BEN LOMOND 2007

This years race did not have the good weather of last year but despite this, proved to be another success. This was mainly due to the brilliant assistance of marshals, time keepers, car parking officials, the mountain rescue team (MRT), the new walkie talkies (which incidently were just about to reach the summit from the hotel!), and the team of people who ran the junior championship races without much interference from me. A big thanks to you all!.

What about the race itself? The MRT had warned me that the bad step was treacherously slippy & I passed this info on to the runners at the start. I think everybody took this on board and fortunately, we had no major injuries to deal with, though I would not like to be nursing the ankle strain that Brian Marshall went home with, but more on that later. The smart money was on either Simon Peachey or Brian Marshall to win though there was a threat from South of the border in the form of last minute entry Nim Lockwood from Borrowdale. True to form, Simon lead the race by about 1 minute as he turned at the summit, from Brian. This was a scene that was acted out 2 years ago, and on that occasion, Brian one of the best descenders in the business had very quickly caught and passed Simon. However this year Brian twisted his ankle big time at the bottom of the summit zigzags. Amazingly, he still managed to hobble in to finish in 18th place with a time of 1.21. This left Simon with a huge lead and he won in a time of 1.08.37. Second was Graeme Campbell of Highland hillrunners 1.12.19 and 3rd Andrew McColl of Greenock Glenpark 1.13.05. First V40 was Steve Fallon (Carnethy) followed by our own David Riach who put in a spirited finish to outsprint Stuart Simpson of Ochils. First V50 went to Tom Scott of Fife and Carnethy took the male team prize.

What about the fairer sex? A couple of weeks before the race, I would have wagered a large sum of money that Westies were going to get the team prize, but a series of injuries ruled out Val Brunton & Shona leaving Val Houston, Ellen and Ana to carry the Westies flag. And so once again the spoils went to Fife. First female overall was ex Westie Helen Palmer who had a great run to finish 37th in 1.27.36 followed by our own Val in 1.29.57 who was 1st V40.

This is how the westies ran – well done all!

8 David Riach M40 01:17:07

10 Chris Upson M40 01:17:17

26 Scott McKendrick M 01:24:14

30 Johannes Courtial M 01:25:16

46 Val Houston F40 01:29:57

52 Steffen Gorgas M 01:31:22

54 John Donnelly M40 01:31:55

58 Paolo Ballarini M 01:33:15

72 Ellen Homewood F 01:39:05

77 Jason Kaushal M40 01:39:52

104 Ana Talbot F 01:52:28

112 Davy Broni M40 01:57:22

117 Drew Turnbull M60 02:07:05

Junior races and fun run:- This was the 2nd year of the new junior race routes and for 2nd year in a row, they were awarded championship status. Despite this, the attendances could have been better. This was probably due to the the clash with the west district track championships and coaches pressurising kids into running around a track instead of up a nice hill on the bonnie banks – what a no brainer!. However, there was some talented young runners who lined up for the various races which kicked off with a short fun run organised by Martin Hyman, in which our own Fraser Reid finished 4th in 9.36.

In the U14 boys race, won by Adam Gatens of EKAC, Cameron Reid of Westies was 12th, and Deborah Stokoe of Westies was 2nd in the U16 girls race.

Once again, thanks to everybody who helped on the day.