Reasonable sized field for the last handicap of 2014.
Well done to Cameron on first place and also fastest time of the day. Pipping Digby to the post by 2 seconds (according to planned start time and actual run time).
Next handicap should be 6th January, but as I won’t be back till then it will be postponed till the 13th.
Have a great Christmas and New Year.
Mike Lamont
Archives for December 2014
Wed training
Short run: A night of the city’s sparkling lights for the 7.30 run. Crystal clear views from Wester Craiglockhart and Blackford Hills. Then back to KB for a very nice pint of Edinburgh Gold, a strong 4.8% ale. Now for the bad news. Tomorrow the drink drive limit goes down to 50mg/100ml. Sufficiently worried and curious I had already bought a breathaliser and after one pint the results are alarming. 5 minutes after finishing I was at 60mg (with an error of plus or minus 20mg) so already possibly at the current limit and definitely over the new limit. 20 minutes later at home it had soared to 120mg +/-20mg, so way over the current limit. It dropped 10mg over each of two 5 minute periods before I got bored and had a stiff G&T. I suspect the running leaves you depleted and ready to absorb carbs fast; so it’s straight into the bloodstream (contrary to our previous fond notion that we would somehow post run ‘burn it off’). So be very warned! Digby |
7pm social: 13 runners went up Arthur’s Seat again this week with slightly uncertain navigation leading us to the Pollock Halls bee hives before the first of two times through the turnstile. Wet rocks at the top of the steps made for a more challenging ascent than usual. A nice run along Whinnie Hill overshot the path down – thanks Fraser for getting us back on track. Radical Road then a slightly longer road route back to make up some distance. Michael |
Fast run: That’s the thing about having bright ideas about a where to go for the club run, it only really works if you know how to link up all the wee paths that take you there. So a slightly meandering route to get to Caerketton, via the Braids telephone mast and blobs of woodland in buckstone, but once there we were rewarded with fine views northwards across the city and beyond. A layer of mist covered the valleys to the south. It was all very pretty. However, there’s nowt prettier than a freshly-poured beer, so we decided to leg-it back to the KB bar to take in the sights. We didn’t lose anyone this week, so must try harder next week. Jim |
Cauldstane Slap
Cauldstane Slap 30th November 2014 (5.3miles 400ft)
This was the 40th running of the event, started as an off-season fun run for the now defunct Lothian Cycle Club. A small but elite band of runners assembled in the unusually glorious sunshine, eagerly awaiting their handicap.
Conditions underfoot were reasonably good as we set off up the tarmac road onto the Thieve’s Road at Baddingsgill Reservoir. There was a light mist on the ridges, which hid the forms of the East and West Cairn until they spectacularly appeared in the last 1/2 mile. A quick wave to Keith Weston at the top and then a blistering descent, half blinded by the low sun.and back to finish. I caught a couple of runners, but was passed by more.
Ian Campbell of HBT won the race and the fastest time was clocked by Al Hart also of HBT. The other two Carnethies were Neil Pendrich and Alistair McGowan.
Prizes and special 40th event cupcakes for all. Thanks to Jimmy Cooney and Ferranti AAC for organising.
Some historical results here (excel spreadsheet)
Brian Howie
Results:
Foxlake Cyclocross, John Muir Winter Carnival
The John Muir Winter Carnival took place on Saturday, and hosted a range of events from a 13km trail race (in which several Carnethies took part – where is your report? ;-)) to Crossfit, Coastal Rowing and, possibly the highlight, the Edinburgh University Wakeboarding in Underwear event. I took part in the Cyclocross race which was a stand-alone event outside of the Ridley Scottish Series which climaxes with the Scottish Championships this Sunday at Knockburn Loch.
The course was a tight one (0.8m loops) and very muddy, even for Cyclocross, and those who have invested in spare wheels and bikes in the pits were the winners on the day – the mud caused real problems, even for experienced CXers. I was again one of the few on a mountain bike, but this was not such a disadvantage this time around (compared to, say, Irvine Beach) and the sharp climbs and tight turns were well suited to me. The V40/V50/Seniors and females were all lumped together on this occasion and the race was was at the longer 55mins + 1 lap distance. The MV40 category was a Glasgow United CC 1-2 for Stephen Jackson and Hans Forhaug, with multiple Scottish Enduro mtb winner Crawford Carrick-Anderson (brother of Olympic skier Emma) in 3rd. Former Carnethy Russell Stout (who rides on a single-speed bike) was 10th, I was 19th and well-kent face Andy Kitchin (riding for Edinburgh RC) was 29th.
Results here: http://www.mylaps.com/en/classification/3345812?perClass=1
Pennine Way
I’m not quite sure how the idea came about. But if I had to guess, I would say it was an ill-considered remark of mine about the coincidence that the Pennine Way starts near our house and finishes near Jasmin’s parents. One thing led to another and at some point Jasmin announced that she would like to run the Pennine Way for her birthday. I misunderstood and confirmed that I thought taking the TransPennine Express to her parents for her birthday would be a good idea.
Now, planning a 270 odd miles run in Britain during November is no easy task, so I decided to largely avoid any planning. Hence no accommodation was booked — the logic being that no one would be doing the Pennine Way in November, leaving us with lots of options — and the general plan centred on covering some 40-45 miles per day, which I somehow concluded would be easily achievable in the available 10 hours of daylight without breaking a sweat — how I got to that conclusion is a bit of a mystery, in particular if one considers that the comparable 42 miles of the High Peak Marathon take us about 9h and that’s without any tea stops. And thus with planning successfully avoided we were ready to go…
…and to read the whole of Konrad & Jasmin’s story you’ll have to wait for the next edition of the Carnethy Journal!
In the meantime see more photos here
Ochils Journey Run
Nine runners gathered in the centre of Dollar for the Ochils journey run. The weather didn’t look promising – we could see to the edge of the town alright but the hills were shrouded in mist. We started up the west side of Dollar Glen then cut out at the top of the golf course onto Bank Hill. By now we were really in the mist and didn’t see much for many miles. We nearly lost Digby several times as he paused to take atmospheric misty photos. We climbed to the top of King’s Seat Hill and luckily found the right path to get down the other side to the Gannel Burn. We passed a group of walkers huddled in the col at the bottom and they seemed rather surprised to see us.
We continued through a deep little valley and on towards Skythorn Hill. The next two or three miles should have been a delightful grassy ridge run gently descending towards Ben Shee but we couldn’t see anything apart from the path in front of us. Suddenly a couple of marker posts appeared at the side of the path and I realised that we had reached the foot of Ben Shee. We avoided the hill as the descent off it has become an impenetrable jungle of tree planting. Instead, we followed the waymarked path down to the side of Glensherup Reservoir. By the time we reached the dam it seemed to be a good time to stop for a lunch break.