Pentland Runners       

General News: Paul McIntosh has reported several membership renewals and new memberships coming through. For those who’ve forgotten, the membership form for this year is online at www.pentlandrunners.org.uk.

Congratulations and good luck to Norma and Verity who have both got places in the Flora London Marathon. Norma got a place in the public ballot, leaving the club place for Verity who had just heard she hadn’t got a place in the public ballot.

For all veteran runners (most of us), you may be interested in the Scottish Veteran harriers, an umbrella “club” for all veterans, which organises various social and competitive events, including age group internationals.  http://www.svhc.org.uk/

Forthcoming events:

Dec 11^th                  Good luck to Andreas in the East District Cross Country Championships being held at Stirling University.

Dec 28^th                   New Year sprint meeting: Humans, and my bionic knees, take over the race track at Musselburgh. Details at www.newyearsprint.com 

 January 1^st             Porty Prom: The "Porty Prom" or Portobello Promathon is a very flat 4 mile run along the seafront - 2 miles out & 2 miles back along the same route, so you see the leaders coming back well before reaching the turn. It can be rather bracing, esp if there's a strong westerly wind (against on the way back). It starts at 11.30 and it's simply a case of turn up in plenty of time and register. The start / finish area is at the Edinburgh end of all the car showrooms on Seafield road. Training involves staying sober enough the night before to get up and drive to Seafield.

January 1^st              New Years day triathlon: A few very brave souls are having a go at this.

January 15^th: The Great winter run (5k) – part of an International festival of running in Holyrood Park. If you attended last year’s European’s and wanted to be part of it, you can this year. I’ve a few entry forms for the 5k – entry by 7 Jan

Sat Feb 5^th @ Cross country races @ Corstorphine Hill (all ages)                We’re responsible for jointly convening this with Corstorphine AC, so I WILL BE LOOKING FOR HELPERS for setting up the course, marshalling, dismantling etc. It’s an excellent opportunity for more folk to learn what’s involved in organising an event. (Runners World regularly encourage all runners to officiate once a year or every 8-10 races run) 

 27/ Feb    Edinburgh Hare & Hounds 5 & 10 mile road races

Sat March 5^th             Stranraer half marathon – pencilled in as the next weekend jaunt. Nice course

6/3/04     Lasswade 10miles                 A hard run

6/3/04     Arbroath Ladies 10 mile     Liz McColgan territory.

13/3/04   Inverness half        Take thermals

13/3/04   Grangemouth 10k Boring, post-industrial landscape. Flat, fast course.

20/3/04   Alloa half               A mentally challenging run

2/4/04     Dunbar 10k             Sunny Dunbar-sur-mer … well I like it

17/4/04   London Marathon                If you haven’t heard that you’re in… you’re not.

24/4/04   Lachaber marathon              Incorporating Scottish Veteran Championships

May         Rigg race. That steep climb we know and love. Everyone not running it will be helping (I hope)         

Known Performances

Glasgow Half marathon        22 Aug

191           Tony Westbury                    1:25:20

267          Andrew Neilson                    1:28:39

381          Iain Morrice                           1:30:55

580          Andreas Wilhelm                  1:34:30

2808        Caroline Dunn                       1:53:30

3017        Peter McGavigan                  1:55:00

3058        Alex Gordon                           1:55:16

10k

1147        Janice Carruthers                  49:57

Fort William Half Marathon  31 Oct

Andreas Wilhelm                                 1:30:02 (a pb)

If it took more than 2 seconds to cross the start line after the gun went Andreas can claim to have finally broken 1 hour 30.

Glen Clova Half marathon 13 Nov

14             Andrew Neilson                    1:25:14

51             Ian Morrice                            1:32:19    1^st Male Super Vet

124           Tom White                             1:42:40

140           Caroline Dunn                       1:44:41

171           David Gillespie                      1:48:26

193           Alex Gordon                           1:51:20

194           Peter McGavigan                  1:51:23

198           Janice Carruthers                  1:51:40

201           Carol Blamire                          1:51:56

233           Lindsey Boyle                       1:57:58

248           Anne Douglas                       2:01:38

254           Janis Graham                          2:03:10 (00)

270           Norma Bone                           2:09:54 (36)

271           Catherine Barr                        2:09:54

272           Steph Tayler                          2:09:54

273           Jill Mariot                               2:09:54   

289           Alex Somerville                      2:22:31

293           Pauline White                        2:26:15

Carl Dennis – retired inj after 8 miles                

(Numbers in brackets are where my timings are significntly different from the official ones)

293 finishers.

http://www.forfarroadrunners.com/clova_results.htm

The Glen Clova half is held on a course that takes the term undulating to a new dimension. As we drove along part of the course on our way to the start at the Clova Hotel, many car passengers were exchanging increasingly concerned comments on the degree of undulated-ness.  We were blessed with a dry sunny day, but the breeze from the north had a cutting edge as it came over snow dusted hilltops. The breeze favoured the runners on the first half, which turned to be less undulous than everyone feared, but the turn into the wind at the half-way point hit everyone hard. Hypothermic! But most of those who took part set a new personal best, or returned a time which was inside their expectations.

I am reliable informed that the bottles of bubbly refreshment were opened rather early in the girls dorm (Marians’s description was a bit more vivid..) and everyone was well refreshed by the time we sat down to dinner. I seem to recall lots of folk running around with sparklers at one stage.

It’s the first time I’ve been in a celidh in a hotel bar. It’s the first time I’ve seen a scrum over a rubber chicken in a hotel bar. (I think Pitreavie retained their honour, which was briefly kidnapped by Forfar).

All in all an excellent outing, and many thanks to Iain from everyone for the organisation that went into this before and during the week-end!

Iain has already pencilled in a run for next year (Stranraer), which I’m reliably  informed by a couple of sources is a nice route, and there may also be a social brunch-run closer to home in   Jan / Feb.

PS            There is a very flat forty metre stretch beside the course at Clova which didn’t undulate.