passed uneventfully except for meeting Gobi again on the road to Balquidder...
Just after the road crossing around the half way point we had a slight mishap, climbing through the forest we intersected a forest road with no signage and the path we were on continued on the other side giving us a choice of three routes. Going with the 'if there's no sign telling you to turn off then stick to the way you're going' philosophy Ruth and I started to climb up the other side while Jim hung about at the junction waiting for a friend of mine I'd been talking to earlier who had done the race before. If you look closely at my Garmin trace you'll see an extra squiggle at the bottom which is where Ruth and I had to retrace our steps with our tails between our legs, it turned out we should have gone left, doh!
Drama over we carried on for about two miles along a very pleasant gradual downhill, endured another downpour and reached the third checkpoint in good order. Ruth was through here so quickly that neither Jim nor I realised she'd gone, we had to assume she was ahead of us. It turns out she did call out but neither of us heard, I was probably too busy hugging and socialising with pals manning the CP.
It was just after here my quads and hip flexors began reminding me how little training I had done for this event. Sadly this section was the very opposite of the previous few miles, steadily and inexorably uphill. I can recall running this entire section a few years ago but not this time, my run/walk strategy was dusted off and I tried to limit my losses to Ruth. Jim had legged it up the road once we had her in our sights and made sure she didn't hang about at the last checkpoint waiting for me. I was convinced I would be fine beyond that point, the final crossing of the A85, as I knew it was entirely downhill followed by flat and that proved to be the case as we caught Ruth and the three of us proceeded to steadily haul in some other runners and head for the finish, see below.
Sadly the seven hour mark came and went (too many photos and/or wrong turnings?) as we were running back through Killin. We very nearly stopped altogether when a friend who had finished earlier offered us her poke of chips, eat your heart out Alf Tupper! However we finished happily together in 7:03:11, 7:03:12 and 7:03:15 - I was the 15, having had trouble getting the timing dobber untangled from my glove.
We were 374th, 375th and 376th of 416 finishers with only seven DNFs. The last runner home was almost an hour behind us in 7:58:35, phew! The male winner was Iain Carroll of Giffnock North AAC with his clubmate David Sawyer only four seconds behind him, one of the closest finishes I can recall in any ultra. The female winner was Alison Rowatt, unattached, in 4:01:58.
All in all, speaking for the three of us, we had a cracking day out with great company and didn't make any injuries worse - what's not to like?
I've added a few random photos to give you a flavour of the event
Nonetheless we pitched up to the start line having seemingly recovered enough to give us hope we wouldn't embarrass ourselves too much, after all we do have reputations to keep up - Jim now being a WHWR finisher and Ruth having conquered the Great Glen. Not content with coping with injury Jim, due to childcare difficulties, also had to get out of bed at some ungodly hour in order to be at race registration in Killin for seven o'clock unlike Ruth and I who had a leisurely stroll across the road from our hotel.
The start was typically BaM (standing for Bill and Mike, the joint organisers of four such ultras each year in Scotland, also known at their web address of www.runyabam), low-key and relaxed and we had plenty of time to have our photo taken together as we waited for the gun. I say gun but I think Bill simply shouted go and that was it, we were well back so didn't hear a thing!
 |
| A picture of optimism |
Canine celebrity meetings over the race was finally underway and the 423 starters ran, plodded and shuffled their way along the meandering road through Killin, over the bridge at the lively Falls of Dochart and eventually turning off the tarmac and onto the first of many forest tracks. This led almost immediately to the biggest climb of the race up and out of the village and had most of the field walking.
We walked up the ascent and stayed together heading down the other side to the crossing over the A85, leading to the famous Glen Ogle viaduct, below.
Other than a heavy shower of rain (I even had to take my sunglasses off) the first half of the race passed uneventfully except for meeting Gobi again on the road to Balquidder...
 |
| You'll have to take my word for it that that is Ruth with Gobi. Apologies for perhaps the worst photo I've ever posted, my phone camera was playing up! |
Drama over we carried on for about two miles along a very pleasant gradual downhill, endured another downpour and reached the third checkpoint in good order. Ruth was through here so quickly that neither Jim nor I realised she'd gone, we had to assume she was ahead of us. It turns out she did call out but neither of us heard, I was probably too busy hugging and socialising with pals manning the CP.
It was just after here my quads and hip flexors began reminding me how little training I had done for this event. Sadly this section was the very opposite of the previous few miles, steadily and inexorably uphill. I can recall running this entire section a few years ago but not this time, my run/walk strategy was dusted off and I tried to limit my losses to Ruth. Jim had legged it up the road once we had her in our sights and made sure she didn't hang about at the last checkpoint waiting for me. I was convinced I would be fine beyond that point, the final crossing of the A85, as I knew it was entirely downhill followed by flat and that proved to be the case as we caught Ruth and the three of us proceeded to steadily haul in some other runners and head for the finish, see below.
Sadly the seven hour mark came and went (too many photos and/or wrong turnings?) as we were running back through Killin. We very nearly stopped altogether when a friend who had finished earlier offered us her poke of chips, eat your heart out Alf Tupper! However we finished happily together in 7:03:11, 7:03:12 and 7:03:15 - I was the 15, having had trouble getting the timing dobber untangled from my glove.
All in all, speaking for the three of us, we had a cracking day out with great company and didn't make any injuries worse - what's not to like?
I've added a few random photos to give you a flavour of the event
 |
| The viaduct in it's heyday |
 |
| We resisted the temptation! |
 |
| John, manning the road crossing at Strathyre and giving friendly advice |
Saturday, 11 November 2017
WHO STOLE ALL THE MUD
I don't think ive ever ran a drier cross country as the one we had today in Kirkcaldy. Shoes are still clean and no mud to clean off the legs.
It was a relatively flat course of 2 laps with a couple of twists and turns with the only real uphill off the start line. After the Junior races the Ladies lined up alongside Olympian Laura Muir. This was Calderglens chance to put themselves on the world stage but it wasn't to be as Laura won the race by a distance but we had some great performances from our Ladies. Julie Beveridge who has been suffering with a cold this week still came out on top and looked strong throughout finishing in 16.50.
Joanne continues to look stronger every race she does just now and with another fine performance today finishing in 17.11. Frances Ferguson never one to miss a race will remember the days when she was the solo representative for the club in races like this. She had a bit of a race on today with Kirsty Wilson who after a good start picked up an ankle injury due to a photographer getting too close to the athletes. Eventually Kirsty was overhauled by Frances and had to get the ankle strapped up by the medical team once finished. Frances ran 17.58 with Kirsty 18.07 (hope the ankle recovers quickly). Sandy Hayden was our next harrier to finish but after admitting she had been out all night on Thursday I'm surprised she made the start line. Better rested I'm sure she will continue to reduce her times (20.20). Finally Lorraine Buchanan taking approx. 2 mins off her time at Hamilton continues to go from strength to strength and wont be long before shes clipping my heels in other races running a time today of 22.22.
Next up was the mens race and we had 6 running in this too. A field of just over 400 so the usual cavalry charge up the hill to the 1st corner and I found myself dropping towards the back as expected. The rest of the Harriers I could see in front finding there places within the field. I found myself with a 25metre gap in front and a couple of guys on my shoulder so had to keep working hard to keep them behind ( didn't want to drop to the back as ive been there before in this event). Eventually I had moved away from them by the end of lap 1 and had the 25 metres to the next couple in front of me so started to pull them in with a little bit extra effort and passed them early on the 2nd lap and found I had a 40 metre gap to the next one up but felt I was running faster than him so kept working and got him with a fair bit to go probably about 700m. My next target was another 40 metres in front but was running out of race and so it was to be as he finished about 15 metres in front of me but satisfied that I was catching and passing on the 2nd lap. Our 1st Harriers was Andrew Buchanan continueing his strong performances this year with 15.01. Next in was Stephen Phimister who decided after Cumbernauld he needed more of these races ran another great race coming home in 16.13 a big improvement on Cumbernauld. Making one of his rare race appearances was Geo Ferguson giving Richard Lawton a run for his money. The 2 of them had a close battle most of the way with Goe moving well enough clear on the 2nd lap Geo running 18.14 and Richard 18.32. Gordon McInally is still a wee bit out of sorts with his running but his performances are still strong and will get better. He was the only one I kept in sight throughout the race with him going well clear early on but the gap staying much the same on lap 2. Gordon finished in 19.31 with myself finishing in 20.30.
A good course for the event but could do with about 10 days rain on it. I know we moan about mud but it is cross country and should have some.
Thanks to family and friends for the support today.
It was a relatively flat course of 2 laps with a couple of twists and turns with the only real uphill off the start line. After the Junior races the Ladies lined up alongside Olympian Laura Muir. This was Calderglens chance to put themselves on the world stage but it wasn't to be as Laura won the race by a distance but we had some great performances from our Ladies. Julie Beveridge who has been suffering with a cold this week still came out on top and looked strong throughout finishing in 16.50.
Joanne continues to look stronger every race she does just now and with another fine performance today finishing in 17.11. Frances Ferguson never one to miss a race will remember the days when she was the solo representative for the club in races like this. She had a bit of a race on today with Kirsty Wilson who after a good start picked up an ankle injury due to a photographer getting too close to the athletes. Eventually Kirsty was overhauled by Frances and had to get the ankle strapped up by the medical team once finished. Frances ran 17.58 with Kirsty 18.07 (hope the ankle recovers quickly). Sandy Hayden was our next harrier to finish but after admitting she had been out all night on Thursday I'm surprised she made the start line. Better rested I'm sure she will continue to reduce her times (20.20). Finally Lorraine Buchanan taking approx. 2 mins off her time at Hamilton continues to go from strength to strength and wont be long before shes clipping my heels in other races running a time today of 22.22.
Next up was the mens race and we had 6 running in this too. A field of just over 400 so the usual cavalry charge up the hill to the 1st corner and I found myself dropping towards the back as expected. The rest of the Harriers I could see in front finding there places within the field. I found myself with a 25metre gap in front and a couple of guys on my shoulder so had to keep working hard to keep them behind ( didn't want to drop to the back as ive been there before in this event). Eventually I had moved away from them by the end of lap 1 and had the 25 metres to the next couple in front of me so started to pull them in with a little bit extra effort and passed them early on the 2nd lap and found I had a 40 metre gap to the next one up but felt I was running faster than him so kept working and got him with a fair bit to go probably about 700m. My next target was another 40 metres in front but was running out of race and so it was to be as he finished about 15 metres in front of me but satisfied that I was catching and passing on the 2nd lap. Our 1st Harriers was Andrew Buchanan continueing his strong performances this year with 15.01. Next in was Stephen Phimister who decided after Cumbernauld he needed more of these races ran another great race coming home in 16.13 a big improvement on Cumbernauld. Making one of his rare race appearances was Geo Ferguson giving Richard Lawton a run for his money. The 2 of them had a close battle most of the way with Goe moving well enough clear on the 2nd lap Geo running 18.14 and Richard 18.32. Gordon McInally is still a wee bit out of sorts with his running but his performances are still strong and will get better. He was the only one I kept in sight throughout the race with him going well clear early on but the gap staying much the same on lap 2. Gordon finished in 19.31 with myself finishing in 20.30.
A good course for the event but could do with about 10 days rain on it. I know we moan about mud but it is cross country and should have some.
Thanks to family and friends for the support today.
Wednesday, 8 November 2017
NATIONAL SHORT COURSE XC ( KIRKCALDY ) FINAL INSTRUCTIONS
Some are leaving from the Sports Club at 10am for anyone needing a lift.
On Saturday we have 7 Ladies and 9 Men running at Kirkcaldy.
I will pick up the numbers from registration and bring them to the course.
No one else will be allowed to park at registration
You can park at NHS car park off Whytemans Brae next to the course.
You will get a number and disposable chip. For the Veterans there will also be an age category number for your back.
Ladies start at 12.40 with the Men at 13.05 but I would like you to be there for 11.50 at the latest to allow warm ups etc. Please allow plenty travel time.
Those running are F Ferguson, K Wilson, S Hayden, J Beveridge, J McEvoy,E Craig and L Buchanan.
R Couper, A Derrick, G McInally, A Buchanan, J Holmes, G Ferguson, R Lawton,A McLellan and S Phimister.
If anyone is not going to make it please let me know asap and at the latest early Saturday so I don't register you.
For those wanting to travel from the Sports Club arrangements will be made on Thursday night.
On Saturday we have 7 Ladies and 9 Men running at Kirkcaldy.
I will pick up the numbers from registration and bring them to the course.
No one else will be allowed to park at registration
You can park at NHS car park off Whytemans Brae next to the course.
You will get a number and disposable chip. For the Veterans there will also be an age category number for your back.
Ladies start at 12.40 with the Men at 13.05 but I would like you to be there for 11.50 at the latest to allow warm ups etc. Please allow plenty travel time.
Those running are F Ferguson, K Wilson, S Hayden, J Beveridge, J McEvoy,
R Couper, A Derrick, G McInally, A Buchanan, J Holmes, G Ferguson, R Lawton,
If anyone is not going to make it please let me know asap and at the latest early Saturday so I don't register you.
For those wanting to travel from the Sports Club arrangements will be made on Thursday night.
Sunday, 5 November 2017
GTC (Gothenburg Training Camp) 2018
The suggested venue is the island of Vrångö, just outside Gothenburg (Swedish lesson #1, the word for island is in fact the letter "ö") which can be accessed via the commuter ferry service (we can get a 3 day public transport pass for about £17 each which covers the ferry, buses and trams in and around Gothenburg). At least one of the runs would be on the island (Johan reckons an 8km run can be squeezed in on the island without running laps, so good for a Friday night), the rest of the runs would be on the mainland, most likely in the Skatås country park which has miles and miles of trails; I have been lost there many times).
The difficult thing as always is finding a date. Due to Johan's holidays (along with most of the rest of Sweden), we have to be early July or mid-August (by which time Scottish schools are back so likely not to be suitable). Therefore, the initial proposal is Friday 6th to Monday 9th July 2018. Why those days? The only direct flights from Scotland to Gothenburg are with Ryanair from Edinburgh Airport and they fly only on Fridays and Mondays, a route I am all too familiar with through work. The current cost of the flights on these days is a very reasonable £59.99 each way (plus luggage cost each way). On top of that there would be the accommodation costs on the island, local transport and some meals which is very roughly in the £150 to £200 range depending on what we manage to arrange for accommodation.
Here are Johan's initial thoughts:
- Accommodations and base camp. Stuga (Swedish for cabin) would be best for sure. My preference would be hosting you on Vrångö http://www.styrso.info/vrango/ (in Swedish but you will understand). There are some options like http://kajkantenvrango.se/en/ which is quite new and fresh. If we have base on Vrångö I could go with my saling boat (some extra beds) and Mats could do as well. Selfhousing with breakfast and us arranging dinner (barbeque etc) will be convenient. The costs looks like 1 000 SEK/person/3 nights. Maybee we can do it cheaper, Philip (Tupp) owns at least 3 houses on the island. I will check with him.
- Liseberg Camping next to Skatås is also an option http://liseberg.com/en/home/Ac
commodation/ What I could see the cost level looks at same level as Vrango. - Logistics. If you don’t come all harriers (which would be great) we will solve the transportation up to Skatås (from Saltholmen where the ferry from Vrångö comes in) using private cars or fix a couple of vans (Volvo…). You will need a ticket for the ferry which is approx. 170 SEK for a 3-day full Gothenburg travel.
- Food. Breakfast we buy and arrange ourselves if you stay in Stuga. Same as TTC. Lunch we could also prepare and bring to keep costs down. Three dinners could very well be arrange at selfcartering if we stay at Vrångö. Ulf promise to be barbeque chef one evening, myself I can arrange a seafood evening and together we surely fix the third dinner. Refreshments we buy (systembolaget) ourselves.
- Costs all in all. A wild guess would be something in range of 150-200 GBP for accommodation, transport and food. Then comes “out of pocket” expenses but it’s personal anyhow.
Could those who are interested and think they have a realistic chance of attending (i.e. don't put your name down if you think it is a great idea but know you can't participate) please put your name down and leave any comments on this form. This is not committing you to anything but will help to gauge numbers and hence refine the accommodation options and costs a little bit. Those thinking about it are listed here. Lets leave this open for a few weeks for you to think about it.
Alan
A TTC date for next September
To avoid being pushed into October again, we have already booked the Leny Estate cabins for next year's Trossachs Training Camp. Even then we are on to our second choice weekend. The dates for your diary are Friday 14th September to Sunday 16th September 2018. We shall take bookings from around May next year.
Alan
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