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- 2nd January 2014
FRA championships 2014
British Championship
routes 2014 (see FRA site):
29th March - S - Donard
Challenge
7th June - L - Ennerdale
Horseshoe
28th June - M - Dollar
30th August - M - Maesgwm
Muddle
19th Oct - FRA Relays
Dallam Running Club and Howgill Harriers - no details
yet
- 25th December 2013
Ho ho ho! To Allermuir
we go!
  
The wind was biting, the ground frozen, the
sun shone, and runners converged
for the annual run up Allermuir on Christmas
day. Nice!
- 24th December 2013
Tour De Helvellyn
Jon Ascroft and myself
took part in the Tour de Helvellyn, covering
a route of around 37miles from Askham, via
Martindale, Boredale Hause, Sticks Pass, Grisedale
Tarn and repeating the last 10miles from Patterdale
back to Askham. It seemed like an excellent way to
round off the year and justify a bit of rest over Christmas. We
were lucky with the weather, only having to endure
horizontal sleet & rain for about half an hour
whilst running up and over Boredale Hause - the rest
of the day was mild in comparison (although many of
the runners finishing in the dark after 4pm were caught
in horrendous conditions). After setting off around
8.45 and running the first few miles over Askham Fell
together, Jon and I went our separate ways and
both had great runs finishing in 6h36 and 6h01. A
superbly run low key event and a great way to maximise
use of the daylight over the shortest day of the year.
Results here,
and photos here.
Event website here.
Andy Fallas
- 23rd December 2013
Eskapade 2013
  
From Penicuik's yummy
bacon rolls to Carlops' cosy pub, where the
soup was HOT and the roll was from the OVEN
and came with BUTTER! And the beer was good
too - Bob & Digby's
photos here,
and Peter Buchanan's photos of the whole
run from Musselburgh to Carlops here
Digby
I was out with the
binoculars for a bit of Sunday birding yesterday
in the woods near Polton, always an ornithological
delight. My
companion and I were discussing whether the
small fluttery bird we had just spied was
a Goldcrest or not when suddenly there was
a commotion in the forest. The rustling
of dried leaves suddenly gave way to the
cheerful chattering of the Carnethy bird
(Alpiscouranti Carnethus) as a huge flock
of these creatures emerged from the undergrowth. With
their brightly clad plumage and almost incessant
chatter there was no mistaking the Carnethy
birds as they clattered past in their peculiar “single-file” formation,
leaving behind their characteristic small
square tracks in the mud. These
birds have a curious seasonal distribution
preferring the high mountains in summer but
often visible in woodlands during the winter. Their
lifecycle is poorly understood and their
breeding habits unknown.
This particular flock was 30 or 40 strong as it passed
through the Polton woods and heading on southwards. The
other bird species were of course disturbed for many
minutes afterwards following the passage, and it was
some time before peace returned to the woods.
Only joking – I wish I’d been with you… carrying
a slight injury etc etc. Well done all.
Alec Erskine
- 23rd December 2013
Broadmeadows former youth hostel
After Nigel's journey
run encounter with the new owners I asked
Borders Council about the path. Here is their
reply:
"The core path at the
former Broadmeadows YH will remain intact
with a minor diversion; instead of the path
going straight up the front lawn it will
turn right at the bottom of the lawn and
then left up the side of the house.
Regards
Erica
Access Ranger West Area
Communications Rep (Planning)
"
- 20th December
2013
Black Thursday Wintervals
A fine night for the
final wintervals session of 2013. Alex and
myself were the only two that were there
to complete the Carnethy double header – pub run and then intervals.
The session last night was a nice pyramid
session (this was an Incan pyramid – it
has a flat top), on the grassy path on the
side of the crags:
- 1min
- 2mins
- 3mins
- 4mins
- 4mins
- 3mins
- 2mins
- 1min
Kudos to Peter Buchanan who has been the
only runner to attend all the sessions so
far! Many thanks to all that have attended
so far. See you all next year!
Jim
- 19th December 2013
Nebit Moonrace
10 carnethies took
a break from christmas shopping to shake
off the hangovers from the christmas party
the night before at the Nebit Moonrace in
Alva. Short, sharp
and dark, the climb to the summit of Nebit
is worth it for the terror-inducing descent
through the crags. Well flagged and
marshalled with soup and mince pies in the
pub after a great wee race to break up the
pre-christmas festivities. Al Anthony
was first home by quite some distance in
a new course record. Carnethy excelled
taking 6 of the top 10 places with Chris
Longstaff first Carnethy and V40 home in
4th, Steve Fallon first V50 in 5th beating
his record set last year and Andrew Gilmore
first "youth" just behind.
Results here http://www.scottishhillracing.co.uk/RaceResults.aspx?RaceID=RA-0298&RaceYear=2013
Alex McVey
- 17th December 2013
Xmas Party and award of trophies
  
A bracing run
up to the summit of Castlelaw preceded the
Xmas party and presentation of trophies.
Bill surprised everyone by not knowing where
we were and Joel amazed everyone with his
illuminated Santa hat. At Moira's house the
table groaned with food which was attacked
with relish before we settled down for the
award of trophies. Report with details of
trophy winners here
Digby
- 15th
December 2013
3 Brethren
    
Having been deprived
of hilly fun for far too long, I ventured
South with Matt, Helen and Digby for a turn
around the Selkirk hills. I hadn’t
realised (until Digby brandished a laminated
map at me) that the planned route was in
fact most of the Feel The Burns race. I’d
been expecting to practise my usual form
of mindlessly following the crowd, but was
tasked with navigating, in early preparation
for the LAMM. Quelle horreur! (Although goodness
knows I need the practice). Predictably I took
wrong turn literally within yards of the start,
so we freestyled our way uphill, found the
main track (joy!) and tootled along to the
Three Brethren. Mighty cairns! The views along
the Southern Upland Way were heart-soaringly
beautiful with low Winter sun and high winds.
Granny Digby found us a sheltered spot for
a snack and hot juice, and we frolicked onwards
down the grassy undulations of the Minchmoor
Road. About 10 miles in total, in about
2.5 hours. Hope to be back in January for the
Feel the Burns race!
Mary Lye
- 14th December
2013
Manor Water Run -
tussocks & gales
    
At 6.45am the stars
were out in the still morning. By the time
8 of us started up Posso Crag the clouds
were scudding overhead and the hills were
wreathed in rain as the promised storm arrived.
Still, in the lee of the hill it all seemed
quite benign. The shepherds knew better and
were zooming up the hill on quad bikes to
round up the sheep. We looked back down the
valley and spotted another car pulling up
by ours. Someone arriving late? We weren't
sure and pressed on. Soon it was a battle
to stay on course, or upright, or even see,
with stinging rain peppering our eyeballs
and Helen in danger of losing a contact lens
as her eyelid blew inside out. Ruth stoically
running under equipped on her first major
Carnethy outing, and probably wondering what
kind of foolish people she was out with,
gradually acquired bits of clothing to wrap
up in. As we neared the col before Dollar
Law, which Willie was inclined to go up "to
see what the wind is like",
we saw a figure appear - "is it one
of us?" - "must be; what other
lunatic would be out on a day like this?" -
and indeed it was latecomer Cathy S, convinced
this was a better bet than Xmas shopping.
However at the foot of the climb we decided
that enough was enough, and to everyones'
relief we headed back down towards the valley.
Almost within sight of the cars Hilary Holding
did something awful to her ankle and supported
by Willie & Joel
was half carried off to be whisked away by
Cathy in her car. We now have a report back
from Hilary and it's not broken fortunately,
'just' ligament damage. We hope you get back
to running soon! All in all a valiant effort
in the circumstances, which were extreme,
and a not too shabby 7.5 miles of the proposed
14.
Digby
- 13th December 2013
Wintervals
A surprisingly mild evening for Wintervals
last night. Big thanks to our special guest
lead runner for the evening, Olly Stephenson.
Despite being such a mild mannered fellow,
he took no prisoners. We followed a rough
route around Hunters Bog and under the crags,
finishing back at the car park.
- 4 mins
- 4 mins
- 3 mins
- 3 mins
- 2 mins
- 2 mins
- 2 mins
- 1 mins
- 30s
With 1min rest in between each. Some struggled
with running fast over rough ground in the
dark, so it might be worth asking Santa for
a good headtorch this year. Rosie took a
tumble early in the session, and pottered
home with the line: “I’m ok,
my knee is a bit cut, so I’m just heading
home to get some staples”. Last thing
heard she was trying to get a friend to stitch
it up for her, as she doesn’t like
doing it herself. Hope you’re ok, Rosie!
Anyway…em...how are we getting on
with that whole limited by liability company
thing?
Jim
- 13th December 2013
11.12.13 photo competition
Gallery
of all the entries
This years
Carnethy Photo Competition was held on 11.12.13
with a theme of "Altitude".
Photos could be taken any time leading up
to 11.12.13, but there would bonus points
for photos taken at 09.10am or 14.15pm on
the day.
Some excellent pictures were received in varying styles
from John Ryan's "arty" ones through to Mike
Lynch's "hand drawn" effort complete with
bribe.
Bob Johnson had won the previous 2 years with a shameless
display of, well, himself. Determined not to let him
win again the new secretary employed the help of Bob's "Friend";
Philippa Divet (pronounced "Divée, apparently)
for his entry.
All the photos were displayed at the KB bar after training,
with final judging by the latest technology in the
form of the Carnethy "cheer-o-meter".
Appealing to the Carnethy membership's sense of humour,
Graham won first prize of some Stewarts ale, closely
followed in second place by Matt Davis on top of Ben
Nevis, and in third place, Jeff Roberts selfie of his
arm, having camped out on Turnhouse Hill overnight.
Dedication.
A bottle of limited edition Stewarts's ale for all
entrants.
Graham Nash
- 12th December 2013
Wed training and 11.12.13
photo competition
   
Wed Fast 11.5miles, 1hr 38min.
Seven minus one hills of Edinburgh
The original plan was to do the 7
hills route, but with 11.12.13 photo judging
at 8.30pm, we decided to miss out Corstorphine
Hill, and reduce the miles.
We headed for Arthur's Seat first and followed the
usual 7 hills route until the Castle, and then headed
to Fountainbridge to pick up the canal to Craiglockhart
and then the 7 hills route proper again back to Blackford
Hill
Some interesting dodging of Christmas shoppers on the
pavements, and avoiding of cars at junctions.
We'll try the full route in the new year
and see if under 2hrs is achievable. Peter
Buchanan's blog of the run here
Graham
The social group just did a 'short' run to
get back in time for the photocomp. Just 7.5
miles! Up to the Braids summit then hither
and yon on the golf courses returning to the
summit again, just to make sure it was still
there, and down to the Hermitage where a mighty
tree loomed out of the darkness, not in its
usual vertical state. We variously climbed,
limboed and detoured and finished the run ascending
Blackford Hill then back to KB for the 11.12.13
photo competition.
With the entries printed out we all took part
in the judging. A human cheer-o-meter determined
the success or otherwise of the entries. The
photos variously used the theme of 'Altitude'
or stuck to the idea of 11.12.13, and we were
all wondering how Bob could possibly manage
to get his kit off to either of these. The
perfect riposte in the form of Graham's witty
winning entry was complemented by Matt
Davis' 2nd place altitudinous photo on the
summit of Ben Nevis, and Jeff Roberts' 3rd
place dedicated camp out on Turnhouse Hill
to capture both the moment and the height.
Report with all the entries to follow.
Digby
- 11th December
2013
Bowhill Short Race
I did the Bowhill Duathlon Short Race on Saturday with
one other Carnethy vest this year. It was a misty
driech day with heavy drizzle all the way there turning
now and then to rain at times. Of the 203 entries
just over 150 made to the start line. The short
route starts with the run then cycle and aims for about
20 mins for each leg so is a chance for a good blast.
Jessie from Carnethy was in a relay with her partner/husband
Roy Dahl (accompanied by two toddlers to manage at
the transition). Hers was the only other top
I saw and she breezed past me up the zig-zag ascent
of Pernassie Hill. Lots of mud and leaves and
bashing through the woods back took me to the changeover
in just under 21 mins so I was quite pleased. Quick
drink and onto the bike remembering to dib out and
the cycle felt good and even faster managing to overtake
maybe 10 riders which was pleasing. A final chase
at the end made for a great race. Jessie and
Roy came first in the relay team and I managed 28/153
which was an improvement on last year.
Given the Bowhill Duathlon was previously run at Glentress
by Pete and Elsie Baxter, at the prize ceremony there
was had a very warm minutes applause for Elsie who
we were informed had sadly succumbed to her battle
with cancer last Weds.
Mark Hartree
- 10th December 2013
December Arthur's Seat lunchtime handicap
Welcome to two new runners,
Angus and Katie (their actual time is their
handicap).
Good run from Eddie today, although he appeared to
be pipped to the post because Neil misread his start
time and started a minute early (Tut, tut!).
Conditions were muddy and windy, but mild.
Next handicap will be on the 6th of January. Have a
great Christmas and New Year everyone. Results
Mike
- 9th December 2013
Water of Leith Half Marathon
Dark nights and overcast
skies means it’s
time for my annual half marathon experience
on the Water of Leith. So an overcast
Saturday morning found me with at least 10
other Carnethies on the Shore in Leith waiting
for our luxury coach to take the entrants
to the start on the Harlaw road above Balerno. From
there the route follows the river as closely
as possible back to Leith via various twisty
and muddy paths, with only one diversion
to confuse the unwary.
The race is a good example of the handicappers dark
arts, but overall I think they were very fair, demonstrating
that it’s about the runner rather than the handicap. Carnethy
managed a good show with finishers in 4th, 5th and
6th place, and Graham Nash as the fasted male in 1:21
(although slower than Nicola Duncan from Portobello
in an impressive 1:18). Roddy McCrae and myself
also made up two thirds of the winning team (as I said,
very fair handicaps). This meant we were able
to present ourselves with the prizes we had purchased
as the winners of the 2012 team prize.
Yet again the event was very ably organised by Richard
Dennis and Peter Buchanan, with the usual excellent
food at the finish. For results and organisers
report see the Portobello RC website - http://www.portobellorunners.co.uk/component/content/article/40-2013-races/492-water-of-leith-half
I made the distance 13.46 miles on my GPS, with 116m
ascending, 338m descending, giving 220m overall descent.
Phil
- 9th December 2013
Simonside Cairns Fell
Race
   
A small team Carnethy
of Helen and I did battle with some very
squelchy bog, lethally slippery boardwalks,
howling mist, and stony tracks in this
11 mile race organised by Northumberland
Hill Runners and starting in the pretty village
of Rothbury. More like
a big cross country course, the views would
have been great if we could have seen them.
The hotel bar provided registration, sanctuary
and soup for the record field of 120, and
there appeared to be prizes for most of
them. Even with that number running the field
spread out considerably, and there were still
sporadic cheers at the finish as we were
leaving.
Results (pdf).
Digby
- 8th December 2013
Elspeth Scott - A Life Well Lived
  
It
is with great sadness that I have to report the death of our friend and
social member of Carnethy, Elspeth Scott.
Elspeth (Westerlands CC) died in her sleep
last Wednesday 4th December..
Elsie's Funeral will be held at Melrose Crematorium this Friday, 13th
December ar 13:00.and afterwards at Peebles Golf Club.
Elspeth's husband, Peter Baxter has said that Elsie requested that
the boys should wear kilts and the girls should be colourful.
Always upbeat and cheerful, Elsie will be greatly missed by all her friends
in the hill running community.
Our thoughts are with Pete at this
difficult time
Willie Gibson
- 7th December 2013
East District Cross Country
 
Lured by Mark Johnston's
claims of hills and trails, nice people like
Des Crow and Charlie Love, not to mention a
pathological dislike of Christmas
shopping, Carnethy fielded both mens' (Andy
Fallas, Mark Johnston, Craig
Mattocks, Michael Reid, Bruce Smith and Iain
Whiteside) and ladies' (Kate
Crowe, Jacqui Higgibottom, Patricia McMaster
and Helen Wise) teams for the
East District Cross Country Championships at
Camperdown Park near Dundee.
Chilly but near perfect running conditions
and a fast slightly undulating
course through the park and the woods made
for a lot of fun. The girls
only had to do 2 laps of the course (6.4K total),
with the men having an
additional circuit to do. Results
Helen Wise
- 7th December 2013
Cauldstane Slap Handicap race
The Cauldstane Slap
Race is about 8km from Baddinsgill Farm near
West Linton to the summit of the Cauldstane
Slap along the old drove road. The race starts
on tarmac, then gravel road, finally a hill
track with peat mud and boulders, with a couple
of stream crossings. Handicapped
start times can result in an exciting chase
to the finish line.
Sunday Dec 1 was a beautiful sunny morning, possibly
the prettiest weather ever for this race which often
sees fog, rain, snow, or ice. However there
were only ten runners present, rather than the 30 to
40 more usual in the 1980s.
First man back was Alex McEwan, first lady Julia Loecherbach,
fastest time by Colin Eads. Also present from
Carnethy were Joanne Anderrson, Michael Wilkinson,
and Rod Dalitz.
Results (xls download)
Rod
- 5th December 2013
Wed training
Slow group 4.12miles
With the hiatus of the night run last week
the introductory group resumed with 7 of us
out for a pleasant jog across the
golf course to the top of the Braids. Some
fool (me), decided that the tree root strewn
path through the woods was the best option
in bald trail shoes and promptly fell over.
The excitement of the night over we made our
way back past the observatory onto the golf
course where some fool (me) confidently predicted
he could go straight to the gap in the wall,
but actually missed the wall altogether. Didn't
miss the bar though.
Digby
Fast Group 9.8miles, 1hr37min, 2,800ft acsent/descent
6
starters in the fast group tonight, we headed
out across the golf course to Blackford Hill,
then reversed the 7hills route to Braid Hill
and then Easter Craiglockhart. Across to Wester
Craiglockhart, where we were sociable to the
social group and then back across to Easter
to be sociable again. We then ran the 7hills
route back towards Blackford Hill with a loop
round the pond. It gave us an idea for next
week.....we'll try a night run of the 7hills
route from KB, trying to round in under 2hrs.
Maybe bring road shoes though.
Graham
- 2nd December 2013
7 Reservoirs Half Marathon
    
On an absolutely glorious morning for everyone,
cool and crisp, the morning was set perfect
for a trot around the lower levels of the Pentlands.
This race was organised by Iain Morrice of
Harmeny Pentland Runners, and the route really
was every possible terrain, although wearing
X Talons was punishment on the larger than
welcome ratio of tarmac. They came in handy
for 90% of the way, fairly muddy in sections
but nothing too bad.
115 starters I believe, Carnethy runners included
Mike Lynch, Cat Meighan, Mandy Calder, and
myself, apologies to others I missed off whom
I don’t yet know.
I made a foolishly quicker than usual start (Cool I’m
4th after about a mile!! Oh crap this is a mistake!!),
and ended up paying for it towards the end. I traded
places with Mike a couple of times, he caught me well
before the Howe, I passed him before Bonaly car park,
and then he reeled me in just after Torduff reservoir
to be first Carnethy. I blame Neil Burnett for jinxing
it at Torduff, ‘You’re 16th! Don’t
let Mike catch you!’ No sheet ice like
last year, although injury-wise Mike had a
run in with a gate handle, and I got clipped
on the arm by an airborne mountain bike! Welcome
refreshments, soup, cake and a campfire behind
the bothy were eagerly set upon by all of the
finishers.
Results and times to follow, BMF took the 1st
Male and Female positions, Peter Buchanan (Portobello)
came second.
The description from the website; ‘The
challenging route will take in the beautiful
Pentlands scenery as you run from reservoir
to reservoir, and will start and end on the
shore of Threipmuir reservoir.
On your travels you will pass Threipmuir, Loganlea,
Glencorse, Bonaly, Torduff, Clubbiedean and
Harlaw reservoirs before returning to the starting
point for well earned refreshments.’
Peter Buchanan's report and photos http://bestpartday.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/reservoir-dogs.html
Matthew
Curry
- 1st December 2013
Borders XC - Peebles
win for Michael Reid
     
Remarkably nice weather,
almost warm, in contrast to the last two years
with snow & ice.
Fairly dry too so the going was good on one
of the nicest courses on the Borders XC calendar.
Michael Reid was 1st, Stewart Whitlie 1st M50,
Hilary Spenceley 3rd F50. The results
are here (...3rd
V60 huh...).
That's it for this
year! Next one 12th Jan at Paxton House. Oh
and by the way - it's official - Andy's moustache
stays!
Digby
- 1st December 2013
Borders Journey Run
Seven of us gathered at Traquair for the start of the run. We soon came up to the bothy, where we stopped to look at the slates pinned to the drystane dyke, each one painted with names or short stories about horses. Further up we paused again at Resolution Point to admire the “crop circles” cut into the heather on the hillside below. Hardly had we restarted before we paused yet again at the Cheese Well to leave a shiny new penny on the stone to bring us good luck from the fairies. Further up, into the forest, we found the kist containing a hoard of Waymerks – small coins left as souvenirs for travellers along the Southern Upland Way.
All this stopping allowed Richard, who had arrived late, to catch up with us. We then got into our stride and travelled for miles along the high ridge of the hills, with fantastic views into the distance as far as the Eildons and The Cheviot. We stopped for lunch at The Three Brethren and were greatly fortified by Patricia's banana cake. At this point Bill left us to go down the hillside to Caddonfoot to find a bus back to Edinburgh. Jim decided to take the shorter option of running back the same way to Traquair. Richard was feeling cold so went on ahead; he had a novel variation of the route which involved running to a town, which turned out to be Selkirk, then catching two buses back to Innerleithen.
The rest of us headed over the hills to Broadmeadows Youth Hostel. A couple of times on the way we were joined by Matt Davis who seemed to be ranging over the hills around us. As we were regrouping outside the hostel a young couple popped out of the building. We asked if they were opening the hostel. “No,” they replied, “we've just bought it as a private residence.” - changed days! We carried on for a short way along the road to Yarrowford before returning to the hills for the long climb up the Minchmoor Road. At the top we were back on terra cognita so made our way easily back to Traquair. A good day out was had by all, whichever way they went.
Nigel Rose
- 1st December 2013
West Linton half marathon
Bob Johnson completed
a 1/2M as part of the West Linton Running Festival
(aka Advent Running Festival) yesterday, Saturuday
30th November. A low-key
running event with NO ENTRY FEE but the understanding
that each runner would
donate to the named charity of "Cystinosis
Foundation UK" instead.
The event
was very well organised by Victoria Harburn
and included a 5k fun run, a 10k
run and a half marathon. Course details for
the half are shown above. The
half was 80% on-road and 20% off-road. Bob
was fairly pleased with his run
(1:33:18) chasing two runners down in the last
three miles (failing to
overtake them) only to find out that they were
part of the 10k. Handed a "7" at
the finish line (minus the two 10k-ers) made
him 4th home by my reckoning.
Not a large field
(80 for all three runs) or the highest of
quality (1/2M won in 1:23) but a superb route
and a warm feeling from teas
and cakes plus the fact that all the entry
fee goes to charity...
Rich T. Biscuit
- 30th November 2013
Beinn a'Ghlo run
     
The 4th of Willie's
long runs. A splendid run from the relative
warmth of the valley to the bitingly cold tops
of Beinn a'Ghlo in the company of Willie, Kate & Des,
Euan and Paul; not to mention Haggis, a dog
with extraordinary reserves of energy for one
so tiny. About 14 miles and 1000m of ascent,
with stunning views and dramatic skies. It's
a good job I'm not really a Munro bagger
- the farther cairn IS 1 metre higher than
at the trig point. Oh well never mind. The
3 Munros we ascended can be found on the excellent
Walkhighlands site here,
and pronounciation of the challenging name
of the second peak Braigh Coire Chruinn-bhalgain
here.
Gallery here.
There's got to be a photo of the month in there
somewhere!
Digby
- 29th November 2013
Wooden Spoon Nominations Required
All nominations in the strictest confidence
Yes it is that time of year again when we think about the past year and the outstanding achievements within and out with Carnethy Hill Runners. Notable achievements need to be recognised by fellow runners who continuously strive to win this outstanding award. The award as always will be presented at the Carnethy Christmas Party on 16th December and the most outstanding of the nominees will not only receive this fabulous trophy but will also receive the adulation of his/ her fellow athletes and club members.
Nominations required for the following categories:
| Misguided |
 |
| Idiotic |
| Foolhardy |
| Self Nomination ( a bit like confession to an agony aunt) |
If you feel you do not fall into one of the above categories you can always initiate a new category of your own. Those who have so far failed to reach the required standard for this award please keep working at it as I feel sure it will be well worth it in the end . Details of previous winners are on the Wooden Spoon Trophy Page (details of other trophies to be awarded at the party are here).
Nominations via the  please.
Selection will be made by Bob Waterhouse
(Wooden spoon selection Committee Chair)
- 29th November 2013
Wintervals
Another cracking hill
reps session last night, and a good crowd too.
A couple of us were late due to some Cola event
in the grassmarket slowing traffic across town.
Perhaps they were advertising some of its many
uses http://www.wisebread.com/51-uses-for-coca-cola-the-ultimate-list?
Thankfully Andy Fallas was there on time to
lead the session.
- Warm up to Dunsapie Loch
- 3min rep, up towards Nether Hill.
- Regroup next to Dunsapie loch after each
rep.
- 6 reps.
That was the last of the November sessions,
only three more Thursdays until Christmas!
See you next week!
Jim
- 28th November 2013
Aberlady night run
A beautiful night of
clear views and starry skies. A longish trot
along the dune paths of East Lothian with a
little navigational help from locals Karen
and Dave Meikle. Always in sight a bright light
near the horizon - not Venus this time. Graham's
nifty night sky phone app showed it to be Jupiter.
Helen was more basically apprised of the existence
of the Milky Way, her focus up to now had been
downward on the minutiae of viruses. Reaching
the farthest extent in a small & cosy wood
we turned back along the beach with stellar
views of the Fife coast. 'Murder Hill', the
steep sand ascent used for training by the
Scotland Rugby team has maybe been overused.
With local knowledge we ascended left to go
right and had a view of Micheal scrabbling
away trying to get up the eroded near vertical
pipe of the old route. Just about here my right
leg decided enough was enough, and the left
could jolly well do all the work. A couple
of miles limping after the disappearing lights
of the group and we were back. Off to Ducks
of Kilspindie for quite a good pint and food,
where we discovered Patricia, who having turned
up late and missed us, had a nice short run
and a pleasant wait in the bar. Surprisingly
my traditional soup (pretty but lukewarm) didn't
come with a crusty oven warmed roll. After
a request for bread the resulting steaming
microwaved from frozen offering was, lets say,
puckish. I won't mention Helen's strangely
sauced peas.
Digby
- 27th November 2013
The Balvenie Whisky Tasting evening
An evening tasting some very high quality malt whisky - who would have thought this would be popular among Carnethies? Our esteemed President very tentatively went out on a limb and organised a talk by Dr Andrew Forrester, Balvenie Ambassador (what a title, Dr Ambassador, surely you are spoiling us...). Thankfully the club did not let him down, and the evening was a sell-out, and a great success. The £1/head charge may have helped.
The evening started quietly enough, but as
the five large measures each were sniffed,
tasted, swallowed, diluted, tasted again
and eventually quaffed, things became a little
louder. Feedback from Dr Forrester was that
we were a very knowledgeable crowd who asked
more than a normal number of questions.
Tasting Notes :-
Malt One : Single Barrel 12 Yr Old. Mmmm. Nice
Malt Two : Double Wood 12 Yr old. Claimed to be the 2nd most important malt whisky every created (after Glenfiddich). Only difference from 1) being a final 6-8 months maturing in a sherry cask. Mmmmmm. Nice and smooth
(Interlude - Balvenie Raw Spirit. 70% ABV of rotten banana. My goodness)
Malt Three : Double Wood 17 Yr Old. Sweaty socks. Not quite as smooth. Definitely better with a little water
Malt Four : Caribbean Cask 14 Yr Old. Secondary cask maturation, extra matured in rum casks. Wow. Vey nyshe. Yum your my besht mate Mr Whisky
Malt Five : Port Wood 21 Yr Old. Mmmmm. That's really nice that. Super smooth. Chewy even. Even better when you know the price of a bottle. Nothing remotely like ballroom dancing
Joel
I have to
stand in defence of poor old Malt Three. Sweaty
Socks indeed! I think Nick S had it right with
'ice cream soda'; perfumed, raisiny, creamy
and malty, I liked it best of the 5! With my
ravaged taste buds the complex aromas in whisky are possibly
more important. Malt One - oaky and perfumed.
Malt Two - a warmth of christmas pudding. After
Malt Three unfortunately I tasted the clearic,
which smelled and tasted every bit as horrid
as described (though I believe some people
liked it), and this coloured my perceptions
of the last two malts. A brilliant evening,
very interesting for this newcomer to the
arena.
Digby
- 27th November 2013
Hope Moors & Tors
 
The intrepid duo
of Konrad & Jasmin not
content with Saturday's jaunt round Pendle
Hill ventured further south on Sunday. Taking
part in the Dark& White organised event,
there are several distances they picked the
long one, naturally. Course
map. From the looks of the
weather in the photos it was certainly milder
and maybe even a touch of clag on the higher
parts. With results and splits showing Jasmin
came through stronger in the second half
to reign back Konrad and overturn the previous
days finishing positions between them. They
can run, but they can't hide even when not
wearing their vests :-)
Results
Matt
- 26th November 2013
Tour of Pendle
   
A quiet weekend on the
Scottish racing front meant four Carnethies
travelled south to tackle the Tour of Pendle
on Saturday. Having
camped in less than tropical conditions on
route Jasmin had a great run finishing 1st
female and well up the field. Konrad,
thankfully survived with his pride intact by
pipping Jasmin by 12 seconds (although he swears
he was much further ahead for almost all the
race). Matt Davies came flying past me
just before the second climb and that was the
last I saw of him all day. I missed a
sub 3hr time by the grand total of 5 seconds
and will choose to blame the need to deposit
bread tags at each checkpoint instead of my
fitness. Excellent value race with great
scran after and a tech top thrown in all for
the princely sum of £7.
Results will appear here eventually race-results
Photos
Alex McVey
With 500 entries this year its
was more like a champs race. I'd worked out that I'd
just about have enough time based on last years run
to get round and get to a work appointment in the Lakes.
That of course meant I'd have to run at least as well as last year.
After a leisurely registration and lonnnng walk back
to the car I arrived back changed to find a mass of
legs disappearing round the corner. So for me it was
a very relaxed start to the race until the open hillside
was gained where I was then able to set about trying
to see how many people I could catch before the end.
Conditions were really good for this time of year and
very little in the way of gloop on the moors. I haven't
been doing much racing so from the top of the hill
I shadowed a lass from Blackburn Harriers who was going
well until we reached the next steep climb, somewhere
along here I saw Alex. Unfortunately our partnership
came to end on the next steep climb and so I pushed
on ploughing my own furrow catching up with small groups
here and there until the very end track where things
stabilised and I came in with a bunch I'd caught
on the last climb. This year was the 30th running and
the souvenir T-shirts were made of some tech t's instead
of the usual cotton, so nice touch. I don't know what
time I did but I made my Lakes meeting with the BMG
and got out Sunday for a chilly wander round the Kentmere
horseshoe (another classic race). Last year two Carnethies
were in attendance, this year four, next year maybe
we'll get eight?
Lot more photies courtesy of the Clayton-le-Moors website:
http://www.claytonlemoors.org.uk/tour-photos-2013/
Matt Davis
- 24th November 2013
Sunday Fast Bike Ride
....or rather sunday 3 fast people held
up by one rather slower person bikeride.
A team of 4 - Paul Ritchie, Phil (the hill)
Young, Andy Spencley and yours truly braved what
turned out to be a decent winter morning.
The Met Office said 6 degrees for North
Berwick but hovering around zero for much of
the morning in the hillier parts to the south.
So we set off along the coast first and
then headed south, via Haddington, Humbie and
Fala in order to check out progress on the Borders
railway at Tynehead. The return to Kings Buildings
made it all add up to around
55 miles - the
route is here.
Andy S demonstrated how not working a huge
amount can have a positive impact on fitness,
Paul's concerns about a cold slowing him
down proved wholly unfounded, Phil seemed
to levitate up any incline whilst I suffered
from a) a lack of fitness; b) not having
brought any food and c) an attack of wussiness
about any descent (the roads were well slimy,
honest).
I'm sure I could conjure up a few more
excuses if I thought about it, but I think
I fulfilled my role as lanterne rouge comprehensively.
Next outing is the mid month non lungbuster
on December 8th - updates
as the occur.
Robin Haynes
- 24th November 2013
The Glensax Round
     
Many years ago JBF came
to take me for a run whilst I was caravanning
in Peebles and he showed me this route. We
had a great day out and I thought I should
revisit it sometime, it must be more that
10 years ago, but today 12 Carnethies had a great
run.
We arrived at Glen Road for a 10am start
to be greeted by locals, Andy and Chris McLeod.
They were there to wave us off, and invite
usback for a cup of tea after.
The dozen of us headed up the good track to Birkscairn, sticking
to the ridge line all the way (apart from Sparky who was running everywhere).
Mark was on a mission pushing the pace at the front, and after a
few regroups
to admire the views
we got to the cairn. Helen did a bit of map practice and we contiued
along the fence line to Stake Law and then across the peat hags (frozen
today luckily) to Dun Rig.
The going was fairly good underfoot if
a little icy and even a fair amount of
snow on the path (that is the white stuff
Helen)..
The icy path over Glenrath
Heights gave way now and then to cool the
feet nicely and in the wind shelter of Middle
Hill I suggested a lunch stop. "Lets
stop at he top, the views will be better" said
Digby, They were, but the slight wind was
bitter, so after a quick snack we were
heading past Hundleshope and of towards Preston
Law and the on to Newby Kips for an other
view admiring stop.
Then Mark suggested fighting through the
forest to visit the last wee hill. Well worth it for the fantastic
spiral cairn on the top.
We jogged off the hill and back to the cars
in about 3 hours 45 minute and 13 miles
of lovely running. Four of us went round
the corner for some lovely tea and drop scones
courtesy of the locals.
Another grand day out. with Joel, Helen, Digby, Mark (and Sparky), Joanne,
Karen, Aurore, Patricia, Gina, Graham and Kathy.
Digby's Photo Map
Willie Gibson
- 22 November 2013
Wintervals
A crisp clear night
for Wintervals, and bitingly cold. It didn’t
matter though, as Iain had a plan to warm
us up, a flatter speed session. The course
was round the figure of eight mown in the
grass under the crags.
- Sprint hard round the larger circle of
grass.
- Jog round the smaller circle of grass.
- Continue as many times as you can in 6mins.
- 4 sets of 6mins, 1 min recovery in between
(I think).
Another good turnout, though we
didn’t
reach the attendance record set last week
so still some work to do. Next week: back
onto hills!
Jim
- 21st November 2013
Wed training
One of the biggest
turnouts of the year last night as the new
Introductory group joined the Fasties, the
Socials and the Phil & Chrises,
who turned up late, formed a sub-group and
somehow found themselves in a graveyard - "I'm
not surprised we didn't see anybody else in
the graveyard, but quite impressive we saw
nobody on Arthur's Seat, assuming everybody
really went there" - Phil. Well in spite
of Jim's assertion of no GPS we now have the
evidence, and it certainly looks like they
did go!
The new Introductory group led by Andy Lennie
went well with a pleasant trot up
to the top of Blackford Hill, then around
the Hermitage. Finding that was not a muddy
enough introduction to off road running we
took the path at the edge of the golf course
and were liberally indulged, with the added
bonus of deep puddles. The newbies neatly
avoided them and I neatly demonstrated how
to get very cold wet feet. Perfectly timed
at an hour and 4.2 miles. Hope you enjoyed
it!
Digby
“So, where are we going then?”,
asks the baying fast group. No idea. We started
with Willie’s group through KB, and with
the hint of a plan we took off. Round the back
of Cameron Toll, a quick trespass of prestonfield,
then onto Queens Park. I couldn’t think
of anything, so decided to link-up all my favourite
wee trods round Queens Park that we tend not
to use: The wooded path down to St Margaret’s
Loch, the steep ascent of Whinny Hill from St
Margaret’s Loch car park, round the back
of Dunsapie, and the cliffy path round Crow
Hill ("if you're going to fall, try to
fall to the *left*"). In between, we took-in
the summit of Arthurs Seat and Crow hill. A
speedy jaunt back through Craigmillar and Inch
Park. Hours of choreography and planning meetings
with Willie paid off, as we regrouped nicely
with his group on the final stretch to KB. No
GPS, I think, which is probably a good thing
as the route wouldn’t make much sense
when seen on a map. Just under 10miles.
Jim
I had advertised Arthur's
Seat, so we had to go there. 18 of us headed
off for Savacentre, soon to be over taken by
the tornado of fasties. I am sure I saw a red
blue shift as they streamed past.
We jogged on, strangely crossing their route
(although ours was better) over Prestonfield
and onto the innocent railway. We now and then
glimped their torches darting across the hill
as we scrambled up
the gully.
Gordon
took the trepidacous amongst us up
the easy (and quicker) way and soon the summit
was reached. Then it was off to Whinny where
the fasties streamed off in front of us. We
went round Dunsapie hill and through the gap
in the wall and down to Holyrood School playing
fields, gazing back at the stream of light
running round Crow hill.
Then we took the route back past Craigmillar
Castle and Inch Park. As we headed across
the A701 the fasties appeared again and we
raced them back to KB where there was a mass
gathering for pints.
I counted 38 people out all together, a fantastic turnout.
Willie
Follow all the routes
on the new super complicated map!
Sorry, no direction arrows. If anyone's good
at javascript let me know how to do it!
- 17th November 2013
Michael Reid wins at Borders
XC - Gala
     
Quite a short race at
3.62 miles. Quite glad it was so short as
Willie's Tussocky Trot the day before was
long and taxing. Good to see Bob Johnson
out for his first XC, Gordon for his first
race in this series, and lots of other faces.
Helen Bonsor cycled out from Edinburgh to
support. The start leads into a turn through
the golden leafed woods, then out and
around some fields returning through the
woods, a steep little ascent and a stream
crossing. A bit of everthing and featuring
new this year - a very large pile, in fact
a small mountain of manure which was sadly
ruled out of bounds with race tape, though
we got to negotiate the foothills. Ladies'
captain Helen W has a unique talent for falling
over into 'deposits' but somehow failed to
avail herself of this magnificent opportunity.
The long dog leg around the wall unusually
allows runners views of the front and rear
of the field. You might spot Bill Gauld in
one photo. Andy Lennie's moustache (leading
Andy by some distance) just out of view in
the other. Jessie Dahl was slightly misled by
my forgetful assessment of the distance and
paced herself for a longer race of 4.5 miles.
Sorry about that!
Great race. Next
one Peebles! Results -
Michael Reid was 1st, Andy Fallas 4th, Stewart
Whitlie 1st M50, Jessie Dahl 2nd FS (in her
brand new club vest!), myself 2nd M60+ and Bill
5th M60+. 16 Carnethies ran.
Digby
- 17th November 2013
Another Tussocky Trot - West Linton
    
As part of my winter (try to keep some fitness and avoid fatness) training
regime, I am trying to do a longish run most weekends. So as I don't
have to
run too fast I am trying to head for Tussock covered hills.
This time
it was the seldom visited West Linton Baddingsgill
Round.
An
email to the Club List and a Facebook Event
posting saw 9 of us head off from Baddingsgill
Farm at 10am on Saturday morning. We ran
east up the woodland walk and then headed
south over Lamb Rig and on to King Seat, where
the wind was biting. Then
turning North-East
we
headed on to Bryrehope Mount, where we were
caught up by a late arriving Jeff, after
a wee bit of trod running we bounced over
the heather down to Wolf Crags.
  
If
you have never been to Wolf Crags, it is well worth a visit, unusual
rock formations
that are very 'Un-Pentland', and
if you go there at night it can be very spooky.
Jeff headed up the crags to Howl (see photo abov) as the rest
of us picked our way up the sunken stream
and tried to find the long promised 'Good
Track' up to West Cairn Hill.
The track
did eventually appear and after West Cairn we descended to the Cauldstane
Slap where Jeff showed us how to descend fast (and turn his ankle).
We squidged our way across and then up to East Cairn Hill to see a
wonderful view of the Sunny Pentland Skyline. After a swift bit of
food and juice we braved the wind again and Yomped over to Wether Law,
down to Deer Hope and up The Mount. This is the turning pont of the
Carlops Handicap Route, unrecognised by most!
Now on the long promised 'Good Track' we
headed over Grain Heads and up Mount Maw
to the trig. The nice looking track heading
off East was too inviting so we cut the mapped
route short and headed down to Colin's Rig
and back to the start point. A wonderful
3.5 hour run and about 11 miles. Photomap here
The next plan is The Peebles Hills Glen Sax
Round next sunday, keep an eye on facebook!
Willie Gibson
- 15th November 2013
Thursday Hill Reps
A calm (and dry!) night
for hill reps. Again, a great turnout, just
under 20 people, for Iain’s
planned session up the side of the crags:
- A set of 4 x 1 minute reps, with 30s pause between
each rep.
- Then jog back to the start for a regroup after each
set.
- 3 sets in total.
A good night for it. Thanks to Euan for providing a
car for people to dump their stuff.
Jim
- 14th November 2013
Wed training
Fast Group 12.25 miles, 2,500ft ascent/descent, 1hr 54min
Seven in the fast group tonight. A Waxing Gibbous Moon of 82% illumination
meant a run to a Pentland could be on, but given the strong winds we
decided to stay low level. So, via Braidburn Park we arrived at
Swanston and then ran the track to
Howden pump house and then up to the forest on White Hill. Even low down
the wind made for slow uphill progress. A slippery descent to Bonaly and
then return via Dreghorn Barracks, Oxgangs (still didn't take the best
route through the scheme) and a finish over Braid Hills (who has stolen the
viewfinder plate?) and back to KB.
Graham
Social group
Some of the ladies set off ahead
of us but underestimated their speed so it
was fortunate we spotted their head torches
as we loitered on Braid summit. Re-united
we did a clockwise circuit of the Mortonhall
golf course.
They needn't have worried about lagging behind
as I did that very well indeed. Damn this
leg.
- 12th November 2013
Tinto Tiptoe - The 'Run
& Become' Tinto Junior Race
A Drawing of
the race by Solomon
All those who ran
last year improved their times. First back
Christopher Barrett improved by 33 seconds,
Ronnie Jones by a massive 198 seconds! Keep
this up and you’ll
win the Tinto Hill Race one day! Many thanks to Valerie
for organising most things and Mark and Malcolm for
marshalling. Also to Rachel the International Smile
and Muddy Patch Judge.
Martin Hyman
Sadly I was unable to witness the high drama of the
Tinto Tiptoe unfold, as I was puffing my way up the
whole hill. The Joneses were accompanied by their enthusiastic,
yet slightly perplexed grandparents. I'm not sure we
converted them to the joys of hill racing.
Anyway, some words from the runners:
Rosie: I slipped over and
bumped my knee, but was like, "Who cares!?".
I loved the race ever so much. Ronnie and
I stood with the Smile Inspector smiling our
heads off.
Ronnie: I had a pretty good
start, but then I got slower. I beat Rosie
at the end. The foot conditions were muddy.
Solomon: I didn't fall over.
I beat the grown ups. Then I got my sweeties.
Fifty percent of the field were Carnethies: a great
turn-out!
Everyone who ran last year had improved on
their times, and Archie Lynch was first Carnethy home.
Well done! Results
on the Junior Runs page
Mary
- 12th November 2013
Carnethy Women's Run in Colinton
The Carnethy Women were on the run again
this evening. We ran from Redford Loan
down to the Water of Leith, then west
to Woodhall Farm where we followed the
very wet and muddy path up to Tiphereth.
It was tricky finding the path up to
the golf course, but we made it up and
over to Torduff Reservoir, and then along
the new path to Bonaly (just beside the
base of Nick's firework display last
Wednesday). A little bit of road work
and we were back at Redford enjoying
soup and cake. Many thanks to everyone
who came along.
Margaret
- 11th November 2013
Copeland Chase
 
A trip down to the Lakes yesterday to take part
in this orienteering event around Eskdale Green,
an area comparatively less visited than its more
well known neighbours. It certainly provided
the full array of terrain from the odd runable
track to thigh deep boggy tussocks. Route choice
was then a little bit of a lottery as you weren't
sure what ground you'd get to some of the controls
and it could have been very different challenge
in mist. As it was, it was a glorious day with
some fine views up to the Scafell range dusted
with a sprinkling of snow. Still I was clearly
having too much fun and ended up messing up a
couple of checkpoints in the middle of the race
when in the land of knolls, due really to lack
of concentration before getting myself back on
track for the rest of the course. It was marked
up as Eskdale Tarns but when you look at the
map you notice how few tarns there are, Eskdale
Marshes might be a more accurate description
but then maybe this doesn't perhaps have quite
as inviting a ring to it. A bit rusty, a bit
slow, but a good event and worth doing to hone
up on the map skills.
Results:
http://wcoc.co.uk/
Race Map:
Matt Davis
- 11th November 2013
Sunday Cycle
Five riders braved the
icy but sunny conditions for the second Sunday
of the month gentle road ride. Judging by the
the presence of neoprene overshoes and a “you show me yours and
I’ll show you mine” glove swapping
session it seems winter has arrived. We took
the safe option of the coast road out to
Drem, the even safer option of a coffee at Fenton
Barns, and returned via minor roads delivering
us back to the coast road at Aberlady.
Richard Bush
- 9th November 2013
Snowy conditions at "Run and Become" Tinto Hill Race
Matt Sullivan (Shettleston) pulled away from Andy Fallas on the descent to win the 2013 Tinto Hill Race and retain his title from last year - and Andy was also second last year!. Paul Faulkner was third (and first Over 40) after leading on the way up. Chloe Cox (Lothian) turned at the summit just in front of Charlotte Morgan, but Charlotte showed why she has a reputation as a classy descender to easily take the win (and in the three times she has run the race, her time has only varied by 8 seconds!). There was a large field with 231 finishing in the wintry conditions - sleet and cold rain lower down and snow hight up (plus lots of mud!).
    
The weather signs were ominous as wintry showers
came and went, and a light layer of snow was
on the tops. The top of Tinto dis- and re-appeared.
The 'full waterproof' rule was imposed, which
caused a few problems for runners whose waterproof
jackets lacked the also required hood. Kit checking
was strict, so remember, next year bring the
required equipment! Unlike what you might experience
at other races - if we say we are going to kit
check we mean it!
Anyway there was still a large number of runners
left, not least lots of Carnethy members settling
positions in the Carnethy Club Championship,
and we set off into a fortunate weather window.
The upper part of the race was in mist, with
a lovely pearly light at the summit. The descent
cushioned somewhat by the snow and fast as
ever. Having kept up with Willie and the ex-presidential
shorts for quite a way before losing ground
I was contenting myself with 'going to beat
Mary going to beat Mary' before, in sight of
the finish, having her thunder past me. In
a dainty sort of way. Bob Nemesis, I mean Waterhouse,
took the M60 and clinched the category in the championship.
A most enjoyable race, and hot soup to finish.
Andy & Digby
Results ;
All
Time List ;
Female
All Time List ;
Carnethy
All Time List ; Junior race results
Allan Gebbie's photoset
- 8th November 2013
Wintervals #1
A good spread of Carnethies
made it to the first Wintervals session last
night, despite the biblical conditions. Iain
set out the session: interval climbs of the
radical road, jogging back to the start to regroup
after each rep.
- 5x3mins
- 2x1mins
A good session, we all started and finished
together. It was great to see so many people
turning up and giving it a go. I think it’s
fair to say that everyone earned their tea
last night. Next week: Wintervals #2!
Jim
- 7th November 2013
Night run - Bonaly
  
Bit of strange night
run for the first one this year. Arriving
a bit early I was confused by the large group
already gathered and setting off. Not us.
A group of cyclists was confused by the question
'are you Carnethy?' Not us. Well it was dark.
Finally at the last minute the mob arrived.
Bill having measured the current flow in
his head torch at some number of milliamps
he set off up the track to find out if that
meant he'd be stranded in pitch dark, a preparation
for orienteering at Craigmillar. The rest of
us set off in somewhat uncoordinated fashion.
At Bonaly reservoir dam we left Helen, who
was going to meet up with Nick to set up
the fireworks. Meanwhile Nick was making
his way to Torduff reservoir to set up the
fireworks. Don't ask - I don't know.
After Capelaw
we took the track down into the heart of the
Pentlands. The sky cleared and we had a perfect
night of stars and the sight of multiple lights
as various bikers, walkers and runners criss
crossed the hills. I fell down 3 holes. Back
up Harbour hill then across to Capelaw again
which the fast runners reascended and we traversed.
We met up again with Helen who had kept warm
on her lonely vigil by doing hill reps, though
as ever she was far from downhearted. Hoping
to meet Nick coming up the path we went down
it, then accidentally headed to Torduff to
add a mile or two, where we were greeted by
a splendid firework display. With perfect timing
the rain started as we reached the car park,
thought the cyclists might not see it quite
that way. The night was rounded off at Dantes
with very good soup & pizza. What fun!
I'm sure we'll get the hang of these night
run thingies.
Digby
- 6th November 2013
November Arthur's Seat
Lunchtime Handicap
Nice weather on Monday,
but a bit slippy underfoot. The path to the scree
is now getting very tricky, with Colin taking
a bit of a tumble into the gorse. Fortunately
no serious injury.
An impressive win for Digby. [My leg must be recovering.
Suppose I won't have such a generous handicap now!
- D]
And a new course record from Paul Faulkner
… well done. Results
Mike
- 4th November 2013
Glen Ogle 33 Ultramarathon
    
180+ intrepid ultra runners
(including many first timers) assembled at 8am
on a cold murky November morning for the third
Glen Ogle 33 race. Neil Burnett (ultra-newbie)
and Phil Humphries (ultra-oldie) were sporting
the brand-new long-sleeve Carnethy racing
tops, with Jim hardie in the traditional
Carnethy vest plus long-top combo. The race
starts at the village of Strathyre, heads
north along forest tracks and up the old
disused railway up to to Killin and then
turns around and heads back to Strathyre
via a detour to Balquidder. Undulating, but
with easily runnable hills and a good surface
makes for a fast race over this kind of distance.
However the event is very relaxed, sociable
and is a fine way to finish an ultra-running
season. Early
on we had perfect running weather, and in
what seemed no-time at all we were round
the loop at Killin, past half-way and running
back down over the viaduct, enjoying the
views of the hill-sides bathed in autumn colours
and seasonal low cloud. The cow bell groupies
provided plenty of enthusiastic support,
popping up at several different locations
en route to put a smile on our faces and
spur us on. Then about 3 hours into the race
(as forecast I might add) it started raining,
gentle at first and then rapidly getting
heavier and heavier. It was that kind of
cold, sleety rain that eventually penetrates
even the best of technical fabrics and chills
you through the bone. The last 6 miles on
the tarmac of the Balquidder loop seemed
to go on forever, and I was mightily glad to
finally leave the humply road, descend through
the trees wobble over the shoogly bridge, turn
sharp right and sprint under the finishing arch
to cheers of support. I was immediately congratulated
by a soggy race organiser then handed a goodie-bag
containing a bottle of official race beer,
a pretty medal and other stuff. Like all
the other finishers I was ushered under a gazebo
and given a hot drink. Fortunately I had
a bag containing warm clothes stashed in a marshal's
car at the finish, so I was able to quickly
get out of my wet stuff and get dry and warm
again. Many runners finished without keys to
the cars containing their clothing, and had to
wait until their driver finished the race. Showing
early symptoms of hypothermia several runners
were kindly ushered out of the cold into warm
camping vans etc. to wait for their compatriots
to arrive. Free hot soup, tea/coffee and a half-pint
of beer where available to runners in the Bistro
Inn, which helped stop the teeth chattering
and facilitate the post-race banter and joviality.
The race was won in an amazing time of 3:26 by Robert
Turner. Somewhat further behind were Phil Humphries
4:28 (26th) closely followed by Neil Burnett 4:30 (28th)
and Jim Hardie 4:47 (44th). Sorry if I've missed any
other Carnethies. Race results only on Facebook just
now.
I was mightily impressed with how the new long-sleeved
Carnethy racing top performed in the race. It was a
good fit, and felt very comfortable from start
to finish in over 4.5 hours of racing. It kept me warm
enough when standing on the start-line, and the wicking
properties were excellent in first half of the race
when I got quite warm running uphill. In the
soaking rain towards the end of the race I did not
feel cold enough to bother putting my water-proof
jacket on. The fleecy lining did not seem to soak up
much water and kept me warm enough until I stopped
running at the finish. OK it is not quite the same
shade of red as the Carnethy vest, being a noticeable
brighter hue, but maybe that is no bad thing in winter
when the clag is down. I am certainly keeping mine
and will be using in future training/races in wintry
conditions.
Phil Humphries
- 3rd November 2013
Borders XC - Lauder
      
A great start to the new
season of Borders XC with some familiar faces
that haven't been seen for a while; some
of them sporting a strange moustache. After
yesterday's miserable experience the very
cold wind was quite overruled by the lovely
sunshine. For the first time the entire Gilmore
family competed together, Harry gallantly
allowing Vicki to beat him over the line and
the lads coming in 8th and 10th. Andy Fallas & Michael
Reid were 3rd and 4th, Stewart 13th and 1st
M50. My campaign for 3rd M60 this series
was not helped by the wholly unwarranted
attendance of 3 other, faster M60s. Bill
ran well; included in the M60s this series
he was a creditable 7th in the category.
Nice course, nice mud, nice streams to fail
to leap over, and how satisfying it is to
steam past road runners who aren't any good
at descending! And equally satisfying to
overtake them on the one (short) steep muddy
ascent. The soup was good too! Provisional
results.
Digby
- 3rd November 2013
Moorfoots Run
With t he Esk Runonly 8 weeks away I reckoned
I needed a bit distance in my legs. My plan is to fit an easy paced
long run in to the weekends.
Historically the Carnethy Moorfoots Run
was held about this time of year so I thought I would resurrect it
(since, I have been told by many an older Carnethy that my version
isnot the original).
A quick email to the club on saturday precipitated a reply from Mike
Lynch "Why not use the facebook group" so I created an event. The next
morning I was expecting 6 attendees, and then we gained 3 at the start
.
So
9 Carnethies turned up for the 13.4 miles of Tussocky Hell that is
the
Moorfoots.
Lovely
scenery
and
fantastic
light and we could see snow on the distant Munros.
The route headed up past Herendean Castle and ascended "The Kips" on
a fine quad track that disappeared at 460metres, leaving us 80 metres
of lovely ascent over tussock to the summit. After another short yomp
we followed the fence line on a fairly good track over Huntly Cot
Hill and Mauldslie Hill before descending the footpath to a pleasant
lunch stop at Windy Slack.
After lunch we ascended The Yoke over some more tussock and joined
another quad track and headed on for the long long drag to Blackhope
Scar trig. The track became less and less distinct until we were in
lovely peat hags. The descent was over more peat and wet track until
we took a random line over New Moss down into the River South Esk Valley
(another Esk to follow), the tussocks here were by far the best and
regrouping at the track we jogged back to the car.
The scenery was fantastic, a great day out.
The team was Me (Willie Gibson), Joel Sylvester, Particia McMaster,
Sean Walker, Craig Mattocks Kate Jenkins (with Jess), Neil Campbell,
Rod
Dalitz and Karen Meikle.
- 2nd November 2013
Dumyat Dash
   
It's often said that
the weather in the hills can turn suddenly.
I've never experience anything quite like this
before. The cold, still, silvery morning turned,
10 mins into the race, into a gale of freezing
rain, catching a lot of us out. It just didn't
look like that would happen. The very pleasant
route turned from a nice race into a fervent
desire to get off the hill, and I'm sure the
marshals shared my view. I lost the
ability to turn on the camera or to unzip my
top to reveal my number, or do anything much.
Sodden gloves, soaked Pertex and tights became
very cold indeed. At the finish Mary became
hypothermic and had to be shepherded into a
warm shower by Helen, whose enthusiasm couldn't
be dimmed by anything so trivial as bad weather.
One poor girl with no dry clothes to change
into was standing shivering and shaking in
the sports centre.
Lifting some stats from Mary's excellent blog - "Graham
was 1st M40, Harry Gilmore was 2nd V50, Jacqui
Higginbottom 2nd F, Joan Wilson was 2nd (I
think?) F50 and Carnethy whippersnappers won
the team prize. There may have been others
- apologies if so."
Though
it has to be added - where was the ladies team
prize?!
So once again - pack proper gear! Results.
Digby
- 1st November 2013
Scottish Hill Running Champs mugged by Carnethy
The 2013 Scottish Hill Running Championships finished last weekend and it turned out to be a brilliant year for the club - lots of champions and no fewer than 28 SHR Mugs earned. First congratulations to the champions: Angela Mudge in Senior women, Stewart Whitlie in Over 50 Men, Keith Burns in Over 70 Men, Angela Mudge in Over 40 Women and Andrew Gilmore in Under 23 Men plus Carnethy Men's Senior team, Women's Senior team, Men's Over 40 team and Women's Over 40 team - that's 9 gold medals! As well as that, runners up places were earned by Andy Fallas (Senior Men), Charlotte Morgan (Senior Women) Joan Wilson (Over 50 Women) and Iain Gilmore (under 23 Men).
Charlotte Morgan had a brilliant year as she also won the SHR Long Classics Series!
But the 28 club members who completed the championship to earn a prestigous SHR mug are equally important. They are Adam Anderson, Adrian
Davis, Alex McVey, Andy Fallas, Andrew Gilmore, Angela Mudge, Bruce Smith, Charlotte Morgan, Colin Wilson, Graham Nash, Gregor Heron, Helen Wise, Iain Gilmore , Jacqui Higginbottom, James Hardie, Joan Wilson, Joel Sylvester, the late John Blair-Fish, John Hammond, John Ryan,
Keith Burns, Matthew Jones, Michael Reid, Harry Gilmore, Paul Faulkner, Steve Best, Stewart Whitlie and finally, the new president Willie Gibson
!
Well done to all.
- 31st October 2013
Wed training
Social group - Single
Braids Trail Race
In the absence of Willie our plan was to recce
the Alternative Carnethy 5 Braids trail race
route. With the Run of the Mill race still
in my legs I managed not to start off "like
a bat out of hell" this time. We started
the course at the observatory and had two casualties
in fairly short order. Euan slipped on the
glithery mud coming off Blackford Hill and
perversely found something abrasive to skin
his knee, and Michael aggravated his knee injury
descending the steps forcing retiral. The rest
of us survived and some even managed a bit
of a sprint finish, before crossing the golf
course to a welcome pint.
Digby
Fast group - Double Braids Trail Race
With the launch this week of next years Double Cateran
Trail Ultra Marathon (2 x 55miles = 110miles), we thought
we'd see what it was like to run a route one way, return
to the start and reverse the route. Okay so the Braids
Trail Race is only 5.5 miles not 55, but it is winter.
I reckon we took 47minutes for the first lap and 48.5minutes
for the second lap, reasonably consistent. Interestingly
we took slight route variations each way. We concluded
the Double Cateran would be harder, as it starts and
finishes at a pub, and the temptation to go for a pint
at the end of the first lap would be too much.
Graham
- 30th October 2013
Beachy Head Marathon - Oct 26th
 
Popped down to Eastbourne
for the weekend to do hilly off-road marathon
to compensate for all that tarmac in Berlin
a few weeks ago. The Beachy Head Marathon
did not disappoint - 26 miles and 3500ft
of ascent on rolling grassy hills and cliff-tops
where the South Downs meets the sea. Whilst
other areas were getting a bit of a soaking
the weather was sunny and surprisingly hot
for the time of year due to the warm tropical
winds. The course was a single loop, so after
battling a strong headwind on the tops we
were blown back along the homeward leg and
provided much needed uplift on the seven-sisters. The
race was very well organised with lots of
enthusiastic support en route - there were
even bagpipes on two of the hills to make
us feel at home! The race which was won in
2:55:22 from a field of about 1500 competitors.
From Carnethy: Phil Humphries 3:41:08 (position
34th) and Eleanor Mackenzie 5:25:10 (position
883).
Phil Humphries
- 30th October 2013
Ian & Cali's OMM
The weather forecast
had the "super-storm" holding
off until Sunday night so
giving the probability that the OMM this
year would be just regular wet
rather than super-wet. Cali and I enjoyed
excellent hospitality Friday night
from friends Chris and Lily who live close
by the Brecon Beacons. That plus
a late start time on Saturday allowed a relaxed
beginning to the weekend.
The medium score class gives you enough time
on the hills without risking
darkness or terminal exhaustion and so we
had a really enjoyable couple of
days through the expected heavy showers.
There was slight bemusement when
taking a bearing from the first control on
discovering my compass had
reversed polarity (this happens quite frequently
apparently, probably due to
keeping the compass near to a mobile phone).
So Cali took charge of compass
work and I had to rely on contours and features
for navigation. This
combination worked well; a couple of near-misses
and backtracks aside we hit
most controls spot on. Our view of Saturday
was clouded by one section of
tussock-hell which had Cali searching the
map for alternative controls at a
higher altitude, but the rest of the day
was relatively tussock free. The
Saturday night campsite was enormous, flat
and well drained, unlike any
other MM campsite I've seen. It was also
next door to an (out of bounds)
pub, but we had no cash with us anyway. We
were sheltered and well fed
before the heavy overnight rain started and
it eased before morning.
The
Sunday courses were shortened by an hour
for medium and long score, in
anticipation of the storm, which meant pretty
much a straight line
course to the finish, collecting controls
with a strong wind on our
backs. At half way it looked as if we might
be in time penalty, but
the terrain became easier and we were comfortably
back in time.
Another night with Chris and Lily and a train
home made for a very
relaxing few days. This was my 19th KIMM/OMM,
although 2 previous DNFs
mean another 3 years to reach the 20 completion
mark. Looking at the
results, Cali and I, surprisingly, were only
the 14th oldest veteran
pair in our class (of 89). There were 6 pairs
with combined age of
over 130, and the
handicap winners had a combined age of 140,
which converted an already
stonking score of 410 (in 22nd place) to
717 points!
In addition to the other Carnethies
noted already, one other Carnethy
competing was former Ladies Captain Steph
Moss, living in Croydon she
told us, but still a member. She and her
partner were 54th in the
short score and 6th female pair.
Ian Jackson
- 29th October
2013
FRA relays
Report
This was the 25th running of the British Fell and Hill
Relay Championships, hosted by Eryri Harriers in Llanberis this year. There were
around
200 teams of 6 people each competing, making it a huge event and a wonderful
weekend. It’s not often you get a chance to see most of the English
and British Fell Champions representing their teams, and for me it was
a huge privilege to be part of the Carnethy ladies’ team. Thanks
to Helen Bonsor and Andy Fallas for all the organization as well – I
heard another team captain on the day say that organizing teams for
these things was “like herding kittens”.
One great thing
about this relay from a spectator (and logistical!) perspective was
that all the legs started and finished in the same
place, adding to the atmosphere and in some cases the confusion.
The somewhat
grandly named Arena (actually a car park) was a great place to be
all day. It being Wales, and October, the failure to bring the Carnethy
tent proved to be a bit of a blunder. The Arena emptying as everyone
piled into the marquee to avoid the rain happened with some regularity.
In these times, the only people left outside were shivering in the
holding
pen waiting for their chance to run.
The leg stats were as follows
for the Carnethy Ladies’ Team,
and the reports are here.
Leg 1 - 7.4k, 350m Helen Wise
Leg 2 - 14.3k, 990m Angela Mudge and Jasmin Paris
Leg 3 – Navigation leg Jacqui Higginbottom and Joanne Anderson
Leg 4 - 8.4k, 610m - single Cali Ingham
In 2014,
the relays will be in Kirby Lonsdale, and I hope Carnethy can field
at least 2 ladies’ teams – and try to beat HBT
who won for a second year running.
Helen Wise
- 28th October 2013
Round Rotherham -
Oct 19th
I decided that as I would like to do Round
Rotherham a 50 miler that I last did 10 years
ago.
Rotherham is about 250 miles away so decided to take
the Campervan (rather than sleep in the leisure centre.)
A pal was coming up from Stevenage so arranged to meet
him for a few beers and pub grub the night before and
Other pals were coming up from Bristol (to do
their 13th and 10th respectively Round Rotherham's
ie they knew the route well) Id arranged to run with
them on the Saturday.
I worked on the Friday finishing at 2pm and
drove straight down to Rotherham getting there at 8pm
(no thanks to the sat nav which said it had never heard
of the post code for Dearne Valley Centre, or to the
local residents who said the same). A long couple of
mile walk to the pub meant we had to have a great catch
up with some Guinness pub grub before wandering
back to the camper for a fitful sleep.
Saturday dawned (early thanks to runners and walkers
for the 6am start whistling timelessly at 04:30).
Having met up with the above we set off at the later
start of 07:00.
Shirley and Chris kept apologizing for setting off
slowly (I was clinging on by my fingernails at this
point) what a difference between hill/trail runners
(me) and road runners (Shirley). The fact that Shirley
is 63 and Chris is 68 made it even more worrying. Eventually
they slowed down (or my breathing levelled off), and
we trogged along merrily picking up people as we went.
At one point there was 7 of us going around together.
It's amazing how going around with people who know
the route attracts others. I'd run with Shirley and
Chris 10 years ago in fact that was the first time
I'd met them, I'd been lost and saw them as I recovered
the trail, I'd tried to run away from them and got
lost again so decided to stick with them.
The route is really nice (not a bit like you envisage
when you think of Rotherham. No wild places but lots
of running through, across, around field of all varieties
(including corn on the cob). The first 25 miles had
a lot of flat (runnable) route which was quite knackering.
The second half had a few more hills (or my definition
of hills had altered) which we cheerfully walked. We
were aiming for 12 hours which meant we would finish
in the dark, however we got to halfway in 5 hours which
meant even though we slowed down in the second half
we were looking to finish 11+ hours. The trail wasn't
too wet (surprisingly) which meant we weren't slipping
all over place as we had 10 years previously when the
race had been held in the 2nd weekend of December.
All checkpoints had a wide variety of food except for
the penultimate one and as I had not taken on enough
food I struggled for miles 40 to 47. As we got towards
the penultimate checkpoint at 40 one of our number
who had come without a head torch, and seemed unable
to navigate latched on to a faster runner and left
us (traitor). Whilst towards the final checkpoint another
of our number dropped off the pace. Down to 4 we finished
in 11 hours 19 minutes - half an hour slower than 10
years ago in position 138 out of a start list (plus
on the day entries) of 329.
I was really pleased and it's put me in good heart
for next years runs that my suspect Achilles seems
to be holding up. Even though I developed a really
sore knee.
Oh well to be expected I suppose
Tim Doyle
- 27th October
2013
Carnethies in the OMM
John Ryan and
Alex McVey were 9th in the A class -
Back in the Brecons for the first time since
2004, the OMM organisers guaranteed spectacular
weather. They were wrong. Several
Carnethies took the bait and headed south despite
the impending doom being forecast by the met
office and were greeted by a waterlogged parking
field. Escaping this proved problematic
on the Friday evening to hole up in a bunkhouse
the other side of Brecon.
In a moment of insanity John Ryan and I had decided
that we would be fighting fit from the Trans-alps and
to make the most of the long drive should enter the
A class in order to "maximise our time on the
hills". How wrong we were. Since
the end of August I have run twice, John on the
other hand had been sneak training and had managed
at least 3 runs. Cheat!
Rain, wind, clag, thigh-high river crossings, tussocks
and waterlogged ground were the order of the weekend
with particular congratulations to the organisers for
arranging the entire day into the gale force headwind. To
ensure we got value for money we endeavoured to make
several map-reading "cock-ups" thereby maximising
our time on the hills and ensuring we were at the overnight
camp after 7hours 22, just over 2 hours behind the
leaders in 11th place.
Overnight was spent next to a lovely cafe, sadly out
of bounds for OMM competitors, on a 45 degree boggy
slope that passed as a field. I think we'd have
coped if it wasn't for the river running through the
middle of our tent for most of the night. Still
with the clocks going back we got to endure an extra
hour in this micro-hell sleeping on the only two rocks
in a 15 metre vicinity, listening to the constant bombardment
of wind and rain and a single (but extraordinarily
loud) thunder clap.
Day 2 provided some comfort with the courses shortened
to bad weather alternatives. The wind was against
us for the first couple of hours but I found that after
10 minutes of hail and horizontal rain I couldn't feel
anything anyway so it didn't particularly matter. Reading
a map in these conditions proved tricky though and
allowed us again to maximise the time we spent on the
hills as much as possible. The shortened course
meant we were back in a shade under 3 hours 30 to be
greeted by a queue of cars buried in the mud awaiting
rescue from the farmer.
Re-reading what I have written I realise this all appears
very negative. But from the comfort of my office,
tucking into my second lunch of the day (its justified
because I ran this weekend) it was good fun. It
might be the sleep deprivation, or just the pure relief
that I don't have to do that again for another 12 months
but I think I even enjoyed myself.
Jasmin and Konrad had a brillant run, finishing 11th
overall in the Elite and first mixed team. New
Carnethy Lisa Gamble and Ochill's Alayne Finlay were
second Female team in the A and 31st overall, and
Cali Ingham and Ian Jackson i
seemed to have a great run in the medium score finishing
178th overall and by my reckoning 11th mixed vet team.
Alex McVey
- 27th October 2013
Run Of The Mill (Last of the 2013 SHR Championship
Races)
     
It was with trepidation
that we viewed the mist covered Ochils as we headed for Alva this morning.
It
was with trepidation that we prepared for the start of the race.
Then with a sudden movement of the pack we were off. A long
undulating run of about 2 miles led to the start of the hill and with
a good tail wind we climbed for miles and eventually into the mist. It
was a case of keeping the guy in front in sight or getting the map out.
Luckily way down the field it is easy enough to follow, but the guys
at the front have to find their own way (or not, more of that to come).
The
Marshals had to cope with horrendous conditions
on the tops (Thanks) and as we ran off Ben
Ever to see Alva appear out of the Mist, it
was a wonderful view. I spent the run alternating
places with the Ex President, I got him on
the ups he got me on the downs, until he ran
off to Alva and the finish.
A great race, and fantastic Carnethy turnout of 37 runners.
The race was won by
Finlay Wild (Lochaber) from Matthew Sulivan (Shettleston) and Mike Reid
of Carnethy in third.
Carnethy led the ladies with Angela Mudge first
home (and first FV40) and Charlotte Morgan
2nd, Sharon Bird (unattached) was third.
Keith Burns was 1st V70.
There were 9 Carnethies in the first 20 finishers. and I was 27th Carnethy
finisher in 93rd place.
Full results on the report
page. Mary's photos here.
Alan Gebbie's Photos here
Willie Gibson
- 27th October 2013
Last Sunday of the
Month Road Bike Outings - September and October
September
September’s edition
saw a mighty turnout of three - Richard Bush,
Olly Stevenson and myself - head off to
Gifford, then follow the East Lothian 3 peaks
route most of the way to North Berwick, a café stop
at Fenton Barns and then a blast home into
the wind along the coast from Aberlady back
home – a touch under 60 miles. As expected,
Olly’s
general high levels of fitness were evident.
Until his breakfast ran out somewhere round
Prestonpans at which point my decades of nutritional
excess
finally came good.
October
For the October edition, Richard had conceived
a fine route heading south. We ignored this completely as the weatherman
said black cloud
and 2 raindrops for Peebles but white cloud and no raindrops for
North Berwick. The team was identical to September’s edition, and
we headed East to East Linton to avoid those raindrops at great speed
with
little effort. Final route is here - it repeated quite a lot of September’s as I reconciled Richard’s
(lost 8kg since summer) insistence on a café stop and Olly’s
need to be home for 1pm (sorry Mrs S, I know he was late….my fault!).
The chosen café this month was the Bothy at Aberlady, after which
we put our heads down and formed a sloppy sort of chain gang into
a strong westerly wind and headed for home. Olly evidently had extra
Frosties
this morning (other cereals are available) as he seemed to do most
of the work at the front. Either that, or he endured all kinds of
pain to avoid the consequences of missing his home-by-1pm deadline.
Anyway,
the final analysis suggests a total of about 58 miles in around 3 ½ hours
cycling time. The exciting bit of news for cyclists is the road between
Musselburgh and Prestongrange is being resurfaced – I look forward
to not having to risk being lost without trace in a tarmac crevasse
the next time I drive along there!
Robin Haynes
- 25th October 2013
Wednesday Night KB Run
Fast Group - Lost in Oxgangs, Temporarily.
12.3miles, 2hrs, 2,400ft ascent/descent
8 fastish types tonight, and the
first ever "lady" in the group.
With clear skies, a Pentland beckoned and we thought we'd try a new
route to get there via the Braid Burn. We missed the link path at the
end of
Oxgangs Terrace to the Dreghorn Link and did an extra loop - all good
training. Eventually we reached the base of Allermuir and took the
long pull up the NW ridge. A very cold wind was blowing across the
summit. A fast descent down towards Swanston and then for some major
nettle stinging
around Mortonhall before the Braids. We were greeted with a huge orange
moon rise over the city as we approached Liberton Tower. Round the
field and then a sneaky short cut (courtesy of Willie) onto the golf
course
off Liberton Brae to KB.
Graham Nash
Social Group - The Hospital Run
8.5 miles, 1:51, 971 ft ascent/descent
As the fasties headed across the golf course, Gordon chased them hard thinking
it was some fast social runners, as he failed to catch them and gave up,
the rest of us caught up and put him right.
There was a large group of 16 runners as we regrouped on Blackford summit
and headed for the Astley Ainslie Hospital. The across morningside to The
Royal Edinburgh Hospital. The gate had a mixture of climbers and limbo
dancers going over and under it before heading for Graiglockhart East and
then through Craiglockhart Hydropathic and War Hospital (Now Napier Uni)
before climbing the gorse path to Craiglockhart West.
Then through Greenbank past Firhill and round
the grounds of The City Hospital then back through
the Hermitage and home for some well earned beer.
Willie Gibson
- 20th October 2013
FRA Relays - Carnethy Win the Mens V50
    
The
V50 team of Mark James, Ronnie Gallagher, Adam Ward, Stewart Whitlie,
Steven Fallon and Harry Gilmore won the Mens V50 at the FRA Relays today
at Llanberis, making a British Double for the club as we also have won the British Fell Running O/50 Team Championships. Two other Carnethy teams also took part at Llanberis, a men's open team and a women's team.
Full Report to follow , there is a good report on the Mud Sweat and Tears
Website
- 18th October 2013
Berlin Marathon, 29th Sept
Well, it was a few weeks
ago, but better a late report than never! Phil Humphries and myself
made the trip to sunny Berlin for the Berlin Marathon. Or
the SCC Event’s BMW 40th Berlin Marathon
as it’s also kinda known. It’s
a flat and fast course and, unlike some local
city marathons, the route is within the city itself! I’d
signed-up ages ago as part of a longer holiday
and had spent my time preparing for the holiday
rather than the marathon. Starting in the
Teirgarten in the centre of town, the route forms
a clockwise circle round the centre of town. The
morning was cold but sunny so I wasn’t sure
what to wear, so went for a t-shirt under my vest. A
mistake. I ditched my t-shirt after half a mile – removing a
damp t-shirt from under a vest whilst running
was quite a task, I pulled a shoulder muscle
and the whole sorry event took nearly three miles.
Every inch of the course was lined with vocal supporters,
there were water stops every 5k, some had powerbars
and sliced fruit should you want them. Bands
were playing, DJs were shouting your name, balloons,
cameras, loads of runners, wide boulevards, very little
heather and no nettles. IT WAS GREAT! I
started to fade just after half way despite taking
my time at water stops and not pushing crazy hard,
I really should do more training over 6miles, and decided
it was never going to be my day. Survival was
now the target. Ahead…far, far ahead…was
Phil, powering along to a storming sub-3 finish time
(2:57:22). I cruised home much later in 3:18. The
race was won new record time by some fast lad in 2hrs
3mins and 23seconds (Murray Strain, maybe?). My
only complaint was being handed a pint of alcohol-free
beer at the finish, I might write to Merkel about it.
Wunderphil
Schlimmjim
Jim Hardie
- 17th October 2013
Carnethy Annual General Meeting
The AGM was held last night where a new committee was voted in.
The new
President is Willie Gibson, with Secretary
Graham Nash, Mens' Captain is Iain Whiteside,
Ladies' Captain Helen Wise, Treasurer Paul
Ritchie, Membership Secretary Andy Lennie, Webmaster
Joel Sylvester and Mary Lye, Jim Hardie and
Robin Haynes as ordinary committee members.
Many thanks to outgoing President and Secretary:
Gordon Cameron and Bob Johnson for their hard
work over the past few years.
- 16th October 2013
Langdale Horseshoe Race Report
Despite recent injury and saying she was going
to take it easy, Jasmin cruised to comfortably win in the Langdale Horseshoe
race with an impressive
time of 2:26.27, and 41st overall in a solid field of 382 finishers.
The Lakeland Classics Trophy thus spends another year on her mantelpiece,
with four straight wins out of the six races. Ben Abdelnoor of Ambleside
won the men’s race in 2h07, and similarly the Classic trophy with
three outright wins in the series. Carnethy also rans were Konrad, Bob
Lyons, and Jon & Lorna Ascroft, who at least got a pastie each for
their efforts.
Jon Ascroft
Results
A great photo series and commentary
- 13th October 2013
Strain Storms the Skyline
     
The 28th Pentland Skyline Hill Race went well in less than favourable conditions.
The finish team were almost caught unprepared when Murray Strain of HBT
alighted
from the skyline and astonished the waiting few to break the course record
by
a massive 6 minutes (previously held by Andy Kitchin since 1994) and
finish with a clear winning time of 2:16:23. The first female Charlotte
Morgan
(Carnethy) was equally commended for your super time of 2:53:46 in 17th
position overall. Mark Harris of Fife AC also had a great run to achieve
the fastest vet time since 2006. Carnethy won both team prizes, so well
done to Stewart Whitlie, Ian Whiteside and Andrew Normand; and Charlotte
Morgan, Jacqui Higginbottom and Rachel Berry. It is a huge effort to
stage an enjoyable and safe race so many thanks to all the club members
and friends
who volunteered their time in quite harsh conditions. The combined
race times of the Manor Water and The Pentland Skyline is the 'MANor
MOUSE' and was
won by Jon Gay of Lochaber in a combined time
of 4:05:56.
Skyline
Results
MANor MOUSE results
Alan
Gebbie's Photos are on FLICKR, more photos
by Digby & Margaret here, Chris
Magowan's photoset here.
As organisers we were astounded
by the number of runners without the required kit at the kit checks.
Everything
is fine if you can keep moving, but if you get injured things can change
very quickly. Just ask the Marshals how cold it was standing still
on the hill. Hill safety is a very serious matter and I hope this
message is being received with the understanding that our primary concern
is a ‘duty of care’ for all our entrants.
Shane Bouchier
- 12th October
2013
Manor Water Hill Race
This years race was
the last organised by Graham Pyatt as he handed over and helped Chris
Henty organising his first Hill race.
Many thanks to Graham for all his
years service and we look forward to his help
next year as a marshal.
     
The
race was won by Brian Marshall of HELP
in 01:11:01 who was also first MV40, 2nd was
David Fulton HBT in 01:11:10, third was Steve
Halsall of Westerlands in 01:12:02 and 4th
and 2nd MV40 was Graham Nash of Carnethy
in 01:12:15.
The ladies race was won by Morag McCracken of HBT in 01:20:30, 2nd
and 1st F40 was
Karen Pickles of Pudsey Pacers 01:28:55 and third was
Lisa Gamble of HBT in 01:39:05.
Full
Results. Photos by Nick Schierloh here.
Junior Race
With a bit of a mix up at the turnaround points the
Juniors showed great ability with 15 year old Cameron Scott (Unatt) running
the whole race and finishing in 17th Placein 01:21:58.
The first junior on the proper course was Ruairidh
Britton in 00:31:56 with
2nd was Andrew Nash (MJ 10) of Carnethy in 01:11:24, 3rd was Alasdair
Phillips (MJ 16) in 01:15:03, 4th Rachael Nash
of Carnethy (FJ 7) in 01:17:03.
- 12th October 2013
Junior Run
The Joneses
Were all aloneses
On today's Carnethy run
As the other juniors were elsewhere having fun.
https://plus.google.com/photos/104693210455792972464/albums/5933952222095261249
Mary
- 11th October 2013
October Arthur's Seat Handicap
Smaller number of runners
than usual. But great performance, with all but
one beating their handicap.
Although Chloe and Eddie were 1st/2nd back, due to
some late starters, the official results are here.
Mike Lamont
- 10th October 2013
Wed Training
Social group 7.18 miles
With Willie off celebrating
Cathy's birthday (happy birthday Cathy!), I
blinked in the unaccustomed glare of expectant
eyeballs. No problem. We set off to do a circuit
of: a skip, some unexplored and seldom visited
alleyways at KB, and other odd bits of hither
and yon. However with Helen at my side exerting
a steadying influence we finally made it to
Arthur's seat via Craigmillar Castle and the
back way into the park, naturally failing to
find the usual gate. The lights of the fast
group flashed like beacons on the summit, the
lights of Edinburgh and the stars were clear
in the cold air. We picked our way over Crow
hill and down the scary steps to negotiate
the Pollock halls squeeze and back for beer, in
a more or less sensible direction.
Digby
Fast group 8.4miles, 1hr
31min 1,930ft ascent/descent
7 in both the the fast and social groups tonight,
nothing too hard, as many are racing Man(or)
Mouse this weekend, so Arthur's Seat was the
objective. But which way to get there? We ended
up crossing Prestonfield golf course but couldn't
find the route over the wall onto the innocent
railway. We ended up scaling a 50ft (estimated
height) wall to reach a bridge over the Braid
Burn. Next was the climb to towards Dunsapie,
which had us scrambling through crags and gorse.
Eventually we made Arthur's seat summit, a
cold northerly wind was blowing, Chris Henty
bailed out shortly after with a stubbed toe.
The remaining 6 headed along the Crags to St
Margaret's Well and then the return to KB via
the Pollock Halls Gate Squeeze. We passed 3
pubs en route, and managed to not go in any
of them. Progress.
Graham Nash
- 7th October
2013
Kielder Marathon
Got the opportunity to run this at the weekend owing
to a friend of a friend pulling out. I've seen Kielder become more & more
popular as people venture out and as a result a dedicated trail has sprung
up
that circumnavigates
the "shore line" of reservoir. Last minute car trouble saw 5 of
us in a Mini for the trip down, I must say the new countryman is surprisingly
large and having grown up in the seventies with several of the original
models it was actually a very comfy trip. Park & ride courtesy of Stagecoach
takes you to the start at Leaplish. Although sold out the numbers doing
it are small enough to have a relaxed feel about it, but produce a large
enough field to always have people in sight. Met Office got it bob on
with their forecast clag, mizzle, light winds and unseasonably mild temperatures
which made for nigh on perfect conditions for the race. The course itself
is nearly all on compacted gravel / hardcore with the odd bit of Tarmac
acting as connections. Although I wasn't expecting a flat route I was
surprised
at how much undulating terrain there was, with small up & downs seemingly
coming everywhere few minutes. Not sure how much ascent you actually
do but I guess it must tot up by the end. There's also quite a few art
works dotted along the way which made for interest. After early unplanned
pit
stops I spent most of the time trying to get back on terms again with
my
friend with a few miles to go and was quite happy to roll in the end
on the 3:30 mark. So a good day out. and a good choice if you fancy a
marathon but not necessarily a road one There seem to be a few of these
popping
up
hear and there to entice roadies & mud pluggers alike - must be the
new black. So that was Britain's most beautiful marathon............it's
claimed. Why not give it a go and you be the judge of that.
Matt Davis
Map
pdf download (2mb)
- 7th October 2013
Ian Hodgson Mountain Relay
  
The
claggy conditions with 20m visibility on
the tops were the sort the locals would have
been wishing for, although even Borrowdale
runners went adrift at one point at least.
Team Carnethy Harry and Ian Gilmore tussled
their way through the pack at the start, and
finished leg 1 in 18th
place. Mike R and Paul F sped up into the
cloud, had to backtrack after missing
their High Street checkpoint, then got
to the Kirkstone Pass changeover in 20th place.
Jon A & Konrad R managed to pick a few
teams off over Red Screes and Dove Crag, overshot
their last checkpoint and had also
to backtrack, then blasted down to Hartsop
Hall. Andy F and Angela M slipped off the race
line on their climb back up to Hart Crag, played
safe coming off Fairfield and came home in
12th place, our best placing for a few years.
Great soggy fun.
Results
- 6th October 2013
Ben Venue Hill Race
     
This race has a bit of
everything over a course of 8.5miles with a couple
of thousand feet of ascent. Lovely woods at the
start (the ones further on have sadly been cropped),
steep heathery hillside, rough rocky paths, trackless
bog and tussock, airy descent and plenty of
tea, coffee and nice food to recover with.
The *sporty* car with large exhausts driven
by hooded figures had a surprise on its return
down the start track as 85 runners charged headlong
towards it. Unfortunately Andrew Gilmore came
a cropper in the first few hundred metres (not
as a result - I don't know why) and was forced
to withdraw. The rest of us headed up into the
clag, and more or less followed the route round
the tops, with occasional diversions.
Though there was plenty of marking on the trackless
section, and indeed a track on the first section,
it was all too easy to ignore the blindingly obvious
in favour of the irrational. Fatigue and mist
play tricks on the mind.
But we all got down safely, cheered on by 'her
off the telly' (Muriel Gray). Bill Gauld was
by no means last, and the Ladies Team prize
was won by Lorna Ascroft, Jacqui Higginbottom
and Helen Wise. Results
Digby
- 6th October 2013
Fife Coastal Path Relay
   
A mark of 15 hours 10 minutes
has just been set for the entire 116.5 mile
length of the Fife Coastal Path by a team comprising
of Gregor Heron,
Mike Lynch, Phil Humphries, Graham Nash,
Lisa Gamble and Neil Burnett. The attempt
started at 3am this morning at Kincardine
and finished at 6.10pm in Newburgh with transitions
at North Queensferry, Dysart, St Monans, St
Andrews and Wormit Bay. This will be forwarded
to Fife Coast & Countryside Trust
to be a confirmed best mark. Full
report with maps and timings
   
- 3rd October 2013
Wed Training
With the social group heading for a round
of golf on the Braids with Willy, the fast
group of 3 (when not leaping out of a sandtrap
and frightening the social group) decided to head
for a round too - a round in the Stable Bar
of excellent Stewarts 80/-. We then started
to head back to join everyone else for the
golf, when there was a shout of "shirley,
we're not just running to the pub and back?" from
Andrew Normand. Feeling guilty, we sprinted
to the top of Braid Hill and then joined the
social group on the 11th tee for the remaining
8 holes. On the way back Willie guilted us
into heading to the top of Blackford Hill via
the steps, before stumbling back to KB. We
need Andy Fallas back on Wednesday evenings,
to bring some discipline to the fast group.
Graham Nash
- 2nd October 2013
Causeway Coast Ultra
  
Back in June my cousin had contacted me to say
he was going to run his first marathon and
to see if I fancied tagging along. I checked
out the event and was immediately drawn to
the 40 mile ultra course. Finding it difficult
to enter more than a couple of mountain marathons
each year, I'd been thinking for a while that
ultras might be the thing to keep me interested
throughout the year and had been trying to
find a course that interested me to give it
a try.
The
Causeway Coast Ultra looked perfect so I got
signed up and started bashing out the miles.
For the week before the event it had looked
like the north coast of Northern Ireland was going
to be getting a bit of a battering but at the
last minute it looked like conditions would
be just about perfect if a little warm. So at
7.30am on Saturday 28th I found myself standing
on Portstewart Strand with 85 other competitors
waiting to set off with the most glorious of red
sunrises filling the view.
I cruised through the
first couple of checkpoints getting settled
into my pace and chatting to other runners.
The stunning views of the coastline around
the Giants Causeway as we ran along the clifftop
paths were breathtaking. In fact they distracted
me so much that before I knew it I was through
the halfway point and still feeling strong.
Around midday the clouds started to clear and
summer decided to make a return with temperatures
in the twenties and perfect blue skies. 27
miles in at the turnaround point at Ballintoy
I was definitely starting to feel like I'd
been on a run but still had plenty left in the
tank for the final 13 miles to the finish.
I was
fairly confident that I could get in under
the 8 hour
mark and started to push my pace through the
final third of the route. All was looking good
until I came up behind the 10k just after they
had set off. I spent the next 6 miles trying
to work my way through the crowds on the narrow
clifftop paths and still had enough energy
for a final big push over the last mile to
reach the finish area, cheered on by the huge
crowds that had come out to watch, all enjoying
their picnics and icecreams in the sunshine.
I just missed my target finishing in 8hrs and
9 mins but still well pleased with the run.
Absolutely
loved this event and can't recommend it enough.
The course was awesome with a good mix of fast
and technical trails broken up by some great
beaches and the occassional bit of road. On
top of that the weather, the crowds, the banter
and advice from other runners and most of all
the stunning backdrop made this an event I'll
never forget.
My only problem now is finding
something to top it!
Conor Cromie
- 1st October 2013
The Three Peaks Cyclo Cross
     
Three Carnethy members took part in the 51st
Three-Peaks Cyclo-Cross at the weekend. Billed as the toughest Cyclo-Cross
event
in the world
I thought that I would give you a quote from Thomas Frischnecht, a hard-man
ex-pro
who said, amongst other things:-
"In all my years as a professional
mountain biker and cross rider I rode many races, but the 3 Peak Cyclocross
was the hardest of all. At
the same time, it's also the race from which I'll be taking most of
impressions - and of course some wild stories: Of three mountains that
rise from the
meadows of Yorkshire, from deep mud and die-hard types, which it is
60 kilometers 1600 meters and rain that poured out mercilessly"
Many
thanks to Simon Parson for putting me onto this.
The three members
taking part were Craig O'Donnell (Sen), Jon Ascroft (V40) and Bob Johnson
(V50) with no sign of Steven McInnes (Isle of
Mull CC/Carnethy HRC) after his fantastic placing in 7th last year
(3:31:30).
Jon
started strongly and climbed Simon Fell to the top of Ingleborough
in 54:50 followed by Bob (59:54) and Craig (1:06:02). Jon also descended
quicker than Bob and Craig in order to make the next checkpoint (Cold
Cotes) at 1:10:41 with Bob and Craig trailing further at 1:16:08 and
1:22:49 respectively. Interestingly (well I thought so) Bob caught
up with friend-of-the-club
Andy Mouncey and a whole bunch of riders for the road section to the
foot of Whernside. Again Jon's climbing was excellent making the summit
of
Whernside in 2:05:24 with Bob falling further behind in 2:13:28. Here
the savage cross-wind blew Craig off the track causing him to crash
into a rock, puncturing his new tubeless tyre and buckling his new
front wheel.
Thus Craig made the second summit in a time of 2:30:58 and had to retire
on the descent with the front end being impossible to deal with.
Craig
explained as follows:-
" Ascending Whernside OK. Then a gust of wind pushed me off course
into a ditch on top of Whernside where there lurked a rim buckling knife
edged rock. Instant depressurisation. Quickly chucked bike over fence
to find some shelter. Reinflated tyre with CO2 but wasnt working. Then
noticed rim. Tried to straighten wheel/rim with various tools, rocks etc.
Chucked in a tube, reinflated and got back on bike for a few metres before
the tube exploded out through the rim ding. Sod it - race over. Strolled
down to viaduct - a long way when shouldering the bike down slippy rock
steps. Once near the tarmac, stuck my last tube in it and inflated only
enough to seat tyre then pootled along to the finish on the wonkiest wheel
ever wondering if the tube was about to explode in my face again".
Meanwhile:
Jon descended slightly quicker than Bob to make the famous Ribblehead
viaduct in 2:29:30 with Bob going through the same check at
2:38:01. Jon maintained his speed to make the summit of the last hill
(Pen-y-ghent) in 3:28:09 while Bob "bonked" and fell back to
3:42:04. Jon then took another 21 minutes to get to the finish in 3:49:31
while Bob took 22 mins to finish in 4:04:28. Andy Mouncey finished
in 4:11:15.
Results - Jon was 57th overall (20th V40)
with Bob
was 117th overall (9th V50). full results
Bob Johnson
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