Pentland Runners       

Reminder 1: Adult Track race night, Wed 9 Aug

We will have an evening of track races so we can see what short distance race times are like. This will be Wed 9 Aug on the track at Saughton Sports Centre (Stevenson Drive, off Balgreen Rd), first event 7:00 – be there for 6.30 (or 30 mins before your first planned event) for registration, warm-up etc. Everyone who would like to try some shorter events is welcome, as are children, friends etc. We can organise children’s events (eg Sprints, Long jump etc) whilst the adults get their breath back.

Provisional timetable:

7:00          400m

7:15          100m

7:30          800m

7:45          200m

8:00          1500m

Shorter faster runs such as these (aka races) can be very demanding, so I’d strongly recommend a maximum of 3 events, and for those entering new territory, be sensible!

Two folk (so far) have challenged me to 100m so it’s on the programme!

.. and finally,  please bring pins to attach race numbers

Club Handicap Pursuit Sun 27 Aug

Starting at Balerno High School, the slowest runners head off first at 10:00, with the faster runners starting according to their target 10k times.  These have been updated regularly since last year and will get a final tweak after the Scottish Gas & Mussleburgh 10k results are in. A very close finish can be expected. Please arrive at BHS in time to get your race number etc – all entries on the day.

The course will be as last year, from BHS down the WoL for 8k, across the footbridge over Lanark Rd, joining the canal footpath for the final flat 2.7 km to Harrison Park. (Note the words “down” and “flat”)

This is open to friends etc (entry fee £3.00 for non-members) and I’ll need their 2 most recent 10k or Half-M times beforehand so they can be slotted into the right time-band.

All finishers will get a pretty decent medal, and there will be at least 2 x M and 2 x F handicap medal winners (members only). We’ll make the split according to high / low target times rather than age, so it is more of a race based on ability.

Helpers will be needed to start the stopwatches at BHS and record times + finish order / dish out medals etc at Harrison Park. Cars need to be organised at the finish area to bring us home. (Contact me if able to leave a car, but needing brought back before the race.)

.. and finally,  please bring pins to attach race numbers.

Running Performances

There haven’t been many folk out doing any races, but there are a few entertaining, and medically explicit reports ….

Lairig Ghru Hill Race 25th June 2006

By Andreas: “ I anticipated that this would be a tough run. Not just because it has an altitude difference of almost 3,000 feet and 28 miles of length, but because it was announced there are boulder fields the length of 2 miles during the famous Lairig Ghru. I didn’t worry about the altitude gains or the length, having done similar insane adventures before. I was a bit scared of the famous boulder fields, I just didn’t know what to expect except that I have seen pictures on the internet of them. And those I didn’t like.

I arrived in Braemar the Saturday before the race after a lengthy Tour de Ecosse courtesy of “Scotrail” and “Stagecoach” (which I didn’t really enjoy, especially the 2 hour wait at the Bus Station in Aberdeen, of which I shall not enclose any further comments, thus avoiding insult to those with a sensitive disposition…). But I digress,

This race was held under Scottish Athletics/Scottish Hill Runners rules, which meant we had to carry certain items of safety/navigation. My plan was to run with a backpack : First Aid Kit, Full waterproofs, 2 OS maps (this race is so long, you need 2 maps!), a long-sleeve fleece, a long-sleeve sweater, 4 water bottles, 2 energy bars and a compass with whistle (by the way, it turned out that I didn’t need any of those items, except the water, and it also turned out that I was the only participant carrying these things with me. Some didn’t even carry water…).

I finished my portion of Spaghetti Bolognese at a Scottish Pub at about 6pm on Saturday and with 16 hours still to go I wondered aimlessly around Braemar. At least the weather was pleasant and the Swifts were screaming in large groups around the buildings (In Edinburgh it is teenagers, but that’s a different story). At last, my concerns about the race subsided, while I was watching another football match (World Cup ? What World Cup?). After a restless night I awoke as anxious as an England striker during a Penalty Shoot Out but got ready for battle anyway.

The start of the race is at the police station in Braemar and a car parked outside is the race headquarters. I have pre registered and just needed to collect my number ( I was anticipating number 666 or something like that. I thought I let you know just for the record..). I had race number 360, which, incidentally is the number of minutes of the Time Limit. More to that later….

At 10am the race director said “GO!” and we were off. I started my GPS log timer and then I was off too. The headbangers at the front soon disappeared into the morning mist. After 200 yards I was dead last. It took a while to get used to running with a backpack although I tend to train with it (empty). The first 4 miles went along the road to nowhere (according to the map it just stops somewhere…), then we headed up a nice track into the hills through Mar Lodge Estate. I was running behind 4 other participants at 9:30 min/mile pace. My plan was 10:00 min/mile pace, finishing in 4 hours 45 mins. Like, yeah right !! The next 8 miles were on nice, runnable hill tracks (notice the word runnable), passing halfway in 2 hours 26 mins. Almost spot on. However, my mental attitude during the first half of the race got significantly worse since I was last man and the Mountain Rescue Men were breathing down my neck (they were looking after the safety of the runners, making sure everybody is moving) and I haven’t hit the boulders yet !

The sheer vastness of the Cairngorm Mountains and Lairig Ghru hit me! Not a single plant, not a single beast, and not a single runner ahead of me. But bold-headed mountains and rocks strewn everywhere (No tree for a toilet break either). It looked like a moon-landscape out of a science fiction film. The path was now non-existent and I just followed the lie of the land through this astonishing valley. The elevation increased by 1,000 feet in 4 miles. The boulders were as big as a man and as round as a ball and they were everywhere. Even my tried and tested Trail Running Shoes were utterly useless. Moonboots would have been appropriate. I was reduced to a slow walk, trying to safe my ankles from destruction. After 10 minutes my ankles and feet were swollen, my hands got cold, my hope of finishing in under 5 hours smashed like the millions of rocks ahead of me and the outlook of finishing at all diminished to irrelevance. Only the fact that the Mountain Rescue Team was behind me and that “All is for the best” (according to the philosopher “Leibnitz”) was keeping my legs moving at snails pace. The boulder fields seemed to never stop. The relentless beating of my feet, the constant slipping and sliding over rocks, the twisting of my ankles, the views eastwards revealing more of the same, the views to the left and right showing bleak, grey, rocky, seemingly never ending mountains, slowly but surely left me without mental reserves. Now it seemed that the only reason not to pull out of the race was “What else could I Do?”, so I just had to battle on. My GPS calculated an estimated finishing time of 7 hours at this pace, with a cut off time of 6 hours. I never ever had contact with the cut off time and I never ever was dead last. Then came a checkpoint, manned by the Mountain Rescue Team, I just walked past hoping they would not see me and pull me out of the race.

Suddenly the valley opened up to reveal grand, spectacular views over Aviemore (the finish) and after 7 miles of ankle grinding, mind twisting, outlook-on-life robbing torture was over and the now faintly visible track was runnable and it went downhill. I started to jog, my mind as clear as porridge, my legs as fresh as rotten banana skin, my feet as hot and swollen like a pair of burning wood logs in a country cottage on a nice winter evening. And my competitive spirit came back, like Phoenix out of the ashes, like a coma patient who miraculously wakes up after 20 years of no signs of life, and I started to run. My rucksack was as light as a feather (I drank all the water) and I started to chase after the other runners. With 8 miles left I thought I might make up some time and maybe, just maybe finish before all the bars in Aviemore close.

The course entered Rothiemurchus Forest, a last remnant of ancient Scottish Pine woodland. A nice track paved with pine needles made progress easy. 4 walkers were in front of me and I shouted “Runner coming through”, they turned around, let me pass and applauded me. I said my appreciations and asked one of them how far the next runner was ahead of me. Maybe 5 minutes was the answer. I wasted no more time and proceeded with running, head down, teeth showing, red eyes bulging out, grunting noises, foam at the corner of my mouth (ok, I exaggerate a little bit..).

I eventually finished the race in 5 hours 41 minutes 47 seconds. Strangely enough, there were 3 runners behind me. The winner (Welsh international Don Naylor) took 3 hours 7 minutes, smashing the course record by about 30 minutes. Clearly, he was running the whole way, even over the boulders. How did he do that ? I would like to see that.”

Another Embra Marathon finisher..

By Kenny “Bob...maybe a bit late but you can put me down for a Edinburgh marathon finish at 3:55:01 - no great stories, only significant dehydration (bloody yellow piss - bloody is an adjective there, for the avoidance of doubt) and getting a pasting from Tom White (*grrrr*!) - I'm sharpening for XC season tho!”

(Kenny’s also sharpening up for a sprint race….)

… and more medical details

By Bob Turner: “Another couple of races I completed at the beginning of July
Tyndale Harriers 10K 5th July
37:56

34th out of 494

David Marshall Lodge 5 Mile Trail Race - Aberfoyle 8th July

The midges had breakfast, dinner and lunch on me that day! I counted 34 bites on my legs and arms after the race.”

30:18

6th out of 39

HOT, HOT, HOT

For those who thought it’s been too hot in Scotland the last few weeks, we’ve an update from Catherine in Dubai:

“Just want to say hello to everyone from sunny Dubai, missing the club very much really jealous cant get to run outside here yet, Edinburgh marathon was hot try adding another 15 degrees more and you can understand why i am stuck on a treadmill for now!

Moving into our new villa today, the villa is not new but new to us, has a big garden access to a pool and an extra room for visitors!  I am not working quite yet takes a long time to organise visa'a etc here so i will keep looking in the mean time.

Dubai is wonderfully vast and full of so many different things, we still have not even had the chance yet to see stuff yet, the days seem to go in so quickly it’s amazing!
For the first time in my life i am looking forward to Winter! never before have   I said that, but here the weather gets round to  a more walkable 30 degrees at the moment even walking 50 metres is so difficult you look like you have steeped out of a shower.

Give my kind regards to the team wish them all well”

RUNNING MAPS

I’ve updated the running maps, adding in a few gaps, remeasuring a couple of stretches, and adding a new section for Black Hill Flotterstone.

They’ll soon be on the website and the office photocopier will be active again  (I’ve just done 90 newsletters for the kids)

Jogleader and Coaching courses

The next batch of jogscotland jog leader courses has been published:

Sat 16 Sep               Gogarburn,Edinburgh         8.30 – 17.30

Sat 28 Oct               Glasgow Green                      8.30 – 17.30

It’s a fairly elementary course, covering simple physiology, Health & Safety, risk assessment, communication as a coach, working with a group, some warmup & running exercises etc. It doesn’t go into anything advanced, and you don’t have to be a particularly fast or experienced runner. A significant number of the folk who go on this course only started running by joining a jog Scotland beginner’s programme.

The club will pay the course fees (£65) for anyone who wishes to go on the course and act as a jog leader for the club. The qualification also provides the holder with insurance cover.

Not another AGM!

Yes folks, before the end of September we will be having our AGM. We have over 60 adult members and over 60 juniors – both fair sized sections in their own right. Rather than a small committee straddling all activities, we will be putting forward a motion at the AGM that we split club organisation into:

1) An Adult Runners Council: Involving jog-leaders but open to everyone who wishes to help in some way with organisation: eg  Rigg race, social runs, X-C teams etc, new groups etc

2) Coaches / Helpers / Parents Council: Forum for the junior coaches and parent helpers to manage the smooth running of the junior section; eg coach recruitment, parent helper recruitment, event organisation etc

3) Core management team: To look after any other club administration.

Each group would meet every three months or as necessary, and could set up their own sub-committees (eg to organise the Rigg race ….. hint).

So, when the time comes we’ll be looking for a raft of folk willing to get more involved with  organising a couple of things each.