Turnhouse Hill Race

A new race in the Pentlands organised by Andy Kitchin to raise funds for orienteering. It was a lovely evening for 60 runners and a geat turnout of Westies - Manny, Don, me, Murdo, Jacques, Donald, Val, Cat, Katherine, Elsie. The route was excellent, mostly runnable trods, a short sharp climb, a heathery descent, moe runnable trods and a good grassy fast finish. And all only a hundred yards from the pub. I was 20th of 59 runners in 34min 7sec.

Results
Westies report and photos

Round Arran Road Relays

Saturday 21 July 2007
A traditional Westies day out over to the Isle of Arran. Not a relay in the usual sense, more 6 separate races with times added up at the end to find the winner. I was joined by Dave Riach, Tony R, Nigel, Drew, Muffy and some-time Westie Mark McColl. We've no idea where we finished as we headed for the pub soon after the finish. I plodded round a scenic 11 mile leg north from Blackwaterfoot to Pirnmill, legs dead from the day before's 80 mile cycle and Corbett-bagging day round Loch Rannoch. Drew's knee imploded mid-run sending him headlong into a lovely Arran hedge and reducing him to a hobble for the rest of the day. The weather was great, Arran its usual lovely self and, of course, the Westies company tops.
Photos

Maddy Moss Mash Hill Race

18 JULY 2007
My 11th go at this great race and as enjoyable as ever before. A lovely evening and just over a hundred runners, including a great turnout of Westies. Manny had a great race to finish in 3rd place behind Dan Gay of HBT and Kenny Richmond of Bella. Way behind him there was a great tussle between myself, Simon, Steffen and Tom. This is one of my favourite races, combining a great slog of a powerwalk uphill that gets almost all the climbing out the way early on, a runnable cross country type section up top, and polished off by a cracking not-too-steep descent on a narrow trod. Steffen and I tracked Simon and Tom all the way to just before the Ben Cleuch summit, when we passed Simon and Steffen passed me to chase down Tom. I couldn't quite keep up with them, but still felt pretty strong on the descent. I was chuffed to finish about 4 minutes quicker than last year. We were treated afterwards to some good grub and prizes in The Woolpack pub. Thanks to Ochil Hillrunners for a great race.

From Race Organiser John MacEwan:

"At the start of the 2007 Maddy Moss Mash we had just over one hundred runners lined up and ready for the delights of The Law and the Gannel Burn descent, 104 to be exact. We had thought last year we might reach the one hundred mark but possibly due to the extremely hot and dry conditions we were down on previous entries. Numbers could have been even higher this year as we had a few late arrivals - some due to traffic and others to not checking what time the race actually started!

The race was won by Dan Gay (HBT) in a time of 52:41, a good few minutes' improvement on his 2006 time. First female was Elke Schmidt (Bellahoustoun) with 56:39. Elke also contributed to Bellahouston's picking up the team prize.

The weather didn't treat us too badly and any threatened showers left the race well alone. A little bit of clag up top was reported back to Race HQ by course marshalls but all runners made it round the course without this troubling them.

As is usual for the final descent in Maddy Moss no two people seemed to take the same line down through the bracken and gorse to the finish line, and as is also usual we had a few coming in behind the marshalls!

For prizegiving this year we were offered the use of an upstairs room in the Woolpack Inn who also provided some food. This arrangement seemed to work well and we look forward to a similar arrangement next year - without the beetroot however!

Thanks to all who raced, all those that helped out with marshalling, registration etc., Ronnie and Gina at the Woolpack and Heather Ales Ltd. who provided most of the prizes."

Results
Westies reports
Race route

Sue's Last Corbett

A gorgeous sunny day in Attadale climbing Ben Dronaig for Sue's last Corbett completion celebration. After almost 9 hours on the hill we enjoyed a cracking bpint of real ale on the shores of Loch Carron, before heading back to our bunkhouse near Achnasheen for more celebrations.

Photos

Glen Clova Hill Race

14 JULY 2007

18 miles-1800 metres
A small posse of hardy Westies - ME,Simon, Graham, Manny, David Riach and Cat Miller took part in this classic Long for some triple counting points - SHR, British and Manny's summer league. Catriona was the wummins team. A pleasant day, cool and a little overcast at first, brightening up later with good visibility. The climbing starts straight away on good steady paths to Green Hill, so good that the front runners were soon tanking away on the wrong path briefly. This pattern repeated itself with runners on different lines all over high plateau, plugging through the peat hags and moorland to the next three checkpoints. The broad tops and shallow features make it well worth running on the compass to shave a little distance. The runnable fun ended for me on the rough tussocky descent to the Braedownie road crossing and then the long stiff haul up into Corrie Farchal. A shuffling grind on the top of Dreish was rewarded by a tailwind back the bealach. One last pull and a fast open ridge before a desperate descent stumbling though rough long grass and rushes. I was chuffed to come in at 3hrs 40mins,62nd 0f 106 runners, well under my target of 4hrs and a lot better then 2005 when I did a DNF after going AWOL after Green Hill. At the front, Tom Owens won by 9 seconds from Rob Jebb while Jill Mykura took Janet McIvor by 16 seconds.

Westies reports
Results

Westies Chatelherault Handicap

11 JULY 2007

Cracking race over one of my favourite routes and a regular for me in Hamilton. I was dozing in the car shortly before we started thinking that the Heb Challenge had finally done for me. However there is nothing like a good handicap race to get me going, so I set off with Hamilton eager to see if I would run well or rubbish. Fortunately it was the former and I hauled in a few bodies mid race before somehow managing to fend off Graham and Steffen who were chasing me down. Another rare PB for me, over 2mins up on last year. A great turnout of Westies and a good time in the pub after as well.


Results
Route