Lovely sunny day – race cancelled

The report title is a “red rag” to provoke Manny into some OTT abuse of wimpish road runners. And yet…it was a fine day that dawned over Glasgow, if frosty. Underfoot/tyre conditions were flagged up as the wee car decided to take a glide into the kerb on an ungritted side road. I decided to inspect the Dalsholm Road section of the Uni Road Race route, as the most likely to be icy; sure enough (following another auto-glide) I found the trail to the Kelvin to resemble a bobsled run. Having prepaid my race entry, I decided to offer my entry to a more fearless spirit. At Garscube, however, I was greeted by Des and his Hares and Hounds who informed that the race had been postponed to next year on safety grounds.

So here is a “home bakes” report, as the H&H had prepared post-race perishable goodies: I polished off the first one with ease, but the next one was a tougher challenge. Just like the road race circuits, indeed. 

Returning to the car-park, several Westies showed up: John Quinn, young Rod Fleming, and the Rt. Hon. Archie Cameron, for whom this would have been his first race since the previous edition a year ago. Archie regaled us with tales of bygone marathons and half-marathons, and even managed to snatch Gibby’s top spot in the shorter race with a claimed time of 1h13m in a 1983 Bearsden trolley dash, or some such. Also noteworthy was a time of 2h34m in the 1983 Glasgow marathon by Westy Andy Brown. Unfortunately the “Ardbruach” website doesn’t seem to have full marathon results, so maybe Dave Calder can add details?

Finally, Rod and I made the best of the sunshine (and fairly decent off-trail conditions underfoot) to enjoy a jog round the Garscube estate and Dalsholm woodland trails.