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Meanwhile, in a place far far away, a race (The Red Moss Kips race) was minus one runner.
It is not the first time that Carnethy has led someone astray.
The very runable route was enjoyed by all as we ran up the “Eskalator” (Strava Segment) past Spittal farm and on over Spittal Hill.
As we ran over Green Law we could see a long string of runners heading up The Kips. We seemed to be climbing faster than them as I ran past Davie Duncan and, turning at the top, I noticed Big Al approaching from the east having chased the pack.
The descent was fast and furious and soon we were all back at Nine Mile Burn, but one runner looked a little confused. A female runner (name with held to avoid embarrassment) had been led astray by the Good looking Carnethies and had chased us back to end up only 4 miles (in a straight line) from where she should be.
20 of us headed back to The Steading for food and beer.
A grand night out!
Willie Gibson
Well, against all odds (namely me being the “organiser”) yesterday’s handicap was a fab, sun-drenched, breeze-cooled event. Most people seemed to have fun, except Jim Hardie who regurgitated a triple-doughnut pre-race-snack somewhere on Spittal Hill. A Red Moss Kips runner, lured away from her race pack, reflected philosophically that it had been a very enjoyable descent, albeit to the wrong finishing line. Huge thanks to Nikki and Melanie for manning the fort in the face of adversity: dodgy timers, runners with duplicate numbers, stray Red Mossers, and a “handicap organiser” who showed a complete dereliction of duty in turning up late and bunking off for a run. Thanks to JBF for showing me this lovely route a couple of years ago. Thanks also to Cat and Dani, who turned up eager to help…at Boghall :-D. . I will take credit for the gorgeous weather. Due to timer issues, the run times might be slightly out (mine is out by about a minute). Everyone’s times were taken from the same watch though, so are consistent.
Mary
Results download
Carnethy Handicap – from the perspective of a stray runner
Hill races can be a navigation nightmare, but the Red Moss Kips race provides a beautiful straight circuit with visibility for miles on sunny days (like yesterday) – it’s impossible to get lost. I’m not exactly famous for my navigation skills but this time I excelled, even for my own standards. It takes a genius like me to manage to start one race and finish another race – all in under 1 hour! To my own defence, I was perfectly aware that I was running in the opposite direction to the route indicated on the map (so was not really lost), but picture this series of unfortunate incidences (not to be used as a ‘golden rule for race navigation’):
1. Be sufficiently confident that you find your way through the Pentlands with your eyes closed, so don’t bother looking closely at the route map
2. Only listen to the route description of the race organiser with half an ear. So if he mentions a ‘sharp left turn’ don’t worry – it will be obvious which turn he means
3. Look closely to the ground while running so that you only see the runners in front of you and miss any runner that may join you from a different direction
4. When you reach the top of West Kip, follow the runners taking a sharp left U-TURN (‘ah, that must have been the sharp turn the guy mentioned!’) although you bloody well know that this is opposite to the route on the map.
5. Draw the only possible conclusion one would reach if ALL runners (carrying race numbers) in your vicinity confidently take the u-turn and absolutely nobody takes the direction you think is right: I must have the wrong map (or more precisely: my husband must have handed me the wrong map)
6. Even when the first doubts creep in, keep going as the new route is nicely downhill and easy.
7. Suffer the consequences by serving as entertainment of the evening for the Carnethy runners who completed their handicap from Nine Mile Burns to West Kip and back.
Thanks to the nice Carnethies for joining me on this pleasant run, to Willie for helping me contact the organisers of the race I should have run, and especially to the friendly runner for giving me a lift back home!
Andrea
Table of results here –
Position | First Name | Last Name | Finish time | Run Time |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Michael | Wilkinson | 72.40 | 61.53 |
2 | Hilary | Spenceley | 74.34 | 71.32 |
3 | Gillian | Paul | 74.55 | 67.46 |
4 | Alan | Swanson | 76.12 | 55.26 |
5 | Jeff | Roberts | 76.29 | 50.21 |
6 | Cali | Ingham | 76.41 | 72.32 |
7 | Micah | Stanbuck | 77.06 | 53.52 |
8 | Paul | Ritchie | 77.18 | 47.26 |
9 | Allen | Flockhart | 77.25 | 54.19 |
10 | Chris | Henty | 77.38 | 50.56 |
11 | Joel | Sylvester | 79.02 | 50.33 |
12 | Willie | Gibson | 79.10 | 55.56 |
13 | Bob | Waterhouse | 79.28 | 53.28 |
14 | Digby | Maass | 79.50 | 55.27 |
15 | David | Harrington | 80.03 | 55.10 |
16 | Gordon | Cameron | 80.17 | 52.50 |
17 | Neil | Burnett | 80.28 | 48.55 |
18 | Irene | Schierloh | 80.57 | 72.51 |
19 | Win | Rampen | 81.06 | 61.10 |
20 | Mike | Lynch | 81.16 | 50.39 |
21 | Bob | Lyons | 81.33 | 55.58 |
22 | Mary | Lye | 81.40 | 52.40 |
23 | Alan | MacDonald | 82.00 | 63.47 |
24 | Konrad | Rawlick | 82.01 | 45.31 |
25 | Helen | Wise | 82.52 | 59.34 |
26 | Ali | McGowan | 83.39 | 73.35 |
27 | Matthew | Jones | 86.00 | 56.28 |