Moorfoots at Borders XC Kelso 2012

Kelso..?
Yes - Norham's leg was hosted in the grounds of Floor's Castle, which proved to be an excellent venue.

The course took in the wide open spaces in front of the castle, including some horse trialling obstacles, and with a hard overnight frost, clear blue skys and wall to wall sunshine, it was a fitting end to this season's Borders XC series.

Mike Reid (20:38) took honours on the day, and secured the Men's Senior title, but had to relinquish the overall series win to Dunbar's Andrew Crichton (who still runs as an U20).

Colin Williams rounded off a strong series with a fine 10th place (22:38), and Kenny's 26th (23:53) helped his overall series positioning.
Ian Munro "(the invisible man - "missing from results ? ), Russell Anderson (24:59) and Brian Hood (29:09) were next home ahead of Alan Strain (34:10) and Debby Hardie (34:49).

Biggest cheer of the day was for Gergor Nicholson, making a rare appearance in the world of off-track endurance running, who completed the course in 35:12, showing some deft skills on the horse trialling obstacles - a frustrated steeple chaser..??

Is it a bird, is it a plane...
Gregor gets some 'air' at Kelso

140 finishers for this final event of the series.....get your trial shoes/spikes cleaned and out away for the winter, but only 8 months to go until we start it all over again in October.

Plenty of local trail and road races to keep you busy over the Spring and Summer months - watch the blogger for inspiration.....and keep on running....!

Results here...

Moorfoots at Carnethy5 2012



Sarah on one of the rare 'flat bit's of the Carnethy5
Photo courtesy of Bob Marshall

A big Moorfoot contingent at this years Carnethy5, including a few 'first timers'. Conditions were good for February - calm, boggy lower down but icy on the tops, and very slippery on the descents...A record field too, with over 500 finishers...

It was the Moorfoot ladies who were the stars, in a race where for the first time (according to the Carnethy 'stato'), there were four ladies under the hour mark - a strong field.

In amongst this 'female fast four' was Moorfoot Sarah McCormack, whose time of 58:42 claimed second place in the female category, second only to the legendary Angela Mudge.

Scout Adkin's first full senior race was also an attention grabber - 1:01:33 6th lady and 1st FJ - also taking a few Moorfoor male scalps !!!

Not to be outdone, Julia also managed to slash a full four minutes off her previous Carnethy5 PB, and her 1:11:27 was good enough to secure an overall third place for the Moorfoot Ladies Team.

The 'blokes' did OK too...

Mike Reid was first Moorfoot home (56:16 27th) for a top 30 placing, with Tom Hobbs keeping him under pressure for most of the race (57:30, 31st).

Colin Williams was doing his first Carnethy - his 1:02:37 (76th) was a good opening account, but he felt he should have been faster. Russell Anderson was back on his favourite hilly terrain, and showed that he is coming back to form with his 1:04:47 (98th) securing a top 100 finish.

Mike, Tom, Colin and Russell's times secured 5th place for the Moorfoot Male team - well done !

Kenny (1:08:13 145th), Eddie (1:09:22 159th) and Michael McCormark (1:11:23 187th; Sarah's dad, first run in a Moorfoot vest) had solid runs. Brian Hood brought the team home with his 1:30:09 (438th)

Full results here...

Bob Marshall's photo's here...

Moorfoots at Forfar Half Marathon 2012

James ignoring the speed limit as he tries to stay with the leaders

James is too modest to hail this but he managed 3rd place in Forfar offroad half marathon on Sunday and Rachel had a good run to.

Dates for your Diary

Moorfoot AGM Friday, 9-March, Country Hotel Peebles (7:30pm)

Gypsy Glen Hill Race, Wednesday 16-May, The Gytes, Peebles (7:00pm)

Moorfoot Beltane 10K Trail Race, Sunday 17-June, The Gytes, Peebles (12:00 noon)

Hope to see as many members at the AGM, for a quick run through the formalities and then a wee social evening of drinks and blether.

Lots of advance notice of the trail race date - as ever, looking for volunteers to step forward and offer their assistance in whatever way they can. Would be good to see some new faces getting involved in the preparations and the all important on-the-day duties....more details to follow soon....

BUCS Cross-Country Champs in Cardiff

Sarah McCormack and Scout Adkin warmed up for Carnethy with good runs at the BUCS Cross-Country Champs in Cardiff on Saturday 4th. The 7.4km dead-flat course was rock solid. In a mammoth field of 357 runners Sarah (“I should have worn spikes”) skidded round the corners in her trail shoes to finish an excellent 14th in 25.20. Scout (“I should have worn my trail shoes”) found it hard and sore in spikes but had a good run for 67th in 27.10. More importantly both seem fit and well going into Carnethy which, as long as she recovers from the Cardiff/Aberdeen minibus journey, is Scout’s first real test in the senior ranks.