Monday 28 November 2022

Juniors at Borders XC, Dunbar

 

(from Ali Hilton)

Moorfoot Juniors were treated to a blue sky day for the second race of the XC series in Dunbar.

 Various water bottles marked points along the track as the four Juniors warmed up and with 5 minutes to go, they gathered on the start line with a total of 81 racers.  It was a fast start heading straight along a track before turning down to the beach.  The tide was out so feet only got wet as they jumped the river and then turned around a flag to run a full length of the sands.  Thomas Hilton approached the dunes in 1st place and raced up onto the sea wall.  James Moore ran by smiling (as ever) followed closely by Ruaridh Pearson.

 All 3 were then out of sight as the route took them towards Torness Power Station and through the field.  Standing close to the finish line, we could spot the boys as they turned into the grasses to make their way home.

Thomas was working hard to keep Rowan Taylor of Lasswade Athletic Club off his heels, which he did successfully and flew over the line in 1st place with a time of 13m 18secs.  Second Moorfoot James, was already in sight and finished strong in a time of 15m08secs, 9th place overall.  Ruaridh Pearson ran brilliantly to grab 20th place in a time of 16m34secs.  Unfortunately Dan Moore DNF struggling with a cramp.

 The 3 finishing results put Moorfoot Juniors into 1st Team position again.

Well done everyone! (Photos below of James, Thomas, Ruaridh.)






Sunday 27 November 2022

Borders XC League Race 2 Dunbar (By Peter Caddick)

 

On Sunday 27 November ten Moorfoot's travelled across to Dunbar under clear blue skies and bright sunshine. After a delayed start at 1215 the course was similar to last year with the beach section reversed in order to space everyone out before the kissing gate queue (still queued!) and allegedly to avoid an Elder style drop and roll through the dunes. Milan,Danny, 

Dean and Quirky all ran strongly with Quirky admitting to hold himself back at times. In the ladies section excellent runs from Carol, Gillian, Rosie and Dorien saw the team finish on the podium for third place. 

In the middle section Ian again held off Pete C with a steady pace. The men’s team finished a respectable fifth. Mention again to many strong junior performances with the outstanding Thomas Hilton again coming home first holding on to his lead for most of the race. Special mention to Sophie Collins (former MFT) as second female overall. 

A thank you to Dunbar for a well organised event. As the sun set Moorfoots hit the road back to the Borders for a range of refreshments in immediate preparation for the upcoming Spittal Beach showdown.


Sorry we didn't manage to capture the whole team today

The Great Bear



Monday 21 November 2022

Moorfoot Festive Handicap, Innerleithen - Saturday 17th Dec, 10.30am

UPDATED START TIME 10.30 TO ALLOW FULL COURSE CHECK THAT MORNING, AND POSSIBLE ROUTE AMENDMENTS

The Moorfoot Festive Handicap will be at Innerleithen on Saturday 17 December, starts from 10.30am. 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. The cost of this will be very kindly covered by Mike Goddard - thanks Mike!

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

There is no parking at the golf club as there is a golf event on so we are asking runners and supporters to park away and travel the last bit on foot. There is space for parking on Leithen Road before you leave the town, and there is aslo 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 cafĂ© 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. 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/2021/12/moorfoot-innerleithen-festive-handicap.html

Event details

Senior Handicap Run

The handicap is runners aged 14 +

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 10:30am, and last off before 11am 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.

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 14 (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 Ross Grieve / 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

Monday 14 November 2022

Club Championship Final Results (Provisional)

 

Hi Everyone,

After much checking and validating we can now publish the provisional final results of the series.  We will give till the end of November for any scutiny and after that the results will be final.

Club Champs Results 2022

I think we can safely say well done to Martin Holt who has lead from the start and embraced the event.  It was very close in the top 5 hence all the checking and double checking.

We have quite a few great prizes which will be announced at the Christmas night out.

Thanks to all for taking part and making it a success.

PositionRaceTOTAL Points
Date
Points
1st PlaceMartin Holt290
Gillian Carr185
Dean Carr185
2nd PlaceDorien Kimenai165
3rd PlaceAndy Cox160
Milan Misak155
Tim Warner145
Diane Challands115
Jen Misak105
Carol Moss105
Colin Williams100
Heather Young90
Vicky Morrison80
Coreen McGovern80
Mike McGovern75
Peter Caddick70
Kerry Law60
Danny Lavin50
David Carter Brown45
Robbie Devlin45
Craig Bennett45
Maggie Oliver45
Alan Elder40
Ian Munro40
Philip Coutts30
Robert Wilson30
Alex Campbell30
Pamella Swalwell25
Brian Smith25
Hamish Parkinson25
Eilidh Davidson25
Nick Boyd25
Kevin Rafferty20
Mike Goddard15
Thomas Jones10
Noel Quinn10
Simon Hammond10
Beth Hanson10
Pete Hall10
Nigel Shekleton10
Mike Pearson10
Scott Gourlay10
Craig Walling10
David Waldie5
Martin Quirke5
Amy Capper5
Rosie Shankey5
Extra Points:
Martin Holt
Robbie Devlin
Gillian Carr
Peter Caddick
Dorien Kimenai
Alex Campbell
David Waldie
Robert Wilson
Scott Gourlay
Tim Warner
Milan Misak
Jen Misak
Mike Pearson
Colin Williams
Dean Carr
Diane Challands
Carol Moss
Craig Bennet
Andy Cox
Eilidh Davidson
Vicky Morrison
Danny Lavin
Mike McGovern
Alan Elder
David Carter Brown
Nick Boyd
Maggie Oliver