Glenfinnan Corbetts

SUNDAY 18 MAY 2008

A lovely sunny plod round the Corbetts of Sgurr Ghiubshsachain and Sgorr Craobh a' Chaorainn.

Photos

Muffy's 50th Birthday Bash

SATURDAY 17 MAY 2008

Muffy Calder celebrated her upcoming 50th birthday by running the 95 mile west Highland Way in 5 days. On the last day a whole bunch of us from Westerlands Running Club joined her for the last leg from Kinlochleven to Fort William. Afterwards we enjoyed good food, fun and dancing. Well done Muffy - fabulous at fifty!!!

Photos

Ben Lomond Hill Race

SATURDAY 10 MAY 2008
12KM 970 METRES
90mins 41secs - 48th of 121 runners

Another great Westies race and day out care of Don and his team. The drops of rain at the start came to nothing and we were treated to lovely warm weather. Over a hundred runners hared off down the short road section before we entered the forest for the grinding ascent of this 3195 feet Munro. I snuck in behind Jacques, Rob and Steffen for a while till we left the forest and then ever so slightly upped my pace to pass them, Steffen dropping out feeling ill. My wee groove felt ok so I kept up what I thought was a good pace, towing Lisa Gamble of Fife AC behind me, my lurid tartan shorts obviously not putting her off. I hit the summit in a few seconds over the hour, and then commenced the cracking descent, with Lisa and Val Houston not far behind me. I managed to stay ahead of them down the zig-zags, passing Marshall Dave who was steadfastly refusing to give us a reprise of his award winning open mike performance of The Lady Loves a Tramp. Down on the runnable sections my wee legs were no match for Lisa’s fresh legs and Val’s long legs, as they eased away from me to enjoy their own wee battle, as I tried to not let them get too far away. I managed to stay on my feet through the dodgy sections and was pretty chuffed to finish about a minute quicker than last year, but well down on Val and Ellie who had great runs to finish 1st and 2nd with only seconds separating them. After an icy wash down in Loch Lomond it was out to the sunny beer garden for post-race chilling-out and re-fuelling. A grand day out, thanks Don.

Results
Summit photos
Finish photos

Dumyat Hill Race

7 May 2008
8km 380 metres
45m 13s 73rd/260 runners

These big races are great aren’t they? You run your slowest time in 12 attempts yet finish 73rd of 260 runners, so you can delude yourself you are a not bad runner, brill! A classic slog up and dash down that epitomises the true essence of hill running in under an hour. Despite being a bit tired after Stuc last Sat, and a 100 mile and 70 mile cycle on the Sun and Mon, I was determined to get over for this fun evening. It was well worth it. I thought I ran not too bad, legs not completely dead to the top and as always enjoyed the rollicking mad descent, Val and Murdo passed me about half way down and I tried my best to hang on to them. Trying to chase Murdo down at the end, and trying to keep ahead of Judith from Carnegie, meant a hard finish all the way to the line. One of the great things about running is that you can finish way down on your best (39m 50s 1993) but still feel that you gave it your all and be happy with that. And, of course, everyone else apart from a few youngsters seems to be doing the same. A fantastic turnout of Westies and some great individual runs. And all rounded off with a curry back in Glasgow – excellent evening.

Results
Summit Photos
Finish photos

Stuc a Chroin Hill Race

STUC A CHROIN HILL RACE
SATURDAY 3 MAY 2008
13 MILES 5300 FEET

Westies did well at the Stuc race this year with newcomer Elsie Riley doing great to win the female race and David Riach placing in the top ten. The slog up the forestry track never gets easy, and it took me the full 20 mins to the end of itto feel warmed up, sort of. My poor wee legs were feeling the effects of last week’s Three Peaks race so I tried to relax and just enjoy the race. The precipitous climb up the Corbett of Ben Each was, well steep and heathery, heathery and steep. I slowly edged a few places here before the cracking undulating ridge along to the foot of Stuc, where the leaders had already came down. Plenty of chance to say hello to everybody as they flew past in the opposite direction. Turned at the top feeling great and taking in the beautiful views and then hared off the long descent all the way down to Glen Ample for that infamous slog back up the final climb. Caught a few here by ever so slowly crawling past them, then big gaps ahead meant a solo last few miles to finish just over 3 hours. Well pleased with the time on tired legs and still in the top half of the field. I even got to down a couple of pints of the specially brewed “Stuc a Chroin Anniversary Ale” in the pub after. A grand day out, many thanks to the masses of helpers strung out everywhere on the course handing out virtually unlimited supplies of water and goodies, and well done all you Westies.

7 David Riach MV 02:31:46
20 Simon Triger M 02:45:53
25 Graham Kelly M 02:48:00
26 Don Reid MSV 02:48:19
41 Crawford Spence M 02:59:12
52 Murdo Macleod MSV 03:04:14
54 John Donnelly MV 03:05:48
63 Elsie Riley F 03:14:53
102 Elspeth Scott FV 03:37:26
120 Davy Broni MSV 04:16:52

121 finishers 5 drop-outs

Full results

Photos