Moorfoots at Haddington

A hot, hot day and relatively small field due to Football Cup Finals and the Edinburgh Marathon the following day, did not stop the Moorfoot visitors from bagging some prizes in the ASICS Haddington 5 miler.
Wull Hynd came in 3rd place in 28'39", Darin in 29'30" (5th) and Mike McGovern in 29'37" (6th) to comfortably secure the team prize. Julia came home in 35'03" to secure the FV35 prize, and Dave Wardman just missed out on the MV60 prize with his 38'06".

Wull's Magical Mystery Tour

Pic - on Dundreich, realising that we are now further away from Innerleithen than our starting point...

With May having five Sundays this year, and Scotland sweltering in 24C+ temperatures, we had decided to do a hill run from Eddleston to Innerleithen.
The most direct route took in Dunslair Heights and then onto the main ridge culminating in Lee Pen...but Wull had other ideas....
From Eddleston we headed northwest (Innerleithen is southeast !) and picked our way over Milky Law to Dundreich. From Dundreich, we headed southeast over some peat hags before picking up the windmill access roads leading up to Bowbeat Hill - very dry and dusty; it could have been the foothills of the Sierra Nevada....
The route then dropped down to Craighope picking up the upper reaches of the Leithen Water before joining ther B709 Innerleithen to Heriot road a few miles north of the Innerleithen Golf Club.
The Peebles and Cardrona 'softies' called it a day here (unfortunately the bar was closed so we could not rack up drinks on Mike's golf club bar tab) and phoned for a lift home.
The Innerleithern and Walkerburn hardmen and women continued down the road for a further mile or so back to the town.

Another grand day out....

Sunday Run - 31-May

It's another month with five Sundays in it so we have an extra Sunday for training - wooh hoo !

Current suggestion is for a run over the hills from Eddleston to Innerleithen.
(something like up the road by Eddleston School to Cardon Law, Dunslair Heights, Leithen Door Hill, Black Knowe, Lee Pen, Innerleithen....)

Further details to follow...keep tuned to the blogger for details if you are interested in joining....

** Update **
Meeting place Horseshoe Inn Eddleston at 1000am. (Bus leaves Peebles at Post Office at 0950 and arrives at Eddleston at 1002).
ETA in Innerleithen probably between 1230 and 1300.

Lift back to Peebles available...

Hot day forecast so bring some water and plenty of sun screen....

Marshalls for Peebles Beltane 10K

Just over two weeks to go until our annual Moorfoot hosted 10K race on Sunday 14-June.

We need as many club members as possible to support this event, not least for marshalling the course.
Marshalls will meet at the Gytes at 11:00am on race day to be posted to their marshalling posisitions and get a short pre-race brief and will require to be in position until approximately 1:00pm (or when the sweeper passes behind the last runner) when they can help bring back some of the signage etc.

Please can you let me (Kenny) know as soon as possible if you can support for a few hours marshalling duty on race day. I have approximately 12 marshalls at present, but we need at least the same number again to fully cover the course....

REMEMBER - if you are intending to run the 10K, the club expects you provide marshalling cover - we will be checking this...
(ideally two marshalls for each Moorfoot participating in the race - think of them as personal supporters to cheer you at strategic places on the course....)

Thank you in advance for your support of this important Moorfoot Runners Club event....

Regards...

Kenny

Scottish Islands Three Peaks Race

A late mention for Wull Hynd who took part in this years Scottish Islands Three Peaks Race. Unfortunately the weather got the better of the sailing and running crew on the yacht Wull was aboardand they had to turn back just short of the Mull of Kintyre in large seas (wind versus tide) in force seven conditions; Wull was also struck down by a bad case of 'mal de mer'....

However, Ben More on Mull and the Paps of Jura were 'bagged' before the race was abandoned, so over 40 miles of hill running were completed; only Goatfell on Arran in the dark eluded him....

Moorfoots on Jura

Following on from last weeks 'islands' theme, Johnny and Russell were out West again at the Paps of Jura Race.

Johnny and I ran in the Jura Hill Race on Saturday. The weather had been great when I arrived on Friday with all 7 tops clear - blue sky and sunshine all round.The rain set in early on Saturday morning with cloud down to maybe 250 or 300 m and stayed that way almost all day. Everyone found the conditions tough and nearly everyone got a bit lost between the first and second tops. Johnny shrugged off his recent ankle sprain, took the poor weather and difficult navigation in his long stride and had a very good run, finishing in about 5 hr 30 m.I started OK, like most people got a bit lost near the second top but was doing OK up until the fifth top (Beinn an Oir). I dropped down off the summit ridge too soon and missed the saddle leading to the next top (Beinn Shiantaidh). I ended up lost in the mist and had to go down to below cloud level to find where I was. That meant a long, steep ascent to get back on course for the summit of Beinn Shiantaidh. I managed to finish in 6 hr 13 m, 128th out of the 150 finishers.

More details and results on the SHR website

Moorfoots at Goatfell Hill Race

Pic - smiling before the race
Russell and Kenny made their way to Brodick on tthe Isle of Arran by a mixture of planes, trains, ferry and automobile(well actually, no planes...) for the 2009 Goatfell Hill Race.

Goatfell was ominously 'missing' in the cloud on the sail over, but magically reappeared as the ferry docked at Brodick, as the sun made a welcome reappearance.

More than eighty runners set off along the mile or so run in the the foot of the hill where the climb starts up the rocky 'tourist' path. The last few hundred meters of ascent became 'hands-on' scrabbly stuff over the large granite boulders and the cloud reduced the visibility sufficiently that the route markers occasionally disappeared.

Russell ran a blinder, coming home in twelth place in 1'33" and collecting the M50 trophy.

Kenny finished strongly, crossing the line in 1'46", despite a small tumble on the way down.

In fact, it was one of the 'bloodiest' hill races seen for a while with something of a queue forming at first aid, and runners getting bandaged up and comparing blood streaked arms, legs and faces - but fortunatly nothing too serious.

The day was rounded off by a couple of pints of Arran Blonde at the Ormidale Hotel before the ferry trip back to the mainland - all in all, a grand day out....

Full results here.

SHR race report here.

Gypsy Glen Race

Pic - James showing how real hill runners descend....

The Gypsy Glen Race reached new heights with a fantastic turn out of runners and supporters on a glorious sunny evening.

Sixty eight runners completed the course against a strong easterly breeze which made the outward run to the summit tough going, before a wind assisted return.

The Moorfoot vests were very prominant, with no less than sixteen Moorfoots on the finishing sheet.

The field was somewhat stronger than in previous years, A. Anthony from the Ochills club winning in what looks like (to be confirmed) a course record 32'23.

First Moorfoot home was James in 34'15", taking third place and Darin not far behind in 34'53" for fourth place. Mike McGovern won the 'senior's' prize....you don't look a day over 40 !

Full results (provisional) here.

Some great pictures also available here.

(As usual, the only picture I can find of me is in my typical uphill walking pose....)

Your Club Needs You....

Our Moorfoot Beltane 10K race is just over a month away.

Your club needs the support of as many of its club members as possible to do the myriad of small jobs required beforehand and on the day, to make this event a success.

Dave Wardman is the 10K Organiser this year and has organised a planning meeting for Friday 15th May at 7:30pm in the Courthouse Peebles (you should have already received an email)

Please try to attend - and if you cannot make it, please make Dave aware of your availability to help at the race on the day (Sunday 14-June)

Training & Race Details - May09

* Update* - reasonable turnout of Peebles based runners for the first two Tuesday trainings at the Gytes so far, so Tuesday training for remainder of May changed to Peebles - see update in listing below....

A quick summary of the month ahead, which of course includes two very local races - the Beltane Sports Three Bridges Race on Sunday 3-May and the Gyspy Glen Hill Race on Wednesday 13-May - and then of course the Edinburgh Marathon (almost a local race) at the end of the month...good luck to those taking part..!

Sun 3-May
Peebles Gytes 10:00am Long steady run (1hr +)
Peebles Beltane Sports Three Bridges Race (2:00pm)

Tues 5-May Peebles (Gytes) 5:30pm Gypsy Glen recce

Thrs 7-May Innerleithen (Hall St) 5:30pm Intervals & Speed Work

Sun 10-May Cardrona (Village Hall) 10:00am Long steady run (1hr +)

Tues 12-May Peebles (Gytes) 5:30pm Intervals & Speed Work

Wed 13-May Gypsy Glen Hill Race 7:00pm

Thrs 14-May Innerleithen (Hall St) 5:30pm Intervals & Speed Work

Sun 17-May Innerleithen (Hall St) 10:00am Long steady run (1hr +)

Tues 19-May Peebles (Gytes) 5:30pm Intervals & Speed Work *note change of venue*

Thrs 21-May Innerleithen (Hall St) 5:30pm Intervals & Speed Work

Sun 24-May Walkerburn (Bridge) 10:00am Long steady run (1hr +)

Tues 26-May Peebles (Gytes) 5:30pm Intervals & Speed Work *note change of venue*

Thrs 28-May Innerleithen (Hall St) 5:30pm Intervals & Speed Work

Sun 31-May Fifth Sunday of the Month....a chance to do something a bit different for our Sunday run if you have any ideas....post them below....

Moorfoot Runners Weekend Round-up

What a difference a day makes - Saturday was reminiscent of a Winters day, with heavy rain, a strong, cold wind and snow on the mountains. Sunday returned the more Spring-like weather we were beginning to get used to for May...

Johnny Hall picked Saturday and headed north to the Ben Lomond Hill Race - sounded like touch and go whether the race would get to the summit - 1'30" (35th place) looks like a very reasonable time and placing for what were atrocious conditions.

Wull, Darin, Mike, Steve and Julia picked Sunday and headed south to the Muckletoon Doctors Race in Langholm, over a hilly eight mile course.

Wull won the race, with almost a minute's gap to the next runner, in 46'14".
Darin and Mike finished together in 48'16", Darin being given the nod for fifth place over Mike's sixth place.
Steve wasn't far behind in tenth place on 50'58" (and first prize in the 'medical employee' category - he's a secret brain surgeon...) and Julia managed a podium place finishing third lady in 55'37".

Further afield on Sunday, Alison Caw was taking part in the Dunfermline Half Marathon, coming home in a very respectable 1hr 43mins.

Gypsy Glen Race on Wednesday night - see you there....

..and Some Late Breaking News....

Newest Moorfoot member Johnny Hall, not satisfied with a masochistic 3hrs+ at the Stuc a' Chroin 5000 on the Saturday, ran the Edinburgh 10K on the Sunday...but did manage a PB of 41'25"

Handicappers take note...and Johnny, don't let any of your Hill Running pals hear you say that the Edinburgh 10K was a 'hilly course'....

Walter Barrie also was taking part in what was his first 10K, finishing in 46'51" - so a PB, but plenty of scope to shave some time off this on a flatter, faster course.

Moorfoots at the Edinburgh to North Berwick Road Race

Two Moorfoots were in action in a 188 strong field in the annual Edinburgh to North Berwick road race. This year the course started in Portobello and was 20 miles.

Colin Williams completed the course in 2:16.23 in 23rd position, with Alan MacDonald finishing in 2:51.23 in 125th.

Full Results here.

Colin said...
If I keep up this pace for a whole marathon then that would result in a 2.59 marathon. It was a hot day by the time we got into the race and there was a following breeze, but I’d not had much break from some pretty heavy training so it remains to be seen if I can break 3 hrs – place your bets!

Moorfoots at Stuc a' Chroin 5000

Pic - James in action..


Johnny Hall's report from the SHR Stuc a' Chroin 5000 (which was also the British Championships...)

James, Rachel, Russell and I (Johnny) travelled up on Saturday for the Stuc a' Chroin hill race, which was part of the Scottish and British Championships this year.
The weather was decent - sunny, windy and occasionally wet. This was my first long distance hill race, and after my recent illness, I wasn't sure how I'd go. Russell and James were keen to improve on their last attempt at this race, I just wanted to have a solid run.
The ground was a boggy and wet in places which made the going tough. I definitely pushed it too hard early in the race as I wanted to be placed further up the field by the time of the big, steep climb up Ben Each (heather clambering). I was running well until about an hour and a half in but I jarred my dodgy ankle once too many times and then my legs just went before the last climb to the turn point. I tried to dig in but I was passed by a lot of people - still I kept moving and managed to come in in 3:12.
James had a solid run in 2:33 for 51st place (a time that would have put him in the top 10 last year, showing the quality of the field) and Russell was 110th in a time of 2:51 (similar to last year when he was 27th!).
Rachel had a solid run around 5 minutes slower than last time (3:51), which was good considering the slow going in the boggy wet ground.

Provisional results here...

Moorfoots in action at Three Bridges Race

Pic - Kenny huffing and puffing to the finish
The sun shone on Peebles for this year's Three Bridges Race, and the crowds came out in force to cheer on their local heros.

Six Moorfoots took part in the Open Handicap, with Mike McGovern leading the club home in 17'45" off a 4min + handicap (and taking 30secs off his time from the previous year) for seventh place. Better luck next year for your twenty first attempt at this race...!!!

Alex and Paul battled it out throughout the race, and despite his recent Lochaber Marathon still in his legs. Paul battled through to take the honours.

New member Scott (from South Aaffrriccaa) suffered in the handicaping department from his previous sub 30' 10K PB time, but ran strongly in his "Moofoot colour theme" shoes. (see pic below)

Newly returning Moorfoot member Tom McNaughton won the Open Handicap race.

Thanks also to all those who came along to support and cheer on the Moorfoot Runners.

More pictures and times as they become available....

Pic - Scott's Moorfoot colour theme racer flat