JasonBellyAches said...

My 1st go at this, but heard a lot about it and it lived up to my expectations. Not raced since Glen Rosa which seems a long time ago, and ran lots of miles last week (53) so feeling heavy legged not fast but looking forward to this.

The climb was a beast, but I felt steady, certainly not my worst ever. It was very humid though and my face was streaming. Then the lovely runnable top meant I could begin to peg back some of those who climbed away from me, including through some moody cloud on top of Andrew Gannell,and finally the lovely descent. As ever I passed a few, then got stomach pains in the middle and seeing a W vest in front had a mad dash for the end. What a lovely race and a good do in the pub afterwards, though shockingingly the purple road monsters were there in force and winning loads! Is this the shape of things to come, and as JD said, will they change their name? Severe stomache pains all night afterwards so not sure if this is a consequence of a hard race or the pre race pot noodle! Great turnout of 14 Ws I think.

Thursday 19th July 2007 10.34am

Chris said...

Well done to the 16 Westies at Maddy Moss last night, and 3rd place to Manny!

John - who was the unknown runner between you and Simon?

Results

Thursday 19th July 2007 1.42pm

MannyG said...

A great turnout by Westies on a perfect evening, at what is one of my favourite routes and deserves a crack at being a Scottish Champs race, if it could only be moved to a Saturday as a one-off...?I was lying 7th at the top of Ben Cleuch and saw a titanic battle unfolding between a flurry of Westies vests going in the opposite direction - apologies if I didn't shout you on, but I was having trouble finding the puff!Having set off extremely slowly, I eased myself into the main climb and pulled back dozens of places before tucking in behind Jamie Thin in 7th for quite a while, then making a move on after the fence jump, and pushing hard into 4th, up Andrew Gannel Hill in the mist. I timed my next bid too late and didn't quite get past Ochil's Bob Wiseman before the long narrow fast track back down the glen, and as a result he held me up considerably, (probably costing me a minute) fighting off all my overtaking challenges and ultimately any hope of 2nd place.A mad blast just before going into the bracken shook Bob off for good and a relatively easy jog over the line.A fantastic burst of yellow saw 6 Westies finish in just 3 minutes with Steff leading them home - great stuff!Well done Westies!

Thursday 19th July 2007 5.12pm

Graham K said...

Having done a tour of every set of roadworks in the Stirling area (in an attempt to find a short cut), I rolled up with just enough time to get changed and enter before plodding up towards the start. With the legs still a bit heavy from Glen Clova, I decided a steady race was in order. After the nice wee track at the start, I was able to get a few places on the steep climb before a game of "I will pass you then you can pass me" started with Helen Stuart of Bella. I was certain at the tail end of the Westies vests with Steffan, JD and Simon all ahead at the summit of Cleuch - had a brief attempt of catching Simon on the way to Gannel but only suceeded in really trashing myself (and letting Helen S scoot past in the progress) - down on the single track and it was time to lose a few more places before the last drop through the bracken where I was able to get back in front of Helen.

Really pleased to find I had got another 5 minutes off my PB for Maddy Moss - pressure on for next year !

Great turnout of the yella Westies vests indeed.

Saturday 21st July 2007 8.15pm