UK Inter Counties Cross Country Championships, 7th March 2015

An unexpected call up for the West of Scotland Inter Counties team left me with a decision to make. On one hand, I had been so sickened by the Inter District experience in January, I decided to do no more cross country this winter and indeed stopped training for it. On the other, my Inter Counties record was patchy. My debut in 2011 had been my best performance to date, 63rd place and a good placing among the Scottish contingent earning me a Scotland call up for the Home Countries Cross Country. In 2012, running shortly after injuring my tendon, brought 89th place and 6th Scot. In 2013, I caught a virus in the week of the race, was very ill on race day and really shouldn't have started. I withdrew from the race in the early stages. I didn't travel at all in 2014.

 

In the end, the desire to deal with unfinished business outweighed my resistance to cross country so I accepted the place. The timescales meant I couldn't take a day off to travel so I booked a flight to Birmingham for the Friday night and travelled straight after work. The perk of working near the airport these days! I'm grateful to one of my new bosses for a lift from the office for my flight, saving me a taxi fare. A delayed, choppy FlyBe flight and £23 taxi ride later deposited me at the Village Hotel, Solihull at 10.30pm where, after a short time relaxing, it wasn't long before my head hit a very comfortable, welcoming pillow.

 

After being fairly relaxed about things from breakfast onwards, I became more apprehensive as the race approached. The Cofton Park course included an added extra, unbearably hilly looking section in addition to the bit I was more familiar with. Order of the day for the senior men was 1 lap of the former and 3 of the latter for an approximate distance of 7.5 miles (more like 7 in the end but that was plenty). Conditions were in my favour though, mild, sunny and a relatively firm course apart from a few isolated muddy patches. I lined up in pen 28 with Lachlan Oates ahead of me and Cambuslang clubmate Kyle McLellan acknowledging my recent form by insisting I lined up in front of him. We were 3 short to count in the team competition, making this the 4th consecutive year the West has not had a complete senior men team. West of Scotland runners, what are you afraid of? Selection for this race is an honour not to be taken lightly. Get yourselves involved!

 

After my wardrobe malfunction in Edinburgh, I wore thicker socks to ensure my footwear remained in place. The initial straight took us downhill to a tight turn leading into a steep uphill section. I aimed to keep away from any heel clippers, starting fairly quickly to get to the corner unimpeded. That achieved, I had a brief panic when I felt my timing chip slide down my ankle, making me think it had come off. Crisis averted when I (unintentionally) stumbled, causing my legs to collide. In doing so, I felt the plastic part of the chip. Phew! The initial section took us uphill, down again then up the same hill a different way before another descent into the 3 smaller laps. My hill training really helped me stay well placed and I realised I occupied a healthy position. Whether I could sustain it was another matter.

 

Getting the toughest part out the way first proved a good psychological boost. However I was at my absoloute limit and, but for the superb atmosphere being generated by the large number of spectators, may have struggled to keep going. There was nothing pretty about my running. My usual heel flick was at its worst, I was stumbling, leaning forward, breathless, you name it. Nevertheless, I continued to maintain and even improve position. Thanks to so many hill reps with my old, trusted friend the High Point, I held my own on what proved to be an undulating, strength sapping course. The hills helped me stay in touch with and overtake runners. I also adopted a tactic of running as tight into the corners as I could to cover the shortest possible distance. I found it to be working.

The finish took in one final ascent, a sharp left, descent then a right turn into a long finishing straight. As I prepared to climb the hill, I could hear Central AC's Andrew Butchart, probably about 800m clear of me, being referred to by the announcers as vying for the win (he got it in the end to qualify for the World Cross Country). For my part, after the hill I'd blown a gasket but held on at the expense of dropping only one place in the closing metres to claim 51st place out of 283 finishers in 37:05. In terms of Scots, I claimed 3rd and when I considered one of those ahead was the race winner and the notable scalps I had taken, it had turned out to be an excellent run. The other was Max McNeill, recovering from a rare off colour outing at our club 10k to finish 42nd.

 

Overall, I considered attending this race a gamble. There wasn't any monetary gain in it for me. In fact, between the flight, taxis etc, I forked out the best part of £130 to attend a race which had huge potential to go wrong. The sport is worth such sacrifices at times. In 2013, I endured a long journey home after my illness induced DNF. It didn't feel half as long this time. This particular piece of unfinished business had been finished.

Ronhill Cambuslang Down By The River 10k, 1st March 2015

It had been much longer ago than I first thought, 3 years, since I last raced Cambuslang's annual 10k road race. I won on that occasion setting the still standing course record of 31:18 on my way to my second consecutive and, to date, last club championship. In 2013, I opted to assist with stewarding and last year I was in a poor place with a months long post marathon hangover having given me a DNF at the National. Basically I went into hibernation for a while.

While buoyed by the Armagh experience, the wind and cold rain on this race day was doing nothing for my enthusiasm as I turned up at the club for my number. It was a day to wrap up so a polo neck, hat and gloves were the garments of choice. With the out and back course and a driving wind, I knew it would be pot luck whether the elements would favour us or not.

From the off, I was quickly joined by Robert Gilroy and Max McNeil, 2 guys whose scalps I had hardly taken for months. As well as I had run in Armagh and other races so far this year, I still felt on a bit of a tight rope, being one disappointing result away from the return of the self doubt that can plague my running at times. Robert and Max had run the National 6 days before, a gruelling 12km slog through thick mud in poor weather. I hadn't. In a split second during the first 200m, I decided to put the boot in and see what happened. I opened up a gap very quickly on the rest of the field. Only another 9.5km or so to hold on.

Exercising my golden rule of racing of not looking behind, I did not know how much of a lead I had. Heading onto the Clyde Walkway, where the river level was huge with the rain, I adopted the tactic of running on the assumption someone was on my shoulder. At halfway, I was on schedule to better my course record and at the turn at 6km, I saw my gap on 2nd placed Robert. Healthy but not healthy enough so I kept pushing. I now faced the teeth of a gale so focussed more on winning the race than the record, kept going by a few shouts of encouragement from runners still on the outward journey. As long as I ran no slower than the chasing pack, I would be okay.

Above: approaching the final kilometre, battling the elements as much as I battled the rest of the field. Photo courtesy of Colin Stephen.



Coming off the walkway in the final kilometre, I got some respite from the wind and enjoyed a smoother path into the finish, 5km splits of 15:27-16:04 giving me a finishing time of 31:31. I nearly gave club President David Cooney a black eye with my fist in the air. Maybe a slight overreaction to the race win but it's testament to how well Robert and Max have been running that I saw taking their scalps as a huge monkey off my back. Ben Stevenson, part of a visiting Edinburgh University contingent, actually overhauled both to take 2nd place in 32:16 with Robert 3rd 2 seconds later and Max 4th in 32:48.

Back at the prize giving, the club were presenting new shields to the male and female winners in memory of club member Jimmy Sands who passed away last year. In a very thoughtful touch from our committee, Gordon Robertson, President of one of Jimmy's other clubs Red Star AC, was invited to present the awards.

Above: becoming the first recipient of the Jimmy Sands Memorial Shield with Red Star AC President Gordon Robertson. Photo courtesy of Colin Feechan. Sarah Douglas of Edinburgh University took the female's shield as winner of the ladies race.

We also claimed the team prize, myself, Robert and Iain Reid being the counters, earning ourselves a new club training top each. Complimentary pies, bridies and hot drinks rounded off a satisfying late morning/early afternoon's work. I then looked towards a trip to Birmingham 6 days down the line. 

Armagh 2015, 19th-21st February 2015

Rather than a blow by blow account of the race alone, what follows is an overview of the 3 day trip.

 

Thursday- I was picked up at Belfast International Airport around midday by Christine from Armagh AC for the hour or so trip to Armagh. On this my fourth visit, I would be staying for the first time at the Charlemont Arms Hotel. It overlooked the Mall where the race takes place and apparently the post race social would be there as well so I hit it off. Until my room was ready, I went along to the lunch reception being hosted by the Mayor of Armagh for all the race participants, the first helping of a mountain of food I would consume during my stay. I then headed back to the hotel where, having been up since 6.30am to get to the airport, decided to have a top up nap. That lasted around 2 hours and was well worth it.

 

I was psyched up for the race and, pleasingly, put in a performance to match, clocking 14:40 for 40th place in a field of 107 runners. It's crazy to think that this was a new personal best by 5 seconds, improving on my last Armagh appearance in 2013, but saw me finish 15 places lower. 55 runners broke 15 minutes in a race won by American Joe Stilin in 13:59. World triathlon champion Jonathan Brownlee finished 3rd in 14:01 and first Scot was Derek Hawkins in 14:07 for 8th place. The You Tube link and photo, both below, can tell the story of the evening better than I can.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5l6XMyuqI7M

 

 

 

In the open mens 3k, the Cambuslang contingent comprised Dave Thom (53rd, 10:08), Colin Feechan (60th, 10:14), Robert Rossborough (99th, 10:54) and David Cooney (144th, 13:12).

 

After attending the post race prizegiving (for the sandwiches, cakes and hot drinks because I hadn't won anything), I had a warm down jog to the hotel, freshened up and changed and enjoyed dinner and a few refreshments. Lasagne at midnight? Only at the Armagh International Road Races. For the sake of sparing the embarrassment of some, I'll leave it there. What happens in Armagh stays in Armagh!

 

Friday- proceedings took a gentler pace over the following two days. I joined Dave, Colin and Robert for a gentle morning jog round some parkland near the Armagh City Hotel. The run from and back to my own hotel brought my run up to 7 miles. It felt enough. After showering, I said my goodbyes to the Cambuslang party, which also included long time member Bob Burt. I was staying an extra day since I had arrived a day later. I then played the tourist for the afternoon, joining a contingent of French athletes and officials for a visit to the Navan Centre and Fort which included a splendid lunch. For someone who got an A for Higher French, my ability to communicate with them can be graded D minus. 

 

Later on, I had the pleasure of attending a dinner hosted by Armagh AC for those athletes still in town (primarily the aforesaid French). Again, this handily took place at the Charlemont Arms. Thanks to Armagh AC chair Brian Vallely for his invitation to this. After dinner and bidding farewell to the French ( I possessed enough language skills for this task), a pleasant evening was rounded off in the residents bar. Well I did only have to travel upstairs.

 

Saturday- after a 3 mile jog comprising a few laps of the Mall, I enjoyed breakfast in the hotel having missed it the day before on account of not being hungry after my midnight lasagne feast. After some free time to myself, I met up with my transport to Belfast City airport and rounded off this stay in Armagh with a hearty lunch of Irish stew and coffee. At the airport, having a couple of hours to kill, for the first time, I had a couple of pints in the airport bar, raising a glass to myself to a successful race and utterly brilliant trip. To cap it all, on returning home, I had a recording of Queen's Park's league game that day waiting for me. Yes, we were shown live on BBC Alba. Queen's Park-2, Berwick Rangers-1. What a way to round things off.

 

If I try to name anyone, I'll either get it wrong or miss someone so I will give a heartfelt thanks to each and every person I met in Armagh for their hospitality and company. Out of my 4 visits, this was the best. Roll on 2016.