Sunday 1 February 2009

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.

Race route Race profile

3 comments:

Sarah said...

Hi
How muddy is it? Do you have wet feet all the way round?
Thanks
Sarah

Chris said...

Hi Sarah,
From memory, most of the route is pretty clean and dry. There was only one section where you needed to wade through icy cold water, if that bit is flooded.
Chris

Sarah said...

Hi Chris
Great, that's a relief. Thanks for letting me know.
Sarah