First up is Mark Dawson who completed the Ultra Trail Mont Blanc TDS Race from Courmayour in Italy to Chamonix in France. Mark ran 95 miles with 30,512 feet of ascent in 43hrs 55mins – 15 minutes inside the cut off time for this race which has a 40% drop out rate due to the extreme nature of the course and tight cut off times. An absolutely awesome achievement for Mark and a tense wait for us when it was so close! You can read the full race report and see some amazing photographs here.
Next is Gilly Marshall who took on the Dragon’s Back 6 day race through the Welsh mountains, running for 65 hours over the course of the event. This took place during September’s heatwave with temperatures dangerously high and runners being evacuated from the course with heatstroke. We’re very glad our girl stayed safe while still turning in a very impressive performance! Read about Gilly’s adventure here.
Jan Dawson took on the Ben Nevis hill race, making it up and down the 4,400 feet of this iconic mountain in 3hrs 15mins. Amazing running when the average walking time for this is 7-8 hours and the race is described as the most daunting hill race in Scotland with the roughest, toughest descent. Well done Jan!
We also attended many other “sensible” races in September, including the Great North Run, Dalmeny Estate Trail Half Marathon, the Scottish Half Marathon, Auchterarder Running Festival, Peebles Duathlon, Woodchester Park Trail 8M, Stirling 10k and various smaller hill races.
Our weekly training sessions have now moved to our winter venues with details given below. The Thursday session is now a fortnightly mix of hill reps one week and group runs the next. The group run can be easy paced social or faster paced tempo runs as decided by members on the night. We also have a Couch to 5k session on a Wednesday evening at 6:30pm leaving from the horse sculptures at the Vet School. This is aimed at new members or existing members returning to training after injury.
If you are looking to join a lovely running community, our training sessions are Tuesdays (speed sessions 7:15pm at Quotient) and Thursdays (alternate weeks of hill reps and group runs, both 6:30pm at Bellman’s Hill). All sessions cover a wide range of pace / ability and qualified coaches and jog leaders are on hand for guidance.
Please contact secretary@penicuikharriers.org.uk for more information. You can also find our club website and Facebook page online.