Sat. 1st Sep. 1pm New Town Park Claggan Fort William

As the weather forecast was not good for Saturday and it was quite
a long trip, I couldn’t persuade any of my family to accompany me
to watch the race and ended up driving the 150 miles from Penicuik
to Fort William by myself. I couldn’t face camping (I had a bad
experience several years ago in Aberdeen being frozen in a tent the
night before a 100 mile time trial) and decided to drive up on the
Saturday morning. In fact it wasn’t too bad with light traffic and
it took under 3 hours. The only slightly concerning part was Rannoch
Moor which sported a howling gale and heavy rain. Glen Coe was
pretty spectacular in the wild weather as well.

However, when I got to Claggan Park (and straight away bumping into
Steve Fallon) the weather had calmed down to being almost pleasant.
After wandering around for a bit looking at boxes of running shoes
and socks, I found Chris who gave me a few last minute tips and
tried not to scare me too much with graphic descriptions of jaggeddy
boulders and vertical grass slopes.

New races are always a bit daunting, but this was the big one of
the year – I had actually done quite a lot of training for it and
was determined to get close to the 2 hours. At 12:50 five hundred
or so runners were piped into the starting pen ready for the off.

The first mile or so was a useful warmup along a single track road
leading into Glen Nevis and then we turned left on to a track going
diagonally up the hill. The track was well-established and built
to withstand hundreds of hillwalkers. Although mostly wide enough
for two runners, overtaking was not easy due to the abundance of
rocks and boulders.

Up to this point, the weather had been OK, but as we veered to our
left towards the famous burn watering stop at about half way, the
wind picked up, the drizzle started and I wondered how on earth
runners wearing only vests weren’t getting hyperthermia. Steeper
and steeper, wetter, mistier and windier, but I was feeling
‘comfortable’ and started to overtake the odd runner, conscious of
the fact that some of them would be faster down hill. The wind was
becoming so gusty that I was being blown sideways and tripping over
boulders which quite frankly should not have been tripped over.

This was becoming a very long slog, but I was prepared for it and
just concentrated on footing and pace. The one hazard I hadn’t
prepared for was the scores of other hillwalkers enjoying the hill.
Fortunately quite a lot of them were spectating and most of them
were very condiderate and gave you a bit of space (when they could
see or hear you from within multiple layers of arctic clothing).

At last the gradient lessened but the terrain was very tricky to
run on with loose scree, very sharp and slippery rocks and visibility
down to 20 metres. Fortunately the runner in front looked as
though he knew where he was going and the last couple of hundred
feet were marked with tape. Some funny rounded cairns and then the
top! Or at least I assumed it was the top since runners were handing
in their tags. Not much of a view then!

Deep breath, turn round and start the scary descent. This was
something I had never experienced – uneven ground is a huge
understatement. It got steeper and steeper and as well as trying to
avoid the worst rocks and drops, there were lots of runners still
coming up and walkers to dodge at the last moment. The adrenaline
was flowing and things became slightly mental, hopping, jumping,
sliding, skiing. I lost control a couple of times but just about
managed to keep my feet. It was quite enjoyable in a manic sort of
way.

I was concentrating so hard that it was a surprise when the mist
cleared and there was the dreaded grass slope. I think I preferred
the rocks. I just did not have the expertise to run down it and sort
of lolloped, slid and fell on my behind all the way down. I was
almost at the bottom, confidence was returning when ouch! I stepped
into an invisible hole and turned over on my ankle. Drat! The ankle
didn’t work for a bit and I must have looked quite silly to
spectators floundering across the burn on one leg. I crawled up the
other side and got to the path. The ankle didn’t seem to be a
complete disaster and hobbling eventually turned back into running.
Phew.

Hooray – almost down, a bit of a muddy traverse and on to the tarmac.
The last mile or so was exceedingly painful, the legs were wobbly,
the ankle was dragging a bit and people were starting to overtake so
I had to push hard. But I could hear the PA announcing returning
runners and we were soon into the park. One lap of the shinty pitch
and I was home! Under two hours – ya beauty!

So another visit to the First Aid Tent for an ice pack. I hung around
for a while to see Chris come in but the ankle was beginning to seize
up and I decided to start for home whilst I could still drive.
Sorry Chris!

Well what a race! Certainly one of the toughest and most exciting
I have ever done. Thanks to the organisers, marshalls (especially
those at the summit!) and of course to the first aiders. Full
results are on the Ben Nevis Race website but here are a few of the
more interesting:

Finlay Wild Lochaber 1st 1:29:56
Steve Fallon Carnethy 27th 1:52:21
Duncan Ball Penicuik H 47th 1:56:32
Chris Downie Penicuik H 411 2:56:02
Janice Smith HBT 416 2:57:33

Duncan Ball.

16.2km and 760m

Conditions: Sunny and warm to start with – clouding in later.

The Lomonds race is similar in distance and height to the Dollar Hill Race which boded well for my training for the longer races in September and October. As with Dollar, The Lomonds was “short” enough for me to keep pushing the whole race – something I never manage for the Skyline for example…………..maybe this year………………..??

From registration in Strathmiglo, there was a pleasant 2km jog on a tarmac track to the beginning of the race. It is an odd start – the track is rather thin, so everyone is bunched up trying to get a decent starting place and trying not to be stuck near the back. It is not possible to run off track and go around to overtake as the pine plantation is in a semi-state of being clear-cut, so you would probably break your neck.

I of course went off too quickly and as the route was almost a constant climb up to East Lomond, I was getting a little worried on the steep climb up to this first summit that I had overdone it. However, from East Lomond, there is about 4kms of relatively flat, but hummocky running while the route contoured along the north slope of the hills and I settled nicely into a good pace and managed to catch up a few people who had passed me earlier.

At Craigen Gaw, I suddenly realised I knew this part of the Lomonds very well. Every year in September, we bring our 2^nd year students to this part of Fife to teach them about “slope process”. I am pretty sure that many of the runners did not realise that the cleft in the cliff we had to scramble up was formed ONLY in 1928 when a large chunk of the cliff gave wave and plunged downhill in a fairly impressive rock avalanche. What annoyed me later, when running back, was that I should have stayed high and gone above the run out zone, rather than follow the guy in front of me who took me through a rather tortuous rocky route through the boulder field. Oh well, next time I can possibly shave off a couple of minutes.

Once above Craigen Gaw, a flat boggy area brings you to the base of the last steep climb up West Lomond. The summit was populated by “normal” people who were obviously enjoying the weather and wondering why people would run on such a hot day. Descending from the summit was certainly eventful. I had been warned – I had even sent a video clip around – but the grassy slope between the dolerite cliffs plunged down at such an angle that it really is impossible to stay upright and sliding on your backside is definitely the best way to go. Did I take my friend’s advice to wear Kevlar underwear – No! Bad idea. My ass was so dirty that Andrea said it looked that I had XXXX myself. There was grass and moss in all sorts of nooks and crannies. I bet many a runner has nappy rash this evening.

Anyway – I digress – the descent was of course rather quick and a lot of fun. The race organisers, however, had one last sting in the tail. The route had descended all the way down to the Bannet Stane (wind/rain eroded sandstone landform that looks like a rock umbrella), and then immediately turned back on itself and went back up the bloody hill up to almost the base of the cliff – almost half way back up the hill. However, once back up, it was downhill all the way – the only complication being the rock avalanche below Craigen Gaw. Next time, I will go above it. The route finally works its way steadily down and then undulates through the woods until the final 1km of forest track for a sprint to the end.

The weather was perfect – albeit a tad too hot perhaps – although rain came in later and may have inundated some of the stragglers. The terrain was often much rougher than Dollar which explains the slightly slower pace and times of the runners. However, I managed to get in under 2 hours (1:56:32) and was 31^st from 95 runners. As for my knees – well – thank god for Ibuprofen again!!!

Janice also ran – 80th (02:49:24).

Rob

As I was the only Harrier who ran Largo Law, I was not going to write a blog post. Who really cares what a middle age bloke, with the mental age of a 22-year old, does in a race?

However, yesterday was just one of those perfect days when everything went right. Nice weather, great course and a personal best!!!

This is a really nice ~10k fell race.

Mostly cross-country in actual fact, although the 200m climb up to the top of the Law is about as steep as you will find in any race. Coming down is the real challenge and if you go for it (as I did yesterday with only one tumble!), this is where you can make up places and time.

Bar the ascent to the peak, this is a very runnable and fast course. The last mile was excruciating however as my legs morphed into jelly, but I was determined to keep my place.

Results are here:

http://haddies.weebly.com/uploads/5/7/6/4/576491/2012_results.pdf

I ran in 56.54  – 27 seconds quicker than my previous best time.

Best of all, I was 14^th out of a field of 99 runners.

Alas, I cannot put this down to any Olympic inspiration. More likely related to all the ibuprofen tablets I ate and gel I smeared on my knees.

Here’s to a more creaky race at Caerketton on Wednesday assuming our Speed of Light practise on Tuesday night does not finish me off.

Rob

Our amazing girl has cycled with her crazy team all the way from John O’Groats to Lands End !  You can read her blog here http://fransbigcyclingadventure.blogspot.co.uk/ and donate to her charity here http://www.justgiving.com/Frances-Jones2  I’m sure you will all agree that it is an incredible achievement for all of them!

Isobel Knox HBT won the Scottish 100Km Championship last weekend.   The championship was run as part of the Anglo Celtic Cup in Newport, Wales.   Despite blistering heat, she managed to maintain a steady pace to finish 12 minutes ahead of Gail Murdoch, Carnegie.   Isobel works in Aaron House in Penicuik and about 10 years ago trained with Penicuik Harriers.   When she trained with us she was always absolutely dedicated and trained very hard; she obviously still trains hard and conscientiously.   Congrats to Isobel on a great win.

Fran arrived in Penicuik today on the 5th day of her epic cycle from John O’Groats to Lan’s End – it was great to see her!!!!

Good luck for the rest of your incredible journey – I will see you when you set off at 7am tomorrow (aaaah what have a committed to?)

Photos https://picasaweb.google.com/penicuikharriers/07July?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCNyI6oes3YGilwE&feat=directlink

Day 1 of a two week holiday – Andrea (with much persuasion) and I just ran Dollar.

This is one of my favourite hill races: 15km, 850m climb.

http://www.scottishhillracing.co.uk/RaceDetails.aspx?RaceID=RA-0071

This is a race of 3 flavours; after a quick half km sprint along the road, the route takes you up through Dollar Glen and up onto a steep climb to Saddle Hill and Whitewisp hill. The climb is about 4kms and very steep in places. It is a huge relief to get to the summit. Once on the tops of the Ochills however, the next 4-5 kms is nice and undulating and normally quite quick. It was very boggy today which I am sure slowed overall times down a tad. The final section is a 3-4 km descent that just goes on and on. A bit wet today so loads of potential for slipping. I took it quite cautiously.

In previous years, I always cramped up when I hit the road – I never understand why – but today no cramp and hopefully looked close to normal (sweaty, muddy and hopefully a smile) when I crossed the line.

This was not my slowest time, but also not my quickest:

RW: 1.45.13 (43^rd) – quickest being 1.37.

AW: 2.10.15 (?) – her longest hill race. Not counting Edinburgh 7 Hills.

Andrea says the best thing was the mountain of cakes for consumption at the end. Almost on par with the Penicuik 10K.

After months of frustrating injuries, it was great to get back out there.

Now we are off north – on the to do list – Skye (Cuillins and Quirangs), cycling (Appelcross +), Torridon Hills (Slioch or An Teallach) and Suilven – all weather dependent of course.

This is our first holiday without Dave for 18 years, so hopefully we can make the most of it.

Rob

What an amazing day running the 7 Hills of Edinburgh Race with Paul, Chris, Andrea, Kevin and Rob (kind of). Lots of mud, refreshments and more mud! Really amazing experience that I would love to do again, thanks to Paul & Kevin for pace setting, Chris for navigation and Andrea for agreeing to do it with me, I’m sure she could have been a lot faster!!!!  Paul’s Garmin said 15.1 miles, my phone tracker said 16.4 miles so who knows how far – just a long way!

Much more to be said about the route but not tonight, too tired!

Susie

[picasa width=”600″ height=”410″ bgcolor=”white” autoplay=”1″ showcaption=”1″ user=”penicuikharriers” album=”The7HillsofEdinburgh”]

View our route in a larger map or you can interact with the one above to zoom in etc

So here I am, in Florida and what better way to spend your holiday than do a race!  This race wasn’t far from our villa so the registration time of 6.30am (!!) didn’t seem too painful.  There’s good reason for the early start, the temperature was only in the early 20s!  I did a short warm up and some strides and could already feel the humidity starting to affect me.  Oh well no turning back now!!  The start line was full of all ages and abilities and even someone in a wheelchair!  The hooter sounded and we were off!  I ran at a steady pace, not pushing things too much as I wasn’t sure what lay ahead and the humidity was like nothing I’ve ever run in before.  But I hung in, worked my way up to 2nd female and on the way had a battle with a little kid who must’ve been about 12 (I eventually defeated him though).  Not the same standard of field as back home but I was extremely chuffed and relieved to hold onto 2nd position and lucky 13th overall in a PW of 23.16.  Most amusing was the surprise in the commentator’s voice as he announced I was from Scotland when I crossed the line, or should I say Scatland!   Jamie was there at the finish to take some snaps and pass comment that he’d never seen me sweat so much before, and he was right!  So to the prize giving, there was no prize for 2nd female but I was 1st in my age group and got a little trophy to take home.  A native plant was also awarded to the winners of trophies but I had to decline the offer as I doubted I could’ve smuggled it home through customs.

I thoroughly enjoyed the race, there was a much better atmosphere than at any other race I’ve done back home.  I’ve never seen so much encouragement for other runners and so much hi-fiving going on and I got a nice cheer when I collected my trophy.

See you when I’m back!  Pics to follow…

Susan

Sunday was the 10^th Edinburgh Marathon and also AYE member Chris’s 10^th – well done Chris!  A record field of Penicuik Harriers were out in force, not only for the full marathon, but the relay and also the half marathon and if we were not running we were marshalling the course!  I think this is the first year there has not been a team photo at the start which was a shame as I had no idea until after the race how many of us were actually running it.  It was my 3^rd attempt at Edinburgh and once again the sun was beating down.  I was thinking of Mark at the beginning and how it would suit him as desert training for his event later in the year, but not so much me who likes to run in rain and snow and totally wilts in anything above 12 degrees.  Highlights once again are the locals who are out in force with their hoses and this year also seemed to sport a lot of children with water pistols getting to soak total strangers and getting thanked for it! Again, I found the route hardest between about  17miles  and  21miles, partly from the course as it goes through Gosford House and and partly from the baking heat.  From 21 miles on I managed to pick up my pace again and even managed a sprint finish in to the end, (despite the strange boards they have down). The finish was much better this year and I loved the fact that they had supporters lining both sides down the last 500m or so.  Alan’s patience was even rewarded this year as he managed to cheer me on the last 100m.  Think I have all the marathon runners times here (I have just nabbed them from Dave’s e-mail) Don’t have all the half marathoner and relay runners times though sorry! –  Hope they will post them too thoughJ

Mark S 3hr08m12s

Paul P 3h 28m 03s

Ross L 4hr09m42s

Kenny C 4hr23m53s

Gilly M 4hr33m04s

Chris B 4hr34m54s

Helen O 4hr41m29s

Ngeme N 5hr06m18s

Vicki W 5hr29m16s

I took part in the 2012 Scottish Islands Peaks Race as part of a team of 5 [3 sailors and 2 runners] on the 11m yacht “Vaila”. With generally light winds it took us from 12:00 on Friday 18 May until about 09:00 on Monday 21 May. This meant that there was plenty of time to rest and eat between the three hill legs. Indeed, we were twice becalmed for a few hours with nothing to do but lie around in a yacht under blue skies with views of Jura and then Arran. Yes, it got that tough! 😉

Starting at 12:00 on Friday 18 May, after the 6km road/trail prologue in Oban [to avoid the chaos of all boats starting together] and a sail up the Sound of Mull, the first real leg [37km and 1400m climb on Mull] was 7km on the road across Mull, 5km on trails and then up and down Ben More and back to the boat. We finished in daylight and there was a beautiful sunset as we sailed off. After a calm night, when the crew woke us at 08:00 the next morning we’d reached the Sound of Jura but the wind was rather too light! So we crept along at about 2km/h under sunny skies beside the Paps of Jura. We started the Jura leg just before mid-day. At 25km and 1600m climb, it’s a bit shorter than the fell race since it omits the lower peaks. Feeling strong, it was fantastic to be traversing the Paps in such weather and even the 5km road run back to the pier was a pleasure. Now the wind was lighter if anything, but our skipper worked Vaila out of Craighouse skilfully. Some crews gave up at this point, spending the evening in the pub and then motoring to the finish. We had another calm night, waking just after the Mull of Kintyre in rather livelier conditions. These didn’t last and by mid day we were completely becalmed off the south coast of Arran. Eventually we crept our way round to the entrance of Lamlash Bay, where the wind died again and the tide was threatening to send us backwards! One of the crew then rowed us 3km across the bay to Lamlash Pier, allowing the boat to motor in. We’d hoped for a nice evening run on the Arran leg [31km and 1350m climb], with its 10km of roads and trails across to Brodick Castle then up Goatfell and back, but we ended up starting at 21:00 so it was pitch dark by the time we got up Goatfell. We then lost 30 minutes trying to find the last checkpoint on the way down but still managed to descend at a decent pace. Back at Lamlash Pier at 01:30, my body was glad to stop as we crashed out in the boat. We later learned that to get out of Lamlash Bay one of the sailors had had to push the [6 tonne] yacht using the rubber dingy! After a couple of hours the wind picked up so we made to the finish in Troon at about 09:00 [on Monday 21 May].

Full results aren’t up yet, but we took a total of about 15hrs 30min to do the 100km of running, with the boat taking 54hrs for the 300km of sailing [in contrast with last year’s windy conditions when the whole thing took only 43 hours] and we were provisionally 7th out of 12 in class 3. The winners of the whole race took about 40 hours, with the best running time being about 9hrs 45min.

If you want to see more, I’ve made a short film

By the way, I wore a pair of Innov8 X-Talon 212 shoes for the whole thing and they were great: 100g lighter than Walshes but with just as much grip, they have some cushioning which made them OK on the road sections. [Some of the cushioning got a bit chewed on Jura, but the Paps are rather rough!]

Six of us met in the Penicuik Centre and bundled into Susie’s people carrier for a trip to Peebles.  Andrea, Chris Downie, Mike Brooks and Rob (who was our photographer) had all run the race before, however Susie and I were completely ignorant as to what lay ahead, not even knowing the distance let alone where Gypsy Glen actually was!

Whilst we registered and attempted to warm up on what was a dry, yet chilly evening, Rob got (slightly hesistant) permission to drive Susie’s car further up the track to position himself for some photo taking and knowing Rob, the best vantage point to shout abuse at us all.

It was a slightly smaller field than last year, a bit worrying in a hill race as we all started to wonder who’d be last!  Mike Pearson sounded the starting hooter and we were off!  I settled into quite a quick pace as the first mile or so was essentially a road race which suited me quite nicely!  We headed over the river, through the park, through a housing estate then hit the trails.  I’d been running well till this point, but as soon as the route turned muddy and started to climb I started to struggle.  Quickly others started to pass me, including Chris D, who then pulled away from me.  I “hung in” for the rest of the climb, passed Rob who was yelling “come on babe”, much to my disappointment I realised this was aimed at Andrea who was quickly closing the gap on me!  I tried to smile for Rob’s photos but grimace was all I could manage.  Note to self – must train uphill more!

Finally the summit came into view and suddenly I felt good again.  Wish I could’ve appreciated the stunning view a bit more, but it wasn’t possible to do that and hurl myself down the sweeping, fast trails to eventually follow the same route back.  I had a nice little battle with an HBT female, who I managed to pass and then after some wicked little tarmac climbs in the final km, I was delighted to see Victoria Park and the finish line ahead.  Rachael was there to give some final encouragement and take some (probably awful) photos and then phew, finish line crossed!!

Cheered in the remaining Harriers whilst eating some homemade clootie dumpling and getting eaten alive by vicious midges.  Results were:  Duncan – 11th in 36:39, Mike B – 14th in 37:35, Chris D – 34th in 45:15, Susan – 37th in 46:02, Andrea – 41st in 47:53 and Susie – 45th in 49:37.

Well done everyone, and thanks to Mike Pearson who awarded me a prize for being 4th female!

Susan

Photos here