Lasswade 10-mile Road Race

Results | Activity on Garmin Connect

My 3rd race of the weekend.

By racing twice yesterday, I essentially blew my chance at getting under the hour since I was running with sore legs from the start. However, I thought it would still be useful marathon training by trying to maintain a constant level of effort when already tired.

I made a deliberate effort to start as slowly as possible, hoping that I might warm up during the race and catch a few folk later on.

From about 4 miles onwards I was closing down on Michael McGovern of Moorfoots, but it took until Mile 6 before I finally caught him, however he didn't give up, and we ran more or less together until Mile 8 when we were caught by the Portobello duo of Douglas Carstairs and Michael Fullarton. By Mile 9 things were hotting up as we all passed Darin Dougal of Moorfoots, and turned into the grounds of Whitehill House. With 800 metres to go, I managed to dig out enough of a finish to go past Michael McGovern (again) and Michael Fullarton, and opened out 15 seconds of gap, but not enough to close down Douglas Carstairs.

I finished in 61:07, which wasn't too bad and was still a PB on this course having previously run 61:39 and 61:41.

Mugdock Turbo X

12th September 2009

Results | Photos

A challenging 10-mile route around Mugdock Country Park.

The startline contained quite a few top class fell runners so I decided to take it steady for the first mile or so, and not get too swept up in the cavalry charge. After half a mile I passed Natalie White and then was joined by Paul Thompson for next couple of miles. After that I pressed on and held position until near the end where I passed Brian McEwan and Dougal Ross at around miles 8 and 9, paced around by a runner in red T-shirt who finished 9th. I finished 10th, about 5 seconds behind this runner - but he strangely doesn't appear in the results. There are a few other anomolies in the results apart from the 9th placed runner not appearing. Duncan McGougan's Turbo X time clearly makes no sense as being 2 minutes faster than British fell running champion Rob Hope, and Dougal Ross's times don't make any sense either.

Having looked at Duncan's splits, it appears clear that he missed the 600m loop between 12.6km and 13.2km, since that would exactly explain how he suddenly gained 3:25 in time, and the cut across to miss that loop was only 30 metres. And I'm guessing Dougal took the same cheeky shortcut since he was over 2 minutes behind me going into the 2.6km Turbo X section, but popped out ahead of me, despite running more slowly!

That said it was a great race and very well marked, along a constantly changing and varied course through woods, trails and bog.

The race was won by Nick Swinburn (who was the fastest through the Turbo X section), followed by Scott Fraser, Ricky Lightfoot, Rob Hope and Murray Strain. In the women's race, Natalie White was a clear winner followed by Emma Birnie and Jacqui Thomson.

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!

Millport 10

9th September 2007
Results

Fun day out to Millport. Fairly cool and grey, but OK for running apart from the strong headwind in the 2nd half.

Aimed to start out steady, but got sucked into chasing a group of 4 comprising Kenny Richmond, Calum Morrison, Conor McNulty and David Phee. David Millar of Irvine had already disappeared off the front to eventually win in 50:51, followed by Alastair Morrison in 52:55. Before long I was also caught by Jack Brown of Cambuslang, and Mark Johnston of Edinburgh AC. I ran with Jack for a while, but once Mark passed they both sailed off into the distance.

I went through 5 miles in 27:25, but this had some wind assistance as I found out in the 2nd half as we turned down the west side of the island into the teeth of a gale (or that's how it felt). I could see Calum and Kenny not far in front, but wasn't really making any ground. Around 6 or 7 miles Conor McNulty faded fast, and I passed easily and then started closing on Calum Morrison. I carried on chasing him down hard but never quite caught him. Calum finished in 56:12, while I was 56:25 for 7th and 8th respectively. Still I was pleased enough to get a 10 mile PB by more than 3½ minutes.

Despite feeling quite unwell, Ellen managed to struggle round in 67:34 to finish as 3rd lady, holding off the 4th woman by 10 seconds. Toni McIntosh was 1st lady, with Alison Winship 2nd.

Abernethy 10-mile Road Race

12th August 2006
Results  |  Photos
Simon Pride (Speyside Way record holder) romped away with an easy win at Abernethy 10-mile road race, finishing in 53:49 - more than 4 minues clear of second placed Doug Ross of Mansfield Harriers (57:59).
The ladies race was won by Julia Henderson of Helensburgh in 66:29.
I finished 10th in 62:25, my slowest ever 10-mile road race.

Some of the photos courtesy of Forres Harriers

Lasswade 10-mile Road Race

5th March 2006 (noon)
10 miles / 670ft
Results  |  Route Map
Cold and fresh, with snow on the neighbouring Pentland Hills.
1. Moray Anderson, Corstorphine, 53:28
7. Adrian Davis, Carnethy, 57:20
8. Stewart Whitlie, Carnethy, 58:21
21. Fiona Matheson, Falkirk, 61:20 (1st lady)
24. Chris Upson, Westerlands, 61:41
58. Kate Jenkins, Carnethy, 66:07
119. Catriona Miller, Westerlands, 72:07
349 runners

Derwentwater 10

6th November 2005
10 miles / 650ft
Results | Photos

Photos courtesy of Borrowdale Fell Runners
Field of 300+ runners. Roadrunner Andi Jones stamped his authority from the gun and hared off out of Keswick with an immediate lead. Only Stephen Hepples (2003 & 2004 winner) gave any sort of chase. Andi won in 49:38, only 23 seconds off Kenny Stuart's record.
First lady was Rebecca Robinson of Kendal AC in a phenomenal time of 58:23. She became only the 2nd lady ever to get under the hour.
I finished back in 29th place in 1:01:48, a minute and a bit slower than last year.