Sunday 31 October 2010

Moorfoots at Jedburgh

No rain, no wind, birds singing ?...could it be the Jedburgh Half Marathon and 10K..?

James reports...

For me the Jedburgh half marathon was a tale of two halves.


Before the race started just unmitigated pain and suffering. Nowhere to park at the race venue, no spaces in the town car park and no race officials remotely interested in giving suggestions as to where we might find a space. Once we finally did find somewhere to park we were confronted by an irate local who failed to comprehend the honour associated with having the car belonging to two members of the Borders' pre-eminent running club parked outside his house. After finally parking in an even more peripheral location we ran to registration only to find massive queues to get our race number which we finally received with 5 mins to go before the start (admittedly some of the above could have been avoided if I'd got out of bed at a decent hour).

Once the race gun fired the sun shone, the birds sang and I ran a new PB (1:15:58 chip time, 1:16:00 gun time) and got 4th place with little or no pain (well at least not until the hill after 11 miles). Darin ran 1:20:15 for 11th place and Rachael 1:31:36 for 4th lady and 76th position over all. Whilst in the 10k Mike McGovern ran 36:58.

Cheers

James

Borders XC Series 2010/11 - Dates Confirmed

Final Dates now confirmed
There are 7 races in the 2010/2011 series.


Dates and venues are:

28th November @ Galashiels

12th December @ Lauder

19th December @ Peebles

9th January @ Paxton

23rd January @ Berwick

6th February @ Norham

27th February @ Dunbar (prize-giving at Hallhill Healthy Living Centre).

New web site: http://www.bordersxc.com/

All courses TBC but based on previous years are approximately 4 miles in length, and all have some form of 'local twist'...
Still plenty of time to find your winter XC running legs....good chance for a practise race pace run at the Cardrona Club Handicap trail race on Sunday 7-Nov (see separate post on blogger)

Sunday 24 October 2010

Moorfoot at Chicago Marathon

Some recent international Moorfoot activity from Paul Nichol...

I completed the Chicago Marathon on the momentous date of 10-10-10.


My time was slower than planned due to the incredible heat 85 degrees F ~ 30 degrees C. Just as well that the race started at 7.30 in the morning. The weather is known for being unpredictable ~ it snowed one year.

The atmosphere was amazing with crowds 4 deep in some places. Definitely one to to especially since all you have to is pay to get in ~ no qualification required. There are however 45,000 other people there are well so not for the claustrophobic.

Picture attached (before the race). The one after the race is not so good.

Paul..

Saturday 23 October 2010

Moorfoot Constitution

A quick thank you to those who responded and voted for the adoption of the Moorfoot Runners club constitution.

There were no objections and the document will be made available on the main moorfootrunners.co.uk website very soon...thank you.

Regards,

Kirsty
(Moorfoot Runners Secretary)

Moorfoots at Kielder Marathon

Well done to Walter 'Wattie' Barrie for completing the Kielder Trail Marathon - sounds like a new race we could have more Moorfoots at in the future...

just a short note to let you know i took part in and completed the Kielder Trail Marathon on Sunday. My time was painfully slow at 4hr 15mins which put me 407th out of about 1600 runners. The course was much tougher than I imagined it would be, with about 3,000 ft of elevation !!!. However the day was excellent with really good paths and magnificent views all the way round. If you are going to do any marathon this would be the one to do. All the best to everyone and hope to be over soon.

Bye for now, Wattie.

Moorfoot Handicap Race - Cardrona 7-November

Pic - last year at Cardrona..

James has kindly offerred again to organise a club handicap race at the Cardrona forest, over the same course as last year (approximately 10K - mixture of forest tracks and paths).

Date:          Sunday 7-November

Time:          First runners off at 10:15am (be there for 10:00am)

Location:    Cardrona Forest - meeting point (start/finish)
Junction of Kirkburn Upper Road/Castleknowe Road (park at Cardrona Village Green  - start is ~ 10 mins jog from here...

These were a very successful and popular format last year - good chance for a run and a bit of socialising....hoping again for a good club turn out.

Also, if there is sufficient interest, we will put on a Junior race over a shorter (~3Km) course - good warm up for the forthcoming Winter XC series.

Sunday 17 October 2010

Weekend Roundup

A quieter weekend for races this week....

Colin Williams was competing at the Men's Health 'Survivial of the Fittest' urban assault race in Edinburgh, coming homne in a creditable 115th place in 49:04 - not bad for a 10K with lots of time consuming obstacles.

Jedburgh 10K and Half Marathon coming up at the end of the month (31-Oct), Tinto Hill Race on 13-Nov and then thye Borders XC series starting sometime in November also, so lot's of races coming up....

Monday 11 October 2010

Moorfoots at the Skyline

Several Moorfoots, fresh from their Manor hill race exploits the day before, took on the classic Pentland Skyline race on the Sunday, and by default entered themselves into the 'Man-Or Mouse' competition.

The murky, low cloud conditions of the previous few days remained, so some navigational challenges no doubt over the complex Pentland geography.

Top Moorfoot was James in 2:47, good enough for a top10 placing (9th).

Wull came in just outside the three hour mark (3:06) with Julia (3:26) and Rachael (3:49) bringing home the colours.

Top 'Mouse' went to hill running legend Angela Mudge (who set a new record at Manor the previous day), but closely pursued by Moorfoots' James Britton who was 'pipped' by a mere 4 mins over the combined two race times.

Moorfoots at Manor

Lots of alliteration opportunities here....

"Moorfoot Mike masters the Manor"...or "Many Moorfoots make merry at Manor"....but I digress...

Mike Reid, of the Moorfoots, won at the Manor Hill race (70:32) , holding off previous winner Brian Marshall of HELP in a closely fought battle over the 10 mile course - a first race win for Mike  - well done !

The Moorfoot massif were out in numbers, in one of the largest club turn outs of the year, with eleven seniors and three juniors taking part in the races.

Some very close racing and lots of Moorfoots in the prizes !

Good support too from Johnny and Esme, the Hobbs' girls and Mike P. at the finish....

Full results here

Johnny's photos here..

Monday 4 October 2010

Moorfoot Constitution

All senior club members should now have received an email from the Club Secretary with the proposed Moorfoot Runners club constitution.

Please can you ensure that you reply with your support/objection/questions to the Club Secretary by Friday 15-October.

Weekend Round Up

More Moorfoots in action again this week....

Wull was running the inaugral Kilomathon, recording a very strong 1:41 (3:50 min Kms !!!) for the 26.2Km (Marathon length but in Kms rather than miles...), for 9th place and first V40.



At The Ben Venue Hill race, Russell took top V50 honours on a tough wet and muddy course with a time of 1:30 and 16th place; Julia, looked to have had a 'tough day at the office' coming home in 1:50 for 70th place.

Other news...

The Scottish Junior Hill Running League final results were announced, with Scout and Alex recording a Moorfoot one-two in the Girls U19 category - well done both !

And last, but not least, more Moorfoot babies.....congratulations to Aegir and Laura on the birth of twins 'Otto' and 'Anna'...