We had a wonderful day at Floors Castle, Kelso for the last race of the Borders XC League.   Chris Downie drove Gilly Marshall and me down, the sun was shining and when we reached Floors, the snowdrops were out and lining the main driveway.   The Castle was looking great, there was no mud and the course looked green and lovely.   Rachael Campbell and Sarah Blake were there to meet us.   The course was said to be about 4 miles with a few jumps.   I didn’t really hear the mumbled instructions before we set off down a wee slope, through a gate and then the first fence loomed about 3 feet high and constructed of solid timber.   There was a second fence, then a third fence and, in all, about a dozen of the monsters.   It turned out that the cross country course was over fences which had been constructed for horses.   Sarah had been over the course in the past: but riding a horse.   Sarah had a really good run coming in first in the 20-34 age group, followed by Chris, Rachael and Gilly.   Bill pulled up after the third fence (sounds a bit like the Grand National).

We all waited for the prize giving expecting to give Sarah a great cheer when she went up to collect the first prize for the series.   Unfortunately there had been a cock up in the results and 3 other ladies had collected the 20-34 prizes for the series.   Sarah challenged the results and eventually, after everyone else had gone, a mistake was admitted and she was promised a prize by post.   It was a very disappointing end to the series.

Sarah, Chris, Rachael, Gilly and Bill each collected a horse brass as a memento of an enjoyable winter’s running.

Scottish Athletics Scottish National Cross Country Championships Sat. 18th Feb. 2012, Callendar Park, Falkirk

This is a huge event and surprisingly popular with 9 separate races from under 13′s upwards and a whopping 724 entrants in the Senior Mens race. Quite daunting, especially as the seniors race distance was 12km/7.5 miles and I was quite nervous on Saturday morning, not helped by snow showers and a cold wind.

However, Callendar Park is easy to find, plenty of parking, reasonable changing facilities at the High School and the event itself was well organised. And only one snow shower then lots of sunshine. Great for spectators as well and I watched some of the under 20′s mens race whilst warming up (Ross Matheson of Lasswade was one of the favourites). I did feel a bit on my lonesome until I bumped into Dave who was acting as assistant referee for the event.

Lining up at the start with hundreds of runners was more like the Edinburgh Marathon except that it felt a lot more competitive. The stampede after the gun was hectic, but I didn’t see anybody get trampled and we settled into our respective paces quite quickly.

I had started a little bit too far near the front and runners came past me every now and again. I also felt slightly sluggish after the Carnethy 5 and was conscious of the distance. The course was a classic 3 laps around the loch and park on grass, gravel and mud with 4 short climbs. I was going OK with as many runners behind as in front until the end of lap 2 when whap – my ankle turned over on a low kerb. I hopped and skipped painfully for the next few hundred yards but thought I could survive the last lap. It was pretty gruesome but I somehow managed to fend off some of the overtakers and eventually the pain of the ankle was forgotten in the last half mile effort to the line.

As soon as I stopped running things got quite ouchy and I hobbled straight into the First Aid tent! A very nice lady handed me an ice pack and took some details. She even managed to get hold of Dave who came in to offer sympathy and to check that I would be able to drive home.

Despite the stupid ankle, it was a ‘good’ or at least ‘useful’ experience and I would recommend it (but watch out for the kerb!). I ended up placed 214 out of 505 starters with a time of 50:24. Full results on the Scottish Athletics website. As I am sure that I haven’t put anyone off (and the senior womens’ course is only 2 laps, 5 miles), maybe we could organise a few more Harriers runners next year.

Duncan Ball.

The 42nd TISO Carnethy 5 Hills Race Saturday 11th Feb. 2012

After the icy weather of the past few weeks it was a nice change to have a few days above freezing and importantly there was a good chance that most of the ice had melted from the Pentlands.

The forecast was OK and Saturday looked good for hill running – a respectible 4 deg, overcast and a light breeze.

A select few were given a lift to Silverburn by Susie who had taken advantage of a friend being away on holiday leaving a us free driveway. It was a short walk to the start and the tent in the sheep field where runners were organising gear and warming up.

The hills looked promising – we could see the tops and there was only a couple of patches of snow visible. In stark contrast to a training run last Saturday when I ran the course in a blizzard with horizontal snow stinging my face, poor visibility and very dodgy ice underfoot.

The field was becoming increasingly busy with the buses dropping off more runners and we were getting slightly nervous, conscious that this was quite a big national event (although no Adventure Show
cameras thankfully!).

Almost 2 o’clock, the Juniors had set off and runners were starting to congregate at the start. My preparation had gone well in the last week or so and I was determined to get a good position on the first climb so I put myself scarily near the front and prepared for the sprint. A few words from the organiser and we were off. Fortunately cross country races had prepared me for this sort of effort and I found myself beside Steve Fallon. Right, that was it, he wasn’t going to drop me. I kind of had the feeling he could take off at any time
but managed to get to the top of Scald Law a few seconds before him.

Legs and lungs stinging we pounded across to Black Hill. This was feeling a bit too fast. On the way across to the first Kip, Steve confidently pulled ahead. I tried to reel him in again up East Kip but he was too strong. I throttled back a bit to avoid blowing and paced more sensibly up to West Kip, checking behind that no-one was gaining.

Now for the tricky bit – the wild traverse off the Kips down towards the path to the Howe. Usually a couple of loony descenders pass me at this point, but amazingly they didn’t today. The cross country run down to the Howe was almost a joy – it felt good underfoot and again no-one passed me.

Turn right and the start of the Carnethy ascent. I tried to jog up the first bit (especially as Dave C. was there) but was forced to walk after about 20 yards to avoid blowing again.

And then the dreaded gully. This is always difficult to pace – the aim is to get to the top of Carnethy with just enough muscles working and energy left to survive the descent. At the top I thought I had overdone it. I sort of wheezed and staggered around the cairn cheered on by a huge crowd of spectators, and then the big relief of
going down!

There were a couple of runners just in front, but there was no way my jelly legs could have passed them without incurring serious injury. I heard Bill’s encouragement at the gate and even with no-one behind me I still managed a vague ‘sprint’ across the bog to the line.

Phew – under the hour and maybe a PB.

Well done Harriers runners and especially Richard who posted a cracking time, joining the club only recently. And well done to Susie who looked so puggled at the top of Carnethy that she was offered several energy bars by concerned onlookers.

40 172 00:58:50 Duncan Ball Penicuik Harriers M50
69 472 01:01:57 Richard Osman Penicuik Harriers M
146 612 01:08:18 Rob Wilson Penicuik Harriers M40
189 17 01:11:25 Sarah Blake Penicuik Harriers F
282 581 01:17:34 Robert Walker Penicuik Harriers M40
355 261 01:22:13 Chris Downie Penicuik Harriers M50
394 144 01:26:03 Andrea Wilson Penicuik Harriers F40
469 91 01:35:55 Susie Maxwell Penicuik Harriers F
480 89 01:38:44 Gilly Marshall Penicuik Harriers F40

We were 13th Mens Team and 8th Womens Team.

Results in full on the Carnethy website.

Thanks to Olly and the Carnethy team for the (as ever) well-run event.

Duncan Ball.

Thanks to Bob Marshall for his photos and Andy with Jonah, Ellie & Sophie for being our photographer and chief supporters on the day! Andy’s photos are the slideshow ones first below.

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Thanks to everyone who came along to our annual ceilidh and helped to make it a great success!  The band and caller were terrific as usual and roused us all onto the floor and kept most of us there for the whole evening.   It is always a very energetic night with lots of laughs as we never take things too seriously and this year was no different.  We raised £100 in our whiskey/sweet jar challenge which will be used by the local Fun Athletics group to buy new equipment – thanks to all who took part in this.

Many thanks to the committee but especially Fran for organising it.

Hope to have some photos on the website soon….

Rob, Andrea and I headed down to Glentress for this race on Sunday (22nd) for our first attempt at duathlon.   Course had been changed unfortunately from the one I was looking forward to due to the high winds bringing lots of trees down.  Weather was beautiful however thus prompting many discussions about how many layers to wear; or not if you are me!

I started at the back of the pack unfortunately (never wearing Gord’s Garmin watch again) but managed to get past a few people on the never ending climb up to Magic Mushroom entrance where we turned sharp right and immediately onto a really steep track up, a few more twist and turns that seemed to all be uphill before just as my calves couldn’t take it any more we began our descent – which was FAB!!  Hit the fire road at the Peel and got sent up a real steep track to get to Red Squirrel where transition was.  Legs like jelly I grabbed my bike (very relieved to see lots of bikes still there) and set off uphill (again) to Blue return and upwards (again) to Magic Mushroom.  No passing places or rather guy in front not willing to pull over so bit frustrated but made up for that on fire road and Sair Fecht.

When we joined Blue climb to Buzzards and onto Electric Blue I was able to really shift before hitting the Red return where I had to keep shifting as 2 guys right on my tail so no choice other than follow the track of the girl in front and try and stay on bike!  Definitely rode that section faster than I ever would have normally but I guess that shows I should be a bit braver and go for it.  So glad to see Red Squirrel again with the thought that I will never, ever do that again.  Two seconds later found myself saying to Rob, “That was fantastic – I loved it!”

Chatted to Bob Johnston afterwards – he came 13th out of 143, total respect for that!

60th Rob  Run – 28.52  Total time – 1:00:51
108th Andrea Run – 33.45 Total time – 1:09:20
114th Susie  Run – 34.58  Total time 1:10:53

Full results are here

Have emailed our thanks to the organiser as the route was marked and marshaled really well – couldn’t fault it!

Jan 21^st.

Weather: Sunny, mild but with stiff westerly wind. Warm in sheltered sunny corners.

We were lucky – race was sandwiched between heavy rain showers on the way to and back from Falkland (which is nice village by the way).

Route:

31 km, 1250m ascent.

Four leg relay. Details at this link:

http://www.scottishhillracing.co.uk/RaceDetails.aspx?RaceID=RA-0015

Intrepid runners:

Leg 1 (6.5 km, 450m): Rob Wilson and Alasdair Hind

Leg 2 (6 km, 250m): Julian Hall

Leg 3 (10 km, 560m): Duncan Ball and Mike Brooks

Leg 4 (8.5 km, 100m): Kevin Anderson

Leg1: A quick start through the narrow streets of Falkland which quickly turns into an ever increasing gradient up the lower slopes of East Lomond zigzagging through a picturesque woodland (with much tree wind damage). On leaving the wood, the real sharp ascent starts up to the 1^st check point on the peak. Although one’s calves burn, it is made easier knowing that it is pretty much all downhill on the other side. Bar an initial steep descent off the peak (which my [RW] knees complained about), the rest of the leg was a real pleasure of tracks and paths.

Alasdair is normally a little slower than me and although I took the chance to go a little slower than usual (aiding my preparation for the Glentress Duathlon the next day – see blog post by Susie ), he admirably kept up, although was a little resistant to running ALL the way back to Falkland afterwards [AH: walking is good for stretching worked muscles, honest!! ]. The real advantage to Leg 1 is that we were the first back to the village hall allowing us a nice relaxing time to stock up on cake, juice, tea and soup (the pea and spinach was delectable) from the many cauldrons that were bubbling away.  

Leg2: Felt great on the warm-up, but this was with the (cold) wind behind me! Running the first half of the leg was a different story! I felt really slow on the 2.5km of farm track, but there were almost no changes in the gaps, let alone the order. Into the shelter of the trees, the route started to climb more noticeably and was grassier. I warmed up a bit and started to close some gaps, although a couple of runners flew past me like whippets. The exit from the forest brought the end of the climb and after a few ups and downs over White Craigs, we began the descent to Scotlandwell. Although not in condition to go flat out, I overtook a few teams and re-took the place lost to the Bellahouston C runner with whom I’d had a sporting battle. Duncan’s brief words as he and Mike sped off were enough to find Rob’s car in Kinnesswood. After that the only challenge was to find reverse in Kevin’s Merc! Another vote for the quality of the DB soup. [JH]

Leg3: The logistics of getting runners to their respective starts and ensuring that finishing runners were not stranded are quite tricky. However, as we had two cars and Rob and Alasdair had been bullied – I mean had volunteered to jog back to the start at the end of their leg 1, things actually went pretty smoothly. Ten minutes before Rob and Alasdair were due to start at Falkland, I borrowed Rob’s car with Mike and Julian and drove the long way round (because of a road closure) to the start of leg 2 at Holl Reservoir. The sun was out and it wasn’t too cold, so Mike and I dumped Julian there and set off back to the start of leg 3. As parking was restricted at Scotlandwell, we had to park near Kinnesswood School and jog the mile down the road to the 2/3 changeover (a good warm up). Kevin with the second car was free to drive to the start of leg 4 in time for his start (and our finish).

With the help of Julian texting us just before he set off on leg 2, we could time our last minute warm-up and tree-watering to perfection. Hopefully no female runners were traumatised at this time. We eagerly kept watch for Julian coming down the precipice that was the start of our leg. On time he appeared looking remarkably fresh and we shouted where the car was, handed over the keys, collected the punch card and set off. It was really steep for an awfully long time, but eventually the gradient eased off and the landscape opened up with initially a track winding up towards the crags of Bishop Hill. A couple of orienteering checkpoints later, we could see West Lomond in the distance looking very inviting in the sunshine. Navigation was a doddle with the great visibility and the scores of other runners, and the carefully prepared map and compass stayed in the rucsac. Most of the terrain is very similar to the Pentlands with narrow paths, mud, bogs, loose rocks, grassy tussocks, steep climbs, etc. It was quite steep coming off the hill and took a lot of concentration until we hit the plantation where a path became forest track and then tarmac for the last km to the finish. We tried not to grin too much at the leg 4 runners just starting off. We could see Kevin straining on the leash and sprinted for the line. He was off so quick that I forgot to ask him where the car was. But of course Julian was there, caretaker of both cars. Both of us feeling elated and quite chuffed and not really noticing sore legs, we drove back to Falkland to await the arrival of last runner Kevin (and to queue for spinach soup).

Leg4: After being let of the leash I was off like a greyhound after a rabbit! A bit of a gradient to kick off, followed by some smaller hills. A few obstacles in the way turned this part of the race into an Olympic class hurdles course….great fun & I really enjoyed my Winalot for afters.

         Thanks to the boys for organising a fab race. Practising for next year already!

Results:

Leg 1: 46.57 (43^rd)

Leg 2: 34.31 (43^rd: 42^nd overall)

Leg 3: 68.42 (40^th: 37^th overall)

Leg 4: 33.59 (59^th: 38^th overall)

Total: 3.04.09 (38/122)

A great race – all the better to run as a team. Next year we certainly can break the 3 hours. Now we have 12 months to persuade the girlies to put a team together. There are legs that will suit everybody. It’s a great day out, a good team experience and – in JH’s experience of 6/7 DB’s – the weather is always good.

Rob, Alasdair, Julian, Duncan, Mike and Kevin.

There was some snow in Penicuik when we left but the weather in Peebles was relatively balmy by comparison, well until about halfway through the race when the snow started.   It was round about that time that I thought that I was holding off the last person in the race: it turned out later that the chap that I thought I was holding off was the sweeper.   Fortunately I made a few places in the second half of the race when we hit some downhill, and I didn’t see the sweeper again.   The other runners from the Harriers all ran much better than me.   Duncan Ball in 38th place was only 4 minutes behind the winner; Sarah Blake was 46th, Mike Brooks 55th, Chris Downie 126th, Jane Hart 128th, Rachael Campbell 149th, Gilly Marshall 161st, and Bill Bennet 182nd.   It was alovely run up the Tweed, a bit muddy, but not as muddy as Gala.   It’s an even lovelier run in the summer when the mud has dried.   You should try the run from Peebles up the Tweed to Barns in February; there are thousands of snowdrops which are absolutely gorgeous.   Full results can be found at www.bordersxc.com .