Wednesday 30 December 2009

Devil's Burdens Relays Hill Race

The Devils Burdens Relays is an early season (Sat Jan 23rd) team hill race on the Lomand Hills in Fife and consists of four legs, two of which are run by pairs. (ie. teams of six runners)
The legs vary in length from ~3 miles to ~6 miles; three legs are hill runs, one leg is described as trail.

James has been organising some Moorfoot teams to enter this year - so far we have 17 names - one more required to make up three Moorfoot teams. So far we have:

Johnny, Russell, Fi, Colin, Rachael, Julia, Steve, Wull, Mike M, Darin, James, Mick, Aegir, Kenny, Paul, Laurence, Tom

Still room for a further runner - add a comment to the Blogger or contact James for the final place....

Teams will be confirmed nearer the time, as will sharing of lifts, collection of entry fees (£6 per runner) etc.

Registration on the day starts at 8:30am and first runners are off at 9:30am, so it will be an early start to allow time to get up to Fife (~75 mins drive from Peebles ?)

More details here...

Sunday 20 December 2009

Moorfoot Merry Christmas !

As we head into the Christmas period, and with the weather forecast looking like it will remain 'arctic' for the next few weeks, just a reminder that there will still be a few opportunities to meet up and come out for a run with the Moorfoots during your festive holidays...


Tues 22-Dec 5:30pm Cardrona Village Green - run in the snow with headtorches (slow pace)


Sunday 27-Dec 10:00am Gytes Peebles - the annual run 'to the mast' at Dunslair Heights - all welcome, sociable pace, several options to shorten run to reduce the overall climb as required....
** Update** - still on, even if we have to make some route alterations due to the heavy snow...

Also, informal "Christmas-beers in the Trust" (Bridge Inn, north side of Tweed Bridge, Peebles) on Sunday (27th) evening at 7:30pm ish - all welcome...

Tues 29-Dec 5:30pm Innerleithen (Hall Street) - weather dependent but bring headtorch in case we need to head off-road

Merry Christmas !!

Sunday 13 December 2009

New Book - "Classic Hill Runs and Races in Scotland"

Steve Fallon of Carnethy has written a book on "Classic Hill Runs and Races in Scotland", now available on-line on Amazon - perfect stocking filler for the Moorfoot in your life, and essential reading ahead of your 2010 Hill Running Campaign.

Steve Fallon photo's are a regular accompaniment to SHR's race reports, many of which feature in the book - (if you've done any hill races this year there's a good chance you'll be in one of his many photos !!!)

Moorfoots at Dunbar XC

Pic - Steve cruising in to the final stretch


The temperature was a few degrees higher on the coast at Dunbar than in Peebles, but it was still hovering around freezing, despite the still and sunny conditions at the start of the third leg of Borders XC series.


Many of the Moorfoot 'big guns' were absent this week, so the mid-pack runners had a chance of picking up some 'team counter' positions on the flat but testing course.


The tide was also in, so picking out a route on firm sand was a priority on the outward leg, before a fast run back through the trees on the frozen turf.


First Moorfoot home was Tom Hobbs in 31:18(20th place) with Colin (31:37 23rd)and Steve(31:45 24th) again hot on his heels, reversing positions from recent battles. Russell ran strongly after a few injury affected months to be fourth Moorfoot home (32:54) , trailing Kenny around for most of the race before pulling away from him nearer the end.


Scout ran another 'first lady' performance (34:06 1st FJ, 1st FS) despite the soft sand and lack of hills perhaps not being her favourite terrain. With three of the six races in the series completed, Scout is the senior lady to beat....

Clive (35:15) and Wattie (36:16) were next home, followed by Julia (36:40 2nd F35 !); Dave (42:37) and Mike P. (54:49 2nd M65 !!) brought the Moorfoot team home.

Full set of pictures from Ian Nimmo (thanks again!) here...



Results available here...

Sunday 6 December 2009

Moorfoots ar Glentress Duathlon (Medium Course)

Pic - Julia looking remarkably clean heading into the run

While many Moorfoots were slogging it out on foot at Lauder, Julia and Alison were slogging it out bike and foot at the Glenntress Duathlon, in what were the worst conditions the event has been staged in for some time. "Rain, mud, wind, mud, snow, mud...and more mud' as someone commented.

Alison created a lead of around 1 minute through the transition from cycle to run, but in worsening conditions, Julia pulled back the gap and added a few minutes, coming hom in 1:38:54 to claim 4th place in ther Ladies race; Alison finished in 1:41:57 for 5th Lady and first Lady V40.

Top performances in extremely tough conditions - well done !

The Glentress Duathlon Short Course race is on Sunday 24th January....






Moorfoots at Lauder XC

It was a cold, wet and blustery day for the rather soggy Lauder cross country, however that did not stop the largest Moorfoot contingent that I’ve seen turn out for a race (14 in total, and others were at the Glentress Duathlon). Some very good results showing very good strength in depth in the club.

The women had some excellent performances dominating the results, with Scout Adkin coming in first woman and first junior (31.10), Carol Moss was second woman and first F45 (31.35) and Alex Campbell second junior and fourth woman (33.04).

In the men’s race there were usual strong performances with Darin Dougal first home in 11th in 28.04, closely followed by Mike McGovern in 12th (28.15) and Tom Hobbs in 13th (28.23), ensuring the top ranked men’s team for the event by my calculations, just one point ahead of Corstophine, (and without James Britton who recorded the top Moorfoot finish at the previous round in Norham). There were 3 more Moorfoots, Wull, Steve and me (Colin!) in the top 30 and under 30mins

Results here...

Regards...

Colin