Fine, but cold, weather greeted the runners for the Xth running of the Water Of Leith Half Marathon on Saturday. I’ve no idea how long this race has been going on, its history is scattered across several webpages from Porty to PeterB’s blog, and maybe even Mary Hunter’s blog. From an outsider’s perspective it’s essentially an email list that gets passed around, and inclusion to the list seems to be based around offering to marshal or asking Peter nicely. My name was included because I marshaled a couple of years ago, and since then I’ve not (yet) been thrown out. As an aside, I quite like this approach of “marshal once and then get in”, as it encourages people to support the race before giving it a go!
Anyway, the race follows a simple format. Meet at Leith, get a bus to Harlaw Road at Balerno, then everyone is sent off based on their handicap time so that everyone *should* finish at 12 noon. The route follows the Water Of Leith walkway as best it can, but flood prevention schemes have forced the lower sections to twist and turn away from the river itself, and a landslip at Dean Village seems to be a more permanent diversion feature. The route starts with only a few turns and a pleasant “encouraging” downhill to keep you going. Later, that downhill flattens out, the route becomes more undulating and the sharp turns more frequent. In short, just as the half marathon gets hard…so does the terrain!
Like any handicap race, your fate and mood towards the race really depends on how kind the handicapper is. With a “bad” handicap, you feel like you’re being hunted by those behind you, knowing that they’ll fly-by soon enough and you’ll probably be running on your own for the rest of the race. With a “good” handicap, you’re hunting those ahead, looking to catch them quickly and capitalise on your good fortune! Alas, this time I felt I was the former, the hunted, with Graham Nash and Alex McVey starting only 2mins behind me. They’ve both put that amount of time between us on the ~6mile handicap races, so it was a matter of “when” and not “if” they’ll pass me. Ahead was Anthony Hemmings and Chris Henty, but they had a 4min head start, which seemed a wee bit too much to catch up. I expected a lonely day, with only the occasional whooshing sounds of speedy runners to keep me company.
Once started, my starting buddy, Steve Best, was ditched early on. Sorry, Steve, but you’re a new dad and, well, new dads don’t have time to train. I know, it’s unfair, but there ye go, life isn’t fair. I was kinda on my own thereafter until the canal, when true to form, Graham and Alex appeared. They’d made up 2mins in 7miles, the swines! However, they seem rubbish at crossing roads at speed, so they were able to watch my backside slink through the traffic and wiggle along for another mile after the A71. No matter, they just passed again without any problems. Sigh. Shortly after, Chris came into view at Balgreen! Hurrah! Then Roddy McRae, and then Gordon, then Anthony, then Kate Fraser (and possibly young Caroline Fraser), and then Philippa Ivison. It seems my handicap was more favourable than I thought! From the canal onwards, there was a steady stream of runners forming into a large clump, just like the handicapper planned! Just before the final stretch, David Limmer flew by, making the anticipated whooshing sound, and kindly said a few encouraging words as he passed. Nice guy!
Sure enough, David Limmer finished the fastest of the day. Simon Axon and Lana Turnbull were the handicap winners. A Carnethy team of Chris, Graham and myself won the team prize! It was Peter Buchanan’s last dance as race organiser, and to say “au revoir” and to wish him luck, we called our team “Lucky Pierre” – Pierre is the French form of Peter, after all. I think he was quite touched by the gesture, he certainly blushed. Great running by all! Lots of Carnethy faces too, which was also good to see!