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.

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