Tuesday 28 June 2011

Moorfoots at Eildons Hill Race

Over two hundered finishers this year, with the race being an SHR Championship counter.
Last year's winner Mike McG had some stiff competion this year, managing to take over a minute off last years time finishing in 18th place (31:35), slightly ahead of Darin (31:46) in 20th.

There was tough competion for the ladies too, with Sarah coming home in 36:23 for 5th lady, and Alex Campbell taking 5th F23 in 41:13.

Lairig Ghru Race - Sunday 26th June

I only entered the Lairig Ghru race the week before as I've always fancied travelling this route and I thought that I would be able to cover the distance Ok considering all the marathon training I did earlier this year, and this proved to be the case.

The race runs 27 miles from Braemar to Aviemore and has 2100 feet of ascent. After all the road running I've been doing I found the tricky bit was tackling the very very rough ground in the middle 7 miles or so when you are actually in the pass. I was totally unprepared mentally for how rocky it was with some sections where you are literally scurrying through boulder fields with no sign of a path. I came a cropper too on the descent when I tripped but got away with cuts and bruises and it didn't slow me down too much. When it finally flattened out a bit and I hit the forest trail I started to crank it a bit and must have passed about 7 runners in the last few miles.

I think I came 25th (the results aren't out yet) out of the 151 starters in a time of 3h53, the winner covering the course in 3h16. It was a really wild and beautiful run and I think I'd like to do the course again but not as a race so I can actually look up now and then to take in the views, instead of constantly staring at the rocks you are trying not to trip over on!! Cheers, Colin

* See me modelling my new Moorfoot T Shirt in the photo!

Monday 20 June 2011

Moorfoot Runners Beltane 10K Trail Race 2011

H - B - T !!! Steve Cairns in  full flight at the finish...
A slightly soggier affair than previous years, but the muddy bits did not seem to deter almost 100 runners in the main 10K trail race, who all completed the course before the real rain started in the afternoon.

Steve Cairns was again 'untouchable' with a fine performance ( 35:19) to take this year's honours, and in doing so actually taking 50 secs off his previous trail race time and setting a new course record...

Local running legend Susan Ridley had some 'young pretenders' on her heels but was again too strong for the challengers, coming home first lady in 41:26 and another course record....

Moorfoots won the first male team (Mike McG, Darin, Ian Munro), and also picked up the first ladies team (Scout, Carol Moss, Alex Campbell), so a great day all round for the Moorfoots.

The Junior 3K and Fun Run races were also a hit - this year, for the first time we split the race into 'mini juniors' and 'big yin juniors', although we had many mini's who wanted to run the full 3K distance.
More than forty runners participated with Moorfoot Jacob Adkin comfortably winning first 'big yin junior' boy and fellow Moorfoot  Mairi Wallace taking the 'big yin junior' girl prize.

Full 10K Trail Race results here...

A big thank you to all the runners who took part.....

Another big thank you to all the helpers on the day without whom hosting this event would not be possible.
We have received many complements from runners on how much they enjoyed the race and how well looked after they were....

Right, now to getting the Moorfoot Gazeebo dried out....

Moorfoot Ladies in the News

Congratulations to Sarah in winning the Irish Hill racing selection race, and now looking like she will be joining Scout in Turkey for the European Hill Running Championships, sporting the colours of the Emerald Isle....

Back home in Scotland, the SHR 'Bog & Burn' mid-week series has completed five races with Julia leading the Ladies...

Come on chaps, time to raise our game....

Weekend Round Up

There were other races on this weekend apart from a popular local trail race...

Julia was over on Arran on Saturday competing in the Glen Rosa Horseshoe hill race, picking up a 3rd place in the Ladies...

Results here...

While on Sunday, a gaggle of Moorfoots were in Edinburgh taking team honours in the Seven Hills

Mike (7th place), Wull (16th place) and James (14th place) picked up the team prize at the 7 Hills.

7-Hills 2011 Male team winners - with their prizes...or are these fish suppers ?
 Rachael also set a new PB in 2:21 (8th lady).

Full results at the attached:-

http://www.seven-hills.org.uk/results.asp

Friday 17 June 2011

Countdown to Moorfoot Runners Beltane 10K Trail Race

...with a couple of days to go until race day (Sun 19-June), please find below a short summary of the key timings for the day - all activities below centred around the Gytes Leisure Centre Peebles...

0830     the early shift - start course marking and setup
1000     registration starts
1100     marshals meeting and briefing
1130     junior 3K fun run
1145     registration closes
1200    Beltane 10K Trail Race starts
1315    last runners in hopefully...
1330    refreshments available
1345    prize giving
1400    final tidy up
1430   all over for another year.....

We are still looking for helpers on the day....if you can spare a couple of hours, please report to the Gytes just before 1100 for the marshals' briefing....

Many thanks.....

Monday 13 June 2011

Great Britain Call-up for Moorfoot Scout

She may be a vegetarian but a mountain of Turkey awaits Scout Adkin who slogged out a convincing victory in the UK Athletics Uphill Euro-Trial Race near Keswick on Sunday, hence guaranteeing her selection for the GB U20 team for the European Mountain Running Championships in Turkey in July.

 Scout was neck and neck with Ffion Price from Wales for most of the course over 4km and 400m climb on the slopes of Lattrigg and Skiddaw. But even Price, the 2010 World Youth Mountain Challenge winner and 2011 Welsh Cross-Country Champion, could not live with the relentless pace set by her Moorfoot rival on the last grueling 500m section and Scout drew clear for a clear victory with the rest of the field spread-eagled behind.

The European Championships alternate between uphill only courses and up/down courses. This was Scout’s first taste of uphill only racing but she will head for Bursa in Turkey on 10 July knowing she is well suited to the tough physical and mental test which uphill racing entails.

Gregor

Sunday 12 June 2011

Weekend Round Up

A busy time of year for the Mootfoot multi-sportsters....

A wet day !
Darin (1st MV40) and Mike  (2nd MV40) were winning prizes at the Trapain Law Hill Race on Saturday in East Lothian (Results here......)

Kenny, Tom, James, Eddy, Rhoda, Johnnie - were all participating in the Tweedlove Glentress7 mountain bike enduro (how many laps of the ~11Km course can you do in 7 hours).
Some fantastic feats of cycling endurance as the rains came after an hour or so and the challenging but still dry at that point course turned to 'custard'...possibly the muddiest event of the year so far...

Tom - solo, 8 laps - the man is a metronome, lapping like a machine...
Eddie - solo, 8 laps - overcame major tyre and puncture problems in lap one to still complete 8 laps - awesome...
Johnnie - solo, 4 laps  - big 'stack' over the handle bars in lap four and retired injured...
Rhoda/Gordon - pairs, 6 laps - when we do the running and swimming bit ?
James/Kenny - pairs, 8 laps - James broke a bit off his bike on lap 3 so had a long push back to transition , but the team solidered on to complete a respectable lap count (phew - if James had been any faster, I might have had to go back out for an extra lap at the end...!)

Friday 10 June 2011

Moorfoots at Yetholm Hill Race

A championship race this year, so much bigger field (189 finishers), but with a reduced Moorfoot partipation due to injuries and other commitments...

A top20 placing for Darin (19th), 2nd Lady for Sarah (36th but unfiortunately picking up an injury) and a course best time for Julia (89th).

Full Results here...

Moorfoot Win at Cort-ma-Law Hill Race

Well done to Julia for a win the the Ladies' category at the mid week Cort-Ma -Law hill race north of Glasgow in the Campsie Hills

Results here...

Friday 3 June 2011

Helpers Required for Moorfoot Runners Beltane 10K Trail Race

Two weeks to go until our annual Beltane 10K on 19-June hosted by the Moorfoot Runners - a trail race again this year on the popular Tweedside mult-terrain and traffic free course.

Full details on our website here...

As ever, we require as many club members as possible to assist on the day with various admin, timekeeping, marshalling,  etc. duties. The more help we have, the easier and smoother running the day is for everyone...

Work starts on the day from ~8:00am marking out the course and is normally finished by 3:00am following the prize giving and tidying up. If you are available for all of this, great - but there will be plenty of jobs to do, particuraly marshalling between 11:00am and 1:30pm if your availability is more limited.

Please confirm your availability to help out to kg.davidsonATbtinternet.com (replace the AT with an @)

The question arises every year about whether club members can run in their own race....the general guideline is that your first priority is to support the hosting and running of the race; however, if you do want to run, we would look for you to provide a family member or friend to help out with duties on the day.

Regards....

Kenny

Moorfoots at Broughton Heights Hill Race (Inter Counties)

Results

A top qulaity field for this Inter Counties hill race at Broughton, taking in some familiar and unfamiliar aspects of local nemesis hill 'Trahenna'.

The quality fo the field was such that there were no Moorfoots in the Top 50, but some strong runs all the same...

Darin recording a rare win over Mike Reid, with Sarah nipping at their heels just a minute or so back.
Another strong performance from Julia and good run from Brian Hood.