Manor Water Hill Race

9th October 2004

Organisers Report
Faster Course means new Record in Manor Water Hill Race

This year the start/finish of the Manor Water Hill Race was at Woodhouse Farm, apparently with little change in race distance or amount of climb. Surprisingly however, the runners found the new part of the route quicker and many were able to knock several minutes off their previous best time.

This was the twelfth race, held in conjunction with the Manor Water Sheepdog Trials, one of the major events of the year in the Manor Valley, and under the auspices of the Carnethy Hill Running Club.

The race started at Woodhouse Farm, near Croftlea, and the route went via Glack Hope to the ridge between the Manor Valley and Dawyck as far as the hill known as The Scrape, at 2348 feet, returning the same way. The total distance is 10 miles and the total climb is 2200 feet. There are shorter races for juniors. This year the 58 runners comprised 44 men, 11 women, one 13 yr old boy and two 15 yr old girls.

Ronnie Gallagher was also the winner of the ‘Men over 40 years’ class. Roger Irving (Annan) was second, in 73m 36s and third was Sandy Bennet (Carnegie) in 75m 58s.

The ‘Men over 50 years’ class was won for the 2nd time by Murdo Macleod (Westerlands) in 84m 53s, second was John Goldsworthy (Galloway) in 87m 32s and third was Bill Knox (Teviotdale) in 93m 04s.

The winner of the ‘Men over 60 years’ class was Brian Waldie (Carnethy) in 90m 03s, two minutes under the previous record. Brian has run the race 5 times and has been first in his age class on each occasion. Second was Tony Stapley (Portobello) in 100m 29s and third was Adam Anderson (Dumfries) in 103m 57s.

Second in the Women Open class was Veronique Oldham (Norham) in 88m 40s and third was Louise Provan (Fife AC) in 100m 58s.

There were 5 runners in the ‘Women over 40 years’ class, first being Deborah MacDonald (HBT) in 97m 29s, second was Chris McLeod (Moorfoot) in 101m 11s and third was Shirley Singh in 103m 47s.

There were no runners in the 16-19 years class this year but in the Younger Junior Boys (13-15) class Mark McLeod (Moorfoot) completed the 3¼ ml course in a creditable time of 33m 37s. In the equivalent Girls class Rachel Robson (Annan) took 37m 07s and Hilary Theaker took 42m 23s for the same course.

The race takes place with the kind permission of The Wemyss Estates, Robert Balfour of Dawyck, The Forestry Commission Forest Enterprise and Mr Robert Barr of Woodhouse.

The organiser would like to take this opportunity publicly to thank those who sponsored the day’s events. The principal sponsor of the Hill Race was again Broughton Ales and there was voucher support from Veitch’s Corner House and Young & Co (Footwear). We are also grateful to the British Red Cross (Borders Branch) for providing 1st Aid services.

The winner also receives a silver cup engraved as The John Nash Memorial Trophy, in recognition of the local farmer who initiated the race in 1992.

This is the second successive year in which there have been about 60 runners, signifying that our race is firmly established on the hill runners’ calendar. Another hill race takes place in the Pentland Hills on the day after ours, also organised by the Carnethy Hill Running Club. The combined times for the two races determine the winner of an additional trophy, known as ‘The Man-or Mouse’.

The next Manor Water Hill Race is scheduled for Saturday 8 October 2005. For information on the 2005 race contact Graham Pyatt tel. (01721) 740319