It was a very cold day for the visit to the beach at Berwick for the 3rd round of the Borders Cross-Country and numbers were considerably down on the previous two rounds – Christmas shopping obviously more appealing than the long journey south to trudge through cold, soft sand and tussocks on the cliff tops. However, it was a good well organised and marshalled race that was put on by Tweed Striders and some of the sand was even quite firm. Iain Gilmore was best of the Carnethies in 9th, while Harry Gilmore had a good run to take second Over 50. A total of ten Carnethies ran. Results are here.
Archives for 2016
November Night Run – Extra Curriecular Activity
The Club November Night Run was a couple of weeks ago, but as there is no report yet here is my view from the back. I was being chased up dark paths through unknown woods for a while, until everyone overtook me and I shuffled past Harelaw to the “where is that ******* gate” of my normal thursday night run. Then it was a nice jog down and through Poet’s Glen back to the start. Good food and beer followed at the Riccarton Inn. Thanks Euan! |
Arthur’s Seat – Irene’s Ankle
I was a nice clear night as 6 of us headed for Arthur’s Seat. A bit more roady than normal, and longer that I had promised Lindsay, but what the hell. We crossed Prestonfield to the innocent railway and took the 7 hills gully route to the summit via the “bad step” which was dry and innocuous. The views from the summit were lovely and as we retraced our steps we went for the traverse above the aforementioned step. But Irene crumpled under the pressure as her ankle gave way with a slight crack. After the worry of an emergency evacuation from the hill for a a minute or two, Irene showed her “Carnethy Grit” and got herself down and back to KB at a careful , if painful, jog. 4.9 miles in an hour and a half (64 minutes moving time!). Irene is now sporting a moon boot, Get well soon. Willie Gibson |
Cauldstane Slap Foot Race
Cauldstane Slap 27th November 2016 (5.3miles 400ft)
This was the 42nd running of the event, organised by Jim Cooney of the Lothian Cycle Club, who unfortunately was unable to attend this year.
A small but elite band of runners assembled in the cold but dry morning. The usual haggling took place over handicaps, but Eddie MacDonald’s word was final. Numbers were up this year to 24 owing to the lack of competing events.
Conditions underfoot were quite icy in parts up on the Drove road, so some care was needed this year after Baddingsgill Reservoir.
I was off 0 handicap, meaning I was expected to do 50 mins . I was set off with Debbie Macdonald and Ewan and Holly Burns but managed to escape at the top of the first climb. I passed Robin Thomas by the farm gate. After that it was a bit lonely but I had to keep an eye on the track to avoid the worst of the ice. I passed Eddie MacDonald just before the turn where the track becomes very rough, but thankfully no ice.
A quick wave to Keith Weston marshalling at the top and then a blistering descent again having to negotiate ice fields.
I looked back, and saw the red vest of Paul Burns some distance behind. I made a spirited attempt to increase the pace, but out of the blue Ray Ward stormed past me at the final gate with only 500 odd yards to go, followed by Don Naylor and Al Hart. Paul also passed and did well to catch Al Hart.
I finished 5th , less than 1 minute behind Ray and pretty close to my predicted time.
Thanks to Lothian Cycle Club and Ferranti AAC, who assisted with handicapping and timekeeping.
Brian Howie
Results and more reports below
Digby Maass wins the 2016 Club Championship
It all came down to the last race in the club championship http://carnethy.com/carnethy-organised-races/carnchamps-2016/ to determine the eventual winner. Congratulations to Digby Maass who completed nine out of the fourteen club championship races and also came first in his category for six of those races. Iain Gilmore was the only one who ran more races than Digby but Iain fell short of Digby in terms of race category positions. 2012/2013 winner Charlotte Morgan performed tops in the races she competed in but didn’t run enough races to catch Digby. Nine members completed the club championship this year and each get a bottle of beer at the annual prize giving. Digby get a whiskey hip flask http://carnethy.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/champs-trophy.jpg . Well done to all.
Shane
Carnethy Journal winter 2016
Latest edition of the Carnethy Journal now out! Download it here! It’s a good read and it’s free! To download anyway. Why don’t you fork out and have it land on your front door mat?! Then you can read it in the bath. Just tick the box when you rejoin!
Wooler Trail Marathon
Having got a wee glimpse of the Cheviots doing the Yetholm Race on a gorgeously warm day in the summer, the Wooler Trail Marathon appealed as a way to see more of the trails and hills in the area. This new race by Trail Outlaws is a bit over marathon distance at 28.5 miles (45.2km) and has a little over 6000ft ascent making is either a tough marathon or a long hill race. The route goes out over Cheviot, joins the Pennine Way, then follows St Cuthberts Way back to Wooler making the route 98% on trails, and Pennine bog.
An 0800 start from Wooler YOHO meant an early wake-up call and a foggy drive along roads at -5.5C according to the car. With my son Finlay having the final league winning game or the pre Xmas rugby season kicking-off at 1400 I hoped for a good run and maybe catch the last 20 minutes of the game. This idea was dashed when we started late and the race time estimate from the organiser was double your marathon time and take off an hour. Carnethy’s were few and I only saw Myvany Fenton May with Derek Paton registered. A few Harmony folk were there with Seona Burnett running.
I set off too fast as usual and held 2nd position till the first hill! It was very cool and frosty still and the trails mostly frozen and quite icy. Cheviot was in the clag and there was no view, just great frosting and the sun peaking through the mist for a while. A rutted peat climb led to a great paved path across the top, but too quickly led to the bog sections along the Pennine Way which were really tough with intermittent rutted frozen footprints and unavoidable creaking ice with regular breaking-through into the c-c-c-c-cold water below. Later runners would have a horrid time of these sections once the frozen bits broke up. I took it easy and lost places to save my knees. Miles 10-13 were the worst then things improved a bit. The last leg along St C’s Way was quicker and more runnable with the odd climb to check your sense of humour. The final views down to Wooler in its frosted autumn colours were great.
A good race in a fine area with good interesting route making a fun race. The time estimate turned out to be quite accurate based on my D33 (flattest marathon) time with a finishing time of 5hr 43mins. Seona was a little after me but I legged it back to Megggetland before Myv FM came in, and arrived after the final whistle to hear of thumping 123-0 win to the Boroughmuir U15 and wining of their league.
Results will be up here: http://www.trailoutlaws.com/wooler-results-2016.php
Mark Hartree
Borders Cross Country at Galashiels
The second leg of the Borders Cross Country Races took place in sparkling sunshine with frost underfoot, except for the obligatory mud where the sun had been. A number of river crossings kept us on our (wet) toes. Many thanks to Gala runners for organising a great event and after race soup and cake.
Margaret