Wed 12 April saw the first running of the Westies Dumgoyne Handicap. Here is Charlie's report from the Westerlands website, where you will also find some of my photos :
"Well the poor weather in the afternoon didn’t deter the troops for the inaugural running of the Dumgoyne Handicap. A great turnout of 21 runners for a little route devised by Cap’n Chris, saw folk climb to the top of our favourite little hill and back, involving about five miles and 1300 feet. Yours truly, without the assistance of the other Master Handicapper Dave, was left to do the honours and over a 28 minute period, set off the staggered Conga line. Managing a little 20 minute jog while the others were away, I can testify how muddy some of the pipe-track was but apparently the hill path was much worse.
Having started first, Pat managed to hold the lead all the way and the ex-Sec returned over the finishing line for a well deserved win – nice one Pat! A minute and a bit later, Graham K came in for 2nd, and Pauline, despite a late start, put in a fast run to grab 3rd. There then followed a spate of 13 runners within three minutes, in varying states of grimace and mud body painting, with the time gaps opening slightly for the last few to finish. A quick little prize giving thanks to JD, then we retreated to the Blane Valley pub just up the road for some light refreshments and polite conversation.
Points of note : Well I felt sorry for poor Robert who had been hoping to do well on his home patch, but hobbled in, having turned his ankle. Look on the bright side Robert, at least you didn’t have far to limp home, and anyway, you wouldn’t be a true Westie if you were not carrying an injury. Ladies Cap’n Cat ran the fastest lassies time of the night and Chris the same for the laddies. He must have some sort of NASA formula up his sleeve as he predicted a winning time of 44 mins and ran 43m 50s – amazing! The ‘Legs of Steel’ prize goes to Luke, who after a week up North of wild camping and hill bagging, grabbed two Corbetts in Torridon this morning, suffered a four hour drive home, then ran within a minute of Chris tonight, five mins in front of anyone else.
No comments:
Post a Comment