Monday 13 March 2017

Deerstalker report amid tragic circumstances

The Mighty Deerstalker night run took place on Saturday with almost 2000 people taking part in the route that starts and finishes at Traquair House and takes you up and down the hills around Innerleithen.

Tragically the whole event was completely overshadowed by absolutely terrible news that a runner died about 1 mile into the race. Clearly the circumstances will be examined thoroughly but according to this report in the Sun the runner was a 48 year old mother of two from Northumberland and was an 'experienced racer'. The thought that you take part in a race and don't come home is simply horrific. I, and people I talked to, were unaware of any of the details on the night. I did see an ambulance at one point but had no idea of the severity of the circumstances which didn't emerge until Sunday morning.


The Moorfoots racing all did very well. Ruth McKean, unable to run for long distance due to underlying niggles took part in the shorter 'half stalker' and almost won it outright just 10 seconds being the overall (male) winner. In the full course I got involved in the race for the unoffical accolade for fastest local running with Dean Whiteford from Innerleithen for two thirds of the course. We were side by side to the scree climb but eventually managed to get gap and descended Rocky well to pick up another place to cement 5th.
Colin with Dean at Pirn Craig. Photo Courtesy of Ian Linton www.ianlinton.co.uk/

Dean is best known for his successes on the Border Games track circuit but in recent years he has been racing over the XC season and won the Lillesleaf Trail 10k a fortnight ago. David Gaffney who has recently  moved to Innerleithen and trains with the Moorfoots on a Tuesday night finished a excellent 9th on his debut run at the race making it 3 from the town in the top ten.
 
Alex Nisbet completed the hot streak of form the Moorfoots were showing recording a 6th place finish in the woman's field again on her first time at the race, a fantastic achievement. Full results here





Alex at the Finish
There was also a good turn out from other local racers in the valley.

At the Start (obviously!). Photo Courtesy of Ian Linton www.ianlinton.co.uk/

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