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Chapelgill Hill Race
It had been many years since I was in this lovely corner of the country for the brutal Chapelgill race. But it was a welcome return, with the weather being grand and lots of familiar friendly faces. Westies managed a good turnout for this first SHR Championship counter. It's really quite a simple wee race - bash straight up steeply for a mile and then turn around and madly cartwheel down the heather, quads protesting all the way. I got the race out of the way in just under half an hour, heavy legs making for a very slow start before hitting the summit cairn in 21 mins, and a mad dash back down in just over 7 mins. Manny led the Westies home many minutes ahead of me. A great afternoon's running and socialising. I even enjoyed a nice pre-race cycle down to the Talla and Megget reservoirs, before snapping my chain a mere mile before Chapelgill, where Elsie and Laurie came to my rescue.
Posted by John Donnelly on Sat 20 Mar 2010 | 4 comments
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Comments
Johnston said...
A proper day's work, JD! Yes, I admit that I really should have been bounding through the heather rather than bashing along the tarmac...
Saturday 20th March 2010 6.59pm
Don said...
What a fantastic day. After a really crap week at work which left me grumpier than a runner who had missed the BL entries, this re-vitalised me no end. Chapelgill is what hill running is all about - a great remote location, no parking issues, cheap entry and no miles of tarmac running before the real work begins. Today being the first scottish counter saw a record entry for this race - 175 (not so long ago Murdo and i did it with less than 20 runners!).
I had brought down with me a couple of the 'new' westies, Ally and Adam Gatens. Ally looked nervous but Adam was well up for it when he demanded Robin gave him no 1 at race entry.
I decided to try a new route at the start as i realised that with a field of 175, the normal traverse approach was going to get pretty congested unless your name was Hussain Bolt. So i went for the diretisimo behind Brian Marshal and Steve Fallon. This proved to be a good move because when our small snake merged with the big snake at the midway flatish point, i was in amongst the good guys.
Young Adam was just in front of me and looking tired but when i offered words of encouragement he took off and left me for dead! Snake Riach slithered past announcing that i was now 4th westie and disappeared in the crowd up front. Managed to hold my place to the top in about 50th place, but had pushed so hard on the climb, i felt weak on the descent. Still, a bit of effort saw me pick off a few bodies including the snake before the last knee trembling descent at the end. Enjoyed watching Allys desperate sprint to the line with jelly legs to pip Pat - such bad manners!
Cannot remember all the westies there but i saw Manny, JD, Murdo, the baxters, Helen, Pat, Pauline, Keith, Brian B - if there is anybody i forgot to mention, apologies.
A special well done to Ally who kept going when he felt like throwing in the towel, and to Adam for finishing so far up the field in a championship race at the age of 16.
Saturday 20th March 2010 8.09pm
Ally said...
Will I or won't I. I've seen Chapelgill from the bottom and only the bottom. It's only a mile and a half roughly, look at all those old guys that do it, surely I can??.....It's a beautiful morning, the sun's shining, the grass needs scarified, the windows need washed, the cars need washed, the new kitchen arrives soon and the wife's in a foul one! Don the Pot where are you?
We arrive just in time...only an hour and three quarters to the start!! The adrenalin is running, the spirits high the sun's shining and that monster climb is STILL there!!
Off we go...hey, this hill running lark is easy. Blowing hard now, but it's OK, it's only a mile and a half. Runing nice and free, graceful almost, passing runners all over the place, pretty hot with the sun on me and feeling good. The climb is getting tough though and I'm beginning to struggle. Wait a minute, what's that? A man dressed as a woman. A lovely floral dress with red lippy!! Can you give me a hand over the burn I ask as two six years old and a dog make the leap!!!
And then the start appears! The runners are off, 174 plus me. Ten yards in and blowing hard already, this isn't for me but I've got to finish. The rest is a blur - burning thighs, raspy throat and a magnificent gazelle like finish!!
Well done to ALL the runners - give me a ball and I'll run all day, but hill running - you guys are 2 or 3 studs short of a good pair of walsh's!!
Particulary impressed with young Adam's debut and thought it might have been a nice idea to award him a prize especially as young Robbie got 2nd overall. Also, thought Don the Pot should have got a prize for no other reason than being my mate!!
Saturday 20th March 2010 9.37pm
cat said...
I headed to Chapelgill chaufferressing 'The Snake' himself to the race, oh the priviledge! Had decided not to race, thinking that perhaps my current training of either walking along a flat railway line or driving the M8 wouldn't quite prepare me for this sudden climb. So I went a wee run up the back way and got to the top just in time to see some serious Westie competition with Helen, Pauline and Elspeth showing Pete and Keith exactly how an ascent should be done! Well done girls!!
Monday 5th April 2010 11.04am