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.
Well done Duncan! Come on the rest of the Club, you’ll have 12 months training under your belt for next year.
Dave