Lasswade 10 Mile Road Race

An amazing day for the Harriers with a great turnout and prizes galore being won, with the club claiming overall race winner (Adam Gray), 1st male team (Adam, Ritchie Thomson and John Gibbs) and (eventually, after the results had been subjected to scrutiny) 1st female team (Gemma Towersey, Jan Dawson and Edite Gailite), making this one of our most successful days on the roads ever!

The race is nice and local, organised by Lasswade Athletics Club, and according to the official description:

“comprises a ten mile loop set in a scenic, rural location, run mainly on ‘B’ and ‘C’ class roads, and unclassified routes. Starting at the west of Rosewell village, the route follows a gentle incline to Gourlaw Farm before dropping down to the bottom of Roslin Glen at two miles, followed by a steep rise for 400 metres, after which it is nice and easy before dropping to the four mile mark in the village of Auchendinny.  There is a climb between the fifth and six miles thereafter, apart from a small hump at around seven miles, the route is generally downhill into Rosewell.”

It was a beautiful morning with blue skies and sunshine, but a strong wind threatened to make life a bit harder than it could have been (a definite improvement on the previous year’s weather though, when the race was called off due to the Beast From the East).  After registering and spending too long in the warmth of the clubhouse, we set off into the chilly breeze towards the start and debated how many layers we would need to wear.

Nearly 300 runners were taking part and we all assembled on the road at the end of the village, facing into the wind, for the start at high noon.  The first half of the race was the hardest by far, with two significant climbs made all the harder by being against the headwind: the descent into Roslin Glen was enjoyably speedy, but there was an instant price to be paid for it with a steep slog to get back out (thank you to Gillian and family for providing much needed support at this point!); then came Auchendinny and the longer climb, which felt like it would never end (more great support at the crossroads from Bill and Billy!).

Once that was over, things got a lot easier in the second half, with the wind (mostly) at our backs and some downhills on nice quiet roads that zig-zagged through farms and the abandoned (haunted?) hospital at Rosslynlee.  Running back into Rosewell, it seemed like the end was in sight but there was a little detour of about a mile out towards Whitehall House, with the road becoming a bit rougher, muddier and more trail like which may have caused a few slip ups for people in flat running shoes!

We were greeted at the finishing line by a very proud Dave, who was in charge of timekeeping.  The person taking note of finishers’ numbers made a mistake with Gemma’s unfortunately, which meant it took an extra day for us to find out that we had won 1st female team.  A very generous buffet was provided back in the clubhouse while we waited for the presentations, which rounded off a cracking day!

Thank you to Michael Philp and Billy Dickson for the photos!

Results

1 Adam Gray 57.04
6 Ritchie Thomson 61.14
9 John Gibbs 61.51
38 Gemma Towersey 68.11
58 Raymond Richford 70.41
64 Allan Dunbar 71.16
109 Jan Dawson 76.17
120 Edite Gailite 78.05
123 Rachel Drummond 78.19
160 Gordon Campbell 81.17
171 Tracy Philp 82.31
217 Alan Black 88.22
231 Dyane Harvey 90.49
264 Scott Cairns 101.31
279 Sylvia Hamilton 114.33

Full results: http://www.lasswade-ac.org.uk/club/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Results-Unscrutinised3.pdf