Training & Race Details - April09

**UPDATED***
Note the change to 5:30pm start time for the period commencing 14-April

Aprils training and race details below.
Note the Moorfoot trail race on Sunday26th April so no club training that day as we'll all be 'huffing and puffing' up a big hill somewhere and then eating flapjacks afterwards.
I've listed a couple of races that I know Moorfooties are planning to go to, and don't forget that Sunday 12th April is Easter Sunday.....

Not on this list yet but worth highlighting is that the Three Bridges Race is Sunday 3-May, so another date to get into your diary - if you're not running it, it would be good to see you out cheering on the 'blue & red' shorts (and vests...:>)

Tues 31-Mar Innerleithen (Hall St) 5:00pm Intervals & Speed Work

Thrs 2-Apr Innerleithen (Hall St) 5:00pm Intervals & Speed Work

Sat 4-April - Dunbar 10K Boundary Race 11:00am
Sun 5-Apr Peebles Gytes 10:00am Long steady run (1hr +)

Tues 7-Apr Innerleithen (Hall St) 5:00pm Intervals & Speed Work

Thrs 9-Apr Innerleithen (Hall St) 5:00pm Intervals & Speed Work

Sun 12-Apr Cardrona (Village Hall) 10:00am Long steady run (1hr +) ** Easter Sunday **

Tues 14-Apr Innerleithen (Hall St) 5:30pm Intervals & Speed Work

Thrs 16-Apr Innerleithen (Hall St) 5:30pm Intervals & Speed Work

Sun 19-Apr Innerleithen (Hall St) 10:00am Long steady run (1hr +)
Also Gala Harriers 10K 11:00am

Tues 21-Apr Innerleithen (Hall St) 5:30pm Intervals & Speed Work

Thrs 23-Apr Innerleithen (Hall St) 5:30pm Intervals & Speed Work

Sun 26-Apr Moorfoot Trail Race (Glentress) - more details to follow...

Tues 30-Apr Innerleithen (Hall St) 5:30pm Intervals & Speed Work

Five Sundays in a Month....

A bit of confusion in March with five Sundays appearing in the calendar and no clear understanding of where we meet on the fifth Sunday...it was left as a TBC....

Some people took it as a rest weekend, others did there own thing on the Saturday and did we have anyone at Grangemouth for the 'Round the Houses 10K'..?

So, apologies - next month with five Sundays is May (the fifth Sunday is 31-May), so we'll ensure we get it right for then....

Carnethy5 on BBC Adventure Show - Sunday 5-April

The Carnethy5 Hill Race from February this year, featuring Mike McGovern, Russell Anderson, Wull Hynd and other Moorfooties, was covered by the BBC Adventure show and now confirmed to be broadcast on Sunday 5-April (BBC2 6:30pm)

Set your Sky boxes, VCRs or book your viewing slot with the family...(fortunately the 'Strictly Come Dancing' season is over, so I may have an outside chance of watching it in my house...)


More details on BBC website

Moorfoots at Chapelgill Hill Race

Three Moorfoots were involved in the Chapelgill Race near Broughton on Saturday.

Ian Nimmo braved the cold wind as summit marshal and photographed the runners. Scout Adkin finished 2nd woman only a few seconds behind Eilidh Wardlaw, having beaten her easily on the ascent. I finished 17th, also losing time on the descent from 12th placed at the summit.

Cheers...

Russell

More details at SHR website

Moorfoot Runners Glentress Trail Race - Sunday 26th April

Following the success of the club's inaugral Cardrona Trail Race, the next leg in the Series is now confirmed for Sunday 26th April, venue Glentress.

Exact route and starting location to be confirmed but there have been murmurs about 'the radio mast', and perhaps starting at Soonhope (just up from the Hydro stables on the outskirts of Peebles) such that you don't have to pay £3 to park at Glentress.

'Oaty flapjacks' will be back again by popular demand too....

The turn-out and support at Cardrona was great - let's see if we can match this again.....if you have any suggestions or comments about race format, handicapping, etc. drop a 'Comment' at the foot of this post on the blogger....

Moorfoots at Alloa Half Marathon

Five Moorfoots made the journey through to Clackmananshire on Sunday for the Alloa Half Marathon. The benign conditions of last week were replaced by a somewhat overcast day with a strong westerly wind which played it part in the race, requiring some 'canny' drafting tactics in the long straight along the foot of the Ochills between miles five and ten.

First home, was Wull Hynd in a time of 1hr 17mins. This was Wull's second Half marathon in two weekends, having run the Meadows Charity event last weekend in a 'tu-tu' in a time only one minute slower than his Alloa time.

The ever improving Aegir Maciver came home next in 1hr 26mins, removing a huge nine full minutes from his previous Half Marathon best at Jedburgh in 2008. (we told you the new Moorfoot 'racer' shorts were fast....)

Kenny Davidson put in a solid shift with 1hr 27mins; Steve Martin was a bit below par at 1hr 33mins; Julia Conner though found the course and conditions to her liking and despite recent fatigue still managed an excellent 1hr 36mins.

Final times at the race website

Moorfoots at the Traquair Mighty Deerstalker

Darin Dougal , Mike McGovern and Colin Williams joined another ~1200 runners in the local Mighty Deerstalker 'adventure' race at Traquair on Saturday evening.

Conditions were near perfect (certainly for the spectators) as 'roving reporter' arrived at the 'pond' next to the Innerlethen mountain bike car park only to see the slowest of the 1200 pack disappear into the forest and miss the spectable of the pond crossing.

After an ascent and descent of Caddonbank, the lead runners reappeared at the foot of the Leithen Burn, where Darin was up to third place and Mike only a few minutes behind; Colin appeared shortly afterwards well up the race and certianly in the top 20.

After ascending Pirn Craig, some scree traversing, more ascent/descent, some further river wading and a bit of river bank single track, the runners were back at the Innerleithen Bridge for the double drainage tunnel submersion (waste deep water, muddy bank exit) before the final mile back to Traquair House for the finish.

Don't know the final results yet but looked like a team prize (Colin, Darin and one of Colin's pals) could have been on the cards and certainly a strong showing from all of the Moorfoot participants...

Update - the Deerstalker results are out.
Darin 3rd,
Mike 7th
Colin 12th

Beltane 10K Planning Meeting

To all club members

Next meeting of Beltane 10k organizing commitee will be at Gytes Leisure Centre on Friday March 20th at 7 30pm. All club members welcome - look forward to seeing you all there.

Cheers Dave

Moorfoot Runner on the TV...

Eagle eyed viewers of 'Monty Hall's Great Escape' (BBC2, Sun 9:00am) may have noticed that this weeks episode showed Monty Hall taking part in the 2008 Glamaig Hill Race on Skye - prominant as ever was the Moorfoot vest, worn by one Russell Anderson.....

Moorfoot Runners Cardrona Trail Race - race report

Pic - New Moorfoot kit in action at Cardrona

The first of the Moorfoot Runners' trail race series got off to a very successful start with 22 runners taking on the challenging course around Cardrona Forest course.

Organisers James and Rachael had been out the day before marking the 6.5 mile course with flour, which despite the gale force winds during Saturday had remained in place for the much more benign conditions the runners experienced on the Sunday race day.

Runners were assigned handicapped start times based on approximate 10K road race times - the fastest runner (James) starting 26 mins behind the first runners off.

Racing proved to be quite close with the first three runners home being separated by only 30 seconds, and the top ten spread across a relatively narrow 2:30 minutes.

1st Place - Russell

2nd Place - Alison

3rd Place - Colin

Full race time and results - click here

All in all, a very successful event, well supported by the club....a big thanks to James for organising.

Thanks also to Hilary for doing the time keeping, Kirsty for the 'flap-jacks', George for the photos (click here to see the full set on Flikr) and to our guest runners for taking part.

Here's looking forward to the Glentress leg - date to be confirmed and details will be posted on the Blogger.

Moorfoot Club Trail Race - Cardrona 15-March

Updated: - runners and riders with final start times (13-March) now confirmed - remember to give yourself ~15mins to get from the Cardrona Village Hall to the start line in the forest, and bring a jacket to keep warm before and after.

Mike P 10:00:00
Mrs McLeod 10:07:12
Jock 10:07:12
Alison 10:07:12
Dave 10:08:48
Richard 10:08:48
Rhoda 10:12:00
Andrew 10:13:30
Trevor 10:14:00
Rachael 10:15:00
Mick 10:15:36
Paul 10:15:36
Julia 10:16:48
Johnny 10:18:36
Russell 10:19:12
Colin 10:20:24
Kenny 10:20:24
Aegir 10:20:24
Mark 10:21:00
Steve 10:22:48
Darin 10:24:48
Mike M 10:24:48
James 10:26:00


The first of the club handicap trail races organised by James Britton is at Cardrona on Sunday 15-March, meeting at Cardrona Village Hall at 9:45am; the start line is about 10 mins warmup from here.
(See earlier post - click here)

Please indicate if you are planning to participate by posting a 'Comment'* providing your name and a fairly recent 10K time such that James can work out your handicap in advance.
(Those who have run in the recent Borders XC series will have their handicaps calculated from their race times)

It's a fun event, so let's see if we can get a good turn-out and make it a good social event as well as a good run.
The distance is about 6 miles and the course is mainly on the forest roads, so there are no special footwear requirements (standard road trainers will be fine)

There are two further races planned, probably in May (Glentress ?) and June (John Buchan Way ?), so keep watching the blogger for more details.

* Posting a Comments - remember to provide your name by highlighting the Name/URL radio button; comments come to the Webmaster for 'moderation' before being published, so you may see a slight delay from the time you write the comment until it appears on the blogger

Moorfoots at the Kielder Borderer

Keilder Borderer 2009
The course is 17 miles with approximately 3000ft of climbing and carries the warning that owing to the severity of the event (distance, terrain and weather conditions), the organisers strongly recommend that only experienced persons should consider entering.

45 runners braved the biting wind, sleet, hail and snow and the boggy conditions to take part in the 2009 Borderer.

James Britton came in third in 3hrs 16, and was just two mins behind the winner and said:

"it was a tough day out. I lost loads of time by not knowing the best lines, I'll try and do a recce before next years race. "

More details here: http://ce-gs09.ncl.ac.uk/kielder/

(Note from the Webmaster - well done James - you're obviously in good form; we'll discuss how this affects you handicap for Sunday's Cardrona trail race and get back to you....)

Beltane 10K and Junior 3K Road Races 14-June-2009 (12:00 noon start time)

Details now on the Moorfootrunners.co.uk website including downloadable entry form for 10K and Junior 3K races.

***Runners World online entry now available...***

Start emailing your non-Moorfoot running pals - let's make 2009 a record entry...

Volunteers as ever required on the day for the various tasks which need done to make the race a successful event. Let Dave Wardman know your availability....

Come o'er the Hills tae Peebles (or Innerleithen)

Updated:
I've postponed my plan to run the Southern Upland route at the end of the month. I'm going to revert to my original plan to run from Moffat to Peebles over the hills, sometime in June or July, when the days are longer and the weather more predictable.Instead, I've plotted a route from Peebles that goes in a circle, clockwise from the Gytes, up Gypsy Glen, over Birkscairn, Stake Law, Dun Rig, Glenrath Heights, Middle Hill, Hundleshope Heights, Stob Law, Canada Hill and back over Cademuir.It's 18 miles and about 1100m of ascent. I'm planning on doing it on Saturday the 28th of March.

I'm guessing that it'll be about 3 to 3.5 hours, depending on the weather. Everyone is more than welcome to join me. I was up there today and it was a bit muddy in places and the wind was biting, so fell shoes and wind or waterproofs are probably going to be the order of the day.

Map of route here

Cheers, Johnny



(Use the 'Comments' at the foot of the post to flag your interest....)

Moorfoots at High Cup Nick Fell Race (near Penrith)

On Saturday I did the High Cup Nick fell race in Dufton near Penrith.

http://www.visitcumbria.com/pen/highcupnick.htm

The route sends you up the valley culminating in a short scramble before you come out on the plateau and follow the Pennine Way down and back

The results are here (I know the organiser, hence the familarity in the results.)
I came 36th out of 141 covering the 9 mile course (1,500 ft ascent) in 1hr 17.52 http://www.fellrunner.org.uk/results/race09/09_high_cup_nick.htm

It's a good race with a friendly feel - perhaps deserves a trip from a Moorfoots contingent next year?

Cheers
Colin

Moorfoots at Lasswade 10

Five Moorfoot Runners travelled to Lasswade to give the new club 'harlequin' shorts their first outing and take on the challenging Lasswade 10 mile road race route.

The first day of March was almost 'Spring-like' but there was a significant breeze which came into play on the first half of the course.

First Moorfoot home was Wull Hynd in a very impressive 58:22 to pick up 5th place, with Mike McGovern a couple of minutes back in 11th place, just failing to dip under the one hour mark at 60:24.
Aeigir Maciver ran strongly for this 67:30 and 56th place with Kenny Davidson less than a minute back on 68:22 (70th place)

Dave Wardman pulled up around the 4 mile mark with breathing difficulties but put his time to good use leafleting cars with the Beltane 10K entry forms and picking the brains of the club officials on how they manage their race.
(The Lasswade 10 is a very well run race - a very slick operation...)

The combined performances of Wull, Mike and Aeigir were good enough for third place in the team event...
(and although not an official prize, we think we won 'best dressed' team......)

Full results here

Training & Race Details - March 2009

The March training session details are outlined below:

Again, note that the sessions start fairly promptly at the times stated, so try and be there 10 mins or so in advance. Where there is a race scheduled for the Sunday, there may still be a number of runners still wanting to train, so feel free to stick an email around the club distribution list (or I can stick something on the blogger) if you want to arrange an alternative session....

Sun 1-Mar Peebles Gytes 10:00am (also Lasswade 10 mile RR)

Tues 3-Mar Innerleithen (Hall St) 5:00pm Intervals & Speed Work

Thrs 5-Mar Innerleithen (Hall St) 5:00pm Intervals & Speed Work

Sun 8-Mar Cardrona (Village Hall) 10:00am Long steady run (1hr +)

Tues 10-Mar Innerleithen (Hall St) 5:00pm Intervals & Speed Work

Thrs 12-Mar Innerleithen (Hall St) 5:00pm Intervals & Speed Work

Sun 15-Mar Cardrona Trail Race (~6 miles) – meet at Cardrona Village Hall ~9:45am for ‘handicap’ allocation - email James Britton or leave details on 'Comments' on the Blogger to confirm your participation and for your handicap to be calculated...

Tues 17-Mar Innerleithen (Hall St) 5:00pm Intervals & Speed Work

Thrs 19-Mar Innerleithen (Hall St) 5:00pm Intervals & Speed Work

Sat 21-Mar ‘The Mighty Deerstalker’ Race at Traquair
Sun 22-Mar Alloa Half Marathon RR
Sun 22-Mar Walkerburn (Bridge) 10:00am Long steady run (1hr +)

Tues 24-Mar Innerleithen (Hall St) 5:00pm Intervals & Speed Work

Thrs 26-Mar Innerleithen (Hall St) 5:00pm Intervals & Speed Work

Sun 29-Mar TBC…
(Grangemouth ‘Round the Houses 10K or social run St Mary’s Loch to Traquair..?)