Archives for May 2015

Goatfell race
Some people fell and there were no goats (although I suspect Finlay may have been raised by Wild chamois),
Weather was better than it looked from the boat across,
Iain won the Carnethy battle of the Gilmores (Adam Anderson interspersing to keep the age groupings sequential),
Lots of familiar faces amongst the starters (good to see former Carnethy Lucy C back racing again).
The near perfect conditions for the descent this time round meant I avoided going submarine with my Goatfell results graph

Whangie Whizz
Lovely evening for a wee run in the west
Joe Symonds won, Iain again was first Gilmore Carnethy
Apart from admiring the views north across Loch Lomond’s islands I spent the second half of the race reeling in Chris Upson only for me get us both close enough so that he could outsprint Harry (sorry)
(random erstwhile Carnethy this time was Cameron Burt)

Ben Lomond
In contradiction to accepted geology this mountain is getting higher every year. Either that or it’s getting further away from Rowardennan.
This can be proved by the length of time I take to ascend it. That said this is a race won by descenders as Tom Owens proved by overtaking both oor Andy and Joe Symonds on the way down. Andy holding on to 2nd, followed by James Waldie first U23 Stewart first V50 (1 place behind 1st V40). More importantly lots of Carnethies enjoyed the fine weather and I managed to complete a triathlon of sorts by cycling in from Balmaha and standing waist deep in Loch Lomond after the race.

Bruce Smith

After discussion with my coaching team and sponsors last year, it was decided that the 2015 objective would be the Goatfell record, it being the oldest record in Scottish hill racing.
To prepare, it was decided that I would spend a year away from the gaze of my rivals, and a training camp in the city of Philadelphia (literally, “City of Hills” when translated from Native American) was duly arranged. Training went well, building up to a peak of 10 miles and 3 stair climbs a week, so I arrived on Arran in confident mood.
My 3 Yorkshire chums, who I had challenged to run the race, were in less confident mood, having never been in a hill race before. On Friday, there were dire warnings that it would be too windy to go to the top of Goatfell, and the mist was down to a couple of hundred feet. Miraculously, after an initial intense hail storm, race day was sunny, relatively warm and there was only a gentle breeze. A quick chat with Carnethies Mike Lynch (looking scarily fit) and Neil Burnett, and we were off.
My initial strategy was to shadow Finlay Wild, before accelerating past him on the playing field at the end. This was rapidly adjusted to shadowing Neil, then Mike, before settling on Brian Howie. As always, the race was fun, spiced up by the fact that a fall on the notoriously tricky descent should be avoided at all costs, due to my intake of blood thinners after a recent pulmonary embolism.
Finlay Wild won the race by a large margin, and only missed the record by 30 seconds or so. Mike Lynch and Neil Burnett both got PBs, I think, while I managed to get a PW. My Yorkshire chums all finished and loved it, so I have successfully created 3 new converts, and we will all be back for a fresh attempt on that elusive record next year. Results
Matt Grove

I was invited to join the race at the last minute, to replace an injured runner. I met up with the team in Oban; they had a very old and sea-worn boat and the crew looked even older. Unbeknown to us at the start, the NATO fleet were on exercises nearby, testing electronic countermeasures. This upset all the GPS and navigation equipment on the boats. I saw several boats colliding with each other and the rest of the competitors scattered off in all directions; we were not to see any of them again during the race. Our captain steered a steady course with a battered brass binnacle; unmoved by the chaos around him. When we arrived at Arran there were no marshals to be seen; they had all been out to dinner in a local curry house the night before and had succumbed to a bad case of ‘Delhi belly’. The other runner and I were soon up Goatfell and back to the boat for the swift voyage to Mull.

When we arrived there was no-one to check us in. One of the other boats had run aground a couple of miles up the coast and all the marshals had gone to help rescue the crew. My fellow runner, who called himself Mercury, set a fast pace as we sped up and down Ben More. We broke the course record by ten minutes and seventeen milliseconds but unfortunately there was no-one to witness or record our feat. During the voyage to Jura a brief but very intense storm blew up; the boat creaked and heaved in the wilds seas but the crew held it on a steady course. It was calm again by the time we anchored at Craighouse but there were no marshals to be seen. A small boy with his dog told us that the tents had blown away during the storm and the marshals were on the other side of the island retrieving their lost gear. We had a fast run over the hills and were soon back on the boat for the final leg of the race.

The storm had badly affected the tides and currents and we came perilously close to the Corryvreckan whirlpool; it looked much bigger than usual and the pillar of rock was starting to rise from the centre. Bravely, Mercury took a rope between his teeth, dived over the side of the boat and swam like hell to drag us clear of the menacing whirlpool. The rest of the voyage was uneventful and we arrived, to sparse applause, in Troon. We won the first prize for the race, and the second & third prizes as well because none of the other boats had finished. As I was saying my farewells to the crew I noticed, for the first time, the name of the boat in faded flaking paint around the stern: M_ARI_ C_LEST_. Does anyone else have adventures to tell?

Nigel Rose

Bob J definitely benefited from the recent running workshop organised by Fiona Mac (see Malcolm Balk c/o www.theartofrunning.com) but failed to break the 90-minute barrier in the Tewkesbury Half Marathon earlier today. His exact time was 1:30:28 for 43rd overall (665 finishers) and first vet M50.
Sounds good as long as you don’t look UP the results to 40th place and find one Tracey Allan who was FIRST F50 (1:30:18) AND FURTHER UP the results to Alan Davies who was FIRST M60 (!!!) in a time of 1:20:50 for 8th overall!!!
Bob’s previous 1/2M was 1:35 so hopefully returning to the one-twenty-something’s in the near future… Event was won by Jonathan Barnes in 1:15:34 and first lady was Gemma Hargreaves in 1:23:38 for 19th overall… Standards must be slipping big time when a 1:30 half marathon gets you first V50!!!
Homer Loan