Harmeny Pentland Runners
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Harmeny Pentland Runners |
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May/June
Update
Monthly Club Handicap - contact Ian May for details.
Handicap
races for 2010 are
Musselburgh
10k July
Best 5k
Parkrun August orSeptember?
Scottish
Gas 5K and 10K August
Club
Wol Pursuit Handicap, August
Jedburgh
1/2
Cross Country November
Results
from Chris Hoy half marathon are:
Race
time H'cap time
Time
below
h'cap
Jonathon CARPENTER 1:14:19
Peter
KADOBINSKYJ
1:21:44
Bill
MURPHY
1:24:47 1:27:11 0:02:24
Daren
CAVAROLI 1:31:04 1:36:45 0:05:41
Donald SANDEMAN 1:37:08
Jonathon
PAGE
1:38:39 1:41:15 0:02:36
Frank
TOOLEY
1:41:21
1:45:45 0:04:24
Jamie
DOW
1:48:30
Ian
SMITH
1:50:20
Alan
PRICE
1:50:30 1:54:11 0:03:41
Gordon MILLER
1:51:14
1:59:15 0:08:01
Peter
MCGAVIGAN 1:56:55
1:57:00 0:00:05
Ian
MCBRIDE 2:02:50 2:03:45 0:00:55
Alan
FLEMING 2:15:05 2:17:15 0:02:10
Margie LEITCH
1:36:30 1:40:41 0:04:11
Chris
MORGAN 1:38:24 1:50:15 0:11:51
Lorna
BROADHURST 1:43:23
1:45:45 0:02:22
Amanda PENNYCOTT 1:45:44
1:50:15 0:04:31
Kirsty
STODDART 1:48:10 1:53:04 0:04:54
Elaine
Shona
STEWART 1:55:06 1:57:00 0:01:54
Elaine
SCOTT
1:59:58 2:01:30 0:01:32
Morag
LEITCH
2:04:55 2:08:15 0:03:20
Angela
NICHOLSON 2:11:29
2:24:00 0:12:31
Caroline
MILLER
2:25:20 2:42:34 0:17:14
Katrina
FLEMING 2:25:21 2:39:45 0:14:24
FEMALE
WINNER Caroline MILLER
MALE
WINNER Gordon MILLER
Matching
trophies for the mantelpiece??
Reports – lots of reading this month after
the marathons etc so here goes!
Elaine
Scott, Nicky Freedman and Janice Brown had club places for London, Harmeny usually gets 2
or 3 places each year and we allocate these to firstly,
club members who have not had a club place in past 3 years and who have been
unsuccessful in the ballot or (if no-one in
this category then any member wishing to run
London).
Elaine reports from
I was so delighted to be offered a
club place for this year's VLM! When I first found out, it seemed to be at some distant
point in the future, but the time flew by, and it seemed like no time before I was in the
pen at the Blue start waiting for the off!
Everyone tells you that the
London Marathon is like no other experience for any endurance athlete. Nobody can really
prepare you for it though!
Everyone got cold and wet
waiting to start, as we had all been promised hot weather. The layers soon dried
out within the first mile or 2, as the sun came out and we all warmed up. My outer layers
were quickly shed and discarded as the temperature rose. For me it was a pleasant warmth
for most of the way round, though I know some people found it uncomfortable. Compared to
The support and enthusiasm from the
crowd is incredible! Every few metres it seemed I heard someone urging me on....me,
personally. I felt like a celebrity. I could feel myself filling up with emotion as I
reached out to touch all those little children's hands stretching out to 'high 5' the
runners. The miles just flowed by on a tidal wave of goodwill.
As I got into my stride I was amused
to pass the Angel of the North trying to take off, several rhinos, and the most humungous
giraffe whose neck was about 3 storeys high! I overtook a butterfly with a beard, who
turned out to be Richard Branson. Bands were playing all the way round, and my charity was
out in force at various sites to cheer me on. I crossed the line on a absolute high,
having run a PB, determined that some day I would do it again, but faster. The
organisation for the whole event was utterly superb, from the Expo, to the finishers'
photos. The only downside for me was the way a lot of runners discarded their water
bottles actually in the middle of the road, which was rather hazardous, but I don't think
the organisers could have helped that. I did not manage to meet up with fellow Harmenites
on the day, which was a little sad, but we made up for it after returning to
If anyone gets the chance to run VLM
in the future, grab it with both hands and hold on tight.You won't regret it !
And
Nicky on her 2 marathons in 4 weeks!!
Two Marathons, One Ash Cloud and
turning 40.
It’s always the same when you
are about to hit forty - you just have to prove you can still do it all. So my intention
was to run the
I thoroughly enjoyed training for
The marathon itself was a strange
experience after a fall at 3miles (someone behind me tripped me) which really shook me. I seemed to struggle the whole way. Nothing felt right and indeed the whole experience
felt quite lonely and I yearned for hills and scenery.
Despite this, crossing the finishing line was still a sense of achievement
and 4hrs 32min 45secs was ok wasn’t it?
It gnawed away at me... I was sure I
could have done better. My strategy had been
10min miles but I had gone slower than that and the whole thing was pretty exhausting. I rested for a week, did some swimming and
cycling. Entered the North Berwick Triathlon
and finished 7th female. My
confidence grew. Then I caught a cold and
became so tired. It was 2 weeks until the
That week the sun came out and my
energy seemed to flood back. Everything
clicked – the kids all slept well, I felt well rested and incredibly positive but
totally determined to really enjoy this marathon!
Everything just fell into place on
the day. I was at the
People had warned me not to do 2
marathons back to back but on reflection it’s just brilliant to have completed 2 well
known marathons before I turn 40. I am so proud of both times. There is no question I enjoyed
Gavin
Orr also ran
Links to some stories (with photos)
of me guiding Ken Reid, together with David Lott, his main guide, round London Marathon
are at the end.
Firstly a big thank you to Harmeny
for offering me a club place, to enable me to run as a guide, to my blind friend, Ken Reid
at this year's London Marathon. As it was, I got a place as an official runner's guide,
but knowing Harmeny were there to give me a place if needed was much appreciated.
So, Ken had trained well, was
targeting a sub 4 hour marathon (having done 4:08 at
We met up before the start,
enjoyed the atmosphere and set off at a pace that had me wincing: around 8 minute miles. I
kept suggesting, "Should we slow down a bit?" and popped my first Ibuprofen at
about 4 or 5 miles in. However, everything changed at 8 miles. Ken got a strain in his
calf, had to slow down and after a mile or so of trying gentle running, he made the
decision that he would have to walk the rest. This might get some people down, but not
Ken. He was determined to finish and still to do as well as he could.
Oh, a wee Harmeny aside:
bizarrely, among 32000 other runners, we bumped into Janis! What are the chances of that?
Of course, we didn't literally bump into her... though with some idiot runners trying to
run in between Ken, me and David, there were some hairy moments of nearly crashing into
other runners!
The summary of the rest of the race
was that there was lots of noise, a great atmosphere and after a few miles jogged and
about 16 very fast walking miles (or a jog for me, because I couldn't keep up!) we
finished in a very respectable 4:55. (Ironically of course, that pace suited me much
better than the sub 4 would have!) Most importantly Ken was delighted to have finished and
really enjoyed the experience. His quote was "Terrible race, wonderful
experience!"
Ken, David and I (mostly Ken
actually) raised over £5,500 for RP Fighting Blindness, the charity supporting research
into cures for Retinitis Pigmentosa and providing services for those like Ken who suffer
from it. His justgiving page is still open for donations, should anyone so wish to do ;-)
... http://www.justgiving.com/kenreid59
A quick word on guiding to anyone
who is considering it: I find it to be an enjoyable and hugely rewarding experience. I am
very lucky in that Ken is an experienced runner and very competent all round who sees
blindness as no barrier to achievement (for instance, he also does triathlons, with the
bike section on a tandem). But, to be a guide, all you have to be able to do is run a bit
(preferably at or ahead of the pace of the blind runner) and to give some verbal
directions. If you are interested in taking it up, try your local running website or
online community, or contact a blind organisation, such as RNIB, of course.
Thanks once again to Harmeny for the
offer of a place and to everyone who sponsored us.
P.S. We made it into the local
press too...!
http://www.eastlothiancourier.com/news/roundup/articles/2010/05/06/400050-blind-runners-marathon-feat/
http://www.northberwickuk.com/newsdetail.php?id=71267&cid=541&f=NorthBerwick
And for the hi tech amongst you, we were interviewed for a running podcast from the
Running and Life website...
http://media.podcastingmanager.com/2/6/3/2/1/222571-212362/Media/Episode_6_final.mp3
Paul Houston Sandra McDougall &
Donald Sandeman all ran the complete Highland Fling – as well as 2 ladies and 1 men’s
relay teams so a great turnout from harmeny - And here’s Paul Houston’s blog about his 10 hours on the west highland
way!!(Sandra and Karen also wrote great blogs but I can’t find them now so
apologies for not including in the newsletter as well )
I woke up at 5am on Saturday morning
after a surprisingly good nights sleep. It was a little too good and it was hard to force
myself out of bed. But I dragged myself up, made my normal pre-race porridge and set off
for Milngavie.
I arrived just before 7am to see the Vets set off. Most people seemed to be very
professional looking with all the proper kit, and I felt a bit under-prepared with my
cobbled-together gear! I had an hour to get my drop bags in the correct cars and have some
last minute grub.
8am came and we lined up under the underpass at the train station. A couple of words of
encouragement from the organiser and we were off. We started along the high street before
turning onto the WHW trail.
The first few miles were nice easy going. I had already ditched my plan of walking every
hill early on. I just felt good. Apparently that's schoolboy error number one! In fact,
the first 10 miles were a breeze. I've never felt as comfortable running. I was cruising
along at around 8m/m over undulating, but not overly hilly trails and roads. I settled in
with a pack of 4 other guys. Its amazing how quickly and how drastically the men's pack
broke up at the start with the sensible people sitting back and the mentalists speeding
off! I was somewhere in the middle.
The first time I felt a bit of pain in the legs came around 13 miles when we left the road
and crossed a field to get to the first relay changeover point. We then ran into
I didn't stop at Balmaha. I just picked the gels out of my bag and got moving. We were now
running along the
Between each of the four middle stations, Balmaha, Rowerdennan, Inversnaid and Bein Glas,
there are only between 6 and 7 miles. On paper this seems like a short distance, but given
the terrain, these distances seemed much longer. The 7 miles from Balmaha to Rowardennan
were ok but pretty hilly. I was significantly more tired compared to 7 miles before, but I
was 27 miles in! I'd always thought that I didn't know how I'd cope running a marathon and
then knowing that I had another one to go before I could finish but when you're in the
race, you don't think like that. I found myself just working from station to station.
Instead of thinking 26 miles to go, I was thinking in 7 mile chunks which really helped.
At Rowardennan, I met Iain Morrice from my running club. He was running one of the relay
legs and was waiting on the Harmeny Relay runner coming in. Iain lives for this type of
race and terrain and he gave me lots of reassuring advice, just when I was starting to
have my first thoughts of dropping out! I stopped a bit longer here to get some proper
food and lots of water. I didn't carry too much water with me because it was only 7 miles
to the next station so I wouldn't need it. Schoolboy error number 2!
The next 7 miles were the worst 7 miles, terrain-wise that I have ever run. I mean that.
It was horrendous! One of the things I noticed throughout the race was that all the
emotions I feel during a marathon are doubled over longer distances. The good times are
better, the bad times are worse, The frustrations and mental barriers are harder to
surmount. To put it in context, we were running along a single 'trail', hardly wide enough
for one person, perched perilously about 15 foot above Loch Lomond. The trail wasn't a
trail but was etched out of the rock so it was all wet slippery rocks with lots of climbs
and jumping from rock to rock required. One slip and you could have easily ended up in the
At one point along this part, probably around half way when I had expected to be at the
next aid station already, I got very frustrated and lost it a bit. I was furious for no
justifiable reason. I was furious with the organisers for making us run this very
dangerous route (obviously I'm not actually furious with the organisers, they were
outstanding in every single respect on the day), I was furious with the guy in front of me
for traversing the route with gazelle-like ease when I was a bumbling wreck, and I was
furious with the guy behind me for sticking to my back and making me rush through the
route because there was not point for me to stand aside and let him past. I know these
were completely unjustified but I just didn't see any point in carrying on if the course
was going to be like that. It was at this point that I had my only major fall. I slipped
on a wet rock and my shin ploughed into another rock, gouging a hole in my lower leg. At
this point, if there was a way to get off that trail and give up, I actually would have
taken it!
After an hour and a half (for 7 miles) I finally got to Inversnaid and my spirits perked
up. I had some more food and bumped into Sophster refueling too. After the grim previous 7
miles, it was great to see a familiar face. We chatted briefly and I was off again for 6
miles to Bein Glas.
It was really hurting now and this leg was very hilly, still along the
For a couple of miles, I was adamant that I was stopping at Bein Glas. 41 miles was a
respectable distance to cover. With a mile to go though, we started descending all the way
to Bein Glas and I got a bit of a second wind. It was the first mile in about 20 miles
that the course was runnable for the whole way, and running, albeit slowly, for such a
long time was actually less painful than walking at that point! The positive thoughts came
back and I knew that I would go on to the finish then. Even if I walked, I worked out I
was going to get a reasonable time and I'd never forgive myself if I pulled out with 12
miles to go. At Bein Glas, I had a 5-10 minute stop. There were lots of harmeny members
there waiting to do their relay legs and they took good care of me! This was a strange
stop. For some reason I couldn't think properly. They kept asking me questions and I
couldn't think of what to say! It actually took me 5 attempts to work out that because I'd
ran 41 miles, there were only 12 to go, even though I already knew that the final leg as
12 miles!! It was quite funny with hindsight!
Although I was committed to finishing now, I had decided just to walk for most of the
final 12 miles. My quads were now killing me and my left hamstring was worryingly sore and
getting worse. My Garmin had conked out just as I came into Bein Glas so the last 12 miles
would be ran without any indication of pace or distance. I rather hobbled out of the
station and on my way. From here on til the end, the trail was luxuriously even and
runnable! No more slippery rocks. I walked for 4 miles, running the downhills, and I
started feeling better so broke into a slow jog for 5 minutes and started running a bit
again but still walked all the uphill parts.
There were two further obstacles though. The first was a sequence of stiles that had to be
crossed. This must have been comical to watch. I could hardly lift my legs off the ground.
There was one ladder style stile where you had to climb three rungs and then descend 3.
This took about a minute for me to muster the energy to climb! I felt like I was climbing
everest. Luckily I saved a minute climbing down as I fell to the ground from the top rung!
The second obstacle was a herd of cows on the trail! The trail was only around 4 person
wide but there was a herd of around 12 cows dotted along taking up the whole width! There
was also a 30m long stretch of a squelchy mud/dung mixture that was absolutely impossible
to avoid. Lovely!
From there, we climbed and then descended bogle glen which gave us an amazing 2 mile
wooded-downhill trail to the main road. I really picked up some time here and picked off a
lot of runners.
With 3 miles to go, it was relativley flat to the finish. I ran most of this at a fair
pace (relatively speaking) but still walked a fair bit from time to time. Any kind of
incline, however slight, was now too difficult. I didn't have a clue whether I was 2 miles
out or whether I was almost done. I was a bit spaced out and could only focus on the next
bit of trail that I could see. Eventually, after about 10 minutes of spectators shouting
that I was almost there, I heard the sound of bagpipes! It was the first time that I
realised I really was almost there and that I was going to make it. I started feeling like
I was going to well up! Obviously, as I'm a guy, I got a grip quickly! I think it was
because I'd been out for amost 10 hours, experiencing all emotions and running for many
hours pretty much alone. It was such a relief to see the crowd of people at the finish. I
even managed a wee pick up in pace for the last 50m!
After finishing, I immediately headed for my free stovies and beer and wolfed them down.
At the time, I said I'd never do it again. But with hindsight, for all the bad patches and
negative thoughts and pain, the good patches far outweighed them. As far as ultras go, I'm
pretty sure the fling is at the tougher end of the scale. I really want to see what I can
do on a wholly runnable course, so I think I'll be back for another ultra at some point.
So, post-race report, I was mentally exhausted that night. The funniest moment was getting
the bus back to milngavie put on by the organisers. It must have been some sight watching
15 or so runners trying in earnest to get down the stairs off the bus! I couldn't help but
laugh.
Its crazy to think that yesterday I was actually slightly disappointed with my time! Going
by the winning times in the past, I had hoped to do sub-9 hours but I had absolutely no
basis of reference for picking this time. Its now dawning on me exactly what I achieved
yesterday. I've just ran 53 miles, 18 miles more than I have ever ran in one go. I've ran
sub-10 hours on a very very tough course. It could not have gone any better!
Race
results
3
Jonathon Carpenter 2.28.06
Lochaber Marathon 18 April
342 Ran
122
Colin Barber
3.27.59
183
Bill McKendrick
3.41.07
284
Karin McKendrick
4.18.13
Parkrun 5k Cramond 24 April
178 Ran
35
Colin Barber
20.13
113
Rhoda Ross
26.37 pb
139
Alan Fleming
28.19
168
Katrina Fleming
33.36
Highland Fling 53 Mile ultra 24 April 254 Ran
33
Paul Houston
9.52.02
105
Sandra Mcdougall
11.06.33
187
Donald Sandeman
12.24.02
Teams
35
Teams
14 Harmeny Hunks
9.15.00
24
Harmeny Harlots
10.00.22
32
Harmeny virgins
11.10.17
4800 Caroline Dunn
3.32.36
7405 Carol Blamire
3.46.33
14809 Verity Missen
4.15.16
16903 Janis Brown
4.22.51
19624 Nicola Freedman
4.32.55
19955 Elaine Scott
4.34.03
25404 Gavin Orr
4.55.42
Balfron 10k 25 April
490 Ran
297 David Syme
54.58
Meadows 5k 28 April
82 Ran
65 Alan Greirson
23.06
Parkrun 5k Cramond 1 May
132 Ran
35 Donald Sandeman
21.29
Ed/Nb 20 Mile 1May
220 Ran
2 Jonathon
Carpenter
1.57.56
88 Kenny Tindall
2.38.28
108 Colin Barber
2.42.06
141 Willie McKendrick
2.48.44
151 Chris Morgan
2.51.47
152 Ian Smith
2.51.47
155 Lorna Broadhurst
2.53.28
160 Kirsty Stoddart
2.54.41
199 Karin McKendrick
3.09.58
Bupa Edinburgh 10k 2 May
Mass
Event
31 Jonathon
Carpenter
34.38
62 Peter Kadobinskyj 37.48
??? Sam McNab (U17) 41 19 (Hand timed due to lost chip)
627 Matthew Donaldson
(U17) 45 28
1177 Amanda Pennycott
48.18
1465 Graham Tait
48.28
1525 Gordon Miller
49.42
1993 Fiona Donaldson
51.33
2719 Jane Scaife
54.15
2893 Brian Yates
54.56
3631 Wendy Gibson
57.32
3760 Nikita Ferguson
57.57
4265 Alan Fleming
59.37
6207 Jan Mitchell
1.12.02
6208 Janis Carnie
1.12.02
6462 Ruth Shering
1.15.54
Meadows 2 Mile 5 May
66 Ran
61 Alan Greirson
13.54
Ben Lomand Hill Race 8 May
196 Ran
157 Fionna Ross
1.52.05
Penicuik 10k 8 May
184 Ran
12 Bill Murphy
37.26
56 Gary Connelly
43.07
91 Keiran Morgan
46.26
115 Kirsty Stoddart
49.29
153 David Syme
55.39
Cateran Trail 23m Race 8 May
38
Ran
19 Bill McKendrick
4.14.26
23 Sandra
McDougall
4.25.53
28 Karin
McKendrick
4.54.25
Ingis Womens 10k 9 May
2200 Ran
57 Margie Leitch
42.52
113 Chris Morgan
45.06
415 Amanda Pennycott
49.23
447 Fiona Donaldson
49.40
Parkrun 5k Cramond 15 May
175 Ran
139 Rhoda Ross
27.46
Cateran Trail 55m Ultra 15 May
41 Ran
24
Sandra McDougall
11.09.27
37
Karin McKendrick
12.49.47
53 Tom Matko
1.29.13
350 Tom White
1.57.28
427 Norma Bone
2.07.06
461 Pauline White
2.15.41
473 Ian Smith
2.25.26
Cape Wrath Challenge
39 Iain Morrice
4.09.09
Parkrun 5k Cramond 22 May
178 Ran
148 Alan Fleming
27.53 pb
171 Katrina Fleming
31.00 pb
861 Darren Cavaroli
3.31.15
966 Tom Matko
3.33.40
2180 Frank Tooley
3.54.27
2336 Keiran Morgan
3.56.12
2365 Kenny Tindall
3.56.22
2674 Ian Smith
3.59.55
2709 Chris Morgan
4.00.24
3021 Nicola Freedman
4.04.36
Kirsty Stoddart
4.09.03
3896 Lorna Broadhurst
4.15.28
4212 Tom White
4.19.00
6387 Alan Price
4.47.42
6666 Norma Bone
4.52.22
Rigg Race 24 May
196 Ran
5 Jonathon
Carpenter
32.46
18 Bill Murphy
35.28
22 Peter
Kadobinskyj
36.06
36 Richard
McGregor
38.48
54 Gary Connelly
40.49
85 Tim May
43.30
100 Tristran Jareckyj 45.00
112 Bob Douglas
45.33
118 Aimie Shaw
45.47
125 Fionna Ross
46.14
136 Gordon Miller
47.11
144 Mo May
48.19
151 Monique Olde-Olthof
49.53
169 Janis Brown
52.53
191 Ray Wyper
59.25
192 Sarah Bruce
1.03.12
194 Caroline Miller
1.03.36
195 Katrina Fleming
1.03.36
Parkrun 5k Cramond 29 May
261
Ran
195 Angela Nicholson
28.07 pb
Dunblane 7.5k Race 30 May
302 Ran
287
288 Ian Smith
1.18.25
Auld Toon 10k 2 June
400 Ran
58 Gary Connelly
42.23
Parkrun 5k Cramond 5 June
180 Ran
51 Margie Leitch
20.42 pb
Strathallan 5 Mile 5 June
82 Ran
42 Keiran Morgan
35.44
Corstorphine 5 Mile 9 June
126 Ran
90 Nicola Nash
37.38
96 Nicola Freedman
38.38
Black Rock 5 11 June
809 Ran
254 Ian Smith
35.26
406 Lorna Broadhurst
38.34
414 Kirsty Stoddart
38.42
532 Derek Stewart
41.13
550 Shona Stewart
41.42
746 Elaine Sandeman
48.30
Parkrun 5k Cramond 12 June
155 Ran
46 Colin Barber
20.30
85 Fiona Donaldson
23.56
Skye Half 12 June
308 Ran
4 Jonathon
Carpenter
1.14.51
284 Lorna Broadhurst
1.47.31
317 Kirsty Stoddart
1.49.55
377 Alan Price
1.54.12
Dechmont Law 10k Trail Race 13 June 135 Ran
4 Bill
Murphy
35.41
2010
Race Dates – but check websites in case I’ve got any wrong
Thur 17
June Portobello 4 mile race
the Indoor Bowling Centre where
29 June
Jogscotland 5k challenges INverleith park
11 July Crieff 10K
11 July
Scottish Masters T&F Championships, Pitreavie
18 July
Kelso 10k
24 July
Musselburgh 10K
1
August Scottish gas 10K and 5K
8
August Forth bridge Pitreavie 10K
14
August haddington half marathon
5
September Glasgow half and 10K
12
September Hawick half marathon
19
September
26 Sep
Linlithgow 10K
3 Oct
Loch Ness marathon 10K 5K
3 Oct
Kilomathon (26K) Ingliston
31 Oct
Jedburgh 10K and half
See the
club website for more local races coming up this year. http://www.harmenyac.org.uk/prunners/events.htm
The
full Scottish Athletics fixture list for the season is at http://www.scottishathletics.org.uk
And for
hill runs see
http://www.shr.uk.com/Calendar.aspx or speak to Iain Morrice.
Anne