Relays
Relays are a great way to get involved with Carnethy and get a taster of what hill racing is about. It doesn’t matter how fast or slow you run. Relays are all about being part of a team, meeting some new people and having a good time in the hills!
Each relay race is slightly different. Some consist of solo and paired legs. Paired legs are usually longer and require more navigation. This can be a good introduction to navigation for less experienced hill runners as we can pair you with someone who knows what they are doing!
We enter Carnethy teams in the following relays:
Devil’s Burdens | |
Simon Wake Comrie Hills Relay | |
Hodgson Brothers Mountain Relay | |
Scottish Long Coastal Relays (Carnethy race) |
In previous years we have had loads of teams competing at the Burdens and Comrie relays and we would like to replicate this or have even more teams out this year! The Long Coastal Relay is a race invented and directed by our own Mike Lynch. It would be great to get two or three teams out this year (we have no excuse that it’s too far away as it’s in Fife).
We have a place for one team in the Hodgson’s and it’s important we use this so we keep it for the future!
If you’re reading this and interested in getting involved in one of the relays, or finding out more, drop an email to captains@carnethy.com
In 2022 Carnethy hosted the British Fell Relay Championships – page here
Reports…
Harrison Hulme Hill Relays
Wednesday evening (27th June) was the 2nd now annual 3-person relay in the Pentlands. Held in memory of two hill runners James Harrison and Martin Hulme organised by Christopher O’Brien of Corstorphine Athletics Club.
It is a great wee loop near Bonaly reservoir 4.6km, 261m run clockwise by each runner:
https://www.strava.com/routes/28973750
The start and finish have great views of the action. There was a good mix of teams this year with a friendly local vibe. It became a battle between the 2 clubs with the most boring kit colours: HBT and Corstorphine. They fielded ‘A’ teams which won them 1st and 2nd respectively. Carnethy trio aka Capelaw Crusaders, including Mike, James and Dessie had great all-round performance coming 3rd.
Other notable teams with non-boring Carnethy vests: Tues-cani-beer-tempo, Carnethy Xtreme, Edinburgh Mountaineering Club and Edinburgh Mountaineering Club (2).
This was a no prize event; the £15 entry fee was donated to http://www.spokes.org.uk.
Andrew Lamont
Hodgsons Report
The Hodgson Brothers Mountain Relay returned on Sunday, an event second only to the FRA Relays in terms of numbers and prestige in the fell running community. Always a fantastic day, it’s a super well organised affair thanks to different Lakes club and local Patterdale organisations. The weather did its best to derail proceedings but fellrunners and marshals are a hardy bunch so with gritted teeth and an extra mandatory long sleeve layer, 71 teams set off from the very waterlogged cricket field.
Dan and Sasha led us off on L1, which basically climbs to a tarn then descends off a cliff, running strongly to handover in 3rd behind Keswick and Ambleside. Sam and I began L2 at Hartsop in ideal position with 2 teams to chase as we climbed up to High Street. It was wild at the summit which we reached just ahead of the Ambleside pairing, but the clag cleared just as we hit the trod contouring round Thornthwaite Crag – Keswick taking a higher line allowing us to sneak in to the lead. A lead we held across Caudale Moor, bog-hopping before a greasy descent to Kirkstone Pass to hand over to Iain and Will. They weren’t quite expecting us so early, so with only half a warmup they set off in to the clag up the punishing Red Screes climb. With solid nav and line choices they finished L3 right in the mix just behind Calder Valley. Finn and Ali set off on L4 with a 10 second deficit to chase to a podium spot, and ran an extremely strong leg over St Sunday Crag to bring us home in 3rd.
An excellent result, sets us up nicely for British Relays in a couple of weeks where the club will turn out 4 strong teams – WSen, MV40, and MSen 1 and 2.
Full results: https://www.
Eóin Lennon
Devil’s Burdens V50 B report
The team:
Leg 1 – Bruce Smith
Leg 2 – Roddy McRae, Mark Hartree
Leg 3 – Andrew Patience, Olly Stephenson
Leg 4 – Billy Elliot
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V50 b – leg 1 report – Bruce Smith:
As a veteran (pun very much intended) of the Devil’s Burdens one of the things you can rely on is that no team planning will go perfectly smoothly. Once you move up the age categories life often intervenes as does infirmity, however, remarkably the original team line up that Eóin advised was the one that made it to the start lines in Falkland.
Despite the myriad changes to the route over the year, one constant has been the start in Falkland, in recent years it’s been a fast flat affair through the woods, but this year it was back to being a proper hill race. Up and over East Lomond and – new for 2020 – back to the same place you started (repeated for the rest of the legs too).
For some reason I was allocated the first leg- I’d done the old leg 4 a few times, which was roughly the same start but with a quick crash back through the trees back to the town centre. The last time I’d done the mass start of leg one was back in the 2000’s (I think with Andy Spenceley) when it went over East Lomond and ran through to the Holl reservoir. This time my main target was to try and keep us within hunting distance of the other V50 teams, which included Neil McLure on our V50 all stars, and, more likely, not to get us disqualified. Well, until we left the tarmac and hit the Maspie Glen climb I was even ahead of Neil. This was short lived and Neil (and several many others) soon flew past and I was left with the long grind up to CP1. From there it was the familiar run along the ridge to the top of East Lomond where it was a bit grim to be honest. Once clipped at the top the drizzly conditions made for a slip-slide drop down to the checkpoint by the gate (where a very nice marshal was waiting to punch the card). By the time we’d reached checkpoint in the car-park I was hoping for a nice fast run in to home. Sadly the drizzle was cold and in my face all the way back along the ridge, we were pretty well spaced out by this time, although I did manage to reel in another Carnethy runner… it wasn’t Neil. He was long gone. Through the last checkpoint and flat out down the great descent in Maspie glen. Only one more place grabbed here, and I managed to outsprint somebody on the road coming back to the field, before I careered down the exit lane for the leg 2 runners – not realising I had to do a lap of the park after I got the right side of the tape again.
Tagged Mark and Roddy and let them off the leash nicely down the pack (to help their navigation obviously).
Thanks to the rest of the team and those who organise the race.
In a way putting the race in a single location makes things much simpler but the new routes could do with a bit more climb on the other legs, it would have been good to see leg 3 go round and back over West Lomond so they could climb the eponymous Devils Burdens again.
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V50 b – leg 2 report – Mark Hartree:
After a pretty hectic week with family and care homes, a run was needed. The Burdens is always one of my favourites for the social and the best ever soups. I was very happy with my pairing with Roddy McRae who I hadn’t seen for a while, so a great chance to catch up. Also, Captain Olly-tastic and Bruce seemed have a hatched plan so cunning that we we bound to win a prize, including an avalanche probe. Be prepared… good idea. Andrew P and Billy (whizz) E made up our V50 team.
Having only briefly looked at the new Leg 2, I concluded after about 1 hr of solid uphill running to the top of West Lomond, that Roddy was annoyingly effortlessly faster than me. I nipped him for a bit on the rough descent, to be spanked on the track home.
We watched others come and go, talked to loads of folk but by the time Billy left for L4 the cold had seeped in and soup beckoned.
My favourite soup – maybe the beetroot and tomato, or was it the courgette and spinach, maybe the pea and mint, or my final sip of the carrot and coriander…
Great work Eóin and Anne Sophie for sorting and organising everything and to my team and the organisers for a great head clearer.
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V50 b – leg 3 report – Olly Stephenson:
The competition for Leg 3 began in earnest a week or so before the Burdens, with Andrew Patience and I emailing the team attempting to come up with the best excuses for which of us would be the slowest. I kind of lost track of his excuses to be perfectly honest, as, well, I was always destined to win that bit.
On paper we seemed like a reasonable pairing, similar ages, similar backgrounds, neither of us having raced (and in my case no running either) for 2 years, but with a pretty sizable elephant in the room – specifically I knew he was a running pal of Adam Ward’s, a veritable Carnethy Legend – and therefore he was definitely going to win the running bit.
We took over from Roddy and Mark, who put in a great Leg 2 performance, arriving at half flying and half running speed, at which point Andrew sprinted off uphill with the intensity of a sports car. Meanwhile I was left gasping and trailing in his wake, like a Mini Metro stuck in first gear.
Thankfully all of my suffer-training of the last year or so kicked straight in, and I felt pretty comfortable with lungs at 20% of what I wanted them to be, failing vision, maxed-out heartbeat, nausea from the single jelly baby I’d eaten an hour before, and legs operating at a Zimmer-frame shuffle.
The ‘Patience’ bit of Andrew’s name was tested early, both by my complete absence of speed, and shortly thereafter when a couple of my “I’ve reccie’d this bit, I know the way” shortcuts turned out to be less than ideal, with competitors clearly gliding past on the nice trail we’d just left for our muddy little trod. Thankfully he lives up to his surname, and was nothing but gracious throughout.
He shepherded me up Maspie Den, along the tops in head-freezing wind and rain, down to the cube-rock checkpoint beneath West Lomond, and then back home the same way, all the while gasping and flailing in his wake like a geriatric at an Ibiza rave.
In normal times there would have been a small part of me wondering why I was doing this, why I was suffering quite so much, why I hadn’t done more training. But not now, not today. It felt utterly amazing just to be here, body gliding across the landscape (as best as it could, haha), senses buzzing in the elements. I have rarely felt more grateful, more present, or more alive.
Exactly one year ago I was commencing a 2 week stay in hospital on an isolation ward, facing cancer, chemo, c-diff, a couple of chest drains and 40C fevers all at once. From my bed I could just about make out the summit of Allermuir if I craned my neck. It felt like I’d lost pretty much everything, and care free days of hill running seemed as distant as the moon.
And yet to my absolute astonishment and delight, here I am just 12 months later enjoying one of the sports I most love, in a magical landscape, at a great race, laughing and joking with a wonderful bunch of people. How very lucky I am to be able to do all of this again, at whatever speed I can muster.
Sincerest thanks to Andrew, my MV50 B team mates, the Carnethy Captains, and of course Frank McLaren and his Fife AC volunteers for an absolutely stellar day out, you have no idea how special Leg 3 of the Devil’s Burdens was for me this year.
And for those of you worried about your running speed, who cares, I can say with some authority it’s a great deal better than the alternatives.
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V50 b – leg 4 report – Billy Elliot:
No report submitted, but he took over from the Leg 3 runners with a smile on his face. And more importantly he made a full-size Claymore ‘trophy’ for the club a couple of years ago, which is now the Female First Team prize in the Carnethy 5, so Billy is up there with Adam Ward as a Carnethy Legend in my eyes.
Ollie Sephenson
Devil’s Burdens FV50 report
Didn’t we have a loverly time, the day we went to Falkland….? FV50s at the Burdens.
It was great to be able to field a FV50 team at the Devil’s Burdens. With all the legs having changed from previous years we recced all the new ones and (largely!) enjoyed that part of the process too.
Sally Cross on leg 1 writes: I have been a member of Carnethy for a very long time but always in the social wing of the Club. When the call went out for people to make up relays for the Devil’s Burdens I thought that I would dip my toe into hill-racing so I volunteered to run what looked to me like the most straightforward leg and was given a place in the Ladies V50 team (flattering as I’ve had my bus pass for a while now). Being new to all this I did two recces of the route. The first with Ian (I don’t think he trusted me not to get lost!) on a gloriously sunny Sunday. After I learnt how to use a compass and take a bearing we descended East Lomond (him skipping down, me coming down more cautiously) to control 1C at a gate. After a robust discussion of where to go next we headed over to control 1D by the masts across very marshy ground but this involved crossing two fences, verboten in the rules. After that it was a straightforward run down. Recce two the following week I did solo while Ian went off with his partner to recce leg 2. This time I found a much better (and legal) route to checkpoint 1D and had the pleasure of bumping into an old friend ascending East Lomond Hill as I descended (even more slowly this time because of the ice). On race day I lined up feeling rather nervous at the start, my first hill race in a Carnethy vest alongside Maggie Creber. A horn sounded and we were off with me soon finding my place at the back of the pack. Running along the track towards East Lomond I was surprised to see a runner came across the field on the right. He explained that he had a “gentleman’s moment” and he was not racing – just jogging round. His intention was to race one leg and jog two! He seemed amused when I told him his jogging pace was my race pace! As I reached the gate onto the path up the hill the leader sprinted by on his way down – I had hoped to get that point without seeing the leader. Managed to catch a couple of people on East Lomond and en route back I helped a few of the other backmarkers who were veering off course. I could have done without the final lap of the field! Pleased to finish not last and I enjoyed it. Thank you to my teammates for words of encouragement and bonhomie. Who knows I may race again…
And Margaret Forrest who ran with Cali Ingham on Leg 3 writes: Cali and I had a cracking time on Leg 3. I’m so glad we did a recce the week before with Bob and Willie and knew where we were going. We also knew there was no way we wanted to climb back up towards West Lomond Hill after check point 3E had been removed from Bell Craig. Most Leg 3 runners added the extra ascent in order to get a fast run down the stoney track to Craigmead, but we preferred the more sheltered route through Drumdreel Wood where we met Hilary and lots of Leg 4 runners. It was a great race and the new arrangements this year are a really good improvement. Many thanks to all the marshalls and the course organisers.
Joanne Thin ran with Dorothy Elliot on Leg 3 and writes: I enjoyed the run with Dorothy and passing a few teams towards the end. Good team spirit all round.
I ( Hilary) ran leg 4 which was mainly on forest tracks and was glad of a recce a week before the race. The big decision on that leg was whether to do the monument first or last (the checkpoints could be visited in any order), and this proved to be a very individual choice. It was fun being part of the pre race email discussion with other Carnethy leg 4 runners about the options, and flattering to be asked for my recommendations! Contemplating a 30 ft near-vertical muddy bank, I realised I could (just) get up it, but no way – with knackered knee and legendary poor descending skill – would I get down it with my dignity intact. I therefore opted to do the Chancefield checkpoint first, via North Bank, then fast running along a lovely path contouring through the woods and joining the main forest track to pick up 3 checkpoints (like Sally, calling back some others who went slightly off course) before heading back towards Falkland, meeting Cali and Margaret completing leg 3. I cut off the main track and climbed said steep bank to the monument, and then had a fast run off down a forest track and then a smaller very runnable track which cut the corners. I was very pleased to find I was in the top two thirds of the leg 4 times! The recce definitely paid off.
A great day out, with plenty of time in the assembly area to blether with clubmates and meet folks from other clubs. I gather there may be some male, female and mixed V60/70 teams next year. I hope this write-up might be a rallying call for veteran club members to take part in next year’s race, and other relays (For instance, Comrie is one of my favourite events).
Hilary Spenceley
Superb Win for Carnethy at the Burdens!
After a great race, the Carnethy Senior A Team came home victorious in the Devil’s Burdens Relay from over 150 teams on Saturday. This race is always treated like an unofficial Scottish Relay championship with all the top hill running clubs taking part, so a great result. They were not the fastest on any of the four legs, but were always there or there about, so were able to take the lead on the 3rd leg and hold it for the final leg (and that was despite Andy Fallas raising the average age of the team considerably!). Congratulations.
Carnethy also had a few second places – 2nd Senior Women’s Team, 2nd Over 40 Team and 2nd Over 60 Team. The Senior Women were only a minute down at the end, after over 4 hours of racing – very close. Also very close was the Over 40 Team which looked to have the better of a strong Shettleston squad and only lost out after one of our runners injured himself (something that could happen to anybody) but bravely finished in obvious pain to keep the team in contention. Another good result was the 3rd place of the Carnethy O/50 team.
In total 12 Carnethy teams took part – that’s 72 runners – a great showing. This year the routes had all changed to make the changeovers in the same place, so there was no driving round the hills. It made a more sociable occasional as everyone was at the start/finish to cheer on runners and see the race unfolding (and take shelter in the club tent!).
All the results (and course maps), including leg splits are here.
A list of all 72 Carnethy runners is below, including some very new members – hope you enjoyed the day out !
Pos. Category Leg 1 Leg 2 Cum. Time Leg 3 Cum. Time Leg 4 Total
1 Open Senior Will Rigg 00:48:15 Andrew Fallas & Finn Lydon 00:59:08 01:47:23 Alexander Chepelin & Ali Masson 00:51:21 02:38:44 Tom Lines 00:39:38 03:18:22
7 Open 40+ James Britton 00:44:59 Dessie Flanagan & Eliot Sedman 00:58:49 01:43:48 Michael Reid & Drew Sharkey 01:05:04 02:48:52 Mark Johnston 00:43:24 03:32:16
17 Open Senior Iain Gilmore 00:51:33 Rob Owen & Declan Valters 01:09:48 02:01:21 Anthony Hemmings & Konrad Rawlik 01:02:29 03:03:50 Alex McVey 00:41:49 03:45:39
27 Women Senior Jasmin Paris 00:57:57 Angela Mudge & Jill Mykura 01:08:52 02:06:49 Helen Fallas & Elizabeth Leason 01:06:42 03:13:31 Anne-Sophie Ruget 00:51:44 04:05:15
44 Open Senior Paul Newnham 00:55:57 Bob Johnson & Norman Brown 01:35:15 02:31:12 Richard Wilson & Mark Lunt 01:07:56 03:39:08 Andrew Macrae 00:43:21 04:22:29
45 Open Senior Scott Seefeldt 00:50:34 Alan Konopka & Bartosz Burza 01:24:23 02:14:57 Ryan Forgie & Alex Kinninmonth 01:12:14 03:27:11 Fergus Johnston 00:57:43 04:24:54
52 Open 50+ Neil McLure 00:51:52 Mike Andrew & Alan Renville 01:13:19 02:05:11 Neil Burnett & Graeme Dunbar 01:07:05 03:12:16 Mike Lynch 01:19:08 04:31:24
70 Open 50+ Bruce Smith 00:53:47 Roddy McRae & Mark Hartree 01:32:20 02:26:07 Olly Stephenson & Andrew Patience 01:14:54 03:41:01 Billy Elliott 01:01:50 04:42:51
79 Women 40+ Maggie Creber 01:11:39 Jane Jackson & Joanne Anderson 01:28:56 02:40:35 Kirsty McBirnie & Michelle Hetherington 01:13:22 03:53:57 Sarah Massey 00:58:31 04:52:28
83 Open Senior Georgios Dalakouras 00:49:08 Richard Chandler & Alexander Maskell 01:39:51 02:28:59 Tracy Ballinger & Rachael Paul 01:20:53 03:49:52 Alison Caldwell 01:06:15 04:56:07
111 Open 60+ Robin Sloan 01:14:42 Ian Jackson & Pete Cain 01:46:49 03:01:31 Gordon Cameron & Andy Spenceley 01:16:34 04:18:05 Brian Howie 01:10:56 05:29:01
149 Women 50+ Sally Cross 01:26:37 Dorothy Elliott & Joanne Thin 01:44:58 03:11:35 Margaret Forrest & Cali Ingham 02:03:10 05:14:45 Hilary Spenceley 01:01:35 06:16:20
FRA relays 2019
Dark Peak Fell Runners played host to the 2019 FRA Relay Champs, situated below Derwent Dam in deepest, darkest Derbyshire – at least it was appearing that way until about 9am, (with the orienteers trying to hide their glee) but by race start the fog had cleared and conditions were glorious with blue skies and blazing sunshine. We had two teams this year, a Women’s and a Men’s with a fine mixture of youth and experience.
Leg 1 kicked off with Elizabeth and Finn covering the 7.6km/360m+ course in 5th lady and 6th overall respectively putting Leg 2 (12.3km.480m+) runners in great position to chase the leading teams. Myself and Andy quickly moved our way up to 4th and with a bit of jostling amongst Dark Peak/Shettleston maintained that position, while Angela and Jill also ran the 6th fastest Leg 2 amongst the Open Women. In contrast to ‘normal’ FRA conditions, Leg 3 (the nav leg) presented no visibility issues as such, just rough heather and tussocky ground over 11km/550m+. Iain and Konrad hit their controls well but being up against the zenith of the British orienteering scene meant some places were lost, whereas Jasmin and Helen ran an incredibly strong 3rd place on their leg. Leg 4 (7.8km/375m+) was roughly a reverse of Leg 1, and Ali ran the 5th fastest leg to make up some big time gaps to take back 4 positions and secure a 10th* place finish. Sarah finished strongly to maintain a high position for the women’s team who placed 7th.
Leg 1: Elizabeth Leason / Finn Lydon
Leg 2: Angela Mudge & Jill Mykura / Eoin Lennon & Andy Fallas
Leg 3: Jasmin Paris & Helen Fallas / Iain Whiteside & Konrad Rawlik
Leg 4: Sarah Foster / Ali Masson
*At time of writing we had moved up to 8th due to #dibbergate disqualifications of the Shettleston and Calder Valley teams – Shettleston finished 3rd after their L4 runner dropped their dibber in a fall in the final 150m, promoting DPFR to the podium, however they refused to accept their bronze medals.
Eóin Lennon