Lasswade 10-mile Road Race

1st March 2009
Results

After feeling ill with a virus for 2½ weeks, I knew I wouldn't have a great run and in fact it wasn't really a brilliant idea to be running at all. Also I woke up this morning with my lower back in spasm, possibly caused by slumping over the laptop the whole day yesterday getting the SHR Calendar put online. So I arrived at Rosewell with back aching and feeling generally washed out, and that was before I'd started running!

However it was a beautiful bright spring day to be running in the lee of the Pentlands, albeit with a stiff westerly wind. It was good to see former Westies Alan Wilson and Marc McColl on the startline. The first time I'd seen Marc racing in years.

The race was started by an old guy with a serious-looking starting pistol that made those standing near him feel a bit nervous. The first mile was uphill and straight into the wind, so just a case of tucking in. The next mile drops steeply into Roslin Glen, then the 3rd mile is a killer climb back out of the glen that knocks the stuffing out of you. I thought 2 of my closest hill-running contemporaries Dave Burgess and John Kay might provide useful pacing, but in fact I couldn't keep anywhere near them, and they both pulled away after mile 3.

Miles 5, 6 and 7 are more or less all uphill, and I didn't feel too lively on this section. Just before the highpoint of the course I caught and passed Marc McColl who seemed to be suffering with cramp or hamstring problems. But once the course levelled off and started descending, Marc scampered past me again.

I felt pretty washed out and sluggish for the final 3 miles, and got passed by Alistair MacDonald of Dundee Hawkhill. At mile 8 it was nice to get a friendly shout from Stewart Whitlie who looked to be on domestic duties. Then just before mile 9 I shuffled past a labouring Corstorphine runner. The final mile was through the scenic grounds of St Joseph's Hospital. Jogging towards the sign "400m to go" I had a Portobello runner barrelling down on me, so I had to put in a very uncomfortable sprint for the final 200 metres to hold position, which was probably about 18th in a watch time of 1:01:40, which is a second faster than I ran on the old course 3 years ago. My Garmin 405 indicated I finished at 5:12 min/mile pace!

Scottish National Cross Country

21st February 2009, Callendar Park, Falkirk
Results | Photos (women's race) | Photos (U20 men's race)

Good fine weather for my 4th Nationals at Falkirk. Annoyingly though I'd had a cold for the past 10 days starting with razor-blade throat and developing into sinus pressure, gluey ears and general dizzy feeling and loss of energy. So the idea of running in the Nationals was less than appealing, and would probably only make myself feel even worse, but I had lost patience with having a stupid cold so was going to run anyway.

At the start of the race somehow I ended up more or less on the front line, rubbing shoulders with an Eritrean. After a false start, the gun sounded and the stampede began. I got swept up the first hill with the masses, and gravity and momentum got me through the first kilometre in 3:22. In retrospect, this turned out to be a stupidly fast start, but it felt OK at the time. I just wasn't banking on the wheels coming off even before I'd finished the first lap. I felt weak and woozy with my head spinning and just wanted to step off the course. I tried to summon some resolve to keep going in the 2nd lap, but was flogging a dead horse, and felt like a car cruising to a standstill after it's run out of gas. No amount of banging your foot on the accelerator has any event. There is just this slow inevitable feeling of grinding to a halt.

By the 3rd lap, so many people had overtaken me I had really lost interest in the race and was only waiting for the point when it would all be over, and the helpless feeling of sliding backwards down the field would finally stop. I reckon I dropped around 40 to 50 places in the last 2 laps. In the end, I managed a sort of sprint finish to pass Phil Williams of Central AC in the home straight to finish 133rd rather than 134th! Phil was in fact the only person I passed in the entire race!

I will probably need another week off running now to hopefully recover properly, and then aim to get back to some marathon training...

The men's race was won by Alastair Hay in a time of 37:14, almost 8 minutes ahead of my time of 45:11. Thomas Russell finished 2nd by 1 second for the 2nd year in a row.

Before the men's race I watched the women's 2-lap race, which was won by an enormous margin by Freya Murray. Toni McIntosh was also well clear in 2nd place, but 3rd place was a 3-way battle between Lyn Wilson, Elke Schmidt and Edel Mooney, who were locked together after the first lap. During the 2nd lap Lyn eventually pulled away to finish 3rd, with Elke 4th and Edel 5th.

Scottish Masters Cross Country

7th February 2009, Irvine
Results | Photos (women's race) | Photos (men's race)

After photographing the Pollok Park 5k in the morning, I drove down to Irvine in the afternoon for the Scottish Masters Cross Country, with stunning views of snow-covered Arran.

The Westies 'team' consisted of me, David Riach and Don Reid. The weather was bright and sunny with a cold wind, and firm conditions underfoot.

I watched the women's race which is 2 laps of the 2-mile course. Megan Wright forced the pace at first, but was eventually caught and passed by Jennifer MacLean who came in a clear winner in the end.

The men's race is about 6 miles, with 3 laps of the course. The runners each have their 5-year age bracket pinned to their back, so I was trying to keep track of how many V45 runners were in front. When Billy Coyle caught me early on I was fairly sure we battling for 3rd V45, so I tried to stick with him for the first lap, which I was just about managing until Lewis Lawson flew past near the end of the first lap, so I gave up slightly knowing I was no longer in the medals.

Going into the 2nd lap I was closed down by Jeff Farquhar and John McMillan who always give me a good run for my money, so I ended up battling the last 2 laps never more than a metre or 2 from Jeff and John. Near the end of the 3rd lap I started running out of steam, and Jeff, John and Michael McQuaid were all pulling away slightly but when Craig Grieve of Teviotdale caught me as well enough was enough so I let rip in the final 50 metres and closed Jeff, John and Michael right down again and all 4 of us finished more of less simultaneously in 35:01, although I was last of the 4 in 29th place.

David Riach took it at a more leisurely pace finishing 52nd in 36:34, whilst Don finished strongly in 81st place with a time of 38:30.

The race was won by Bobby Quinn in the insanely fast time of 31:12.

Forfar Multi-Terrain Half Marathon

1st February 2009

Results: 2009 | 2008 | 2007
Reports: 2008 | 2007

My third year in a row at this Forfar Half Marathon over a mix of surfaces. Last year flooding was a problem, whereas this year the heavy muddy underfoot conditions across the last few fields made it hard going. I finished 7 seconds slowers than last year in 1:22:06 for 7th position.

The very start of the race was rather vague when no-one was quite sure if the faint noise we heard was actually the starting hooter. So after a hesitant couple of seconds we collectively decided we might as well start running. I probably did myself no favours by leading the field for the first 2 miles, alongside James Britton of Moorfoots. James and I had been very close the whole way last year so I thought just maybe I could cling onto his pace. But clearly James has been training hard and is way stronger than me now, so after about 2.5 miles I started falling away. Graeme Bartlett went past and caught James and the 2 ran the rest of the race together.

Overcooking the first 2 miles meant I was caught by Scott Young after 3 miles, then Paul Houston around 6 miles, Adrian Davis at 8 and David Burgess at 9 miles. I could see these 4 runners not far in front on the climb up Balmashanner Hill. But on the long descent back towards Forfar I was feeling jaded and wasn't making any ground. After the final road crossing with about half a mile to go I could sense someone barreling down on me. I thought it was Peter Buchanan, and had to really press hard the final 400 metres to avoid being overtaken. I never looked round but realised afterwards that it was Fife AC's cake muncher Mr Brian Cruickshank.

Pollok Park 5k

31st January 2009

Results

A great sunny morning and a record turnout for Pollok Park Run no.9 with 107 runners. Due to re-measuring the course the route was slightly longer than previously, but despite the extra 50 metres or so, Robert Turner still set a new course record of 16:21, and beat Robert Gilroy in the process! I had my own personal battle with fellow V45 George Taylor of Giffnock who I had never raced against before, but noticed that George had run 2:41:50 at London Marathon 2007, so I was determined to give him a run for his money. We swapped places several times, but in the end George clocked 17:30, and I finished just behind him in 17:31 for 7th place.

Run for Gordon

Over the past few weeks I have started ramping up the miles for London Marathon on 26th April 2009. I have also set up a JustGiving page to support Gordon Shannon, and to raise funds for Tak Tent Cancer Support Unit at Gartnavel Hospital, Glasgow. My aim is to complete the marathon in under 2 hours 50 minutes.

Gordon was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2007, and following treatment recently tried to get back to some running with Ayr Turkey Trot and Nigel Barge 10k races in December 2008 and January 2009. However at the Jack Crawford 10k a couple of weeks ago Gordon collapsed with a seizure and was airlifted to the Southern General, and so Gordon won't be attempting any more races in the near future.

Please support Gordon and his family by visiting my JustGiving page.

Bellahouston 4k Cross Country

25th January 2009
Results

After my 14 mile jog around the Devil's Burdens Relay yesterday, I wasn't expecting anything much from today's short sharp cross country at Bellahouston Park. And in fact at 12.30pm the weather was abmysal freezing cold rain, and the prospect of running wasn't looking at all appealing. However at five to one, the weather suddenly improved, and at 1pm bright low winter sunshine greeted the runners on the startline.

Serious Scottish Athletics cross country races like this have a great procedure at the start, with a shout of "Stand Ready", and then a real starter's pistol going off, so there is absolutely no doubt when the race begins. Unfortunately all the other runners hurtled off at breakneck pace, whereas I planned to start steadily and work up through the field. After 50 metres or so I had a sense that I might in fact be last, but turning round noticed one or two stranglers floudering along behind me.

The conditions underfoot were wet and boggy so it was tough to generate any sense of pace whilst wallowing through the mud. Gradually I picked of a few runners and for a while got towed along by Billy Coyle of Shettleston hoping he would drag me across the gap to reach Paul Thompson who was perhaps 50 metres ahead. My plan was to take it fairly easy on the first and save myself for the second. But in the second I couldn't press home any advantage, and didn't make any ground on Paul who finished about 20 seconds ahead of me. I finished 48th overall in 15:15, and 5th Vet. And since looking at the results, I realised that Paul Thompson and Billy Coyle were the only older athletes ahead of me.

We stopped to watch the opening stages of the women's race, but halfway through the first lap it was clear that Freya Murray had an unassailable lead, so we wandered off to Pollok Park for coffee at the Burrell.

Devil's Burdens Relay

24th January
Results | Photos | More Photos

Cold frosty weather for my 8th Devil's Burdens Relay on the trot. Various last minute call offs meant we were struggling to get any complete Westerlands teams, but in the end we did get 5 teams around the 4-stage course.

The race starts in Falkland with an abrupt ascent of East Lomond. The Carnegie pair John Hargreaves and Tommy Lawrence set the pace and came in first to the Leg 2 changeover, hotly pursued by Adam Ward and Angela Mudge of Carnethy, with Jamie Stevenson and Dave Eiser of Ochils finishing 3rd, all on 37 minutes. Steffen and JD ran our first leg, but we didn't have a Leg 2 runner so David Riach and I ran the 2nd Leg together down to Scotlandwell where we turned around and went straight into the 3rd Leg. We did reasonably well until West Lomond, but after that several teams started going past on the long diagonal descent. Brian Bonnyman took over for our 4th stage and did pretty well at closing down most of the teams who had slipped past.

After completing Leg 3, David and I jogged back along the lower Leg 4 trail back to Falkland with Tom Owens. 10 miles for Leg 2 and 3, and 4 miles jog out.

Jack Crawford 10k

17th January 2009

Results

Felt OK for the first 3k or so, but then ran out of steam. Couldn't keep up with Andy Birnie or Marco Consani, and struggled to match the pace of Donald Petrie from halfway. Tried to rally and up the pace for the final kilometre or so, but still got pipped in a sprint finish by both Casey Morgan and Bryan Burnett, and finished almost 2 minutes slower than last year. Not a great race really, but not as bad as Gordon Shannon who collapsed with a seizure and was airlifted to the Southern General.

Glasgow Pollok Park 5km

This was my first attempt at the Glasgow Pollok Park 5km race. It is part of the www.parkrun.com series. I was fairly pleased to finish 7th in 17:23, given that I haven't tried a 5km race for around 18 months.

Results | Glasgow Pollok Park Run at EveryTrail

Nigel Barge 10k

Results | Photos

My first road race of 2009, and first road race in ages. Thought I would hold on for 11th place, but faded on the 2nd lap and dropped back to 14th in 35:58. A bit slower than last year, but the course was slightly more twisty and I was much less road fit.

Greenmantle Dash

Results

A very rare thing, but I managed a first V40 place in a hill race! Finished 11th in 18:03. Pretty firm frozen underfoot conditions meant that both the men's and women's records were broken. This was my 8th Greenmantle Dash in a row and I managed a PB by 30 seconds.