Wull's Magical Mystery Tour

Pic - on Dundreich, realising that we are now further away from Innerleithen than our starting point...

With May having five Sundays this year, and Scotland sweltering in 24C+ temperatures, we had decided to do a hill run from Eddleston to Innerleithen.
The most direct route took in Dunslair Heights and then onto the main ridge culminating in Lee Pen...but Wull had other ideas....
From Eddleston we headed northwest (Innerleithen is southeast !) and picked our way over Milky Law to Dundreich. From Dundreich, we headed southeast over some peat hags before picking up the windmill access roads leading up to Bowbeat Hill - very dry and dusty; it could have been the foothills of the Sierra Nevada....
The route then dropped down to Craighope picking up the upper reaches of the Leithen Water before joining ther B709 Innerleithen to Heriot road a few miles north of the Innerleithen Golf Club.
The Peebles and Cardrona 'softies' called it a day here (unfortunately the bar was closed so we could not rack up drinks on Mike's golf club bar tab) and phoned for a lift home.
The Innerleithern and Walkerburn hardmen and women continued down the road for a further mile or so back to the town.

Another grand day out....

Sunday Run - 31-May

It's another month with five Sundays in it so we have an extra Sunday for training - wooh hoo !

Current suggestion is for a run over the hills from Eddleston to Innerleithen.
(something like up the road by Eddleston School to Cardon Law, Dunslair Heights, Leithen Door Hill, Black Knowe, Lee Pen, Innerleithen....)

Further details to follow...keep tuned to the blogger for details if you are interested in joining....

** Update **
Meeting place Horseshoe Inn Eddleston at 1000am. (Bus leaves Peebles at Post Office at 0950 and arrives at Eddleston at 1002).
ETA in Innerleithen probably between 1230 and 1300.

Lift back to Peebles available...

Hot day forecast so bring some water and plenty of sun screen....

Marshalls for Peebles Beltane 10K

Just over two weeks to go until our annual Moorfoot hosted 10K race on Sunday 14-June.

We need as many club members as possible to support this event, not least for marshalling the course.
Marshalls will meet at the Gytes at 11:00am on race day to be posted to their marshalling posisitions and get a short pre-race brief and will require to be in position until approximately 1:00pm (or when the sweeper passes behind the last runner) when they can help bring back some of the signage etc.

Please can you let me (Kenny) know as soon as possible if you can support for a few hours marshalling duty on race day. I have approximately 12 marshalls at present, but we need at least the same number again to fully cover the course....

REMEMBER - if you are intending to run the 10K, the club expects you provide marshalling cover - we will be checking this...
(ideally two marshalls for each Moorfoot participating in the race - think of them as personal supporters to cheer you at strategic places on the course....)

Thank you in advance for your support of this important Moorfoot Runners Club event....

Regards...

Kenny

Scottish Islands Three Peaks Race

A late mention for Wull Hynd who took part in this years Scottish Islands Three Peaks Race. Unfortunately the weather got the better of the sailing and running crew on the yacht Wull was aboardand they had to turn back just short of the Mull of Kintyre in large seas (wind versus tide) in force seven conditions; Wull was also struck down by a bad case of 'mal de mer'....

However, Ben More on Mull and the Paps of Jura were 'bagged' before the race was abandoned, so over 40 miles of hill running were completed; only Goatfell on Arran in the dark eluded him....

Moorfoots on Jura

Following on from last weeks 'islands' theme, Johnny and Russell were out West again at the Paps of Jura Race.

Johnny and I ran in the Jura Hill Race on Saturday. The weather had been great when I arrived on Friday with all 7 tops clear - blue sky and sunshine all round.The rain set in early on Saturday morning with cloud down to maybe 250 or 300 m and stayed that way almost all day. Everyone found the conditions tough and nearly everyone got a bit lost between the first and second tops. Johnny shrugged off his recent ankle sprain, took the poor weather and difficult navigation in his long stride and had a very good run, finishing in about 5 hr 30 m.I started OK, like most people got a bit lost near the second top but was doing OK up until the fifth top (Beinn an Oir). I dropped down off the summit ridge too soon and missed the saddle leading to the next top (Beinn Shiantaidh). I ended up lost in the mist and had to go down to below cloud level to find where I was. That meant a long, steep ascent to get back on course for the summit of Beinn Shiantaidh. I managed to finish in 6 hr 13 m, 128th out of the 150 finishers.

More details and results on the SHR website

Moorfoots at Goatfell Hill Race

Pic - smiling before the race
Russell and Kenny made their way to Brodick on tthe Isle of Arran by a mixture of planes, trains, ferry and automobile(well actually, no planes...) for the 2009 Goatfell Hill Race.

Goatfell was ominously 'missing' in the cloud on the sail over, but magically reappeared as the ferry docked at Brodick, as the sun made a welcome reappearance.

More than eighty runners set off along the mile or so run in the the foot of the hill where the climb starts up the rocky 'tourist' path. The last few hundred meters of ascent became 'hands-on' scrabbly stuff over the large granite boulders and the cloud reduced the visibility sufficiently that the route markers occasionally disappeared.

Russell ran a blinder, coming home in twelth place in 1'33" and collecting the M50 trophy.

Kenny finished strongly, crossing the line in 1'46", despite a small tumble on the way down.

In fact, it was one of the 'bloodiest' hill races seen for a while with something of a queue forming at first aid, and runners getting bandaged up and comparing blood streaked arms, legs and faces - but fortunatly nothing too serious.

The day was rounded off by a couple of pints of Arran Blonde at the Ormidale Hotel before the ferry trip back to the mainland - all in all, a grand day out....

Full results here.

SHR race report here.

Gypsy Glen Race

Pic - James showing how real hill runners descend....

The Gypsy Glen Race reached new heights with a fantastic turn out of runners and supporters on a glorious sunny evening.

Sixty eight runners completed the course against a strong easterly breeze which made the outward run to the summit tough going, before a wind assisted return.

The Moorfoot vests were very prominant, with no less than sixteen Moorfoots on the finishing sheet.

The field was somewhat stronger than in previous years, A. Anthony from the Ochills club winning in what looks like (to be confirmed) a course record 32'23.

First Moorfoot home was James in 34'15", taking third place and Darin not far behind in 34'53" for fourth place. Mike McGovern won the 'senior's' prize....you don't look a day over 40 !

Full results (provisional) here.

Some great pictures also available here.

(As usual, the only picture I can find of me is in my typical uphill walking pose....)