We are planning to hold three club handicap races for Moorfoot Runners and friends (from within the Scottish Borders) over the winter for a bit of fun, so please save the dates in your diary for November 29th (Cardrona), December 20th (Innerleithen) and January 31st 2021 (location to be confirmed). The events will follow the UK and Scottish governments guidelines on Coronavirus, plus the guidelines of Scottish Athletics, and hence are subject to change at any time https://www.scottishathletics.org.uk/clubs/club-support/coronavirus/
The first event in this ‘highly anticipated’ series will take place on Sunday 29th November in Cardrona Forest, starting and finishing from the main Forestry Scotland car park on the back road between Peebles and Cardrona, shown here https://goo.gl/maps/ZtKVZe3cGfwn33rq8
Senior Handicap Race
The handicap is open for Over 16 runners.
The course is a challenging little number, 4.22 miles in length, with 842 ft of climbing (6.79 Km, 256m), using the ‘new’ trails recently created to and from the car park. Please see Pete's Strava explore run from a couple of weeks ago as a map https://www.strava.com/activities/4262783464 The course will be marked with tape and/or arrowed….however you may want to familiarise yourself with the course prior to the event.
The first runner will be off on or around 09:30am, and last off before 10am depending on the handicapping, which will be based on runners current 10km ‘race pace’ – ok, so you won’t have done a 10Km race in a while but you should know how you are running, so if you plan to attend, please let me know your current 10Km time and we’ll figure out the handicapping. No sandbagging, exaggerating, faking injuries, etc, to get a more favourable handicap 😊
Please email Pete Hall pehall@cisco.com if you are planning to come along and provide your estimated time
Junior Event
We will also have events for the juniors - an Under 12 (1 mile/1.6km/ approx. 340ft climbing) and Under 16 (2 mile/ 3.2km/ approx. 470ft climbing) event, based on part of the course shown on the route map below and explained. Again, anyone interested please let Gregor and Pete Hall know (pehall@cisco.com)
Both these routes will have marshals on them so no one will get lost (we hope). Note – age of runner is as of 31/8/2020.
Practicalities for all
Footwear – this is a trail/hill/fell area, not a cross country type course, hence spikes are not recommended.
Toilets – yes, there are toilets at the car park and I believe they are open.
Parking – please be aware parking is limited at Cardrona. Could we please ask seniors to park in the village and ‘warm up’ on their way back to the car park should this be full. For parents bringing U16 club members, take whatever space you can but if full, you may need to drop off children and park in Cardrona village also. Once runs have been completed, where possible please leave the area and head home to keep numbers down. You also have the option of cycling or running to the event. There is a parking charge of £1 for one hour and £3 thereafter….so bring some cash.
From a Covid 19 perspective, people still need to follow government guidelines re safety, social distancing, etc, hence non-runners please be respectful of this – although this is not a ‘race’, more a run out, should anyone complain the club may well receive unwelcome publicity.
We look forward to seeing you there! If you don’t feel like racing but are able to help out marshalling then please let me know and we can use some help.
Thanks
The Moorfoot Team
Senior Route
Junior Route
https://www.strava.com/routes/2763744530948609468
Under 12 (1 mile/1.6km/ approx. 340ft climbing) and Under 16 (2 mile/ 3.2km/ approx. 470ft climbing)
Both these routes will have marshals on them so no one will get lost (we hope)
Start point – Forestry Road Entry Gate (usually locked closed)
Up forestry road for 100m, bear left, over foot bridge then left again to come back down east side of burn, then up the old zigzag path. At the top, bear right and come through chicane/barrier and follow path down to the burn.
Repeat the climb
At top for the second time, Under 12 runners return down the new zigzag path
Under 16 runners bear right onto forest road and continue 800m along the road to a turning point marshal and return to finish down the new zig zag path
Finish is the Forestry Gate where the runners started from.