After 24 hours of incessant rainfall which had washed away most of the km distance points that I’d marked out the previous day, (using Morison’s cheapest plain flour and marker paint), the clouds stopped dripping just in time for the off in our annual pursuit handicap. There was the odd competitive pairing, and I had my race plan to outrun the new superfast Bev. I don’t know who set the blistering pace for whom but it was a real shock to my system to run hard for more than a few seconds. Game plan moment one - I switched on to lollop-hyperdrive to run away from Bev. Lolloping down the Water of Leith seems to suit some runners a lot more than others. Added to the lolloping were plenty of mud & water-jumps – a distinct advantage to the longer-legged folk as we must have saved metres going over (or through) rather than round the squelches.  Sensing I was weakening Bev eventually caught me and went steaming past. ****! Game plan moment two - lollop again past her. Eventually it went quiet behind me and I started seeing some folk in front. Game plan moment three – chase Morag down the home straight, which got one spectator excited. It’s just as well (for me) that I did cos Kenny had  me in his sights. If he’d outrun me down the last 100m I’d have never lived it down. Quite a few folk should be pretty pleased with their times, esp one runner who advised me several times beforehand she’d never done 10k in 53 mins (so who ran 51m 32s??) . In the end it was a successful day for Margot and Beth who won the ladies trophies, and myself end Kenny who won the men’s trophies. Back to short quick stuff for me, that’s enough lolloping for one year.

Trophy winners:

Female high handicap (55min +)        Margot Ward

Female elite runner                                Beth Owens

Male high handicap (45min +)           Bob Douglas

Male lean mean running machine      Kenny Tindall