Club AGM held last month:

Secretary:     Bob Douglas

Treasurer:     Lorna Broadhurst

Membership Secretary:       Norma Bone

Welfare / Disclosure:           Judith Campbell

Pentland Runners reps:        Frank Tooley, Tom White, Iain Morrice

AC / Junior reps:                  George Miller (FVL), Sarah Bates, Derek Johnston

Pentland Tri rep:                   Nicky Freedman

Website: www.harmenyac.org.uk (Main front door)

Or           www.pentlandrunners.org.uk (side door)

New membership year:

Another year ends, and another year begins… The main points to note:

Annual Membership fees for 2010/11: £22

Membership Form: An updated membership form (Word Document) for the new membership year 10/11 can now be downloaded from the club website  - please give completed forms and fees to Norma – thanks.

Club membership provides you with the services of our dedicated jogleaders organising groups, and routes whatever the weather, for all ability levels. We organise easy social runs, hard runs, trackwork, handicap runs, monthly handicap medals and free entry into the three cross-country league races for a fraction of the cost of gym membership, evening classes or personal trainers.

And don’t forget club members get 10% discount in Edinburgh specialist running shops (Run n Become, Run-4-It, Footworks).

Also a point to note is that £7 of the membership goes automatically to SAL as we are a SAL registered club.

Family Discounts: Adult members with two or more children joining should be aware of the family discount. We charge full membership for the first 2 members of a family (eg mum + child 1) and only £7 for additional children (ie the SAL capitation fee).

We are also continuing the deal with Pentland Triathletes where the same basic membership fee (plus respective capitation fees) can cover both clubs for those who wish to join both.

Runners Council meeting – Tuesday 26th October.  Riccarton Arms Hotel 7.30

Everyone welcome so please come along and let us know what you want from your club – it’s not a committee meeting! 

Cross Country

X country season has started and Tom White organises the adult teams so you may be asked/persuaded to join in, Tom will tell you how much fun it is despite rain, hail,  gales and mud. If you’re interested speak to Tom (or Lorna) or email him (tomhwhite@hotmail.com)

We compete in the East District cross-country league which covers all age groups from U11 to Adult. We did quite well in the first meeting at Stirling – see the detailed results at the foot of this newsletter.

The next League meeting is at Broxburn on Sat 20 Nov.

London marathon

The club gets a small allocation of places in the London marathon. Last year it was three. In previous years priority has gone to those who had entered the public ballot for places but not been successful, and any places left over were drawn in our own mini-ballot amongst those who registered a desire. So:

If you were unsuccessful in the public ballot, please get in touch

If you didn’t enter the public ballot, but would like to be considered for a place, if there are any left over, likewise please get in touch

So far we know of 3 valid entries to our draw: Frank Tooley, Amanda Pennycott and Fiona Donaldson.

The others who we know entered the public ballot are Nicky and Elaine who got club places last year and therefore are ineligible for 2 years, and Janis Brown who was successful.

Club website

Bob maintains the club Harmeny website which covers the Athletics activities (Juniors) and the pentland runners, he would really appreciate some help with this, if possible from someone who is a website ‘geek’, as it’s quite a time consuming task.  If any member would like to help the club by sharing the workload so that we can update the website regularly with news photos etc it would be really appreciated – please email Bob at bob.douglas@harmenyac.org.uk

(Geek-speak: The source files are maintained locally using FrontPage and new or changed files are uploaded to the hosted webspace using an FTP client (Terrapin). The Domain Names for Harmenyac.org.uk and Pentlandrunners.org.uk are registered through freeparking.co.uk. The webspace for Harmenyac.org.uk has its own DNS address for the server where all the files are hosted. There is a URL redirect for Pentlandrunners.org.uk which points to an index file in a sub-folder.)

Handicapper–Ian May – contact Ian if you haven’t got a handicap and are running Jedburgh or x-country

Remaining Handicap races for 2010 are

Jedburgh 1/2 Marathon & 10k October

Cross Country at Broxburn, 20 November

Reports 

-          one of our newer members has just completed the Scottish Marathon Grand Slam 2010 and reports about the grand slam and his experience this year ( I thought running 2 marathons in a year was an achievement! – Anne) so well done indeed to Tom Matko.

Completing all the marathons in Scotland in a single year has been done before by only a few runners. This is partly because the Edinburgh, Loch Ness and Cape Wrath marathons have existed for less than 10 years.

In 2010, only 6 runners completed all the marathons, out of around 12500 runners who ran at least one marathon in Scotland. At the beginning of this year the Grand Slam was my target. Now I have achieved it and also run it in the fastest aggregate time of any runner.

There are 5 marathons in Scotland (Lochaber, Cape Wrath, Edinburgh, Moray and Loch Ness) which are held on an annual basis. Other marathons have come and gone (Glasgow in 2000, Isle of Lewis and Harris in 2008, Dumfries in 2006 & 2008). To complete all 5, requires running the Cape Wrath marathon (in Sutherland) on a Saturday, then driving to Edinburgh, with little time to recover, and running the Edinburgh marathon on the very next day. This double has been done by only a handful of runners, but can cause serious injury ! Therefore, until dates change, the Scottish Marathon Grand Slam challenge realistically is composed of 4 marathons. A decision must be made therefore to choose between Edinburgh or Cape Wrath in May.

My times for the 4 marathons in 2010 were as follows :

Lochaber 3 hrs 14 min (April) – 66^th position.

Edinburgh 3hrs 33 min (May) – 964th

Moray 3 hrs 24 min (September) – 42nd

Loch Ness 3 hrs 18 min (October) – 164th

The Lochaber marathon is my favourite, as it is run along the Road to the Isles and the course is reasonably flat, with little or no bends, and surrounded by beautiful countryside. On one side is a Loch, and on the other side fields of pasture. We ran 13 miles in one direction, turned around (literally around a marshal standing in the middle of the road), and returned back on the same route to Fort William. Personally, I prefer smaller marathons, as they are more for the purist marathoner. No distractions in the Lochaber race, and an extremely friendly organisational staff. There are many prizes awarded, and the race is often held as the British Veteran Championships (ages over 35, for both women and men), as it was again this year. The median finishing time was 3:40, making it the fastest marathon in the UK statistically overall ! 

The Edinburgh marathon is held only 5 weeks later. This year like last year it was extremely hot. I have run the London marathon in a temperature of 25 C, but this year in Edinburgh it reached 28 C, and definitely felt hotter than London. After 15 miles, I started to lose ground, and the last 6 miles were more of a war of attrition. For a single mile I almost ran 10 minutes (2.5 minutes/mile slower). Amazing atmosphere at the start near the city centre, and a very nice finish in Musselburgh. The good points were somewhat tempered by the heat. 

The Moray marathon is a well kept secret (even more so than Lochaber), with only 164 finishers. Like Lochaber it starts and finishes in the same place (in a beautiful park in Elgin) making organising baggage quite easy. The course is slightly undulating, with a long stretch along the Moray Firth, and the course passes through the fishing village of Lossiemouth at 18 miles. This year it was quite windy. I reached 20 miles comfortably, and then hit a minor ‘wall’, and slowed in the last 6 miles. This is the only marathon I have done 3 times. I personally recommend trying this one and Lochaber, as the courses are very scenic, and there is minimum organisational effort for the runner.

The Loch Ness marathon is increasing in size every year (like the Edinburgh marathon) . In 2008, there were 1400 finishers, in 2009 there were 2100, and this year there were almost 2500. I am not a great fan of the bus journey from the finish to the start, which lasted over an hour before the start. However, the course is really exciting. There are several downhill sections in the first 10 miles, and then a more steady elevation. Then from 18 miles there is a 2 mile uphill section, followed by another shorter hill at 22 miles. Personally, I thrive on uphill road running, having won a veterans prize at the Heaven and Hell half marathon, in Perthshire earlier this year. Admittedly, I am not very good at downhill running, so I deliberately didn’t push on the downhills. It actually paid off, as quite a few strong runners around me started walking on the second hill, and I kept going strongly. I finished in the top 7 % of all the runners.

The number of runners completing the Scottish marathons in 2010 were :

One Race : About 12500

Two Races : About 300.

Three Races : Only 21 runners.

Four Races : Only 6 runners.

I also ran a lot of half marathons in 2010 (7 so far) and did not run any 10Ks or shorter races. If you want to run multiple marathons in a single year, my recommendation is to run 2 half marathons per marathon. You need to mentally get used to racing long distances on the road before a marathon, and then the marathon really does feel more comfortable. I would choose Lochaber 1^st, Moray 2^nd, Loch Ness 3^rd (bus journey) and Edinburgh 4^th (hot conditions and too many runners) in that particular order. I still have another challenge to complete in 2010, and that is run 10 half marathons in a single year, which I am still on target for.

I recommend trying to complete the Scottish Marathon Grand Slam. I recovered, from the short gaps of 1 month (between Lochaber and Edinburgh; and between Moray and Loch Ness), by not running for a week after every marathon. Only 21 runners completed 3 marathons, and that might be an easier challenge for you to try first. The slowest runner, to run all 4, had an aggregate time of 4:50 for the marathon, which shows that the Grand Slam is achievable by all standards of runners.

Good Luck if you want to try it, and you have my 100 % support !

And Darren Cavaroli reports from Amsterdam

I had heard many good reports from Harmenites about the Amsterdam Marathon and this combined with what would be a flat course persuaded me and an old school friend Glenn to enter the event. 

On arrival in the city the day before though, I didn't know if I would race due a shin and ankle injury I picked up on my last training run 3 weeks earlier, which had made it difficult to walk let alone run, but Caroline worked on my foot and shin twice in the last week and somehow come the Sunday morning I was lining up in the Olympic Stadium at the start line, but without any idea as to whether I would last 2.6 miles let alone 26.2 miles, having not attempted one run during my enforced break. A big thank you to Caroline as I would have definitely been on the sidelines without her expertise.

At the start it was only 7c, colder than Edinburgh, but the good news was the sun was shining, the air was as good as still and there wasn't a cloud in the sky and these conditions prevailed throughout. The race got underway and the first 2 miles went well, although I did nearly trip up over one of the tram lines, which incidentally looked far more sturdy than the scaletrix tracks they have laid in Princes Street! Unfortunately at this point the joint between my ankle and shin started to tighten and became painful, but knowing I would be somewhere near my hotel at 10k, I decided to continue and see how I felt then. My ankle was still sore when I reached this point, but it was not getting any more painful and I was still averaging a shade under 5 minute kilometre pace, so I continued on.

I was exceptionally glad I did so as the route weaved out of the city and into the country with surrounding windmills and country mansions on the canal banks. I reached halfway and had managed to sustain my earlier pace which was pleasing. The route then took us into an industrial estate about 16 miles, which was tough with no spectators and the field fanning out. The last 8 miles were through the city streets once again though. Surprisngly though there were not many spectators until the last mile or so. I was really beginning to feel battered and bruised about 21 miles, with not only my ankle/shin to contend with but a blister on the sole of my left foot - it was very helpful though that the race was marked out in kilometres as opposed to miles, which somehow ate the distance up more quickly. I also had to contend with the small plastic cups of water and sports drinks, which were impossible to drink whilst running, unlike drinking from a plastic bottle. Each cup also only contained a small drop of liquid for two mouthfuls which was a little surprising - thankfully the perfect running conditions meant this wasn't a huge issue.

Eventually though the Olympic Stadium came into sight once more. I started to relax, knowing that despite everything, I would make a pb and I crossed the line in 3 hrs 27 minutes and 47 seconds, a pb by about 3 and a half minutes. The one slightly disappointing footnote that whilst this was recorded as my finishing time, the field placings were based on 'first past the post' as opposed to chip time. Being overly competitive, I was slightly annoyed that I finished well over 100 places below what I would have done had it been measured by chip time, indeed one indvidual finished 259 places in front of me that had run a slower time! My pal Glenn managed 4hr 48 mins which considering his longest training run had been the Haddington Half in August was an awesome achievement.

A big thank you to the Sport Medisch Centrum, a local sports club who took pity on '2 lost Scottish tourists' and phoned us a taxi after we got lost attempting to find our way back to the hotel too! We both managed a few well earned pints of Heineken to rehydrate on the Sunday night. On the Monday morning, I bumped into Willie Cummings at Schipol Airport who had also run the day before - unlike me, he looked fresh enough to run another marathon!

If you have not experienced Amsterdam, I would thoroughly recommend it. A well organised race combined with a great city and thanks to Easy Jet the total cost of £155 each for flights and 2 nights accommodation in a 3 star hotel made it not too expensive either.

Darren Cavaroli

the finishing positions for Harmeny runners were

1859 Darren Cavaroli 3.27,47

7407 Willie Cummings 4.54,56

Junior News

Many adults are unaware that the club has been active in Track & Field athletics for over thirty years and although we no longer maintain teams of adult athletes in the various Track leagues, we continue to have a large, and growing junior section. At the foot of this newsletter we’ve included performances from the youngsters who’ve been participating in the Cramond Parkruns and in the Cross-country league. It was particularly pleasing that we counted both an “A” team and a “B” team in the Under 11 girl’s race at Stirling (and both teams finished higher in their age group than the adult teams).

We had a good summer in the Forth Valley League, fielding our largest teams for many years in the four meetings, finishing 4^th in Div 2. If we had some more U15 boys we would have been contesting third (Corstorphine) and been in danger of contending one of the promotion places (won by Central AC & Dunfermline & West Fife). Several of the juniors were selected for the League’s end of season invitation meeting, with most winning a medal in their event.

Earlier this month we had a boy’s team (U13/U15/U17) in the East District x-c Relay Championships for the first time in several years.

During September we were averaging 65 – 70 juniors per week attending our three training evenings (Mon, Wed, Thu), and have virtually reached capacity on both Mons and Weds. We’ve currently only 4 fully qualified coaches, 2 of whom run for other clubs, but we do have a growing number of student and parent helpers.

It’s hard work, and in addition to getting parents and some of the older juniors involved in coaching, it would be good to see some of the long-term runners getting actively involved. If anyone thinks they might like to get involved please contact Bob.

Race results

If we’ve missed any results just let us know and Tom will add them to his list and we’ll give you a mention in the next newsletter – thanks.

River Ayr 41m Ultra 18 Sept                          76 Ran

30    Donald Sandeman                      7.05.17 

70    Karin McKendrick                      8.46.14 

Parkrun 5k Cramond 25 Sept                         186 Ran

42       Keiran Morgan                        20.24    

66       Lorna Broadhurst                   21.54     pb

68       Hugh Chalmers                       22.09    

75       Christina Morgan                    22.34    

88       Kirsty Stoddart                      23.20    

91        Nicola Freedman                    23.24    

99       Alex Bates (U11)                    24.07     pb

106      Zoe Bates (U13)                     24.22     pb

166      Sarah Broadhurst (U17)      30.06    

Linlithgow 10k 26 Sept                                    512 Ran

11        Bill Murphy                              37.02    

190      Fiona Donaldson                     48.05    

Dumfries Half 26 Sept                                   186 Ran

51        Gavin Orr                                 1.33.37 

97       Sandra McDougall                  1.45.25 

99       Tom Matko                              1.45.49 

Parkrun 5k Cramond 2 Oct                            

60       Jonathon Page                        21.47    

95       Alex Gordon                           23.44     pb

106      Zoe Bates (U13)                     24.27    

114      Alex Bates (U11)                    24.50    

Loch Ness Marathon 3 Oct                           Mass Event

166      Tom Matko                              3.18.26 

500     Bill McKendrick                       3.41.34 

633     Keiran Morgan                        3.47.16 

779     Lorna Broadhurst                   3.53.29 

885     Kirsty Stoddart                      3.57.29 

1256   Alan Price                                4.11.24  

Loch Ness 10k 3 Oct                                       Mass Event

32       Peter Kadobinskyj                  36.35    

Kilomathon 16 Mile 3 Oct                                1684 Ran

6          Boab Turner                            1.37.40 

33       Ryan Riddell                            1.53.08 

133      Paul Thompson                        2.02.32 

246     Donald Sandeman                   2.10.08 

515      Gordon Miller                          2.20.43 

522     Fiona Donaldson                     2.21.05 

673     Amanda Pennycott                 2.25.55 

1081    Janis Brown                             2.39.31 

1331    Elaine Scott                            2.50.23 

Parkrun 5k Cramond 9 Oct                             196 Ran

2          Bill Murphy                              17.53     pb

4          Ryan Riddell                            17.59    

42       Keiran Morgan                        21.33    

81        Zoe Bates (U13)                     24.43    

82       Andrew Bates                         24.44    

104      Alex Bates (U11)                    26.00    

138      Alan Fleming                           29.20    

9 Oct East District Cross-country relay Championships

Harmeny AC Boys team       22^nd

Individual laps:

Calum Kennedy (U13)           12:50

Callum Campbell (U15)         11:24  

Matthew Donaldson (U17) 11:16

East League X/C 16 Oct                                 

U11 Boys                                                             44 Ran

13        Alex Bates                               6.11       

22       Ben Wilson                              6.38       11^th team

U11 Girls                                                             51 Ran

13        Beth Wedgwood                     6.38      

21        Beth Campbell                         6.59      

40       Lara Byers                               7.40       5th team

41        Ellie Stewart                           7.49      

44       Megan McLean                        7.58      

48       Rebecca Russell                      8.47       12^th team

U13 Girls                                                            35 Ran

18        Zoe Bates                                12.46    

23       Beth Forsyth                          13.16      7^th team

U15 Boys                                                           31 Ran

27       Callum Campbell                      12.30    

U17 Girls                                                            48 Ran

48       Sarh Broadhurst                    17.04    

Senior Ladies                                                     65 Ran

34       Fionna Ross                             27.44    

45       Lorna Broadhurst                   28.34    

53       Amanda Pennycott                 30.44     13th Team

56       Fiona Donaldson                     31.38

Senior Men                                                        201 Ran

21        Jonathon Carpenter              30.44    

63       Bill Murphy                              34.00    

87       Ryan Riddell                            35.28    

119      Alan Kerr                                 37.32    

145      Paul Thompson                        39.52    

151      Tom White                              40.40     15th Team

165      Keith Martin                           41.41     

168      Keiran Morgan                        42.06    

Overall positions across all age groups

Females      6^th

Males          13^th

Parkrun 5k Cramond 16 Oct                           285 Ran

10        Ryan Riddell                            17.47     pb

29       Paul Thompson                        19.26    

110      Ian May                                   23.05    

119      Mo May                                    23.35    

Parkrun 5k Cramond 23 Oct                           170 Ran

6          Ryan Riddell                            17.53    

59       Lorna Broadhurst                   22.04    

141      Sarah Broadhurst (U17)      28.35    

142      Kirsty Stoddart                      28.36    

2010 Race Dates – will update next month for winter runs!

31 Oct Jedburgh 10K and half

5 Dec jogscotland xmas cracker 5k Strathclyde country park 11am

Enter online at www.jogscotland.org.uk/christmas-cracker

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.