The summer edition of the Club Journal is now available for download here. All sorts of interesting things! Download it now!
Archives for June 2017
Pub ‘n’ Chips
Pubs and chips, it is the run that has everything! Well, assuming that your life revolves around eating and drinking. A swift pint in KB, then off over Blackford Hill to the Merlin, then Bennetts (with chips), then Waiting Room (or whatever it’s called now), then a long slog to the finest alfresco pub in all Edinburgh – Le Oz. Situated on a summit of the Braids, Le Oz serves the finest Pimms in all Edinburgh! Perfect for a summer’s evening! A flying run down to The Stables completed the official festivities for the evening, partly because the usual final pub has been replaced by student flats (booo!). Throughout the evening the rain threatened, and fell, but generally the run was dry and full of cheer. After the Stables Bar the social drinkers to disengaged from the serious drinkers, and headed home with a spring in their step and a fuzzy warmth to their thinking. The serious drinkers took a leisurely run to Leslies, for the usual post-Pub n Chips pint(s) of beer, and then some more, and then finally home without any memory of how they got there. Three cheers for beer (and chips)! And people! Hurrah! Many thanks to Oz!
First successful completion of the James -Thin Round
On Saturday 17th June, Jamie Thin and I completed a 112km circuit of the hills to the south of Edinburgh in a time of 20hrs and 14mins. The route has 5,573m of ascent and descent and starts and finishes at The Steading pub.
After both having done the 3 big UK 24 hour Rounds (RR, BG and PB) we figured it was time to do something a bit closer to home so we set out to create an ultra that takes people over the hills we train and race on all the time, along with pushing people to explore some of the more esoteric spots the Pentlands has to offer. There’s such a lot to explore south of Edinburgh so we focused on trying to join some of our favorite races together to create a round that would be challenging but accessible, also as we both turned 50 this year we decided we’d like the route to cover 50 hills.
Leg one of the route follows the outward Pentland skyline but carries on south west from the Kips to West Linton. The second leg takes in the hills to the east of Romano Bridge with Stephenson Hill being thrown in to tempt Olly to have a go at some point. Leg three takes us back west towards the southernmost point, and mid-point of the round, at Trahenha (if you thought you were tired climbing this at the end of the Two Breweries then spare us a thought last weekend in the heat). Leg four is a short one taking in The Mount (the hardest hill to work out how to ascend) and the masts at Broomy Law. Leg five is also short but climbs the magnificent Black Mount and less impressive White Hill. Leg six is a long one, starting at Dunsyre and charting the trackless heathery wastes of the southern Pentlands to Cock Rig where a final (wobbly) bog trot brings you back to the Drove Road. At that point with only the second half of the Skyline to go what on earth could go wrong.
Well, what went wrong was that we missed closing time at the Steading by about 10 minutes, which, in all honesty, was probably a good thing. Thanks to our fantastic support crew, Steve, Mike S, Mike L, Neil, Jonny, Phil and Mark we could not have done it without you guys.
For anyone keen to follow get your maps out as here’s a list of hills you’ll have to visit to take the record away from two 50 year olds . For the eagle eyed you’ll see there are 51 hills but as we did Allermuir twice we figured we should only count it once.
START – The Steading
Leg 1: Caerketton Hill, Allermuir Hill, Castlelaw Hill, Turnhouse Hill, Carnethy Hill, Scald Law, South Black Hill, East Kip, West Kip, Green Law, Spittal Hill, Paties Hill, The Mount, Grain Heads, Mount Maw, Faw Maw
Leg 2: Wether Law, Green Knowe, Wide Hope Shank, Stevenson Hill, Hamildean Hill
Leg 3: Tourbank Hill, Riding Hill, Ladyurd Hill, Penvalla, Hog Knowe, Trahenna Hill, Hammer Head, Clover Law, Green Law, Broughton Heights, Wether Law
Leg 4: The Mount, Broomy Law
Leg 5: Black Mount, White Hill
Leg 6: Dunsyre Hill, Mid Hill, Bleak Law, Darlees Rig, White Craig, Craigengar, West Cairn Hill, East Cairn Hill, Cock Rig, Hare Hill, Black Hill, Bells Hill, Harbour Hill, Capelaw Hill, Allermuir Hill
The Steading – END
Happy running – a very tired and hungry Mick James
Mick James
Ramsay’s Round Hat Trick
Congratulations to Graham Nash on being the 1st ever competitor to complete Ramsay’s Round 3 times (2013, CW, 23h 19m, No 72) (2016, ACW 23h 29m, No 85) (2017, ACW 22h 34m No 105).
Graham was one of a carefully selected support team that was chosen to assist Liz Barker from Oxfordshire during her R R attempt. Following a 3 week wait for a favourable weather window Liz finally set off from Glen Nevis Youth Hostel at 11pm on Monday 19th June, travelling anticlockwise. Graham was delegated to assist with pace and navigation over the Mamore’s (10 munros) (Leg one).
Following the completion of leg one, Graham decided to further assist with leg 2, the valley section, and continuing with another 3 munros and onto Fersit at the north side of Loch Treig. Feeling good and with 10 more munros still to negotiate Graham decided to carry on to the finish.
Liz completed the round in 22 34 Followed by Graham a few sec behind with a new PB making him the 1st person to achieve a hat trick of Ramsay’s Round completions within 24 hours.
Well done Graham.
Charlie Ramsay
The Celtman Machine
Some folk aspire to do the Celtman which is rated as an Extreme Iron Man. I’d done several Bowhill Duathalons with Nick Williamson (the Teacher one) and knew he was a machine. He had podium aspirations for the Celtman and completed it on Saturday in the worse conditions ever and convinced his support team comprising of Jim Hardie and myself that they would give the Celtman a miss in the future.
The swim was cold, very choppy and full of jelly fish. Nick was mid-field at Transition 1 meaning a lot of work was needed. The bike was hilly, often wet and cool, and the 45 mile head-for-home leg all into a strong wind was brutal, even sitting in the warmth of the support wagon. Nick was quite amazing and focussed, reeling in place after place to be in around 15th place at Transition 2 from bike to run.
Jim Hardie stepped in to run the finishing marathon and a very quick change took a few more places. I was going to do the Beinn Eighe hill section (hoping he’d be knackered by then) but the high route was cancelled due to high wind and rain so after a minor faff, Jim ran on and I supported from a new place.
Nick and Jim spanked the run reeling and dumping more places to bring Nick to the finish in 5th place. An extraordinary achievement in Jim and my eyes. A faster swim and a medal was certainly likely.
Results will be up soon on the Celtman Website. An awesome race for machines.
Mark Hartree / Jim Hardie
Harlaw handicap 2017 results
Runner | Handicap | Run Time | Finish Time | Points | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Scott | Henderson | 20.23 | 51.39 | 72.02 | 50.0 |
Tim | Crymble | 13.43 | 60.32 | 74.15 | 48.9 |
John Ryan | Preston | 27.14 | 47.52 | 75.05 | 47.9 |
Jonathan | Marks | 27.17 | 47.59 | 75.16 | 46.8 |
Conrad | Rawlik | 33.18 | 41.58 | 75.16 | 46.8 |
Alan | Renville | 26.39 | 48.44 | 75.23 | 44.7 |
Lee | Murphy | 25.21 | 50.16 | 75.37 | 43.6 |
Paul | Ritchie | 25.49 | 50.00 | 75.49 | 42.6 |
Findlay | Hartree | 21.04 | 54.46 | 75.50 | 41.5 |
Helen | Wise | 20.35 | 55.27 | 76.02 | 40.4 |
Bob | Waterhouse | 17.47 | 58.21 | 76.08 | 39.4 |
Nigel | Shekleton | 32.11 | 44.01 | 76.12 | 38.3 |
Lucas | Lefevre | 23.16 | 53.03 | 76.19 | 37.2 |
Heather | Young | 15.32 | 61.03 | 76.35 | 36.2 |
Dorothy | Elliott | 11.39 | 64.59 | 76.38 | 35.1 |
Alan | Hogg | 27.09 | 49.35 | 76.44 | 34.0 |
Fraser | Gibson | 24.30 | 52.27 | 76.57 | 33.0 |
Will | Pakianathan | 30.14 | 46.56 | 77.10 | 31.9 |
Paul | Burns | 16.41 | 60.31 | 77.12 | 30.9 |
Chris | Tinning | 28.24 | 48.49 | 77.13 | 29.8 |
Cameron | Murray | 28.28 | 48.50 | 77.18 | 28.7 |
Joel | Sylvester | 19.53 | 57.33 | 77.26 | 27.7 |
Hilary | Spenceley | 6.38 | 70.56 | 77.34 | 26.6 |
Sally | Best | 20.20 | 57.20 | 77.40 | 25.5 |
Jasmin | Paris | 26.24 | 51.23 | 77.47 | 24.5 |
Andrew | Spenceley | 26.25 | 51.43 | 78.08 | 23.4 |
Gordon | Cameron | 25.22 | 52.51 | 78.13 | 22.3 |
Liam | Braby | 35.35 | 42.42 | 78.17 | 21.3 |
Richard | Chandler | 13.08 | 65.23 | 78.31 | 20.2 |
Nicola | Innes | 14.53 | 63.42 | 78.35 | 19.1 |
Phil | Young | 21.23 | 57.30 | 78.53 | 18.1 |
Rupert | Finn | 20.55 | 58.43 | 79.38 | 17.0 |
Moira | Stewart | 14.32 | 65.08 | 79.40 | 16.0 |
David | Harrington | 23.30 | 56.51 | 80.21 | 14.9 |
Ewart | Scott | -15.00 | 96.02 | 81.02 | 13.8 |
Bill | Gauld | -15.00 | 96.02 | 81.02 | 13.8 |
Mark | Hartree | 21.04 | 60.11 | 81.15 | 11.7 |
Sandra | Chandler | 0.00 | 81.19 | 81.19 | 10.6 |
Matthew | Jones | 25.58 | 55.23 | 81.21 | 9.6 |
Lindsay | Doig | 21.49 | 60.10 | 81.59 | 8.5 |
Willie | Gibson | 11.47 | 71.13 | 83.00 | 7.4 |
Barbara | Livingston | 26.21 | 60.23 | 86.44 | 6.4 |
Ruth | Paterson | 25.51 | 60.54 | 86.45 | 5.3 |
Maria | Timofeeva | 9.59 | 81.33 | 91.32 | 4.3 |
Sarah | Walker | 9.59 | 81.33 | 91.32 | 4.3 |
Mary | Lye | 23.25 | 70.16 | 93.41 | 2.1 |
Dianne | Esson | 23.25 | 70.16 | 93.41 | 2.1 |
Harlaw handicap
The first 3 finishers were:
1. Scott Henderson
2. Tim Crymble
3. John Ryan
40 out of 48 finishers finished within 7 minute of each other, so the finish team did well! The tractor and stray joggers didn’t help.
Phil
Results
Runner | Handicap | Run Time | Finish Time | Points | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Scott | Henderson | 20.23 | 51.39 | 72.02 | 50.0 |
Tim | Crymble | 13.43 | 60.32 | 74.15 | 48.9 |
John Ryan | Preston | 27.14 | 47.52 | 75.05 | 47.9 |
Jonathan | Marks | 27.17 | 47.59 | 75.16 | 46.8 |
Conrad | Rawlik | 33.18 | 41.58 | 75.16 | 46.8 |
Alan | Renville | 26.39 | 48.44 | 75.23 | 44.7 |
Lee | Murphy | 25.21 | 50.16 | 75.37 | 43.6 |
Paul | Ritchie | 25.49 | 50.00 | 75.49 | 42.6 |
Findlay | Hartree | 21.04 | 54.46 | 75.50 | 41.5 |
Helen | Wise | 20.35 | 55.27 | 76.02 | 40.4 |
Bob | Waterhouse | 17.47 | 58.21 | 76.08 | 39.4 |
Nigel | Shekleton | 32.11 | 44.01 | 76.12 | 38.3 |
Lucas | Lefevre | 23.16 | 53.03 | 76.19 | 37.2 |
Heather | Young | 15.32 | 61.03 | 76.35 | 36.2 |
Dorothy | Elliott | 11.39 | 64.59 | 76.38 | 35.1 |
Alan | Hogg | 27.09 | 49.35 | 76.44 | 34.0 |
Fraser | Gibson | 24.30 | 52.27 | 76.57 | 33.0 |
Will | Pakianathan | 30.14 | 46.56 | 77.10 | 31.9 |
Paul | Burns | 16.41 | 60.31 | 77.12 | 30.9 |
Chris | Tinning | 28.24 | 48.49 | 77.13 | 29.8 |
Cameron | Murray | 28.28 | 48.50 | 77.18 | 28.7 |
Joel | Sylvester | 19.53 | 57.33 | 77.26 | 27.7 |
Hilary | Spenceley | 6.38 | 70.56 | 77.34 | 26.6 |
Sally | Best | 20.20 | 57.20 | 77.40 | 25.5 |
Jasmin | Paris | 26.24 | 51.23 | 77.47 | 24.5 |
Andrew | Spenceley | 26.25 | 51.43 | 78.08 | 23.4 |
Gordon | Cameron | 25.22 | 52.51 | 78.13 | 22.3 |
Liam | Braby | 35.35 | 42.42 | 78.17 | 21.3 |
Richard | Chandler | 13.08 | 65.23 | 78.31 | 20.2 |
Nicola | Innes | 14.53 | 63.42 | 78.35 | 19.1 |
Phil | Young | 21.23 | 57.30 | 78.53 | 18.1 |
Rupert | Finn | 20.55 | 58.43 | 79.38 | 17.0 |
Moira | Stewart | 14.32 | 65.08 | 79.40 | 16.0 |
David | Harrington | 23.30 | 56.51 | 80.21 | 14.9 |
Ewart | Scott | -15.00 | 96.02 | 81.02 | 13.8 |
Bill | Gauld | -15.00 | 96.02 | 81.02 | 13.8 |
Mark | Hartree | 21.04 | 60.11 | 81.15 | 11.7 |
Sandra | Chandler | 0.00 | 81.19 | 81.19 | 10.6 |
Matthew | Jones | 25.58 | 55.23 | 81.21 | 9.6 |
Lindsay | Doig | 21.49 | 60.10 | 81.59 | 8.5 |
Willie | Gibson | 11.47 | 71.13 | 83.00 | 7.4 |
Barbara | Livingston | 26.21 | 60.23 | 86.44 | 6.4 |
Ruth | Paterson | 25.51 | 60.54 | 86.45 | 5.3 |
Maria | Timofeeva | 9.59 | 81.33 | 91.32 | 4.3 |
Sarah | Walker | 9.59 | 81.33 | 91.32 | 4.3 |
Mary | Lye | 23.25 | 70.16 | 93.41 | 2.1 |
Dianne | Esson | 23.25 | 70.16 | 93.41 | 2.1 |
Isle of Jura Fell Race
A bit like my training plan this is a bit late.
The Isle of Jura Fell Race is a classic and one to be recommended, 7 hills and 5 glorious k on the road. The journey over to Craighouse is part of the adventure whether you take the Calmac from Kennacraig or RIB from Tayvallich. Blazing sunshine on the Friday the boat trip over from Tayvallich allowed some great views of the “Paps” and my regular thoughts of how do you get down off the last Pap.
Saturday morning arrived and lots of Carnethy people were amongst the 250+ on the start line. The start feels a bit like a charge as everyone heads out of Craighouse up to the mast and bog that awaits at the side of the forest. Once out of the bog the next section is quite runnable, and onto the first hill Dubh Bheinn, then it’s onto two more hills before the descent to the river and one classic view of the next climb up the first Pap. It looks very steep but also very awesome. The climb up the first pap is the best climb of the race and the views at the top were amazing. I sometimes ask myself why you do these races, this year I was never going to get a PB, but the views were part of the reward and banter from other runners, if you pass them on the uphill bits and they pass you again on the downs, its all part of the fun. The next up and down bits are a bit rough and there are lots of big boulders to navigate, especially off the last Pap which can feel a bit horrid. After coming off the last hill, Cora Bheinn, the nice runnable bit takes you across the river, through more nice bog (special thanks to Wendy Dodds for a gel at this point of the race) to the 3 Arch Bridge. The last test is a nice 5k run along the road to Craighouse and the finish. The threatened thunder and lightening didn’t arrive but it was fairly humid for the duration of the race and you can be forced to drink from a bog if you run out of water. Old news now but Finlay Wild won the race setting a new record and Jill Stephen first lady. Lots of great runs from other people too – too many to mention and great marshals out supporting on the hill. Jura is a great fell race, with lots of up and down and a great weekend away and one I would recommend. Lots of time between now and next race day to get the training in.
Joanne Anderson