| 9th September 2007 Upsets and Surprises at the Comrie Relay There was so many unexpected changes of position in this race that at times it seemed more like an experiment to show Brownian motion than a running race ! Whatever, this 4 leg, 5 person relay is a magic little event. In the end the "tortoises" of Strathearn Harriers, took all the correct routes and ran steadily to beat the "hares" of Fife, Central, Carnethy, Highland, Westies & Ochils, all of whose teams at one time or another ran in circles round the hills ! Simon Peachey started the action as leg 1 favourite then went missing (along with many other teams including Ochils, Highland etc), eventually coming in completely last – c’est la vie, Simon ! The Carnethy ladies had a fantastic start as Jacqui Higginbottom had a perfect leg to finish 4th overall and leaving all other female teams (and in particular a strong Fife squad) scattered lost over the hills. Then Steven Fallon and Jon Ascroft broke the leg 2 record and strong runs by Stewart Whitlie (leg 3) and Adrian Davies (leg record on leg 4), brought us back to finish a fantastic and unexpected 3rd, though we were helped by Fife and Highland going missing on the final leg and Central forgetting to punch a control ! Meanwhile the ladies tried hard to hang on after the great start but despite good runs by the whole team had the misfortune to be disqualified after Joan, obviously having had too much champagne the day before (see Beeftub report, below), didn’t punch the 6th control – c’est la vie too, Joan ! So in the end, an unexpected 3rd place and two leg records but more than that a great social event and lovely low-key relay, thanks to the organisers, Strathearn Harriers. Results (now readable) A report that helps explain what happened here ) ) ) ) ) |