Westies Christmas Handicap

MONDAY 27 DECEMBER 2010


Shafted by the Shanghai Shuffler -
well, all except John Hamer who had a great run to win the 2010 Christmas Handicap at Carbeth. Rumours of EPO, HGH and all sorts of Chinese funny stuff abound re Dodgy Dave, and we await the results of the dope test with bated breath. That aside, it was a minor epic getting to the start this year, as lying snow on the "high road" led to some dodgy conditions, with half of us leaving our cars at the Carbeth Inn and running to the start. A round ten Westies made it, and timekeeper Drew as well. Dave left it a bit late, but spot-on to head off with Steffen at the back of the field. Muffy arrived fashionably late and meandered round herself. Studs and ice grips abounded and John Hamer's Kahtoola Microspikes payed off as he romped home over 3 miles of slushy snow well ahead of a fast finishing Dave, followed closely by Pauline. The fancy dress theme was kept up well by Pauline, John H and a few others, and a cold Carbeth Inn hosted us afterwards.

1. John Hamer 23m 08s
2. Dave Calder 20m 21s
3. Pauline McAdam 25m 34s
4. Helen McPherson 27m 03s
5. John Donnelly 22m 19s
6. Cat Miller 25m 54s
7. Steffen Gorgas 21m 47s
8. Myra McAdam 31m 30s
9. Elizabeth Adam 30m 08s
10. Muffy Calder 31m ??

Frozen Falls of Clyde

SUNDAY 26 DECEMBER

A walk and a chance to take some pics of the frozen Falls of Clyde at New Lanark.

Westies Sunday Golf Outing

9 Westies put the disappointment of not getting over to Peebles for the Baxter's Bash aside and met at Milngavie Train Station instead. We had fine weather, icy paths and 100% snow cover for our tour of Milngavie's finest golf courses. Mugdock's own paths were treacherous, even if you were Kathoola-spike'd up like John Hamer, so we opted for the (white)greens and fairways,which were generally firm and not too icy . 9 miles later, and hardly any falls, we had a well deserved round of hot chocloate and cakes. A cracking morning out, and to cap it all the snow only started falling after we had left Costa's - excellent!!

Snowy East Kilbride Scenes

Lomond Hillrunners' Weekend in Birnam

Laggan was called off due to the weather, so Adrian Davis kindly put us all up at his guest house in Birnam. We enjoyed a snowy run/walk/flounder up Deuchary Hill (509m) on Sat and wandered up Birnam Hill (404m) on Sunday.

Alan's post =
The 'not pissed off at being off piste' trip to Birnam

And Gord said - let there be snow - and there was snow - and it fell and kept falling

and the trip to Laggan did not come to pass

but a prophet arose from the wilderness (Birnam)

and his name was Adrian

and he said - all you Lomies how run and are not now able to run

come to me and I will give you a bed at the Inn and sustenance

and the three wise men - Uncle Alan, Mr Refill and Jabbers did follow their TomTom to the wilderness bearing gifts of great worth - cans of black nectar

and it came to pass that Lucy did arrive seeking a bed at the Inn with her Kipper and John from the West did also journey north to swell the throng

on the first day they were joined by Mel and in the company of four dogs did journey through the snowdrifts to the heights of Deuchary hill - and the snow and ice did gather on Jasper and Kippers nether regions and they were sorely troubled!

that night the innkeeper did ply the multitude with fine food and wines and Prophet Paddy with his quiz were sorely missed

on the second day the sun did shine on the wilderness and the Lomie throng made their way to the summit of Birnam hill

from the top they looked around in wonder from peak to shining peak and the Prophet Adrian did say

'there's some soup left - Gord hath revealed a short cut unto me!"

back at the Inn Jabbers did spot three feet of snow on the hump of his camel and wishing to avoid a penalty of 60 shekels and three lashes did shovel the snow from his hump

and the lomies did bow down and give thanks to the prophet of 'Farty owls' before departing to their own lands

Uncle Alan

Saturday's details
Sunday's details

Tinto Hill Race

SAT 13 NOVEMBER
Only a few Westies wandered up into deepest Lanarkshire for this classic that rounds off the hill racing season. The weather was fine, if a bit windy, and fortunately the snow that covered Tinto the following day was absent on Sat. About 260 runners hared off along the narrow muddy track as I tried to not get left too far behind. My heart rate had zoomed up immediately to about 85% max and stayed there for the whole race. I mixed power walking with slow running and hit the summit cairn in just under 30mins. The descent is a classic, not too steep and decent enough grip. I lost a few places to some demon descenders, but also passed a few, including fellow Westie Alasdair Duke. I crossed the line in a shade over 43mins, only a minute down on my 2008 time, so taking into account the ravages of father time on my weary body, I was pretty pleased. I scraped into the top third of the field with 87th place of 264 finishers. Alan Gilkison led Westies home. My sixteenth (and slowest, PB= 36m 35s 1995) race here and hopefully I'll be back for many more. Thanks to Cameron Scott and his team of Carnethy organisers for a fine day out.

Race on Garmin


1 Jethro Lennox Shettleston 00:32:01
2 Alasdair Anthony Ochil HR 00:32:43
3 Matthew Sullivan Shettleston 00:33:07
11 Angela Mudge Carnethy FV40 00:35:38


33 Alan Gilkison Westerlands CCC MV40 00:38:33
87 John Donnelly Westerlands CCC MV40 00:43:05
103 Alasdair Duke Westerlands CCC M 00:43:55
112 Brian Brennan Westerlands CCC MV50 00:44:23
162 John Quinn Westerlands CCC MV50 00:47:37
176 Pauline McAdam Westerlands CCC 00:48:37
209 Paula Cowan Westerlands CCC FV40 00:51:06
254 Patricia McLaughlin Westerlands 01:01:11

Westies Trip to Loch Ossian

5-7 November 2010

A select band of Westies enjoyed a glorious weekend in the wilderness of Corrour Estate, on yet another Westies trip to Loch Ossian Youth Hostel. We kicked off on the Friday night with Fyne Ales and fine food in the Bridge of Orchy Hotel, before getting the train in to remote Corrour Station (410 metres high). After dragging our supplies down the mile long track in the dark we settled into the hostel, to be greeted by a warm smiling hostel warden (Yes, Nick had left!!). Plans were mooted, maps pored over and drinks poured down for a few hours.

Saturday was a fine day weather-wise and lots of different parties headed out into the glorious autumnal mountain scenery. Cat and I chased after Fiona, Helen and John Hamer bound for a 20 mile round trip to Ben Alder, though we somehow overtook them unknowingly on the way up, and saw their fellprints as we descended in the mist. Chris, Ellie and Ossian virgin David Dickson headed over by the head of Loch Treig to climb Stob Coire Easain and Stob a' Coire Mheadoin. John Hutchinson and Susie trained it to Tulloch Station and came back via Strath Ossian. Colin tested his dodgy knees successfully by heading over Chno Dearg and Stob Coire Sgriodain while Charlie summitted the nearby Meall na Lice.

A few brave souls donned fancy dress in the evening, but most of us settled for just enjoying the fine food and baking organised superbly by Fiona. In deference to the absent Dave Calder we enforced a strict no dancing rule and even declined a round of Music Man, settling instead for some of Fiona’s “10 Questions”.

Sunday dawned sunny, freezing and glorious as a few brave souls raced “Round The Loch”. Chris blasted round well under 50 mins, Ellie and Susie well under 55mins while poor John Hamer missed out on a sub 1hr by only a few seconds, apparently a repeat of last year!! He would surely have smashed it had he not ran a marathon last weekend and a 6 hour Ben Alder run on Sat. After breakfast we all took advantage of the fantastic weather to get some more hills done. Colin, John and had a grand few hours climbing Leum Uilleim at Corrour Station; Chris, Ellie and Susie bagged Carn Dearg and Sgor Gaibhre south of the Loch; David set off for a solo run up to the Bealach Dubh and grabbed Geal Charn.

After all our excursions we enjoyed the new Nick-free atmosphere of an unhurried Sunday afternoon by polishing off soup, pizza and puddings. Bags all packed and hostel all tidied we plodded up to the station for the 6.30pm train. In final deference to our absent Chinese Westie we gave the Hokey-Kokey a miss, though the sprint relays warmed us all up, as the winter weather started to close in on another great weekend. Major thanks to Fiona for all her organisation, to everyone who cooked, baked and contributed to this wonderful weekend.

Meall a' Bhuachaille Hill Race

Enjoyed a decent unspectacular race. Steady start along the trails, heathery plod up the hiils, decent descent a mixture of heather, rocky path and then good surfaces, and ran well along the final mile or so and picked up a few places with a reasonably fast finish.In the evening enjoyed good food, beer and dancing at the Scottish Hill Runners en of year bash. Westies picked up some team prizes which was great.

1hr 11min for 51st of 116 runners
my race on Garmin

Results