Entries by james.callender

Strathpuffer 2024

This one had been on the to-do list for a while.   The format is simple, you start riding your bike around the woods outside Strathpeffer at 10am Saturday and keep on going until 10am Sunday, trying for as many laps in the process. Various configurations of rider(s) are available but we opted for a

Two Races: Dale Head & Tinto

WHERE? Dale Head – The picturesque Lakeland finery of the Borrowdale Valley. Tinto – That ambiguous stretch of Scotland that isn’t quite the Borders and isn’t quite Lanarkshire. WHAT? Dale Head – A dash across a field, a ‘high-feet’ gallop through a burn (a beck?), then on to a steep track and then even steeper

Merrick Hill Race 2023

The final counter in this year’s SHR Champs took place on Sunday at Merrick. I’d heard it was a fine hill, but had never been there before. I suppose it is a fine hill, though the views were non-existent and I can’t say I enjoyed ultra-slippy steepness at the start and finish. There were a

JC’s E-Z Guide to Winning Hill Races

With the right mix of strategy, tactics and a pinch of good luck you too can win a hill race! Here’s how: BE FASTER – To win a hill race you have to be faster than the other folk there. Thems the breaks. But that doesn’t mean you have to be ‘super-fast’. Take me for

Ben Rinnes 2023

I had three goals at Ben Rinnes this year: START THE RACE – After sustaining a back injury on the dancefloor at my brother’s wedding the weekend before (well someone had to get the boy up on their shoulders), I was struggling to put on shoes and the thought of completing a Long Classic seemed

Isle of Jura Fell Race 2023 – Westie-Era

And I had such high hopes as well! Training going well, feeling fit all round, excellent weather and a solid turnout – this was going to be a good year! But no, sadly not to be a wee cold meant I was feeing a bit peaky at the start, going slow at CP1, feeling like

Goatfell 2023 – Ease on Down the Road

Pick your left foot up/When your right foot’s down/Come on legs keep movin’/Don’t you lose no ground/You just keep on keepin’/On the road that you choose/Don’t you give up walkin’/Cause you gave up shoes/Eeeeaaassseee on down the road – Ease on Down the Road, Consumer Rapport (1975) Alwyn and I got on the 09.45 sailing

Alan Scally Road Relay 2023

My morning errands took longer than anticipated so I arrived at the Green late. Hurriedly getting changed in to race kit I was shocked to find that my club vest seems to have shrunk by at least two sizes; or it was actually Niall’s left in my car after the Kilps relays. Robert had a

Kilpatricks C.U.T.E.

In the same week that the US Air Force convinced itself that shooting down an Illinois hobbyist’s balloon was repelling an imminent Chinese invasion, a hundred or so runners were under the shared delusion that by participating in a Competitive Unofficial Training Event they were racing in the Kilpatricks. From the outside it might have

Kilpatricks Kaper 2022

Another smooth and successful iteration of the Kilpatricks Kaper happened last Wednesday.   96 runners went up the hill, 96 runners came down the hill. All seemed to have a good time. It was a Westies win-win with Tom and Ellen storming to first places in record times – 8s under for Tom and Ellen