For a relatively local race the Carnethy turnout was sparse and less than scintillating. This was a pity on such a sparkling day for the village flower show and wonky vegetables contests etc. Carnethy wonky athletes were represented by Keith Burns, Norman Brown and Trevor Collins as scratch team flying the club vests (TC still in his tatty yellow version).
The four-mile dash has a gentle rising prelude up the Yearn Hope Burn (totally dry) followed by a short fierce climb up Sister’s Clough to the 300m highest point. After the struggle there’s a mile of very fast gentle downhill through pastures. When you’re thinking it’s now downhill all the way, you turn onto an infuriatingly corrugated field margin, resuming easy climbing to a navigating conundrum where you’re led into the final steepish descent through chest-high bracken marked by tiny six-inch high flags. This baffled at least MV60 winner Colin Donnelly and me, who had to adopt a breast-stroke through the dense foliage until we found the flags. A final very steep uphill strip of tarmac flings you back onto the village high street to re-join the festivities.
No Carnethy prizes except Trevor’s jammy spot prize of a new Kindle! Race sponsorship by the local wind farm operators and adjacent EDF Torness was not really reflected in the race prizes, but they were probably more generous to the village flower and vegetable contestants. If you’ve never been to Oldhamstocks it a hidden gem with lots of good nearby hill terrain, including a superb East Lammermuir Deans geological SSSI site messed up by the new wind farm. Why?
Star performances in the race are shown in the results.
Keith Burns
Three Carnethys at the Oldhamstocks Flower Show Hill Race today:
Norman Brown 19th in 38:34
Trevor Collins 22nd in 40:15
Keith Burns 25th in 45:52
Results: https://www.facebook.com/dunbarrunners/
No running prizes but Trevor won the spot prize of a Kindle and our dog Maisie picked up a 2nd in the dog show.
Norman Brown