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?
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