Thursday 7 August 2014

Calderglen Harriers 10km Trail Race, 27th June 2014

A smaller field than the 2013 edition but a still sizeable number of just over 150 turned out for the 10km event forming part of Calderglen Harriers' annual trail race series. I was back as defending champion and it looked as if my main threat would be the man runner up to me the year before, Robert Gilroy. So it proved, as after the first small loop and heading out towards Langlands Nature Reserve, we were side by side.
 
I had previously pulled away from Robert at around 2-3km then hung on. He is a different runner these days though and was running strongly. I was in fact struggling to hold on to his coattails. His watch bleeped after every kilometre and at halfway, we were still together. Just after 6km though, at Langlands, he forged a gap on a slight downhill stretch and never looked back. As I've said previously, he has fair experience of racing on trails compared to me and I simply couldn't close the gap. I finished 2nd in a time of 34:24 while Robert clocked a round number, 34 minutes exactly. It says a lot about his improvement that I ran a course best, 25 seconds quicker than my 2013 winning time, yet it was only good enough for the runner up spot this year. It's Robert's turn to safeguard the Jimmy Moore trophy for the year.
 
We repeated last year's success with George Pettit finishing 9th in 38:07 ensuring we retained the team prize. In a pleasing turnout from Cambuslang, we also had James Healey (13th, 39:59), Chris Upson (15th, 40:22), Robert Rossborough (25th, 42:35) and Sandy Eaglesham (75th, 48:55).
 
The whole event was impeccably organised as always by the host club with race director Russell Couper directing operations with an army of volunteers and, despite the difficulty of the course and awkward terrain, is something I thoroughly recommend to all. There is a race in there for everyone. Next year's edition is on 26th June 2015. Come along and try it.

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