Monday 29 February 2016

U13 Boys get their trophy and medals in the end

Thanks to Ally Love, Events Manager at Scottish Athletics, for making it down to Peebles on Monday evening to The Gytes to present the National XC U13 Boys trophy and gold medals to the winning Moorfoot team. Then it was quickly back to the grind of an indoor conditioning session!
Photo thanks to David Cheskin.

L to R: Ally Love, Michael, Ethan, Maxwell and Corran
There was also a surprise message for them all the way from the USA.

That is a fantastic result for the Moorfoot team and the two young men from West Linton.
Ethan, Corran, Michael and Maxwell, congratulations on such a great achievement this weekend at the Scottish Championships.
I am very proud of you all for your hard work at training and in races. Continue to do your best every single day and you can all achieve anything that you put your mind to.
Enjoy being Scottish Champions.
Hopefully see you soon,
Chris O’Hare 

Sunday 28 February 2016

High Terrain Events Glentress Trail Races 2015

All races should be this much fun !!
This was the first year of the 'High Terrain Events' Glentress Trail Races, and despite some relatively low key publicity, the three races distances (10K, 20K. 40K) sold out very quickly. A beautiful sunny day, but well below zero at the start, ground like concrete and some icy bits higher up on the longer courses...fast but tricky conditions.

Moorfoot and other local runners were well represented, with the longer distances being particularly popular over the popular Glentress trails.

40K (Trail Marathon) - a two lap race, with the mid point back at race HQ at the Peel Cafe. 'Hats off' to all the runners who after 20K of hilly trail running, set off back round the course for a second time. For the record, over 5000' of climbing over the two laps - one tough course....
Top two runners had a real 'barny'; neck and neck at half way, they finished at speed on lap2 within two secs of each other ! (winning time 3:11 hrs/mins)

Tom Hobbs - 4th place (1st MV50)  - 3:37 (incredible lap splits - lap2 only 4mins slower than lap1)
Colin Williams - 6th place (1st MV40)- 3:48 (great run despite feeling somewhat below par all week)
Bruce McGorum - 34th - 4:29
Carol Moss - 70th - 5:10
Katy Carrick-Anderson 115th - 6:16 (well done in completing first ever marathon..)

20K (Trail Half Marathon) - one lap of the above.
Andrew Fallas of Carnethy dominated here, winning in 1:29

Darin Dougal - 2nd place (1st MV40) - 1:36
Mike McGovern - 5th place - 1:41
Scott McDonald - 9th place - 1:46
Ian Munro - 60th - 2:10
Isabel McGorum - 81st - 2:18

10K - OK, OK....so it's the short one, but you have to run faster....

Kenny Davidson - 2nd (1st MV40) - 46:20 (that's mins and secs in case you're wondering !)
Jane Hobbs - 42nd - 69:18 (first home in the 'Hobbs' category)

Full results and race info here...

Big thanks to all the supporters on the day - very much a 'festival of running' feel to the event.
Some super photos from Katrin McDonald below....

Trail Half Marathon start
Scott showing some good form

Toro Toro Toro ! Colin barrelling down Falla Brae
Close shave with a tree !





National XC Full Report

800m to go. Ethan and Corran sit 2nd and 3rd, Forres 4th (hidden) and Chirnside 5th. (photo:Bobby Gavin)

Callendar Park in Falkirk has been the home of the Scottish National Cross-Country Championships since 2006 and it is doubtful conditions have been any better than on Saturday for the 2016 Championships. A bright calm day dawned and the early morning frost was long gone under the warming sun by the time the races got underway. The soft but perfectly run-able underfoot conditions left no excuses for the record entry of 2,295 runners across the nine races.

And what a start when the U13 Boys race over 3.2km brought team gold for the boys from Moorfoot Runners. Unfortunately a glitch in the computer system which generated the team results meant no team score was calculated for the Moorfoot team and the medal presentation went ahead before the error was noticed. As soon as the results were displayed it soon became clear that the boys should have been declared Scottish champions. Enquiries followed with senior race officials which confirmed the error, but by that time three of the team of four were already half-way home to Peebleshire!

Corran Carrick-Anderson was like a scalded cat from the gun and was up with the pace throughout. Ethan Elder, after a steady start, had closed in on the leaders by the mid-way point and then upped the tempo. Although David Addison from Corstorphine opened a good gap, Ethan and Corran were second and third going into the final switchback climb with 500m to go but with Oscar Onley from Chirnside and Ben Cameron from Forres close enough to challenge for medals. Down the long home straight Ethan battled to hold off Oscar by one second, coming home in 12 minutes 24 seconds for a fantastic silver medal. Corran was just run out of it but was still delighted with his above-form 5th place in 12.28.

So with a mere 7 points from their first two finishers, all Moorfoot eyes turned to the 200m-long home stretch to see where their next two counters would come. Michael Girdler finished fast for 26th and Maxwell Drummond kept on well for 77th, just inside the top half in a massive field of 155 finishers. All credit to Maxwell who was recruited only three weeks ago through the help of Peebles High School PE staff as the required fourth team member. To finish where he did was just as valuable to the team cause as the other three. But would the team score of 110 points be enough to secure a national medal? It was a borderline score but it transpired not only that it was good enough, it was 23 points better than Giffnock North who were initially and erroneously awarded the team gold medals before the computer glitch was noticed. SCOTTISH CHAMPIONS!!!!!!

In the U15 Girls race over 4km there were three excellent top 20 finishes for the Moorfoot girls’ East District winning team with Mairi Wallace having a strong run for 11th in 17.05, Charlotte Clare picking up a dozen or more places in the second half of the race for 18th in 17.23, and Beth Hobbs staying on well for 19th in 17.28. Unfortunately two call-offs, both very capable runners, denied the girls the required fourth team counter otherwise another team medal looked assured.  

In the U13 Girls race the Moorfoot team was again one shy of the required four runners, although this time not a threat to the team medals. Elena McGorum had her usual gutsy run for 43rd in 15.00 and Eilidh Mooney, who has shown good recent improvement, was only 15 seconds back in 49th. Charlotte Morrison gave it her all for 74th, still inside the top half of the field, in 15.40 and she knows she would have finished higher but for a couple of bouts of winter illness which have affected her training base.

Euan Hood, Moorfoot trained but racing for his track club Lasswade, was top Border runner in the U15 Boys 4km race finishing strongly for 31st in 15.33 with Craig Angus, the sole Moorfoot running, continuing his improved form for 48th in 16.04. 

The U17 and U20 Women raced together over 4.8km but with separate results recorded.  Moorfoot  trained Ailsa Innes was in the Lasswade vest in 23rd in 21.24 and Fiona Grant, who was having her first race back after a knee injury, was 43rd in 23.02. In the U20 race Sophie Collins was in her Edinburgh University colours in 17th in 21.05 and another Moorfoot trained Lasswade runner, Niamh Shaw, was 21st in 21.36.

In the U20 Men’s race over 8km Lucas Cheskin had another improved showing after his excellent Carnethy debut for 30th in 31.17.


There was just the one Moorfoot representative in both the Senior men’s and women’s races. Home for a few days from her new base in York, the remnants of a cold saw Scout Adkin a little bit under par but still top Borders runner in 27th in the senior women’s race in 33.46 for the 8km course. And finally, after a long wait – in fact too long – we had all, apart from a very loyal Ethan, packed up and left by the time he finished – Alan Elder beat 128 in the senior men's race over 12km (that's runners, not his cadence per minute). Alan was 503rd of an incredible 631 finishers and was 57th of 79 in the M50 class.
Charlotte, Mairi and Beth all smiles and rightly so

Saturday 27 February 2016

SCOTTISH XC SILVER FOR ETHAN AND TEAM GOLD FOR U13 BOYS - but a computer glitch robs them of their podium moment.

Flash news from Falkirk and today's Scottish National XC Champs where Ethan Elder stormed to individual silver and the team of Ethan, Corran Carrick-Anderson (5th), Michael Girdler (26th) and Maxwell Drummond (77th) were declared Scottish Champions after a recount. Initially the team results that were announced, and the hasty medal ceremony, did not feature the Moorfoot quartet, but once the individual results were displayed it soon became clear that the boys should have been awarded team gold. Enquiries followed with senior race officials and it transpired that a computer glitch was the cause of the Moorfoot team points not being calculated in the automatic team results.
The medals will be re-awarded. Blinkin' computers!!!  More to follow...........

Friday 19 February 2016

Ochil Relay Race - new event 24th July

Early notification of a new event this summer.

Ochils 8 Hill relay race - 24th July - starts from Alva

http://www.ochils8relay.co.uk/

Will gather names for anyone interested nearer the time:

Tuesday 16 February 2016

Carnethy 5 Hill race - 2016

Lucas Cheskin, Dave Wilson and Paul Nichol all braved some full on winter conditions at this years Carnethy 5 race.
Congratulations to Lucas who, competing in his first Carnethy 5 Hill race, finished in a very impressive time of 1:02, 3rd in the Male Junior category, 50th position overall in a top class field of nearly 500 runners.
According to the race report I received from mum Lucy (who was spotted in a bar in Majorca) conditions were "character building".  True to form Lucas managed an impressive fall on the final descent which cost him a few places (letting ex Moorfoot runner Sarah McCormack leap past).

Dave Wilson (1:13 ) and Paul Nichol (1:30) also achieved good times given the horrendous weather and underfoot conditions.
Comments from Paul:-  "I can certainly vouch for the conditions. Standing about getting freezing cold at the start wasn't helped by face planting in the first marshy ground which meant I was freezing all of the way round. Climbing seemed easier with all of the snow but the descents were treacherous because the routes were packed down by the time I got to them. Also wasn't helped by the driving snow which effectively blinded me. Having said all of that the atmosphere was great and the race was fun. Managed to avoid falling in the marsh on the way back down. An acceptable 1.30 for me. Well done Lucas."

Full race report and results
full race report

rather slippy underfoot