GO GET ‘EM AT YETHOLM!

I left Old Kilpatrick in glorious sunshine, Tango the Cat was deckbathing by 8.30am! However, by 10.30am dressed in shorts, vests and sandals, Val, Rob and I were seriously concerned by the deteriorating weather conditions and falling temperature as we headed south to Yetholm. My number one personal concern was that my weekend mission to achieve tanned legs was now doomed to failure despite having had a spetacular start during Saturday’s Kilpatricks’ run. As the clag dropped to cottage rooftop level, my second concern was, given that things come in threes and I had already badly stubbed my toe and spilled scalding coffee over myself in the car (nothing to do with the driver naturally!), I was bound to get lost! Thirdly, Rob was doing a vey good job at organising us an alternative itinerary for the day based on the road signs we were passing en route; this was an itinerary I fully endorsed and it went something like this: tractor exhibition for any bargain buys before calling in at a country castle garden centre for sticky buns and a cheap plant, followed by a quick catchup on quilting techniques before arriving at the highlight of the day, the gathering of Classic Cars! However, despite a cold wind, heavy clag and self doubt, the infamous Westies spirit (or lack of imagination), saw the three of us to the startline along with Pat, Pauline and Steffen.

Leap forward by four hours to the best part of the day, wet and bedraggled all five of us being given a warm welcome by Damon and Anna at their beautiful home close to the race venue. Here, soup and goodies were served up along with good crack.It was great to see them and share time with their lovely family and a very exotic kitten for an all too brief couple of hours. We were also very impressed by the bit of the house that JD built!

As for the race, well I enjoyed it, despite being one of the 30% of the field to be temporarily misplaced and the fact that the glorious views were limited to 30 meters max. The route was run in reverse this year which I was looking forward to seeing as how this would mean a steep climb on the way out and a long, gradually graded descent on the way back – better for ageing joints this way round. I could still feel the Cornalees race in my legs on the way up but getting lost towards the final summit annoyed me enough to power up a huge effort in the descent and to finish happily. Val achieved a wonderful second to Gill Mykura, Steff had a very good run, Rob was going great too until he lost concentration and Pauline and Pat triumphed over the unseasonl conditions to help Westies Women to secure the women’s team prize – once the organiser had been made aware of the fact that is!

Thanks again to Damon and Anna for their hospitality.