Boxing Day Handicap Fun Run

Having checked with the Elf in Safety early in the morning, the handicap fun run was given the thumbs up by the man with the white beard and red hoodie, but with the caveat that diddy steps were taken on any slushy downhill sections and round the corners. This seemed to suit the wee guys who were off first with a second consecutive victory going the way of Mooney offspring, Ava taking the spoils this year. An excellent scratch time of 15.45 saw her home clear first and very deserving recipient of a box of chocs (as if she needed any more at this time of year) and much sought after Moorfoot Award Winner sports bottle. Ava very kindly shared her spoils around the runners in the Peel. Completing the podium were the McKean sisters Kate, who picked up six Elf slices for second, and Olivia who got the traditional tin of hot dog sausages for third, much to mum's nutritional delight!
Bobby Mooney had a ding-dong battle up the home straight with backmarker Euan Hood who just had the legs to gain fourth, with a very late sprint, Bobby's consolation being first senior finisher and the traditional reward of a bottle of scorching hot sauce.
A record turnout of twenty four finishers - well done all. Special mention for Kai Keen who was struck by a late sausage induced stitch but showed guts (thankfully not literally) to still finish.

RESULTS
Place	Name	H'cap	Time	Scratch Time	Scratch Place
1	Ava Mooney	0.20	16.05	15.45	11
2	Kate McKean	0.00	16.35	16.35	19
3	Olivia McKean	0.10	17.36	17.26	20
4	Euan Hood	6.10	17.55	11.45	1
5	Bobby Mooney (Sen)	4.30	17.56	13.26	2
6	Fionn Hollingsbee	3.40	18.11	14.31	5
7	Danny Lancaster	3.40	18.33	14.53	7
8	Nathaniel Buckingham (Sen)	4.10	18.36	14.26	4
9	Holly Hobbs	2.50	18.38	15.48	13
10	Feargus Pearson	3.25	18.40	15.15	8
11	John Allan (Sen)	2.55	18.42	15.47	12
12	Beth Hobbs	4.30	18.52	14.22	3
13	Dave Hollingsbee (Sen)	2.55	18.54	15.59	14
14	Jake Lockyer	3.40	19.00	15.20	9
15	Madeline Collins	3.10	19.18	16.08	15
16	Eilidh Mooney	3.40	19.22	15.42	10
17	Lucie Allan (Sen)	3.10	19.28	16.18	16
18	Finlay Collins	5.00	19.34	14.34	6
19	Katie Buckingham (Sen)	3.10	19.43	16.33	17
20	Lindsay Pearson (Sen)	2.00	19.46	17.46	21
21	Megan Hobbs	3.25	19.59	16.34	18
22	Kai Keen	3.00	20.46	17.46	22
23	Sarah Keen (Sen)	2.00	20.47	18.47	24
24	Esme Minto	3.25	21.41	18.17	23

New Years Eve Club Run - Glen Estate and Loch Eddy from Innerleithen

Glen House (drone shot)

Andy Cox and Colin are organising a run at 10am on the morning of New Years Eve (31st Dec in case you are not sure!) as it falls on a Sunday this year. The run will be followed by mince pies and refreshments at Andy's house.

The run will be a low level long run to Loch Eddy in Glen Estate. It's almost 13 miles exactly from the meeting point outside No.1 Café, on the Innerleithen High Street at the junction of Traquair Road.  

The run will be about 70% on roads, 20% on hard track with about a 1 mile section of on soft ground. You will be OK to use road shoes but don't wear your racing flats! We expect the run to take up to 2.5hrs so plan accordingly. Depending on the spread of runners we can let the group split into two so all paces can be accommodated.

Glen Estate is a bit of gem and largely over looked. Here are some pics to give you a flavour:


Loch Eddy

Here is a the route from a run Andy and I did at the beginning of the year. Please note it shows 14 miles as I ran from my home, which adds a mile to the planned run.


Please let Colin know on colin.m.williams@talk21.com a few days before at latest if you intend to come so we can get enough supplies.

Moorfoot Club Hoodies - XMAS SPECIAL PRICE !!! ORDER NOW

Dear Members,

I am taking orders for Moorfoot club hoodies. These are priced at £10 for junior members (U18) and £15 for Senior members. This is subsidised by the club. It is a Russell 50/50 polycotton hoodie in red with MOORFOOT in blue on the back. It is exactly the same as the Team Borders hoodie for those juniors who already have one of them. They are reported to be popular, good quality and wash/wear well. There is the option to have your initials on the left breast if you want.

If you would like to buy a Hoodie please could you email me at moorfootclubkit@gmail.com with your size (9-10, 11-12, XS, S, M, L, XL) and the initials to go on the garment (if any) and I will place the order with Prestons (Peebles). 

For payment please could you put the correct money in an envelope with your name and order details (or alternatively you could write a cheque made out to “Fingerprint Xpress” for the correct amount) and pop it through my letterbox. I am based at:

15 Standalane View, Peebles EH45 8LS

This is within the Peebles Gait development at the end of Rosetta Road (opposite the caravan park). When you turn into the estate take the first left and follow the road all the way up. No.15 is the pink house at the end.

Preston’s won’t carry a large stock so to avoid a delivery charge, we need to order in batches of six (this could mean a slight delay for any late requests.) Orders placed with Prestons by Friday 15^th should be in before Christmas (but this can’t be guaranteed 100%). When the orders are ready I will email members who have placed an order and you can collect the hoodies directly from:

Prestons, 9 Bridgegate, Peebles, EH45 8RZ

Please note that club hoodies are only available to members at the present time.

Best Regards,

Alex Nisbet

East Silver for U17 Girls at Livvie

With the Moorfoot U17 girls having sneaked team silver at the National Short Course Champs at Kirkcaldy in November by just the one single point from Edinburgh AC, it looked on the form book to be a straight contest between the two teams again for the East District team title at a frosty Dechmont Law, Livingston on Saturday. It was three to count and with Moorfoot relying on only the three entrants against Edinburgh's seven, which included the odds-on favourite for the individual title, there was little room for slip-ups, injury or illness.

As expected, Edinburgh's Eloise Walker took individual gold with some highly impressive running, completing the undulating 5.1km course in 17.16 minutes for a resounding win, well ahead of all the U20 women who raced at the same time. First Moorfoot back was Beth Hobbs who continued her good winter form with an excellent 7th place in 19.34, just being run out of 6th in the final sprint for the line. Edinburgh's second counter was 9th and Mairi Wallace battled for 12th in 20.20.

So with two runners home each, it was sitting Edinburgh 10 points, Moorfoot 19 points, but with Charlotte Clare in sight on the home stretch just a couple of places behind Mairi. Charlotte has been our top counter so far this winter ahead of Beth and Mairi, but had been plagued by a sore throat going into the race and despite a cautious start, by the half-way point she was struggling with her breathing in the freezing air. To finish where she did in 14th in 20.36, not far behind Mairi, is testament to her courage and loyalty to her team. Could she complete nine places ahead of Edinburgh's next finisher? Unfortunately, although she finished over forty seconds ahead, only 26 of the 39 entrants ran on the day, meaning that the field had thinned out such that Edinburgh's third counter was home five places back in 19th. That was enough for Edinburgh to seal team gold by four points with the Moorfoot girls taking another silver, still an excellent result.

Earlier in the day the U13 Girls team of Esme Minto, Madeline Collins and Holly Hobbs all ran well over their 3.2km course to take 20th, 28th and 37th respectively in a field of 57, finishing 7th of the eleven complete teams. The U13 Boys team, racing over the same distance, managed 6th courtesy of Patrick Cannon (20th), Ben Allan (23rd) and Angus Carlyle (33rd). Jake Lockyer also finished fast for 42nd of the 65-strong field.

The U15 girls raced over 3.9km and Eilidh Mooney produced her best form of the winter to finish in 25th in 17.00, one place and seven seconds ahead of Charlotte Morrison. Megan Hobbs completed the team in 40th for 7th team overall.

Racing in the U17 Men's race over 6.4km Craig Angus found the effects of a recent head cold to be against him but battled to finish 28th of 42 in 24.36.

Running for Lasswade, Moorfoot trained Euan Hood was 20th in 23.42 to contribute to team silver as did Ailsa Innes and Niamh Shaw for Lasswade's U20 Women's team with their 11th and 13th place finishes in 19.48 and 20.44 respectively.

Well done all in fronting up to the challenge of Championship cross-country racing and putting your best foot forward. "Now for the indoors" I hear a few of you say!

Boxing Day Runs

The annual Moorfoot Boxing Day Runs are coming up.

Our three course Menu offers....

Run to the Mast
Seven and a bit-ish hill run up to Dunslair Heights at a sociable pace (90mins-ish) - regular stops to regroup - and back to the Glentress Peel Café for coffee/cake/a blether

Meet at Gytes Leisure Centre Peebles 9:45am for a sharp 10.00 start.
Dress accordingly for a slowish run with stops - it is often snowing on the tops - December in the hills - all runners being suitably dressed for running in the hills in winter; full body cover (inc hat and gloves) and backup warm fleece/insulated jacket in a bum bag or small back pack - you have been warned...
Should be back down at the Peel café for 11.30ish...

Handicap Fun Run

While the seniors slog up to the mast on Boxing Day, all juniors (under 9s accompanied), plus Mums and Dads looking to run off some over-indulgence, or anyone too late/not up for the mast run, are all invited to take part in a c.2mile handicap fun run on the foot/cycle/horse path Peebles to Glentress where we will meet up with the seniors in the Peel café for coffee/juice and cake(s) at about 11.30am.

 

Meet at the entrance to the old Hydro stables at the foot of Janet’s Brae ready for an 11am start, setting off at intervals, slowest first, fastest last. The finish is just before the main road opposite Glentress (with a couple of adults there to help with crossing the road.) The route can be found here http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6766898

 

Rule No.1 - Handicapper Gregor has the final say. Rule No.2 - Handicapper Gregor has the final say. Rule No.3 - don’t forget to turn left for the finishing stretch towards Glentress, otherwise you will end up in Cardrona. Rule No.4 - Organise your lift back (or you may be running back on your own). Rule No.5 - Handicapper Gregor has the final say.

 

Much sought after prizes on offer! Spare clothing etc can be left in Gregor’s car to be transported to the finish.

 

Pure Banter

For those who don't fancy the 'run' bit, just meet up at the Peel café for 1130 and join in the blethering bit...all welcome...

Christmas meal and awards

The Moorfoot Runners Christmas meal was held at the County Inn in Peebles on Tuesday evening, after the regular weekly training session. It was well attended with 20 people attending.

There were presentations for the Senior Club members in various categories:

Improver Award - Magnus Skea breaking his half marathon personal best on three times in succession in 2017 including breaking 1hr30mins for the first time,  recording 1.29.34 at Alloa, 1.28.52 at the Great North Run, and 1.27.25 at the Great Scottish Run.

Perseverance award - Paul Nichol as he's still running loads of marathons (inc London and Stirling) and recording impressive times as an older Vet 50.

The Mike McGovern Tribute Award for getting lost / TV star Award  - Lucy Colquhoun for a 7 mile detour in a race in the northern Pennines, losing her dogs for the night before a race at Cape Wrath (and missing the race) and being the star of the BB2’s Adventure Show on the 35 mile Kintyre Way Ultra Marathon winning the woman's prize and finished second overall!

Worst Preparation before a completely brutal race Award goes to Alan Elder – please read his report on August’s Glencoe Ultra Marathon but in summary it’s not that surprising that if you enter a 45 mile, 7,300 feet of climb race, and your first ever ultra marathon, 36 hours before that you may encounter some challenges, largely involving having a terrible night before being eaten by blood thirsty midgies while trying to wild camp, missing dinner and ending sleeping in the car (or trying to). http://moorfootrunners.blogspot.co.uk/2017/08/glencoe-ultra.html

Moorfoot Runners Trophy for Outstanding Performance, had a number of notable mentions -

Kenny Davidson for setting a personal best at London Marathon for 3hr 03mins and going fastest as a 50 year old than he ever had before,

Ruth McKean winning all local trail 10kms  - trail running dominance in the valley!

Andy Cox for hill running prowess – including his 3rd place for King of the Mountains for his combined time for the Snowdon, Ben Nevis and Scafell Pike races.

Andrew Dancer – eats marathons for breakfast, ultras for tea. He recorded some amazing long distance achievements this year: Bamburgh marathon, 2^nd place, sub 3hrs; Loch Ness 2hr 53; 3rd in the Dundee Running Adventure Marathon in 3.02; Glentress Trail Marathon, 3^rdplace; winner of the Dark Skies Kielder Run – 26.5 miles - in new course record 3.07; Tweed Valley Ultra (40miles), 4^th less than a minute off podium; followed up two weeks later (last Saturday) with the 5^th place in a class field at the Cheviot Goat Ultra (55 miles, in snow at times) taking 12 ½ hrs;

But the trophy winner for 2017 went to Scott McDonald who won the 5,000m Scottish Championships for 50 + (in a time of 17 mins 10 seconds), and was also fastest M50 at Great North Run, the biggest half marathon in the world, in a time of 1hr 18 mins 11secs. Fantastic performances.


2017 Award winners and mentionees, with Colin and Alan Mac as Club Secretary and President (Andy C & Ruth absent) 

 

Ian Munro's Summary from Borders XC Round 2 - Dunbar

Another chapter of the 2017 borders cross country series ticked past today. In fabulous cold winter sunshine Dunbar hosted the 2nd race of the season on the beautiful white sands at Dunbar. Run on sands and the grassed over dunes this is virtually a weather proof course. The only extra challenge today was the head wind on the return leg of the 1 lap course. 220 cold, sun-tanned heros started a course made for sustained pace - unlike Lauder, there is plenty of room on the course to pass folks. The senior race was again dominated by Eion Lennon of Carnethy - but here only 8s in front of Tom Martin of the HBT. Darin Dougal was the 1st home for the Moorfoots. The junior race was equally well supported with 112 under 16's running. A very similar set of runners brought the field home, again dominated by a 16 year old youth, chased home by a 15 year old.

Full results at
seniors - https://www.webscorer.com/race?raceid=121506&groupid=117523
Juniors - https://www.webscorer.com/race?raceid=121524

Glentress Races round up including the Tweed Valley Ultra

Lucas & Scott starting the 50km ultra

A gaggle / lots of Moorfoots were involved in the different distance trail races at Glentress over the weekend. First off at 10am on the Saturday were the 235 taking part in the trail half marathon, actually a mile short at 12.1 miles but went all the way up to the mast with 2000 feet of climb and included some technical single track too. The race was won in a time five minutes faster than last year by Stephen Feltbower 1:25:44, and he pushed all the way by ex-Moorfoot James Britton who used to live in Cardrona. Colin Williams was the first Moorfoot in 1.39:33 in seventh – a place higher than last year but a minute slower – also second M40. Tuesday night trainer Amy Alcorn had a cracking run to finish as 4th woman in 1.58.57 and only passed by third place in the descent near the end. Full results here

Nice pic of James Britton leading the climb in the half marathon

 Next up was the 10k Night Run which started at 5.30pm just as the Scotland Rugby team was getting stuck into the All Blacks at Murrayfield.

Some really good performances here with Darin Dougal taking third overall and first M40 (43:31), Mike McGovern 5^th (3^rd M40 – 45:10) and Dave Gaffney 18^th (49:08) out of the 215 taking part. Full results here

Darin and Mike tucked in behind the leader of the night 10km

Sunday morning saw the start of the inaugural Tweed Valley Ultras with a sub zero 7.30am start for the 65km/40.5 mile version, with 1574m/ 5164 feet ascent with Alan Elder and Andrew Dancer in action. Again with some stellar performances. Andrew Dancer finished 4^th overall (5:53:15 – a very impressive average pace 8:38 min / mile if you consider the distance, terrain and hills!) less than 15 mins behind the winner and only 40 seconds off the podium. Alan Elder earned a very creditable 25^th place (7:13:53) and 5^th M50, out of the field of 87 finishers. Tweed Valley Ultra 65k Results

Alan in ninja costume going well on the last stretch

The 50km (30 miles) version set off half an hour later at 8am with Lucas Cheskin and Scott MacDonald in action. Both of them set off very fast with the leader and eventual winner Ben Hamilton clocking 6.30 min/mile pace along the flat bike path miles out to Cardrona once the Glentress loop had been negotiated. They were still close together with the leader at Traquair leading up the Southern Upland Way on the Minchmoor climb when Lucas started to cramp and dropped back starting to feel the lack of miles training that injury in the preceding months had restricted. The leader then started to stretch his lead and eventually won the race in a phenomenal 3:46:36. Behind him Scott then started to feel the early fast pace and was increasingly suffering in the flat bike path return stretch from Innerleithen back to Janet’s Brae and had to walk for longer and longer periods to stop cramp. Having been in a very clear second place he was caught with less than 2.5 miles to go and then was passed by another 7 runners as he stumbled along before finishing in 4:47:22 in 9th less than ten minutes behind 2^nd place, and was almost caught by Lucas who finished in 4:49:16 (11^th). The silver lining was Scott picked up the M50 prize (by virtue of the first M50 getting the 2^nd overall prize) and Lucas now has his first ultra under his belt and knows what to expect next time. Tweed Valley Ultra 50k Results

Lucas and Scott glad to be finished!

The early leading group with Lucas and Scott trailing eventual winner



Colin keeping Scott company along the bikepath at Cardrona

Scott skirting Inners

Crossing the bridge

 

Christmas drinks and food, Tuesday 5th December, 8pm at the County Inn, Peebles

You are all invited for Christmas food and drinks on Tuesday 6 December at 8pm at the County Inn, 35 High Street, Peebles.
All are invited so it would be nice to see you. We had a good time last year and on a week night so it wasn't too raucous.

The County has a Christmas menu you can order from with 2 Courses for £14.49 Or 3 Courses for £17.49 or the normal menu which is more reasonable .


For those who go to the club training session on Tuesday nights in Peebles it give just enough time to pop home and get changed.

Please let me know if:
> You would like to come
> You would like to order something from the Christmas menu and what you would like as this needs to pre-ordered
I look forward to a good evening,

Cheers
Colin
colin.m.Williams@talk21.com

Scottish Silver for Moorfoot girls

Beth, Mairi and Charlotte - happy girls

In near perfect cross-country conditions at Kirkcaldy on Saturday, the Moorfoot Runners U17 Women’s team came away with a fantastic team silver in the National Short Course Cross-Country Championships. On a chilly but sunny and calm day, the terrain was familiar to those who in the past had raced the venue in the Scottish Primary Schools Championships, albeit the undulating and twisting course was set up differently on this occasion. Conditions were on the soft side of good but were perfect for quality running.

Racing over 3km, Charlotte Clare committed to a very positive start, well inside the top ten to half-way, but dropping a couple of places as the fast early pace took its toll. Not quite in her slipstream, but in close contact and having a tremendous run, was Beth Hobbs. Inside the final 200m Charlotte rallied again with her usual stirring finish to pick up a couple of places and crossed the line in 9^th place in 11.05. Beth kept on well for 13^th in 11.14. That looked to put the Moorfoot girls in a competitive position in the team race (three to count) with a medal chance hinging on how far up the field third counter Mairi Wallace could finish. Mairi was still suffering the effects of the heavy cold which had caused her to miss the Lasswade XC the previous Sunday and was also racing on a course way shorter and less hilly than she prefers. Clearly not firing on all cylinders, Mairi sensibly started steadily and then plugged on to finish 28^th of the 56-strong field in a time of 12.06, below her best but still enough to mean an attentive ear being cocked for the announcement calling the podium teams to presentations.

Unfortunately all the cocked Moorfoot ears missed the announcement and it was only after a later visit to check the results that Charlotte and Mairi spied the results and word spread that the team silver had been won. Giffnock North were the runaway winners, with the Moorfoot girls pipping Edinburgh by one single point, 50 to 51. The delighted girls belatedly received their medals from Scottish Athletics Past President Alan Potts, then dashed to the finish to cheer on Laura Muir as she powered her way to victory in the senior women’s race. 

A further bonus for the girls was to be photographed with and congratulated by Laura. Certainly a day to be cherished and a just National XC medal after a couple of years contending for the National Champs proper but missing the required fourth counter.

Laura Muir with the girls

Earlier in the day, Megan Hobbs and Eilidh Mooney had their own ding-doing battle down the home straight in the U15 2km race. In a field of 81, Megan just got the better of Eilidh with a strong finish for 61^st in 8.30 with Eilidh two seconds back in 62^nd.

In the U17 Men’s 3km race, Craig Angus had a solid run for 47^th of 82 in 10.09, two seconds behind Moorfoot training partner Euan Hood who was the third counter in the Lasswade team which took team silver.

Ailsa Innes was 16^th U20 and 50^th overall in the senior women’s race and Sophie Collins had another strong run for Edinburgh University Haries finishing 34^th in 15.08.

Winter Handicap Results - Nov17

Big thanks to all who turned out for the Tuesday night training group's Winter Handicap Night Race (headtorches) over the Green MTB trail (3.1Km) at the top of Jenny's Brae.

We had nine runners on the start line, being set off at various intervals based on handicaps derived from race performances during the year, plus a bit of 'guess work'....

First runner home was Iain Roberts, ahead of a fast finishing Alan Elder and Andy Gibson who was tearing through the field from a relative back marker position.

Thanks also to Pete for doing the starting, finishing and timing.

We'll try to schedule in another similar session in the early part of the new year.

Name	Start Time	Finish Time	Gap to Runner Ahead	Scratch Time	Pace
Iain	00:00:30	00:16:01		00:15:31	00:05:00
Alan	00:02:25	00:16:14	00:00:13	00:13:49	00:04:27
Andy G	00:04:00	00:16:18	00:00:04	00:12:18	00:03:58
Magnus	00:03:30	00:16:20	00:00:02	00:12:50	00:04:08
Craig W	00:03:50	00:16:39	00:00:19	00:12:49	00:04:08
Katie	00:00:30	00:16:41	00:00:02	00:16:11	00:05:13
Kenny	00:03:30	00:16:42	00:00:01	00:13:12	00:04:15
Robert	00:00:30	00:16:45	00:00:03	00:16:15	00:05:15
Ruth	00:04:20	00:17:04	00:00:19	00:12:44	00:04:06

Lauder XC Report - Borders Series Round 1

Beautiful weather greeted those who were at Lauder for the first round of the 2017-18 Borders Cross Country Series today. The series has grown in popularity over the years and there are 430 seniors and 200 juniors with entries to the whole series, with today’s races had 120 juniors and 269 seniors.
The senior race was won by Eoin Lennon from Carnethy, in 25.19, with a huge winning margin on 1 min 41 seconds. The Moorfoots were led home by a strong performance by Darin Dougal.

Place	Name	Category	Category Place	Time
27	Darin Dougal	M40+	7	29:38.7
40	Kobe Stevens	MJ	4	30:54.9
41	Colin Williams	M40+	15	30:57.1
67	David Gaffney	MS	23	33:04.4
114	Ian Munro	M50+	21	36:56.6
262	Mike Pearson	M70+	4	56:12.2

There were a few running in the Junior Race while most were at Lasswade XC at Gorebridge, led home by a impressive showing from Craig Angus claiming 3^rd in his age class and forth overall.

Name	Category	Category Place	Time
Craig Angus	M14-15	3	11:53.9
Cameron Munro	M14-15	5	13:04.7
Madeline Collins	F12-13	4	15:31.1
Kate Harvie	F12-13	5	16:11.1
Alice Williams	F8-9	13	21:03.0

Full results – Seniors https://www.webscorer.com/race?raceid=119602

Juniors https://www.webscorer.com/race?raceid=119603

Thanks to Lauderdale Limpers for putting on a great event.