Borders XC series 2013/14

The last race in the Borders XC series at Dunbar was in glorious sunshine, as have been at least the last 2 here (ie the ones I've been in). A bit of a breeze took us tired Carnethy 5 runners (the day before) nicely down the beach and past the lighthouse, but oh, turning the corner and coming back was not quite so easy!
Not a lot of us turned out. Those whose series places depended on it did, and a small core of diehards made up the rest. Andy Fallas and Mike Reid were in hot contention race and series wise. Andy finishing 2nd took the race today from Mike in 3rd place, and Mike took the senior series by one point from Andy. Helen Bonsor was 3rd woman running for the first time in the series following injury. Vicki Gilmore was far from last in her category, improving all the time!
I gained the Exalted and Giddy heights of 3rd M60 in the series... Bill Gauld got a special award of Exalted Elder of the Series of at Least 70 Years Old. Stewart Whitlie won the series M50-60 class, Jess Dahl was 5th woman, Iain Gilmore was 3rd in the under 20 class. Carnethy won the men's team prize, and for any other stats the overall results are here.
Photosets from James Addie here and the indefatigable Bob Marshall here.
And we all got a rather disappointing mug, when we wanted our HORSE BRASSES!
Digby

Conundrum ndeed! The weather was a bit grim though not quite , but it was very cold & windy. I don't know if this route has been run before but I tried to more or less memorise it, and as the race progressed I thought - this doesn't resemble the map. Eventually the route we were running came up against a tape across the race line (at the farthest point south), the runners crossing it and returning back the way but on the other side of a hedge. Some vaulted it; I tried a racing limbo and had my hat swept from my head for my trouble. Bill assumed a diversion around a neighbouring building but just lost time. So I have no idea where we were actually supposed to go. We followed all the marshals directions and marking to that point, but the GPX trace is quite different to the published map, as you can see. Hopefully the whole race took the same route; certainly all the runners in my view took it. Anyway we enjoyed it! Stewart Whitlie and Iain Gilmore did well too, with 1sts in their categories. Results

Good Afternoon  
Your website report is quite correct in that the route you ran yesterday did not ressemble the course map.  On the day I expressed my apologies to your first two runners - Andrew Fallas and Michael Reid - and explained what happened.  
One of my marshals, for reasons known only to himself and which we are unlikely ever to determine, having sent the Juniors the right way proceeded to send the Seniors the wrong way.  The marshal involved is an experienced coach and athlete and was put in that particular spot because of his experience.  I can only apologise for his error.   
The positive of all this is that all the runners went the wrong way so there were no inequalities of distance and, in fact, it would appear most of the route was run as, after "the blip", everyone regained the proper course.  To date feedback on the course has been overwhelmingly positive and, of course, next year we will ensure that this mistake is not repeated - as you will appreciate this was the first time a XC has been held in this venue.  
The course was properly marked / signed and, after the gales of Saturday, it was walked and checked yesterday morning by myself and my husband - everything was in place before the start of the race and, had the marshal in question done his job properly, then the race should have gone off without a hitch.  I personally feel absolutely dreadful as this marshal is, in fact, my brother - someone I would expect to rely on 110%.  
I would be grateful if you would extend my sincere apologies to those club members who ran yesterday and experienced the difficulties.  I do hope they will all return next year and run the proper course !  
With best wishes
Caroline McDermott
Coach / Secretary : Tweed Striders
Chair : Borders Winter XC Series