Dunbartonshire Relays

Big Al Sends Tremor Round Garscube as McColl sets Blistering Pace......Twice

It was a glorious day at Garscube earlier today for the Dunbartonshire Relays for a number of reasons. Firstly, it was the first race in the Westies Winter League....on home turf as well. Secondly, it was a jolly decent day for running. Thirdly, it was a jolly fine course! Fourthly, 14 Westies competed. And Fifthly, we were graced with the presence of Big Al. Campbell in his first competitive race for yonks.

Unfortunately, of the 14 Westies only two were women. Ana did the first stage in a fine time of 19:06, although she didn't look as if whe was trying that hard. Apparently she has threatened to join another club because Westerlands yellow isn't her colour. Well, so what Ana? That's precisely the reason the founder members picked the colour; it doesn't look good on anyone! Muffy did the second leg 10 seconds faster to claimm top points, although Ana did do a third leg only 19 seconds slower than her first stage.

There was a good traditional Westies start to the men's race with our star A runner, Nige, turning up too late. This meant that Mark had to do the first leg without a warm up. Not that he needed it, sprinting through the 3ish miles in 14:18 and coming in to the handover in 4th position. Nigel then set off (complete with black shorts matching perfectly his yellow vest, but more about that later), maintaining 4th place in an equally respectable time of 14:41. Last year's champ, Gibbie took off on the 3rd leg, holding on for grim death as he lost 4 places. Finally Blair ran an excellent anchor leg, justifying his A team place finishing in 9th position, 6 seconds faster then Gibbie.

Mention must be made of the excellent team selection at this point. Looks like Cap'n Charlie needs a few lessons from his stand-in, Blair. However, it has to be admitted that Blair made a small mistake by getting all the race numbers mixed up. This resulted in him chasing after Steffen in the first leg in order for his to swap Steff's '73' for his own '74'.

In the B team, Steffen, despite masquerading as an A team runner, ran a cracking 16:00 dead before handing over to Archie. Archie, then Sandy, maintained 16th place before handing over to Dave. It was a lonely final lap for Dave, who never saw a soul but still managed to gain 2 places for his team.

Donald set off first for the C team, with a pretty respectable time of 17:41. As Donald came into hand over, the crowd hushed before a mad rush of air signalled that Big Al had started on the second leg. Big Al stampeded around the trail setting off the biggest ecological disturbance seen in Garscube since the last ice age. It was a Campbell special, his legs sending tremors through the ground and his growls from the woods signalled clearly how he was feeling about the race. Not a bad time for a retiree either, finishing in just over 18 minutes! Drew took over from Big Al but still had to contened with the aftertremors from Al's recent disturbance. Big Al's performance was almost eclipsed by Mark McColl's second run to make up the numbers. His final stage for the C team was only 5 seconds slower than his first leg for the A Team and he managed to pull the team position frim 23rd back to 17th.

Elsewhere, Brian Edridge managed to run 16:42 running for Clydesdale, just edged by Sandy.

So, in the league, Muffy is just ahead of Ana, but there's not much in it. In the Men's league, Mark has stamped his authority right at the start, although Nigel could be in with a shout. My top tip is now for Blair, sho surprised everyone with his run today, whilst Gibbie could still retain the title despite his 4th fastest time today.

League postions and points are available on the website. Or there will be once Blair has sorted out a minor technical glitsch which means that every male competitor is called Mark!

Finally, a big thanks to Isabel, Pat, Helen, Karen and Margaret for helping out with timekeeping amnd marshalling. Also to the rest who helped gather up the markers, and especially to Drew for arranging the pins and tape in the first place.

Times

Women

Ana 19:06

Muffy 18:56

Ana 19:25

Mens A Team 9th

Mark 14:18

Nigel 14:41

Gibbie 15:56

Blair 15:50

Men's B Team 14th

Steff 16:00

Archie 16:45

Sandy 16:41

Dave 16:26

Men's C Team 17th

Donald 17;41

Big Al 18:13

Drew 20:05

Mark 14:23

Posted by Dave Calder on Sun 26 Oct 2003 | comments are closed

Category winter league