Pentland Runners       

Club Outings

The last Update mentioned two potential weekend trips, to which we’ve added a third. If you are interested please contact Iain Morrice (0131-449 6546) as soon as possible so that bookings can be made / confirmed / deposits sorted etc etc.

1) Freuchie Family Frolics:  Iain’s got a Hotel contact that could accommodate family groups, and he can set up various routes to run.                                                                    Proposed 13/14 May

2) Wee-G–free wee-kend: Get away from the crowds at the Glasgow Half and instead head up to Elgin where there’s a Marathon, a Half and a 10k at the same time.                             2/3 September

3) Glen Clova Half marathon: This year’s half marathon at Glen Clova will take place on Saturday the 11th of November. Iain has booked and paid a deposit for 2 x 4 bunks houses ie 8 people. This is all the accommodation that was available as all other options have been booked. Please contact Iain if you want to reserve a place. It’s also worth giving Iain a bell if you are considering this race, but not staying over, or staying over without racing.

Monthly Handicap Medal

Last year we had a club pursuit handicap race based on target times for everyone completing a 10 k (..ish) run. I’ve updated the handicaps based on known performances since then. What we propose doing over the summer is to designate one local 10k race per month as a Club Handicap medal race. We will calculate a Male & Female handicap winner based on your performance relative to our estimated target time for you. I’ll update the target times on a regular basis based on performances to give everyone a reasonable opportunity. The prize will be worth placing on a mantelpiece.

The race programme for the summer has not yet been published, but the ones we’ve designated so far are:

Dunbar 10k             1 April    http://www.dunbarrunningclub.supanet.com/events.htm

Edinburgh 10k      7 May     www.greatrun.org    / 0870 011 3337

….. plus our own club pursuit handicap, provisionally scheduled for late August.

So if you’re interested, get your entries in for these races. Everyone’s 10k “target times” will be published on the website. (www.pentlandrunners.org.uk). I’ve tried to be equally fair (or unfair) to everyone.

To qualify for the monthly medal:

1) Membership fees must have been paid before the day of the race. (nearly everyone is up-to-date)

2) You must put Harmeny as the club on the entry form. (.. and worth putting on entry forms for other races as it makes it so.o.o.o.o much easier to find everyone’s performance details.)

Performance Details

Buchlyvie 10K 28th January 06
By our Roving reporting: “There were 5 hardy soles that made the trip to the Stirlingshire area to compete in this first ever Buchlyvie 10k which was being held to raise funds for the local community hall. The entry was a sell out and proved really popular. The village is a lovely wee place on the road from Stirling to Loch Lomondside and is well worth a trip for sight seers. The race started in the village and went down an open country road then down into an old railway line walkway and along this route of the old railway. The route was not the most scenic that we have ran but it was pretty flat with a wee steep hill at the 9 k stage. The route went though a large forest plantation until you exited the forest and turned back on yourself, the under foot conditions were tricky. The day remained chilly but the sun shone all the time.”

Our times were as follows.
Iain Morrice                          40mins 2 seconds
Richard Gray                         42mins 26 seconds
Paul Thompson                    47mins 45 seconds
Kate Docherty                      50mins 56 seconds
Alex Somerville                     58mins 24 seconds

Fife AC Pitmeeden Xcountry race Auchtermuchty 17th Dec 05, roughly 10k distance.
By our still-roving reporter “There were 4 of us that made the trip to Auchtermuchty to compete in this very hard and hilly event. It was possibly one of the coldest days racing I have encountered, it was bloody baltic. Even with hats and gloves on you were shivering at the start although it remained sunny the whole time during this race. The route is fabulous and goes through the heart of Pitmeeden Forest which just on the edge of the village of Auchtermuchty ( Jimmy Shand fame ).

It really is a hard xcountry route but worth the effort because the route is challenging. The after race spread put on by Fife AC was brilliant with loads of sweet hot tea and loads of home baking. A real friendly event and organised well. Well worth an annual visit by our Pentland Runners so put this down as a maybe for next year.”

Iain Morrice                          43mins 1 second ( 60th )
Andreas Willhem                  46mins ( 88th)
Richard Gray                         47mins 11 seconds ( 103rd)
Carl Dennis                           54mins 23 seconds (162nd)

The entry was almost 200 runners

East District Cross Country League: Final Meeting at Deans, Livingston, 4 Feb

The final meeting of the cross-country league was held in glorious sunshine – a picture of the chaps & chapesses sunbathing is on the web-site (and in the March C&B news). This was the strongest men’s team we’ve had out in living memory. With the team score based on the first six finishers Tom was flabbergasted that he didn’t make the scoring zone. Hamish showed good form on his return from injury, but can still be spotted contorting himself into strange positions before and after runs. Mark made his grass debut after a winter of training on the track, and has Iain and David well in his sights.

93 H.Bell                                31:31

132 D.Gibson                        33:04

135 I.Morrice                         33:15

140 M.Doughty                    33:35

168 R.Gray                             34:59

173 K.Tindall                         35:10

177 T.White                          35:32

182 A.Wilhelm                      35:43

212 C.Dennis                         38:43

229 Runners

With Team Captain Alex still out though injury (was her ankle broken or just wrenched?), Sally confirmed her position as queen (..princess.?) of the “Girls with Guts”. The girls have fielded a team in each of the three races and recorded 13^th place in the standings, our best ever (only) team performance at this level. Is a top ten finish possible next year? Can the boys finish above the girls next year..?

60 S.May                               28:14

71 N.Bone (V)                       30:13

77 C.Murdoch                       32:02

83 Runners

And not forgetting the youngsters, we had one runner in the Under 11 boys race.

24 Stuart.Nickerson                             7:50

53 runners

National Cross-Country Championships, Calendar Park, Falkirk 18 Feb

On an enjoyable course that was a good bit longer than a 10k (“those extra kilometres hurt”) David was our first man home. Tom maintained his recent mastery over Andreas, but the gap is closing and with Andreas able to get back to some hard track work recently, results between the two will be interesting over the next few races. Tom has a very long, embarrassing and barely credible story to explain how he managed not to give David his race number….

332  David Gibson                 54:55

361  Tom White                     56:50

367  Andreas Wilhelm         57:40

422 Runners

Kirkintilloch Olympians 12.5k             26/2/06

Three of the girls snuck away to the chilly delights of Kirkintilloch, so they could run a wee bit further than your average race, and sample the pleasures of a different set of climbs.

85             Carol Blamire                          00:64:42

115           Anne Douglas                       00:71:08

119           Janis Graham                          00:71:23

150 runners

Edinburgh Hare and Hounds 5 Mile road race.

By Iain “No 10 mile race this year however the 5 mile event took place on a very cold, grey and dreich day. The serious athletes were all warming up running up an down the roads of the University. The Harmeny mob were sitting in Carl`s car warming up the correct way!!!!!.

Not a large turnout for this race this year, I think the excellent rugby game which was on and also the fact that the 10 mile race was not run affected numbers ( last year there was a large number of club runners for the 10 mile ).

After the race the Harmeny mob warmed up by drinking very cold beer in the excellent University bar, this is a good way of replacing lost carbs!!!. We then showered and made our way to the old Bennets bar and the newly named Morning Glory bar ( formerly Hermitage bar ) where  a few beers were swallowed. A good social event.”

Results as follows from 177 entrants.

Iain Morrice          32.32 , 79th 

Tom White            36.17 128th 

Carl Dennis           36.58 136th 

Paul Thompson    37.01 137th

Lasswade Athletic Club 10 Mile road race, 5/3/06

By Iain;”This race did go ahead even though the weather had been very very snowy and very cold. Other road races had been cancelled the length and breadth of Scotland but the Midlothian countryside was OK and looked fantastic with our Pentland Hills looking formidable covered in heavy snow. There was a great turn out for this race as there always is, it is a hard 10 mile road race and possibly on a par with the Tempy woods 10 miler, bloody hard. It was great to see so many Harmeny vests at the race although some of our runners did not were their colours ( I will administer a slap on the bum to the two ladies in question ). Seriously this was a great event and well done to all our runners, especially our ladies.

You will see from the results below that we did really well with the both the ladies and gents team getting placings in the team results. I notice from the results that an ex Balerno man was in third place Eric Riddle in a time of 54.46

A very new recruit, Bob Turner, turned up and introduced himself to us

Results as follows from 349 entrants

Men

Bob Turner            60.02 ,14th

Andy Neilson       63.09, 36th

Iain Morrice           67.56, 74th

Kenny Tindall       71.52, 112th

Tom White            72.29, 123rd

Carl Dennis           79.34 ,196th

Paul Thompson    80.42 ,213th

The mens team were placed in 11th place ( excluded Bob`s excellent run as he had not registered as Harmeny )

Ladies

Geraldine Dennis                  89.55, 285th

Beverley Dodgson               97.25, 316th

Helen Robinson                   106.03, 336th

A brilliant result from Helen, and what a lovely smile I got from her as I was running back to my brothers house in Rosewell. This will help Helen understand why I was running the wrong way up the road!!

The ladies team were placed in 6th place (a big hug and kisses for all the ladies for this excellent achievement ), fantastic.”

Running Yarns

From David Syme: “I was chatting to Anne on Sunday and told her that I want to collect a few running stories under the title "Running Away From Home".  If I get enough I want to publish them on behalf of a charity.   Could you pass this on to members, please” So if you’ve any stories for David, please forward.

As a teaser, David’s first is below.

Early Morning in Guilin

 David Syme, was visiting Guilin, in China, on behalf of GAP Activity Projects Ltd

In the bus from the airport I spotted  the Seven Stars Park, and noted that it was less than one kilometre of bustling street from our hotel.  Our group had free time that afternoon, so I jogged to the park, only to find that there was an entrance fee, and I had no money with me, so was not allowed in.  “Entrance is free every morning until 7 am”  I was told, so I finished a gentle street jog and resolved to check the park out the next morning.

At 6 am it was pitch black, but the gates were open wide and people – mainly elderly -  were streaming in.  The park consists of  seven steep-sided rocky hills, each about 250m high, and some small lakes, trees, flower beds and pagodas.   Most of the other people in the park practised tai qi, some with wooden swords, or exercised their bodies through stretching, walking or gentle trotting.  As darkness gave way to the pre-dawn light I jogged carefully along the criss-crossing paths, eventually finding one which seemed to head for a hill-top.  It stopped at a pagoda two-thirds up the hill, but I could make out a rough continuation, which I followed.  The path became a dark, narrow thread in a steep bank of prickly bushes, then stopped abruptly at the foot of a cliff.  Easy hand and foot holds invited me to keep going, and I hauled my way up the cliff to emerge on the broad summit just as dawn broke. 

A svelte female figure stood on the highest point, facing away from me.  I advanced towards the centre of the summit, and was just about to give a polite warning cough when she yelled.  It came from way down, it was very loud and it went on, and on, and on.  I stood rooted to the spot.   She bent low, then straightened and drew breath.  Another yell started, and  again I felt distinctly uneasy.  Had she spotted me climbing, and was she feeling threatened?  Had I trespassed onto her hill-top?  

When she bent down to start her third yell I heard an answering yell from another hill-top, and then another.   Puzzled, I settled down a discreet distance from the yelling lady, and enjoyed a spectacular sunrise.  From all over the park protracted yells sounded, and then it clicked!  The solitary yellers were exercising their lungs, and had sought out isolated spots where they would not cause a noise nuisance to other park users .   My lady went on yelling for several minutes, then disappeared down the cliff.  Alone on my summit, I tried it.  Gentle yells to begin with, then louder, finally full volume, and do you know what? – I really enjoyed it!

Back in the hotel I joined the rest of my group for the breakfast buffet scrum, then visited the spectacular sights of Guilin and the Li River.  Long after the memory of the magnificent scenery fades, I know that my little early morning adventure will stay fresh in my mind.

More next month – if we receive a contribution or two!!

Local, or popular Forthcoming Races

All events listed on the Scottish Athletics web-site, http://www.scottishathletics.org.uk/events.php