Chatelherault Handicap Race →

Including helpers (Drew and I) and non-racers (Elizabeth & Neil) there was a healthy turnout of around 20 for this trail run round Chatelherault Country Park. Poor Drew had to endure an hour of horrendous hailstones to set the trail, though probably half the field managed to take different routes than that set by him. Fortunately the weather relented for the start to give us benign conditions. Sarah won the Westies Easter Egg for first finisher, just holding off John. Pat was third and, due to her taking the correct route, probably the moral victor! Captain Chris was fastest runner. See you all at the next Handicap - the Simon Triger Memorial Race at Dumgoyne on 23rd May.

1 Sarah Adam...........66m 17s
2 John McInally...... ..66m 19s
3 Pat Mclaughlin...... .67m 02s
4 Peter Midgely........ 67m 22s
5 Graham Kelly....... .67m 51s
6 Hamilton Semple... 68m 03s
7 Duncan Riddell.... ..68m 12s
8 John Quinn ............68m 26s
9 Chris Upson...........68m 40s
10 John Hutchinson ..69m 43s
11 Johnston Orr...... .70m 34s
12 Don Reid........... .72m 28s
13 David Dickson.... 73m 55s
14 Jamie Provan ......75m 15s
15 John Hamer ........77m 22s
16 Gibson Fleming... 80m 51s

 

Chris Upson .......44m 40s
Graham Kelly .....47m 51s
John Quinn .........49m 26s
Johnston Orr..... .49m 34s
Don Reid ............50m 28s
Hamilton Semple .51m 03s
Sarah Adam ........51m 17s
Duncan Riddell ....52m 12s
John McInally ......54m 19s
Peter Midgely ......57m 22s
John Hutchinson ...58m 43s
David Dickson .....59m 55s
Jamie Provan .......62m 15s
John Hamer .........64m 22s
Pat Mclaughlin......67m 02s
Gibson Fleming ....67m 57s

Posted by John Donnelly on Thu 12 Apr 2012 | 6 comments

Category handicap races

Clachnaben Hill Race →

7 April 2012

There was a new improved route for the first counter in this year's SHR Championship, a fair bit shorter and - by most accounts - a fair bit better than the original, with more runnable climbs and less ankle twisting descents. After the usual obligatory stampede with 200 plus runners jostling for places, I had a fairly steady run through the forest and up onto the hillside, although I seemed to be losing a bit of ground to the group ahead of me on the climb up Mount Shade and I just managed to keep them in sight on the descent down towards the forest above Miller's Bog. From here the new route takes you up Clachnaben by the tourist path from the East via the Slack of Dye, which is steep at first but just about runnable all the way. This kind of climb suits me and I pulled in quite a few places, rounding the summit the tor hard on the heels of Graeme Bartlett of Forres, who I'd finished just in front of last year. The path on the way down that should have made for an easy descent was still filled with snowdrift and the best route seemed to be the peaty edge between the path and the heather. I found the soft edge awkward though, and was soon caught by most of the folk I'd passed on the way up, including Konrad Rawlik and Jon Ashcroft of Carnethy and Iain Whiteside from Edinburgh HH who went flying past. By the time I reached the track leading back to the forest I was about twenty metres off the back of the group in front having been caught by another Forres runner but I was feeling fairly strong and knew there was still a final short climb to come and, after a timely verbal kick up the arse from Manny - 'pull your socks up old chap, there's places to be had!' or words to that effect - began to pull back a few bodies. I caught Graeme just before we left the track for the rougher ground leading to the last wee hill and by the top I was just behind Jon and Konrad, with Stephen Rawlinson of Lochtayside not far ahead. Whereas the old finish involved a hundred yard uphill dash, the new route ends in a mad downhill sprint and although I couldn't catch Konrad, I managed to pull pass Jon before almost running into Stephen Rawlinson's back, who moved across (thinking I was coming on the other side) just as I attempted to mug him on the line.

At the front of the race, Joe Symonds of HBT had had a great battle with Thames Valley Harrier Chris Smith, before pulling ahead in the final stages to win in 62.43, with last year's winner and local lad Robbie Simpson finishing a fair way back in 66.54. Fife's Mark Harris picked up yet another v40 prize ahead of Stewart Whitlie and Brian Marshall, while Catriona Buchanan of Ochil Hill Runners was the clear winner of the women's race, finishing in a time of 78.05, more than four minutes ahead of her nearest rival, Claire Gordon of HBT.

Great to see a fair turnout of Westies too, with Mindy, Brian, Val, Peter, Ros and Brenda all running well, and thanks to Manny and Maisy for the vocal support.

1. Joe Symonds 62.43
2. Chris Smith 63.20
3. Robbie Simpson 66.54
15. Brian Bonnyman 73.48
109. Murdo MacLeod 94.22 (2nd V60)
117. Brian Brennan 96.31
166. Val Brunton 108.25
169. Peter Grassi 108.40
188. Ros Evans 114.08 (1st FV60)
213. Brenda Paul 135.26

Posted by Brian Bonnyman on Thu 12 Apr 2012 | 1 comment

Category Hill Race

Kilnaboy 10 mile →

Myself and Claire made the long trip from Maryhill to Kilnaboy, Co Clare, Ireland for the Kilnaboy 10 miler. Well the trip just happened to fit with a Leinster Heineken cup quarter final, a friends birthday party and a free lift from Irvine to Dublin from my golfing parents...

The race itself is through the Burren in Co Clare, a beautiful if slightly surreal looking limestone karsk landscape. I was hoping to recognise some faces but guess I'm away too long as there was nobody there I knew. After a warm up and a quick look at the race map you could tell that it was going to be 4 miles with the wind, 4 miles against and then a last hilly 2 miles with a tough uphill finish. That meant that the first 4 miles were fast... too fast... I ran 5:25, 5:15, 5:30 and 5:20. When I turned into the wind I almost instantly regretted my initial effort, but thankfully managed to tuck in with a few others and maintain a good pace at about 6 min miles. At 8 miles I took a quick look at the watch again, I was eyeing running sub 60 but with the wind was not too sure it was going to happen, it said 45:45, this gave me a big boast and help me keep pushing hard over the undulating last 2 miles. Up the finial 500m was tough but I hung on and came in in 57:22, good enough for 9th.

Claire had a good race too, coming home in a time of 1:21:28... she's looking good to smash 4hr in the Lochaber marathon next Sunday ;-)

Posted by Niall McAlinden on Wed 11 Apr 2012 | 3 comments

Category road race

Easter Eigg-ing →

Don Reid, myself and a whole host of assorted others gathered on the lovely Isle of Eigg for Laurie Anderson's Easter Eigg races, Saturday had us at the pier racing up the amazing lava plug of An Sgurr (covered in clag) and then on Sunday we were up in the north of the island at Cleadale for a wee sprint up Dunan Thalasgair (slightly less claggier) finishing on the beach. Don ran well on Sat and I felt pleased with my first run in my "alternate" gold and black colours of Lomond Hillrunners! Revenge of the Westies Gods was had on Sun when my legs simply refused to work when the black"W" was donned instead, and I just avoided picking up the wooden spoon. Never mind, it was a great fun weekend of spectacular races on a cracking little island. Well recommended to all for a wee visit from Mallaig. We stayed at the lovely Kildonan Guesthouse, and Don had a cute wee self catering kind of bothy.

My Photos

Isle of Eigg website

An Sgurr race data

Cleadale race data

Posted by John Donnelly on Wed 11 Apr 2012 | 3 comments

Category Hill Race

Grim's Gallop →

A new Westies club run was christened by over a dozen Westies at Darnley. Grim had laid out a cracking trail round the paths, reservoirs and fields of Darnley and Barrhead and even the weather was kind to us. Woodland trails started us off as we headed up out Waulkmill Glen Reservoir and Balgray Reservoir where we had great views over Glasgow to the Arrochar Alps, Ben Lomond and Trossachs, before trotting back downhill.. The evening was rounded off well with a fine buffet curry at the Ashoka, where Jamie ate his way to the top of the 2012 Curry League.

 

GPS Trail

Posted by John Donnelly on Tue 10 Apr 2012 | 1 comment

Category club runs

Hadrian's Wall Extravaganza →

This was another memorable and thoroughly enjoyable event that was notable for the collective spirit of ingenuity and flexibility that overcame the weather, injury and illness to have a spectacular finish in the setting sun at 7:16 pm at Bowness.

The number of fit and able runners steadily declined from the 22 on Thursday to 21 on Friday, to 19 on Saturday at 8 am, then finally 17 by 3pm. All the fit participants rose to the occasion by adopting dual personalities, running for two teams at the same time, doing extra legs, moving change over points to extend legs and general pushing themselves very hard to get to the end.

We adopted the Westies tried and tested approach by starting late as a number of cars found it difficult to find the start in the dark. It was noted that the person who had to come the furthest (Rob from Edinburgh) was there first.

As it grew brighter it also got colder and wetter, but the general mood improved as we found a petrol station selling coffee and the A team arrived right on time from Glasgow.

By Chesters the shortage of fit and able runners was beginning to tell and people were seen in huddles making increasingly imaginative plans to fill in the gaps. Rumour has it there were discussion with some of the fitter tourists who were going in our direction and the possibility of using some of the many local sheep, but neither of these was put into action. Later in the day some people were driven by the heat and exertion to seek solace in a nice little pub just by a change over point and we thought we had lost them forever.

So after a great deal of hard work we all arrived at Bowness a bit foot sore but with a great sense of achievement. We were then able to head back to Greenhead for some well earned food and a Westies social evening that lasted well into the morning.

Again thanks to everyone who took part, ran and ran again, made food and worked so hard to make it fun.

Posted by John Hutchinson on Sun 1 Apr 2012 | 7 comments

Category Social Run

Deuchary Hill Race →

25 March, 2012

Results

Record temperatures coincided with a record turnout for the last of Adrian Davis's Highland Boundary Hill Races. Lounging around before the start in the spring sunshine it felt more like June than March and it seemed hard to believe that on the same day two years ago the race route had to be shortened due to snow. I'd fancied having a go at one of these races for a while and a rare Sunday without child-ferrying duties made Deuchary the default choice. And it was good to see fellow Westies Chris, Cam and John also toeing the line, with Chris celebrating a rare full night's sleep by lining up for his second race of the weekend.

The route starts with a runnable single track climb snaking up and round the forested slopes of Carn o Barns, before heading north east along forestry tracks towards Deuchary Hill. As the leaders sped off, I'd started fairly steadily but after catching a couple of folk on the forestry track the next group in front were a fair bit ahead and pulling away, and I was beginning to feel the effects of the heat. I scooped a quick handful of water from the burn as the route left the track at the bridge crossroads and narrowed to grassy trods climbing towards Deuchary Hill, and I was surprised to see I was beginning to close in on some of the runners ahead. I made a bit if an effort on the climb and managed to catch a few runners on the final steep pull and was on the shoulder of a Moorfoot runner (I think) who politely offered to let me pass just before the summit: I could barely manage the breath to decline, realising I had overcooked the climb and had nothing left, and sure enough he flew away from me on the descent and I didn't see him again. An Edinburgh Uni lad who I'd caught a few minutes earlier also skipped pass and was soon a few hundred yards ahead, but I'd been warned it was a long drag back and so just tried to take it steady and enjoy the lovely scenic route through the heather and pine trees, hoping I could recover enough not to lose any more places on the long drag back along the forestry track. Although it's almost all downhill to the finish there were a few slightly uphill sections on the track and, encouraged by an over the shoulder glance of the Edinburgh runner, I began to pull him back on these bits until we were neck and neck going into the last checkpoint. We had a good little battle over the next few miles, with him stronger on the downhills and me catching on him the ups until I finally managed to pull away over the last mile, which seemed never ending in the heat.

By the time I'd collapsed in a dehydrated heap at the finish line, Robbie Simpson had already been cooling off for the best part of ten minutes: despite the heat and having broken his own record at Birnam the day before, he had taken over five minutes off the race record, with a time of 1:23:58. Matt Sullivan of Shetts was next in 1:26:30 followed by Cosmic's Chris Hill in 1:29:53. Mark Harris was first vet 40 in 1:30:21, and Angela Mudge 1st female in 1:36:02, ahead of HBT's Claire Gordon, who finished 1:45:04. I was 8th and maybe 2nd vet 40, in around 1:33:10. Cam, who'd dragged his dad's dog round the course, finished not long after me, but I'm not sure where Chris and John came as I had to head off sharpish after the race. Thanks to Adrian and his team for organising such a great race.

Posted by Brian Bonnyman on Fri 30 Mar 2012 | 2 comments

Category Hill Race

Birnam Hill Race →

Results

Another Saturday another hill race, this time at Birnam which is pretty close to where I live so travel should have been easy. However, due to well-meaning but ill-starred efforts to give other people a lift, which failed miserably I got there just a few minutes before the off and was about the last person to register. The weather was fantastic and there was a field of just over a 100. This included Robbie Simpson who holds the record so everybody knew their percentage finishing time was likely to take a battering. Des Crowe asked Robbie why he didn't leave smaller races for the slower guys to give them a chance and Robbie muttered he wasn't running that well at the moment .......aye right!

As we stood at the start I got a serious slagging from Colin and Joan Wilson who had been told, by Jean Bowman, how badly I was running. Given I had done a couple of 2 hour+ runs during the week and my previous week's disastrous climb at Chapelgill I didn't know what to expect. The race started and we were off .....surprise, surprise, Robbie started pulling away at the front. I went steady until the hill proper when, like everybody around me, I settled into the demented uphill speed walk with hands on knees. I kept my place in the pack pretty well until it flattens a bit and then dropped a few places before the top where I was just behind Colin Wilson. Chased after Colin and managed to pass him on the long descent back down to beside the railway track.

At the bottom of the descent quite a few of the runners a hundred metres or so ahead had, accidentally I think, cut the course short by about 20 seconds or so and it probably needs better marking or a marshal at that point. On the undulating last mile or so I couldn't hold Colin and he got past me. I was pleased with the improvement from the previous week, particularly with the longer runs I'd done as part of preparation for the Highlander and Jura.

Robbie won, beating his previous year's record, with Calum Gilhooley 2nd and Stewart Whitlie 3rd. Sarah O'Neil beat Angela Mudge to be 1st lady. I was the only Westie which is surprising for a race that's not too far from the Central belt.

Posted by Brian Brennan on Tue 27 Mar 2012

Category Short hill race

Chapelgill - belated report →

I'd hoped Murdo, Don, Malcolm or Ros would write a report for Chapelgill but no sign of it so here goes. A field of 50 plus turned up for this great wee race just outside Broughton. I'd done it twice before and had ran not too badly the previous year so was looking forward to it. Game plan was to start by following Murdo, try to keep him close, and then catch and pass him on the downhill. There was a lot of good banter before the race as we stood around in the sunshine but Don's scurrilous attack on Dick Wall's chances of hang gliding was a highlight for me, I'll never be able look at the man again without thinking of Don's description of the size of the set of wings required to support DW......"the sky would darken under them, bigger than the wings on a jumbo jet, etc etc". Unfortunately the race started, Matt Sullivan began to put distance between himself and the rest of the field who started to stretch out behind him. My master plan went well for about the first 100m of climb then I started going backwards, not literally but it felt like it, Murdo disappeared into the distance chasing an even more sprightly Don the Dome and I realised I was having a bad one. About half way up the different streams of runners come back together and even by then I was well back from my normal place in the pecking order and falling further behind. Every step was torture and it didn't help when a cheery Jean Bowman slapped me on the shoulder as she ran past saying "You're having a right disaster aren't you". Jean's been running well this year with every race a PB but she'd never beaten me up a hill before so things looked really bleak. As I didn't have a loaded revolver with me to stop the pain, to be honest I'd probably have missed anyway, I decided I may as well keep going and at least try to catch a few people on the descent. As the leaders came down the hill Matt Sullivan was well ahead, then a couple of Carnethy guys one of whom was a junior, then Alan Smith, with Don well placed and Murdo having a good run. Further down the field but still well ahead of me were Malcolm and Ros Evans. Richard Gatehouse spurred me on as we neared the summit where, at last, gravity became my best friend and I battered off down the hill. Within a minute or two I passed Jean and three others including Ros, about 400m ahead was Malcolm who was being caught by Davy Duncan and I wondered if I could catch them. They seemed to be going a bit too far right and I took what I thought was a more direct line ........hallelujah ! ....came out directly above the finishing line on a level with Davy who had passed Malcolm and I just managed to keep things going to cross the line ahead of DD. Great descent but over 3 minutes slower than last year .....all lost on the climb .....aaaaaagh! Anyway ...Matt Sullivan had won by a large margin while Alan Smith had overtaken the Carnethy guys to take second place. First lady and 5th overall was Charlotte Morgan of Carnethy. Don was 9th just behind Sandy Bennett and Murdo was 21st and faster than last year. Malcolm was 31st and Ros was 38th and first FV60. Robin Morris's prize giving was a tad more subdued than normal and he seemed to miss several categories with no prizes for female V50s or V60s. Still a great race in good weather despite my own personal disaster.

Posted by Brian Brennan on Tue 27 Mar 2012

Category Short hill race

Barcelona Marathon →

I've finally managed to tackle a marathon and to be honest it's all a bit of a blur, with the exception of the pain towards the end of it. I'm hoping that some of the details come back as I write this!

After 14 weeks and a little less than 1000km of training, Sunday was M day. I'd been feeling less than prepared in the crucial two weeks prior to the race due to a nasty virus and had adjusted my 3:15 target to 'just finish in one piece', but a couple of days before the race I realised that I'd regained the weight I'd lost and was feeling totally up for it. I'd never taken part in such a huge race and was quite overwhelmed by the sheer number of people on the day. Luckily though, I was in the front pen and had loads of room to warm up and relax in the minutes before the 8.30am start. We were set off to some Mercury and Caballe and loads of spectators so the feeling and mood was great. I was feeling kind of sluggish for the first 1km or so but soon loosened up and felt as if was running very well. I therefore immediately adjusted my target pace of 4.30min/km (3:15 target) to my then current natural pace of 4.15min/km (3:00 target). This was my first mistake and, admittedly, one that I was pretty certain I'd make! So from the start to 21km it was great - I drank at every water station, took sports drinks and energy gels when available and was metronomic with my km splits - and I crossed the halfway mark at 1:29:58 ... perfect! This state of bliss continued for a further 10km or so as we passed loads of great landmarks and noisy crowds of spectators. And apart from a blister forming on my left toe, regular revision of how I was feeling showed absolutely nothing to worry about. And then at 33km the first signs of trouble appeared.

I noticed a twinge of pain in my left calf which I immediately associated with the cramp that I'd experienced on some of the long classics races and by 35km, as we were running along past the Olympic port on the Mediterranean coast it was pretty bloody sore! I kept on running and tried to relax as much as possible and continue to drink at every station but by 38km, as we entered the Plaza Cataluña heading towards the Gothic quarter, my quads were cramping and even my forearms - very odd and not enjoyable in the slightest. The downhill section of the Ramblas towards the Christopher Columbus monument was a welcome relief as I knew that the final 2km to the finish were uphill. I know I lost several dozen places on that stretch and my pace had slowed to between 4:45 and 5:05 min/km, but I pushed on and tried to maintain form and make it to the finish at Plaza España in one piece (and still running!).

I've never been so relieved and emotional to see a finish line in my life. I was also quite happy to see the clock showing 3:07 as I approached - I'd failed to even bother looking at the time for the majority of the race, other than noting it at the midway mark. Crossing the finishing line was glorious. I stumbled onwards to drink water and eat some fruit and blether with the other runners. It was only then that I noticed how warm it was and that maybe I should have tried even harder to stay hydrated. I've no idea why I suffered so badly from cramp. Was it poor running form? Was I not relaxed enough? Did I not manage to stay hydrated because of the heat? If anyone has any theories I'd be happy to hear them. It certainly made it interesting and even more memorable! It's been great to finally compete in a marathon and do some proper endurance training, so I'll be doing more in the future, that's for sure. But in the meantime, there're some great races in the Pyrenees coming up in the near future, so I better get my hill legs on!

Results

 

 

Posted by Scott Mitchell on Tue 27 Mar 2012 | 7 comments

Category Marathons