Scout Adkin indepth article in Scottish Athletics Magazine

Fantastic article giving insight into the recent achievements of Scout, and the challenges of getting to that pinnacle, with major references to the club, brother Jacob, and first coach Gregor.

Moorfoot Festive Handicap, Innerleithen - Sunday 19th Dec, 9.30am

The  Moorfoot Festive Handicap will be at Innerleithen on Sunday 19 December, starts from 9.30am. Again the aim is a bit of fun and to make some space for Christmas indulgence! Refreshments provided free to club members - a hot/cold drink and a tray bake - from the Innerleithen Golf Course cafe.

I've checked the route and miraculously it has escaped the effects of Storm Arwen.

Start will be about 300m up the forest track from the Innerleithen Golf Course, which is about 1 mile north of the town on Leithen Road / the B709, postcode EH44 6HZ

The Innerleithen Golf Club has very kindly agreed to allow us to use part its carpark as shown at the link  https://goo.gl/maps/5BVHrwQuVYkS2T9Z7 The exact number of cars that can park there will be confirmed as it depends on use by the golf club, but we will easily exceed the number of spaces that we can use in the carpark. Therefore use of the golf club car park is initially reserved for those bringing Juniors, and those who have young family in tow.

If driving Seniors are expected park away and use the last bit as a warm up on foot. There is space for about 8 cars at the cauld (weir) about 500m south of the golf club although this is often well used by MTBers, and there is space for about 10 cars in the layby in an old quarry about 1km north of the golf club about 200m passed the cattle grid and round the bend, as well as other places in the town.

Of course the Tweed valley bike path is an excellent link for those cycling and minimising their carbon footprint!

The great news is that the café in Golf Club house 'Naomi's kitchen' https://www.facebook.com/Naomiskitcheninnerleithen/, will be open and serving. Hot drinks and breakfast rolls will be on sale from 9.30am. The Moorfoot club has arranged to cover the cost of runners basic refreshments afterwards, a tray bake each and juice for juniors and tea/coffee for seniors. Of course there is more available but you will need to cover the cost if you want more.  Toilets are also available in the club house.   If using the golf clubhouse, whether for toilets or refreshments, usual COVID protocols for a cafe apply. There are outdoor seats too.

Please let me know if you are thinking of attending colin.m.williams@talk21.com. Also I could do with a marshal or two if you are not up for a run, but can get by without as I will mark the route.

Be aware if serious winter conditions occur then we may have to cancel but I will communicate that via email/facebook although the long range forecast suggests it will be OK.

Report from last year can be found here: http://moorfootrunners.blogspot.com/2020/12/moorfoot-festive-run-results.html

Event details

Senior Handicap Run

The handicap is runners aged 16 +

Over half the course is on the hard forest tracks, but there are sections of soft, muddy and uneven paths so shoes with proper grip are essential. Be prepared for getting wet feet.

The course is 4.5 mile / 7.3km with 1000ft / 300m climb, almost all in the first 2 miles (one of those ‘surely it can't get steeper’ climbs which then does!) shown here: https://www.strava.com/activities/4424773132

The course will be marked with tape and/or arrowed.

The first runner will be off on or around 9:30am, and last off before 10am depending on the handicapping, which will be based on runners current 10km ‘race pace’. I will use the results from last year to set the handicaps for those coming but if you didn’t do that one please let me know your current 10km time and I will estimate.

If you plan to attend, or even thinking about it please email me at the address above. Also let me know if you have a preference for tea or coffee.

Junior trail run

All the juniors will start together at 9.30am so think about arriving from 9am

Both the Under 12 (approx. 1 mile/1.6km, 100 feet/ 30m ascent) and Under 16 (approx. 2 mile/ 3.2km, 200 feet/ 60m ascent) runs will be a straight forward out and back trail run on hard forest tracks, shown on the route map below.  Both these routes will have marshals on them so no one will get lost (we hope).

Anyone interested please let Gregor Nicholson and me know on the email above.

Ages are as at 31.8.20 (consistent with the XC season). Minimum age 9 on the day. 16+ run with the seniors.

Junior Route

Senior Route

Senior Route Profile

Moorfoot Runners Festive Feed, Drinks and 'Awards', Tuesday 7th December, 7pm Crown Hotel, Peebles

You are all invited for Christmas food and drinks on Tuesday 7 December at 7.00pm at the Crown Hotel, 54 High St, Peebles EH45 8SW

As everyone's diary fills up so much at this time of year we have gone for the first Tuesday in December - obviously its a week night so it won't be too raucous.
The plan is that we'll have a slightly shorter Tuesday night training session at the one-off time of 5.30pm for those that can make it, so no need to miss out on your interval fix! There will be just enough time to pop home or the Gytes and get changed and freshened up.

We had a good time last time. https://moorfootrunners.blogspot.com/2019/12/christmas-meal-and-award-for.html

We will need to pre-order due to the size. Please let me know if you would like to come, by filling in the Doodle Poll https://doodle.com/poll/mpefcmp8772bypuw or contacting me, Colin Williams, directly.

We look forward to a good evening and it would be nice to see you.

Festive Menu

Normal Menu

Lauder Cross Country report - Borders Series Round 1 2021-22

The first round of the 2021-22 Borders Cross Country series was on Sunday at Lauder. It was a great turnout on a breezy day with 4 juniors and 19 seniors taking part so well done all. Most of the seniors are in the photo below. 

The organising club Lauderdale Limpers did a superb job and it was seemlessly organised, along with sun and lots of mud for good measure. Here's what the Limper's said:

Thank you to all our runners today and I hope you enjoyed our Cross Country Course at Lauder. Could not happen without our amazing group of volunteers too many to mention but you know who you are.   The sun shone and Bonnie Lauderdale was amazing. Cherry on the top was a fine victory for local lad Marc Wilkinson.  Looking forward to rhe rest of the Borders XC Series.

All the results can be found here: https://www.webscorer.com/bordersxc

Well done juniors Shaun Pyman, Luke Grieve, Connor Quinn, and Ciara Quinn.

In the senior race the members are summarised:

12	Milan Misak	MS	Male	0:29:16
21	Colin Williams	M40+	Male	0:30:47
26	Daniel Lavin	MS	Male	0:31:27
27	Kobe Stevens	MS	Male	0:31:30
60	David Waldie	M40+	Male	0:34:15
80	Dean Carr	M40+	Male	0:35:33
83	Martin Quirke	M40+	Male	0:35:42
104	Gillian Carr	F40+	Female	0:37:01
110	Carol Moss	F50+	Female	0:37:09
111	Jennifer Misak	F40+	Female	0:37:20
115	Alan Elder	M50+	Male	0:37:40
117	Rosie Shankey	FS	Female	0:37:51
143	Mike Goddard	M70+	Male	0:39:33
161	Philip Morrison	M40+	Male	0:40:16
163	Katie Walling	FS	Female	0:40:20
170	Victoria Morrison	F40+	Female	0:40:52
180	Amy Shekleton	FS	Female	0:41:24
198	Ian Munro	M60+	Male	0:43:04
233	Peter Caddick	M50+	Male	0:45:30
280	Mike Pearson	M70+	Male	0:57:58

The team rankings after the first event put the Men 4th and the Women 6th so great to see if we can maintain the excellent intial turnout and continue the strong showing over the series. You need to do a minimum 4 races out of the 8 to get a series placing, and the first 3 finishers from the club count for the team ranking.

Loads of photos here: 

https://markkinghornphotography.smugmug.com/Athletics/Lauder-XC-2021-Senior-Race/
https://markkinghornphotography.smugmug.com/Athletics/Lauder-XC-2021-Junior-Race/

A few I took:

Meanwhile on the Saturday Andy Cox had a strong run at the Tinto hill race to finish 16th out of 158 runners - great going!
http://carnethy.com/2021/11/tinto-2021-results/