West Highland Way Race 2008

Helped my pal Gordon Pryde successfully complete the 95 miles in 21 hours 45 mins. A brilliant effort also by Westerlands clubmates Dave Rogers and Graeme Reid who finished in 21hrs 38mins and 24hrs 46mins. I ran with Gordon for the last 35 miles, and that was hard, so amazing effort by everyone else who managed an almighty 95 miles. Gordon was so overcome by his completion that he fainted due to extremely low blood pressure and spent the night in hospital, but was fine by the morning.

Race website
My Photos

Durisdeer Hill Race

SATURDAY 14 JUNE 2008
15KM 1240 METRES

Along with a few hundred other lucky souls I enjoyed a great day out in the hamlet of Durisdeer for the British/Scottish Championship Race. We were blessed with perfect weather in a lovely setting nestled in the rolling hills near Drumlanrig Castle. After a mad dash downhill for ten yards we all slogged up the long first hill with a couple of different route choices becoming apparent. I tracked Murdo for a bit until the crazy downhill to Dalveen. On the long runnable track that followed I laboured a bit, though the tremendous scenery eased the pain a bit. The descent down to the road crossing was great fun, and then there was the tedious slog up to Well Hill. However by then I started feeling good and managed to pull away from Murdo and close down a group ahead. From the summit I was feeling strong and enjoyed a good run over to Black Hill, where it was a great runnable descent down the up we had initially endured. I was chuffed to finish well under the 2 hour mark, a mere 30 mins behind winner Rob Jebb.

Results

Cort Ma Law Hill Race

WEDNESDAY 11 JUNE 2008
10KM 500 METRES

Yes, another great Westies production thanks to all the people who made it happen on the night and well done to all those Westies who raced. My own wee race was fine, a steady start trying to stay ahead of the improving Jacques and trying to fight off the stomach ache that was telling me to have an impromptu toilet stop. After a hard slog out to the trig point Stevie Bell eased past followed by Jacques as I tried to stay with them over the still boggy trudge to Leckett. That long awaited toilet stop did take place and seemed to rejuvenate me slightly as I tried to reel in those just ahead. I caught at least one of them, but Stevie was well ahead though I thought I might have been able to reel Jacques in after the climb back up to the fence. Using the threat of Murdo just behind me to spur me on I gave it my all and closed right up on Jacques only to see him flee down the final descent at a fair rate of knots. I was still pushing it to the line as pal John Duffy of Shettleston was right on my tail. I was reasonably chuffed with my time 59m 25s, 2 mins quicker than last year, for my 16th go at this race. Cort Ma Law is where I went on my first ever hill run on a Wed evening some 20 odd years ago. here's hoping I can manage another 20!!

1 Kenny Richmond 0:48:16 (Bellahouston RR)
2 Bob Wiseman 0:49:10 (Ochil HR)
3 David Riach 0:50:49
6 Crawford Spence 0:52:06
9 Chris Upson 0:52:27
12 Andy Edwards 0:53:57
17 Graham Kelly 0:55:35
19 Don Reid 0:55:56
20 Steffen Gorgas 0:56:06
24 Stephen Bell 0:58:48
25 Jacques Penderis 0:58:58
28 John Donnelly 0:59:25
30 Murdo Macleod 0:59:33
36 Ellen Homewood 1:02:24
47 Stuart Burns ???
52 Katherine Kirk 1:09:50
55 Donald Smith 1:13:23
60 Colin Porteous 1:16:02
62 Archie Cameron 1:18:39
63 Graham Benny 1:29:45

Full results
Photos

Galashiels 200K Audax

A cracking 127 mile cycle with my friend Moira from Gala-Hawick-Newcastleton-Langholm-Lockerbie-Moffat-Innerleithen-Galashiels. Some nice teas shop-stops at Langholm and Moffat and a lovely pint of Traquair Bear Ale in Innerleithen. A real buzz to finish and a great 12 hours out.

Photos

Heatwave and Hypothermia

HEATWAVE = 3 in a row, 3 in a row, 3 in a row !! No, its nothing to do with football but, of course, a reference to my Duddon record. I headed down with Stuart, Ritchie and Colin for this beast of a Lakeland race in the quiet South lakes. A hot sunny day was in store making it pretty hard going for all 240 runners, me, Jason and a handful of other Scots. I found the climbs all a bit hard going, managing to hang on to a few English lassies I know who dragged me up many a time. I seemed to rally well in the runnable 2nd half from Three Shires onwards and achieved my aim of squeezing under 4 hours again for 90th place, with Jason feeling the effects of his recent Windermere marathon an hour behind me.

Results


HYPOTHERMIA = When I headed off from Strathaven on Sun on Alan Anderson’s 78 mile Audax I was anticipating similar balmy conditions as on Sat, and the mild sunny conditions at 9am seemed very promising. However, 3 hours later in Scotland’s highest village, Wanlockhead, it was a mighty different experience. Relying on my thin pertex and layers of Factor 30 suncream for insulation I was not far off hypothermic as we descended to Crawfordjohn sodden and chilled to the bone. A puncture only compounded my misery, but fortunately we were minutes from the village pub where we crept in for soup and tea and puncture repair. With 20 miles still to go we had no option but to head back out for more pain and misery, knowing that the next service station and pot of tea was only 6 miles away. It was there we were reunited with Graham Kelly and his dad, who were also sheltering and shivering inside and in no hurry to leave. However, after a swift purchase of some bargain fleeces at the Regatta shop to try and raise or core temperature above freezing we headed out for the last 15 miles. With the wind now behind us and some hills get warmed up on we actually started to feel a bit human and it was with great relief that we arrived back in Strathaven.

Heatwave and hypothermia all in 24 hours, what a country!!
Graham Kelly's Report

Torridon Weekend

FRIDAY = cycled the Bealach Na Ba from Torridon, cracking 65 miler, with the epic 200 foot climb and descent to Applecross.
SATURDAY = Isobel's 2 last Munros on Liathach.
SUNDAY = trotted up the Corbett Beinn Dearg and the 2 Munros of Beinn Alligin.
MONDAY = cycled 59 miles from Kinlochlewe to Redpoint and Gairloch.