Scottish Vets (erm, Masters') Championships →

One of the positive aspects of advancing age - especially if you are an unreconstructed cross-country runner - is that annual Golden Oldies parade that was the Vets, now politely renamed the Masters' Championships. Over the last decade or so, we have been punished for our years over a succession of tough courses: Troon, Cupar, Bathgate, Kirkcaldy, and this year Kilmarnock have provided real cross-country trails, often over farmland, through woodland, and of course muddy bogs. I've omitted Irvine from the list - not tough enough! - and that Westy legend Gibby can add any venues I've missed. The forecast for Saturday mentioned rain, but the course was dry, pristine even, when I arrived early about noon. The course was country parkland, with the usual sequence of hairpin turns so you could appreciate who was ahead of you, or leading. By the time the Ladies and Old Yins (65+) competitors gathered at the start, the heavens had opened, and they set about ploughing up the course for the rest of us. Gibby was first Westy home, ahead of H&H legend Dave Logue; a drookit Helen followed, declaring it to be a "great course" - good attitude! Sheila and Pat followed, while we wimpy men huddled shivering in the gazebo. At last we were called to the start, and once we were running, it was indeed a grand course. My downhill running technique, honed by Westies, proved itself on both steep descents. I also discovered a use for a race marshal: to tie my shoelace! as you can't do it when glove-clad and numb. Towards the end of lap 2, I came across a disconsolate John Quinn, hobbling with an ankle sprain, but promising greater things at Falkirk in two weeks. Meanwhile, Chris and Jon Slowe were our leading finishers, with Don midway between these fast young chaps and me. Selected Westy results: Women's race: 45 Helen MacPherson 31.30 53 Sheila Thomson 35.11 55 Pat McLaughlin 35.54 Men's V65+ race: 5. Gibby Fleming 27.46 Men's V40+ race: 25 Jon Slowe 32.02 40. Chris Upson 32.49 128. Don Reid 38.24 168. Graeme Orr 43.38

Posted by Graeme Orr on Sun 5 Feb 2012 | comments are open

Category cross country

Roscon 10K, marathon training and other stuff →

It's been some time since I've written a post for the website, but it's also been some time since my last race. I've had a few, but nothing noteworthy. I've been training for the Barcelona Marathon at the end of March, so for once I actually feel like I'm doing some proper running preparation, as opposed to sporadic sessions at half six in the morning before work. Quite surprisingly, training has been great fun, and even more so is the fact that I don't feel too shattered, with the exception of Mondays of course. Since the end of December I've been doing regular 2:30-3 h runs at the weekends and yet my legs still feel quite spritely during sessions, so I was looking forward to this 10K to get a feel of how well training's been going.

I'd been well-warned by locals not to expect a PB if it was a normal January day in Zaragoza. The cold and windy weather really bites here in the winter months and, as I've been discovering, seriously slows you down at times. The 10K race route takes in a great open stretch of the River Ebro and crosses one of the fancy new bridges built for the 2008 Expo so that the course winds up in the Luis Bunel Water Park. This leaves runners fully exposed when the wind blows. And of course it did. Not the worst I've experienced, but enough to slow my target pace of 3.30 min/km down to 3.45 and even 3.50 at the most exposed parts. There's not much else to say about the race except that I started well, felt comfortable most of the way, overtook a few folk in the first few kms and held my place from 3-8 km; although I dropped two places towards the end. All in all a fine race and I was pleased to finish 12th in 36:20, despite this being a good 50 secs below my target time!

In many ways the following day was more interesting. I'd heard news of a new 50 km race taking place in June in the Montes Blancos just outside of the city. More or less every direction out of Zaragoza leads you to some sandy 300-400 m-high white hills covered in bristly bushes and spiky trees. These are great places for training as they're all quite undulating and make for interesting trail runs. However, it turned out that some folk were meeting up to have a look at the first part of the route for the race. So we met up at 7.30am on Monday morning and took the tour which covers 30 km and 400 m total climb. It was nice enough: nice to meet some new runners and see the sunrise in the hills and learn some new training routes, but by all accounts the last 20 km (the second loop) should be the most scenic and involves more ascents. As far as the race itself is concerned, in addition to the 50 km distance, arguably the toughest part will be the starting time of 1pm which means that runners will be racing in heat which is likely to be 30 oC. So although this race seems like fun, I'm going to wait until I tackle the marathon before I make any final decisions on running it.

Hope to have some more race reports soon, it's great reading all the posts. Of course, if anyone has any marathon training and racing tips they'd be greatly appreciated!

Photos

TMT 50K

Posted by Scott Mitchell on Tue 31 Jan 2012 | 5 comments

Category road race

Scottish Vets Relay →

Results | Route | Photos

Westerlands first ever outing at the Scottish Vets Relay. Each leg was a 5.9km lap of Strathclyde Loch, starting and finishing at the water sports centre. The Westies team consisted of Chris, Jon Slowe, Don Reid and John Quinn.

I set off with good intentions on Leg 1, and passed through the first kilometre in 3:17, sitting in 5th place for a while. But lack of training and sleep deprivation meant I couldn't sustain this sort of pace, so slumped back down the field to 15th, before rallying at the end to jump past Paul Carroll of Clydesdale and Crispin Walsh of Bella Harriers, to finish in 20:50.

Jon Slowe took over for Leg 2 and ran 20:40 to pull us up to 7th team. Don ran 22:57, dropping 3 places, and finally John Quinn ran the anchor leg nursing a calf strain in 24:02, to bring us home in 13th place.

Posted by Chris Upson on Mon 30 Jan 2012 | 3 comments

Category Relays

Lock 27 Time Trial - January 2012 →

23rd January 2012

Lock 27 TT results spreadsheet including all-time positions

Ok folks - after a long deliberation by the jury, here are the results of Monday's Lock 27 Time Trial.

14 ran - a very good turn out so thank you one and all. The good turn out helped produce some great runs including those from four new people:

- James Callender - 17:20 and fastest on the night. We'll be looking for sub-17 next time to join the elite band. (Currently 10th best all-time performance)
- Jamie Provan - 21:45. A good opener and with scope to edge this down, perhaps ultimately under the 20.
- John McInally - 20:12 and third in the handicap on the night. Very good and we will want to see a sub-20 next time.
- Vicki McLaren - 24:35. Well done and can't believe its a first time.

OK .... so the rest:-

- Johnston - sold a dummy to Dave C and wound up first in the handicap and second fastest overall in a huge PB of 17:28.
- Owen - second in the handicap and third overall in 17:44.
- Dave C - in 19:27 - happy Chinese New Year Dave - good to see you.

Our ladies:-

- Vicki - as above - cracking run especially post-Burdens.
- Pat - 27:10 on the night
- Fiona - 25:38 on the night
- Helen - 23:54 on the night
- Muffy - 22:50 and fastest of the girls. Glad you are not weighed down by your honours Muffy ... good to see you.

Best of the rest / gents:-

- Colin P - 24:20
- Gibby - 21:30
- John Hamer - 21:08 ... good run John

Thanks again - we can see some of you are set for something even better next time out a special thanks to the girls (!).

Posted by Nigel Scott on Sat 28 Jan 2012 | comments are open

Category time trial

Devils Burdens 2012 →

21st January 2012

Results | Fastest Leg Times | Photos

To the astonishment of many, not least themselves, Westerlands fielded 5 complete teams for the Burdens this year with no late call-offs, no-one running twice, and everyone turning up on time (just - Val!).

Captainess Paula is a late addition to the New Year Honours List for her achievement in assembling 2 women's teams, and the fairer sex opted for the 9:30 start. Val Houston and Gillian Irvine made welcome appearances on Leg 1 along with Sheila Thomson and Social Secretary Fiona Hutchinson, no doubt enjoying the sunny start. Some complex childminding arrangements allowed Brenda to run Leg 2, and Vicki McLaren made her Westies debut on the run over to Scotlandwell. The women's teams were close together during the entire circuit, with Eleanor and Paula arriving at Strathmiglo in close proximity to Helen and Christine. Two more new Westies debuted on Leg 4 and finished strongly - Claire Larravide brought the B team home exactly 1 minute ahead of Gaynor Gillespie for the A team, in worsening windy weather and with shouts of encouragement from me on the course.

The men also observed a simple naming convention for the teams - no Marlins, Piranhas or HBTalent for us! Manny managed to remember the punch card and set off with Chris for the A team while Dave Rogers and JD opened the event for Team B, and Brian and Murdo got the Vets underway. Sam Alexander tried to confuse the opposition by wearing a GUHH vest on Leg 2, and was quickly followed by Ewan Dytch guesting for Team B. There were some good battles down to the handover, with a notably quick descent from Bella's Mark Johnston, but Robbie Simpson blew everyone else away with a run that was more than 2 minutes faster than the next-fastest man and suddenly fired Deeside into 4th place.

Burdens newbies James Callender and Alasdair Duke took on Leg 3 for Team B, with the now-established pairing of Niall and the Bonny Man heading up Bishop Hill and over West Lomond for the A squad. Keith Adams passed the baton to the Billiard Ball Brothers, looking very suspicious in balaclavas for the Vets. Check the Fife local news for bank robberies in Glenrothes...

John Denovan brought the A team home in 13th place overall, lower than last year but comfortably ahead of Bella A who had indulged in some Westies-bashing banter beforehand. I anchored Team B to a lowly 35th, behind Carnethy Ladies A and Fife Junior Boys. Oops. At least James got to say that he'd been Mudged. Gibby ran the trail leg for the Vets.

On behalf of all the Westies teams, a big thanks to the Captain and Captainess for organising, and thanks to the ever-hospitable hosts Fife AC. Let's hope that we see another big turnout of male and female Westies for the final big winter team event next month - the National XCs.

Final thought on the day comes from James, on his Leg 3 (and first Burdens) experience. How was it? "Awesome!"

Selected Results
1. Shettleston Men 2.24.58
13. Westerlands Men A 2.42.36
25. Carnethy MV50 A 2.52.43 (1st MV50)
26. HBTantrums 2.52.45 (1st Female)
35. Westerlands Men B 3.01.41
68. Westerlands Men V50 3.25.58
103. Westerlands Women B 4.02.36
105. Westerlands Women A 4.03.36

121 teams ran

Posted by Johnston Orr on Sat 21 Jan 2012 | 9 comments

Category Relays

New Westie →

Just in case anyone hasn't already heard, a new Westie entered the world at 5.35am on Monday 9th January, weighing in at 7lb 12oz.

Mummy Homewood and the wee man are doing just fine.

And thanks for all the well wishes!

Posted by Chris Upson on Sun 15 Jan 2012 | 1 comment

Category news

The Grim Gallop →

9th January 2012

GrimOrr had requested a special birthday run to celebrate his 64th, so after a well-attended reps session, Westies old and new set off on part of the old GU Road Race circuit (aka Westies L27 Time Trial route).

Grim set a cracking pace down Great Western Rd and along Dorchester Ave, going through the mile marker in 7:11 and completing the circuit of just under 2 miles in under 15 mins including tackling Cleveden Hill. A fantastic effort - many happy returns!

Posted by Johnston Orr on Mon 9 Jan 2012 | 9 comments

Category club runs

Borders XC at Paxton House →

8th January 2012
I first heard about the Borders XC from Claire Ward at the Braid Hills Race. By then I’d missed the first race in the series. I’d known the race was on but assumed it was a district event. The second race was in Dunbar which seemed a bit far (ha! ha!). The next two clashed with orienteering and so, today, I finally made it to the 5th race. The concept is simple, you register the first time you race, pay for a number and then just turn up to the remaining races. It cost £12 at the first 3 races and £6 from race 4. The age categories are in 5-year bands and there are prizes but you only qualify if you complete at least 4 events. The Junior race started at 11.30 and was pretty busy (103). The Senior race started at 12.00 and was even busier (160). The field had to narrow down pretty quickly and as I concentrated on not falling over anyone I heard the lone cry of “come on Westerlands” among the shouts for HBT and Gala (Harriers). Suddenly, I was glad that Craig had decided to come along with me. He popped up at various points on the course to give me support. It was an interesting route with 2 loops. From the start, behind Paxton House, the first loop heads into a field. Up one side, across a fence that had been dropped (twice), back down the field but dodging trees to a gate cows had obviously used. I’d checked this out before the race and chatted to the 2 marshalls on duty there about the options as there were markers going round the worst of the mud. No you didn’t have to follow the markers. Most of the juniors had jumped the mud but there had been a few lost shoes. You could also jump the fence and avoid the mud.
Now it was decision time – I jumped the mud, didn’t lose any shoes and overtook a few people who were jumping the fence! We then headed along a track, into the woods and down to the River Tweed, along the bank of the river, including one section on stone (so glad I’d opted for Mudclaws over spikes) across a wooden bridge and then uphill back through the woods towards the house. Short section on road across a bridge then back round the first field. I jumped the mud (again) but this time we headed on a shorter loop that took us through some trees then down a steep bank, across a stream and back up a steep bank. Along a track that became exceedingly muddy again threatening to swallow up shoes, back across the road bridge and then into and round another muddy field. After the field there was a steep uphill where, even though my legs were dying, I managed to overtake a couple of people. Then it was back round towards the finish where I tried to drum up the energy for that final sprint that had served me so well at the beginning of December but it didn’t seem to be there. Still everyone else seemed to be in much the same state and so nobody passed me as I pushed for the line.
Soup and sausage on a roll in the Stables Tea Room afterwards was the perfect end to my first Borders XC experience. I’ll definitely be back.
The next race is at Berwick on 29th Jan and promises some sand.

Posted by Pauline McAdam on Mon 9 Jan 2012 | 3 comments

Category cross country

Not-the-Aonach-Mor Uphill Race →

When I asked Ros for her comment, all I got was 'It was foul'. It had seemed such a good idea; What better way to see in a New Year than a run to your (relative)strengths,uphill only, on a beautiful winter's day. Snow, clear blue sky, sunshine, a gentle zephyr wafting us up the hill..... it was foul! Due to a power cut there was no gondola and no cafe. The hoped-for zephyr was gale force at the bottom station with torrential freezing rain. The race was therefore abandoned and a trail race of about 5 miles,substituted round the forest trails; what's to say ? It was foul.

P.S. Our apologies to a couple of other Westie vests glimpsed through the gloop; morale was at an all time low and we finished, changed and set off straight home with the car heater on max. Support also there from Kingussie. Results are now at; http://www.lochaberac.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/LAC-Alternative-Aonach-Mor-Uphill-2012.pdf

Posted by Malcolm Evans on Sun 8 Jan 2012 | 2 comments

Category Hill Race

Saturday long run →

7th January 2012

Route and stats on Garmin Connect

This was one of the weekend long run options. Really a medium-long effort, it was knocked off at a good clip with the able assistance of Alasdair Miller and Alasdair Duke. Mr Duke had his trademark rucksack, and Mr Miller looked as unruffled as ever by the pace, although he insisted this wasn't just an easy jog for him. I think of him as a sort of Don Reid runner....not a hair out of place....no, hang on....that's just "not a hair", isn't it? Meanwhile, back at the running, the guys really pushed me on and I think there'll be another similar run next week - same time, same place for more good training.

James, I hope you enjoyed your climbing. Certainly a nice clear day for it.

Posted by Johnston Orr on Sat 7 Jan 2012 | 6 comments

Category club runs