Brampton Snaps

Time was marching on a little bit when doing the Brampton report (check the time it was published) so I didn't have time to add any more than the one token photograph. Generally, I look terrible in running photographs but I've picked out a couple. Compared to the weather outside as I write this, the crisp November afternoon feels like a distant memory.

Above: around the 3 mile mark. Photo courtesy of http://www.athletesinaction.co.uk/. Before anyone asks, I bought the photo before using it.

Above: around 200m-300m to go. Photo courtesy of Joanne McEvoy.

Brampton to Carlisle 10 Mile Road Race, 19th November 2011

"The Brampton" is a Calderglen Harriers tradition. Since the club's formation in 1984, it has been an annual trip. One member, Charlie Steven, has been present for all 27 of the Harriers' visits. Another, Gerry Mullen, has clocked up 26. Others have varying degrees of longevity. I'm at the shorter end having been twice, clocking 57:07 for 23rd place in 2007 and 56:34 for 11th in 2008. After a 3 year absence, Calderglen were kind enough to allow me back.

With such a long history of attendance, Calderglen have the organisation to an art form. An 8.30am departure (the race starts at 12.30pm) is followed by a 45 minute tea/coffee/late breakfast stop at Gretna then a short hop over Hadrians Wall to Brampton, photos and warm up, the race, post race drink in Carlisle then the UK's narrowest hotel, the Star Hotel in Moffat, for dinner then homeward bound. The road to Gretna includes a sweep, £1 a head, where you predict your finishing time. The closest wins the cash. 50:48 was my wild stab in the dark. Still feeling peckish after breakfast, I had a roll and sausage, shortbread and a black coffee at Gretna. 2 and a half hours until the race, plenty time.

After number and race chip collection at the Howard School in Brampton, it was time for priorities- photos and make up. One Harrier, George Stewart, was having face paint in Calderglen colours of yellow and black applied by another Harrier Joanne McEvoy, present in a spectating capacity. Egged on by some other non-runners, I succumbed to the temptation and, 15 minutes before the start, was having red and white stripes applied to my cheeks with the reassurance that it washed off. On my ugly mug, anything constitutes an improvement. Try and keep it a secret. 

Overcome by this hilarity, I reminded myself I actually had a race to run and headed for the rather conjested start line for the start of Britain's oldest 10 mile road race. The first 5 editions, from 1951 to 1955 were around 8.5 miles, all won by a Carlisle resident, Bill Boak. The great Ron Hill won in 1974 with a time of 46:40 while the course record of 45:50 was set by a chap called Nick Sloane the following year. The 2010 winner, James Douglas of Border Harriers, was in the field this year.

The race begins on a downhill slope then takes a sharp right out of Brampton. Knowing this, I took up position to the extreme right on the line and started faster than I normally would to get away from the crowds and negotiate the turn unhindered. It worked as I went into the lead. However, the prospect of a solo 10 miles didn't appeal so I wasn't concerned to be joined by James Douglas, Ian Harding of Morpeth Harriers and Durham's Michael Crawley (21st in the Scottish 4km Cross Country running for Corstorphine). The African figure of Yared Hagos (Wallsend Harriers) also appeared but soon disappeared into the sunset on his way to a winning time of 47:51.

After starting fast, I saw no point in easing back and pushed the pace quite hard in the pack including the gamble of doing so up a hill between 2 and 3 miles. I checked the watch at 3 miles. 14:45. Yikes. The pace had given me a gap in 2nd but I was under great pressure from behind. Hagos was away so I was now running blind. Most of the course is through rural country roads passing through a couple of picturesque Cumbrian villages. I focussed on gaining any advantage I could such as running tight into corners to cover the shortest route. Another thing I did was ignore the water stations. On a crisp November afternoon, I considered fluid unnecessary. The main reason though was I didn't want to pour water over my head and smudge my face paint. I had also read in Charlie Spedding's book that apparently accelerating past a water station works. I did this at each and every one.

I clocked up the miles at a rate that even amazed me. 5 miles in 24:50 something (a personal best). 10k in 31:03 (having a kilometre mark among the mile ones is quite unusual). 8 miles in 40:20. Another nasty hill is thrown in between 8 and 9 miles. The last 2 miles were horrible. By now, you are entering more urban territory and have more traffic and pedestrians to negotiate. Calderglen coach Alan Derrick shouted encouragement and grabbed a photo as I battled on to the finish at the Sands Sports Centre in Carlisle.

Above: "where's the pub?"- the final mile, looking ready to cry- I refused to smudge my make up though. Photo courtesy of Alan Derrick. Make up courtesy of Joanne McEvoy.

Amateur make up artist Joanne and numerous others gave me a shout as I crossed a bridge towards Carlisle city centre, taking a left turn before I hit the shops, into the finish, and 2nd place in 50:42, a new personal best by over 2 minutes. Ian Haining joined me 4 seconds later then James Douglas (51:04). After exchanging congratulations, I went off for a warm down and to cheer more folk in. David Watt, a Scottish international and 65 minute half marathon runner at his peak, was first Calderglen finisher in 56:03 and second vet over 50. Former East Kilbride resident Louise Beveridge (Dundee Hawkhill Harriers) was first lady finisher from our bus in 65 minutes, 12th female overall.

While the others headed to the nearest pub, I joined a few other Harriers at the prize giving to collect my £100 second prize. The lengthy affair ended in time for the bus departing for Moffat. At least it gave me time to have my lunch. I made sure I was among the first into the Star Hotel's bar to make up for lost time. Pints before, during and after dinner, compounded by the earlier physical exertion, rendered me fairly "refreshed" by the time of the return leg to East Kilbride. Amazingly, being only 6 seconds away from my prediction did not win me the sweep. Someone was within 4 seconds. If only I'd listened to my body and eased off in the last mile.

We arrived back around 9pm. I had another pint and a half "for the road" at Calderglen's Sports Club to round off as good a day out as I've had in a long time.

For another account of proceedings by Alan Derrick, click here.

Blast From The Past 2

6th May is when my first "Blast From The Past" was posted on here. This is another one courtesy of one of my former classmates, my Primary 1 class photo. Spot me if you can. No clues.

Canicross

Now and again, I have seen and heard of people running with dogs. Little did I know that it is actually a sport in itself with a unique identity, canicross.

The sport of canicross is cross country running while tied to a dog. It is related to two other sports of skijoring and bikejoring. Generally, the human runner has a belt clipped round their waist which in turn the canine runner is attached to by a harness. The latter then runs on all fours in front while the former runs as normal behind. Races are even organised by bodies such as the Sled Dog Association of Scotland. Human and dog get a medal each.

I became aware recently of something called Cani Fit, essentially a training service for dogs and equipment supplier.  It is the brainchild of Rutherglen based Lindsay Cloughley who has pursued it as a business venture since September 2011. She organises a canicross trail running group at Chatelherault Park in Hamilton on Wednesdays, taking along her own dog Suko to take part. I'm a bit weary of dogs and cross them with some trepidation during training runs. However, this sounded such a novel idea, I went along to the training group recently. I also wanted to see who in their right mind ran in a country park after dark. I was equipped with a head torch as instructed.

Not being a dog owner proved no barrier as I was soon belted and harnessed to a rather energetic little female called Lunar. I didn't get a chance to set my Garmin properly since Lunar was too keen to catch her friend Suko and, being tied to her, I was left with no option but to go with the flow. I had a good bit of fun once I got going, overcoming various troubles like the harness getting tied round the dog's legs, my head torch falling over my eyes, Lunar deciding to randomly pursue a rabbit and insisting on stopping to wait for Suko (attached to Lindsay) every time we ran ahead. Running on trails was definitely easier on my legs and the head torch does help visibility a lot. A 5km loop was completed in about 24 minutes followed by a short warm down round the shadow of Chatelherault House then a photo opportunity and a chance to talk to new acquaintances, human and canine. Thank you to the guy who introduced himself as Alistair for the free can of Irn Bru. To keep the mileage up, I did another 2.5 miles, into Hamilton and back, before heading home with a couple of Cani Fit flyers to distribute.

Above: first attempt at a group photo. Suko is on the left and Lunar on the right. Lindsay is in the bright orange/red jacket.

Above: second attempt at a group photo.

Above: with Suko, one half of Cani Fit.

Should you have a dog needing more than a daily walk, you could do worse than contact Cani Fit. Details below.

Useful Links

Cani Fit

The Sled Dog Association of Scotland

European Cani-Cross Federation

Scottish National 4km Cross Country, Bellahouston Park, 5th November 2011

A change to the calendar brought this race forward from its slot in late January to early November. With all the short relays around this time, it makes sense. After attending the previous Saturday's Glasgow Endurance Session at Bellahouston, I knew, despite the dry day, to expect heavy underfoot conditions. With the phony war of the relays over with, this would show where everyone really stood in relation to each other.

After the various junior races and a sound debut for first year under 20 Katie Bristow in the senior/junior women race, 19 Cambuslang athletes lined up in the field of over 200 senior and junior men for the 4km race run over 2 laps. Knowing there was a tight right hand turn early on, I positioned myself on the extreme right of the start line. It paid off as I got close to the front stealing a march on several runners I hoped to be around. As the first lap progressed, I worked my way up to 4th behind a trio of Shettleston pacesetters, Matthew and Michael Gillespie and Tewoldeberhan Mengisteab. Knowing the capabilities of Matthew in particular, it was encouraging to be there. Going the long way round a field then through a gap in a hedge led you on to the second lap. The mud was especially thick here. One option was to run wide on the firmer grass but in doing that, you would be conceding ground to your rivals. Nothing to gained doing that. Like the others round me, I ploughed through the mud, a real momentum and strength sapper. It was telling on me as I entered the second lap.

Above: 1st lap, in 4th place with Michael Gillespie (Shettleston Harriers). Thank you to Alan Derrick for permission to use this photo.

I've looked back on my report of this race in January 2011 as I write this. Back then, I said I was at the limit of my endurance and beyond. However that felt, this was feeling even worse. The heavy ground was digging into my legs. Matthew Gillespie and Mengisteab continued to battle it out joined by a vastly improving Alex Hendry of Central. I got joined by various people- off the top of my head, John Newsom and Ross Houston (both Central), Mark Haskett (Aberdeen), Lachlan Oates (Shettleston), Ross Matheson (Lasswade), David Vernon (VP City of Glasgow), Mark Pollard, Andrew Douglas (both Inverclyde). I had actually been ahead of all these athletes for over half the race. It became a real war of attrition through the mud. I think within a kilometre, I had gone from 4th to 12th. However, this was not as bad as it sounded. I was still actually in contention to win. A burst of pace would have taken me back up with Matthew Gillespie, Hendry and Mengisteab. The constant swapping of positions made proceedings a blur to me as a participant but must have made for exciting viewing for spectators.

With a kilometre or so to go, my legs were burning. I managed to dig deep enough to reverse the downward trend by overtaking Mark Haskett and Lachlan Oates then focussed on staying in touching distance with the rest. I was close enough to count my position as we circled the field. 11th. After the gap in the hedge, it was a 100m-150m dash to the finish line. I couldn't lift a sprint of any description and got ambushed by clubmate Jack Hamilton, Mark Pollard and Edinburgh's Andrew Crichton in one swoop. I could do nothing about it. The previous 3.9km sapped me. I was dead on my feet and crawled over the finish line 14th in 13:04 before anyone else arrived at my side.

Above: within the final 200m. I'm unsure whether to thank Ian Goudie for this photo.

Matthew Gillespie won in a time of 12:37, one second ahead of Alex Hendry. Tewoldeberhan Mengisteab was 3rd. A 10 second improvement on my time would have brought me into 9th. Such was my exhaustion, I could barely walk through the finish funnel and took around 15 minutes to fully recover, encountering some light headedness and dizzy spells as I did.

Team medals in this race have been hard to come by for Cambuslang so I was delighted to join Jack Hamilton (12th), Stewart Orr (15th) and my predecessor as club captain Jamie Reid (29th) in receiving team bronze behind Shettleston and Central, my second medal in this race in 3 years.

I will conclude with a few general observations. In January, I was 8th. This winter, I was 14th. I took 4 scalps I didn't get at Cumbernauld on 22nd October and was competitive with a lot of good runners. I was quicker than Cumbernauld though it should be said there's little to be gained in comparing cross country times. Conditions vary, even on the same course from year to year. I don't think I'm running any worse than last winter but I think that the competition this year is a lot tougher. Several athletes have raised their games and a number of talented ones have come through to the under 20 age group. I have to find a way to respond. Thank goodness Jack is still a under 20 which means I take poll position after one race in the Cambuslang Senior Men Club Championship. The next big target this side of the New Year is the West District Cross Country on 10th December. Training has been mapped out day by day, week by week and is in progress. 32 days and counting at the time of writing...

Oh yes, the sharp start at Bellahouston let me get to Hampden for the Queen's game. Queen's Park-0 Annan Athletic-0. Why did I bother?