8th September 2013
Ben Nevis Race - Sat 7th
Sept |
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I've trawled through the
Ben Nevis Race Results and pulled out all the
Carnethies (I think). The top three plus the
Carnethy finishers are shown here -
Carnethies finished one-a-minute for a little while
with Angela Mudge (comfortable woman's winner) in 1:52;
Andrew Gilmore in 1:53; and Steven Fallon in 1:54.
Nice formation work and awesome hill running by these
three. Iain Gilmore rounded out the sub-2's with an
excellent 1:58.
The also-rans were headed by Bob Johnson who still
didn't get under the sub-2hours with time fast running
out for this "brummie get" from south o'the
the border. Joel Sylvester, Bruce Smith, Jim Hardie,
Alec Erskine and Simon Titmuss all in the bracket 2:10
to 2:20.
An excellent turn-out of Carnethies with the following
read out by the race organisers at the start:
"The Carnethy Hill Running Club
are greatly saddened to inform the runners
assembled here of the death of long-term member,
John Blair-Fish. John had a sudden heart attack
while out riding his bike on Wednesday 4th
September and despite the attentions of all
present, the ambulance service and the hospital,
John tragically passed away. He has completed
the Ben race many times always UNDER the 2-hour
mark. He was a hill runner of world class and
he will be sadly missed by his family, clubmates,
and competitors alike. His life was lived to
the full and he should inspire us all"
Report by: Wilba Missin-John
(aka Bob Johnson) |
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Photos from Ben
Nevis - Matt has been practising 'The Digby'
- here
Race results: here
Mary |
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A fantastic turn-out
of Carnethies!, 27 entered and 25 on the startline – always
difficult to plan so far ahead when entries are
submitted in January. The weather could not have
been better this year, but as I headed for the
start line the half way cut off of 60mins was more
of a worry. A most uplifting round of applause
on the start line from all runners followed the
race officials announcement of JBF’s untimely
passing. I believe Jimmy Jardine of Lochaber started
the race, and as if to catch us all out – slightly
early! This was my 15th consecutive year (still
on track for the 21) and knowing that I hadn’t
quite put the training in that I should have made
me dread the cut-off times – I won’t
be using Stella as my training partner next year!
The first half is the “easy bit”! Pacing
myself I managed to reach Red Burn in 57mins not
much time to play with for the summit as the steeper
section lay ahead, but with one eye on the Lochaber
runners I picked a good line, its easy to drift
off, following the immediate runners ahead. As
the rough route to the summit levelled off I had
managed to gain some time – 1:47 at the top,
enough for a photo from a bemused marshall! The
descent was my slowest ever but I was resigned
to just finish this year. A nice change from recent
years when visibility has been bad – great
views all the way down. Hoping for a faster time
next year – 6 to go!
Andy Lennie. |
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