Alternative Carnethy 5 – 2017 |
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The idea is to complete 5 races in a week with the accumulated time going forward into the “magical scoring system”. There is also the Beeftub race added in since this is a Scottish Champs race organised by Willie. With the exception of the Beeftub, you don’t have to do the races at any particular time or day as long as they are started on the Monday and completed by the Sunday. If you want company 7pm (6.30pm on Friday) is the time to start on the days mentioned. You could do them all on one day if you wanted. You record your own time and send it in (along with your age) to Mark Hartree Mark Hartree. Times are added together for the best 5 times and there is a handicapping so that the young speed-merchants are bought down to the rest of our standards! A cunning use of your SHR percentage converted to a time penalty will be factored into your overall time which seemed to work ok last year and will be used again once I remember how it worked…. (SHR% / 100 x 60) – 60) x n/5. Results Alt C5 report and results summary: The Alternative C5 race results saw a close competition in the end for the top spot. The summary of the times excluding the Beeftub (published previously) are here:
The overall winner of the ALT C5 Cowbell was Ross Christie. Special Credit to all the Kids and their Parents for participating, especially – Rosie, Ronnie, Solly Jones/ Lye and Andrew Nash , who completed 5 races. And three guys who did 6 races in a week – Stewart Whitlie, Simon Titmuss and Digby Maass. Well done to all who took part and for those who didn’t, book it in your diaries for next year and participate in a ‘fun’ week of training and racing. Reports for 2017 Alt C5 day 1 – SpittalMonkAl McGowan was (probably) first off the mark this morning and sent in this report: Having spent most of the summer since about April spending a lot of time on the hill, it was time to see if I could convert this into a decent stab at the Spittal Monk leg of the Alt C5. I’d managed one Wednesday night with the 7:30 group (a HUGE turnout of 22 people) a few weeks ago and found that all that walking was not adding up to a swift pace on the hill! Walking, even for up to 9-10 hours a day, is just not the same as running on the hill. The other odd thing I’d found was that my routine use of walking poles, although a real help on walking day after day, had made me less used to using my arms to power up the slope when running. I set off from Nine Mile Burn (the sign on the road back says 12 miles but that is the ‘lang Scots miles’ for you. One Scots mile is about 1.123 statue miles) up the track past Spittal Farm and the across the open hillsides. Well openish, as there are a few fencelines. By this point the rain was pummeling down and the wind was picking up as I crossed Spittal Hill then up and over Green Law. The wind assisted as I contoured to get over to Cap Law then didn’t as it blew the rain into my face. After swerving across the tussocks to give a couple of mountain bikers a clear run I passed the Font Stone and descended back to Nine Mile Burn over slaps and stiles with the legs working better with the gravity assist of going downhill. So, for me, the Alt C5 game is afoot! No sightings of other racers but good luck to everyone and I’ll hopefully see some of you through the week.
A moment or two of fake good weather turned back to warmish clag for a lovely sprint around the short course which in other times is the Nine Mile Burn handicap route (with the inclusion of West Kip). A great fast descent with no time this time to raid the supposed font stone for spare cash. Caerketton Downhill race & Alt C5 day 3
51 seniors and 13 juniors turned out for the 16th running of the Caerketton Doonhiller. There was no downhill series this year due to no organiser being found for The Nebit Downhill (any volunteers, or a new race…?), so the number of non-Carnethy runners was slightly down this year. But that was compensated for by the fact the race is now within the Alternative Carnethy 5 series run by Mark Hartree (see the Carnethy website for details) so there was a stronger than ever turn out from the host club. Results | Strava flybys here | Steven Fallon’s photos here | Photos from the finish
Al’s Alt C5 progress
Al on Allermuir A swift recce from the car park at Swanston confirmed which pathway I should run down through the stables area and then I returned to the car park to begin. It had been a while since I had been this far east on the lower paths, so the route let me view some of the changes until I hit the Howden Burn. Touched the sun-warmed sandstone blocks of the hut and then turned to be confronted by THAT route on Green Craig, which I’ve only ever come down. I ascended much of it crouched over on all fours like a beast. Getting to the break of slope, the familiar environs of Green Craig, with the scattered piles of metal, gave me enough visual clues to line myself up for the ascent to the trig point. After climbing the slope on hands and feet, I was now able to switch between bipedal walking and running at this point, after the fashion of those ‘Ascent of Humanity’ motifs, freeing my hand to touch the trig point and stop my watch. My pack yielded my compass and shears, which allowed me to get the lanyard off the compass to tie round the sole and upper of the left shoe. Thanks to Jenna for recording the demise of the shoes post-run in photos. With this complete, I trotted over the Capital View trail along the ridge to test the repair. Which held. So I got to the Caerketton cairn and prepared to launch. The route description, with mention of ‘careering doonhill’ and being ‘out of control’, was added to with, Highland Cattle contently lying on the slopes by the bigger cairn chewing the cud, bum-slides and almost running over the top of a walker sitting peaceably eating their tea on the rocks below the bench. The shoe held together OK, as did the rest of me, and I made it down OK. Cooled down with a brisk walk back over to Swanston. Alt C5 day 4 – Tour de Glencorse
An interesting course with a bit of navigation. Dreich and getting dark rapidly now, leading to worries about late finishers. But all was well and everyone got back ok. And I think we all enjoyed it. There was certainly a big turnout. Strava flybys here with showing a few deviations! Last one tomorrow – the Mini Mountain Marathon. Probably best to bring a headtorch. Or start early – Mark may advance the start time. Look out for an email. Alt C5 day 5 – Mini Mountain Marathon
Words are just not enough to describe my frustration and fury at spending well over half an hour finding a couple of the checkpoints on the route, though big swearing might help. That’s after losing my pen, then the paper on which to record the checkpoint codes. So instead I include a photo of an enormous mushroom, some clouds, the Jones/Lye brigade and race control with Big Al and wee daughter. Andy can afford to look happy, he did a very good time and had no trouble at all. Alex too. Though I agree with Alex about the outrageous misplacement of one of the checkpoints. I’m going off to prove our point!
The John Blair-Fish Memorial Devil’s Beeftub Hill Race
With it being a Scottish Champs Race this year I was thinking of online entry, but Hill Running is about turning up paying your money and running up and down a hill. Simple. With the weather good and improving we had a lovely view over the route as we hammered in the Feather Flag at the Beetfub Monument. A 25 minute drive later (and half a mile) and we were set up for registration. Moira and Hilary got organised as Bob and Lee started parking duties. The cars appeared in flurries and Gordon had to support the registration team, and soon the first field was full. With the weather looking good I decided to not require full kit to be carried, and with 105 entries by 11:45 we shut registration. A couple of runners caught us up and by the time we were in the start field we had to register 5 more, then John Robson arrived with cycling shoes (marital mis-communication) so I went shoeless to let him run, thanks for the extra £5 for charity donation John. So after a short thanks to John Blair-Fish, who died 4 years ago, for thinking up this great wee race, the 113 starters jumped the fence and at 12:15 I set them off. It is a great sight watching the hordes ascending the steep start and then seeing the odd head bobbing along the ridge. and after about 17 minutes we could see the leaders sliding/running down from Great Hill. Murray Strain won the race in 21:55 followed by Robbie Simpson and Tom Martin. The ladies race was won by Stephanie Provan of Deeside by just 3 seconds from Miranda Grant of HBT. Ewan Fairgrieve was first junior and Cleona McCheyne of Inverclyde was first junior female. I was pleased to count all 113 runners in and my shoes came in 105th position. It was great to see so many people out and I hope the prize winners all enjoy their Beefy Prizes. Thanks To Cali Ingham, Jonathan Whitehead and Nick MacDonald for marshalling the hills, and to Gordon Cameron , Hilary Spenceley and Moira Stewart for Registration and timing. Bob Waterhouse and Lee Murphy for parking duties, and last but not least, all the runners for turning up. Willie Gibson Here’s the Strava Flybys Nick’s photos – |
2017 – Events are organised by Carnethy Hill Running Club; contact Mark Hartree for further details.
Click day’s image to open in new window for printing
If you are doing the Mini Mountain Marathon at the weekend here is a direct download of the map.
Rules: Print the map, fold it in half and don’t look at it!. No pre-planning !!!!
From Bonaly Carpark – start your watch, run through gate, open map. Choose CP1 or CP2 as starting point. If with others, alternate start to CP1 and CP2 as below.
Race instructions for the Friday mass start:
Here’s how it will work: – Ten checkpoints will be set around Bonaly Reservoir area. – There will be 2 starting checkpoints so runners will leave about a minute apart, alternating the starting checkpoints. – You will get the map once you start and are told your starting checkpoint (a bit like a mountain marathon). Start your watch. – Go and get all the checkpoint. Record the code on the flag. Return to the start. Stop your watch. Show the codes to Mark Hartree. – Time limit of 90mins from your start. – 10 mins added per missed checkpoint. – 2 mins added to each minute between 91-100 mins. – Then 5 mins added to each minute after 101 mins. There is a pub in Colinton….. – No entry to Out of Bounds areas If you need to cross fences, wall or ditches (you probably will) please do so with great care. – Bring a pen or pencil. – The heather and grass are in bloom and can graze legs. – It is dark by about 2030! Maybe bring a head torch. – If you go the shortest way, the MMM route can be <7km.
Carnethy Hill Running Club is a company limited by guarantee incorporated in Scotland with registered number SC492072
All Carnethy organised races (unless stated otherwise) will adhere to the Scottish Hill Runners safety rules, and all competitors and club members are expected to adhere to them. Full details on the Hill Racing Safety page