The Year That Was 2010

YEAR TOTALS

RUNNING = 1544 miles/53,600 metres ascent; 22 races (52,908 miles since 1987)
CYCLING = 2975 miles/58,500 metres ascent; 7 races
GYM = 75 sessions; 75 hours
HILLWALKING = 200 miles; 12,700 metres ascent; 23 days; 67 hours

2010 HIGHLIGHTS



the (sub-12 hr)High Peak 42M Marathon I think topped all, but was closely followed by my (just) sub-8hr Fred Whitton 110 mile Cycle,sub-6hr Bealach Mor 90M Cycle, a great run at the 40M Clde Stride Trail Race, my 21st Carnethy Hill Race and climbing Mount Toubkal in Morrocco.

Also noteworthy were =

Lomond Hillrunners' annual Pub Run from Pittenweem to St. Andrews
some great Celtic Connections Concerts
a couple of great Glenmore Club winter walking weekends up north
the Carnethy Hill Race/Musselburgh 67mile Cycle weekend double
limping round the Wuthering Hike with a crocked knee
the Westies Extravaganza round the Cateran Trail
a Corbett-bagging trip to Knoydart with the Glenmorons
the Lakeland Loop Cycle followed by lovely walking with Moira in the Lake District
a cold and wet 200K Audax with Chris Upson down in the Borders
a lovely 150K Audax with Moira and Louise from Forfar
the Three Ferries cycle from Dunoon with Moira
the stunning and scary Clach Glas-Blaven scramble with Dave, Chris and Brian
the 117M Dragon Ride Cycle in South Wales in 7h 13m (17mph)
catching up with Crispin and family in the Brecon Beacons, then Snowdonia
a Corbett/Munro Compleation weekend in Glendessary and party at Gill&Arthur's
a sunny Ken Laidlaw 105M Cycle in the Borders
a week up in Torridon Corbett-bagging and cycling from Sue & Gordon's motorhome
a super week in Morrocco with the Lomond Hillrunners climbing Mount Toubkal
completing another Scottish Hillrunners' Championship
another great Westies Weekend at Loch Ossian Youth Hostel
a snowy Lomond Hillrunners' weekend at Dunkeld
some great winter trail running in snowy December
lots of cinema visits with Gordon
Monday night Hashing and pubbing

.... and winning the inagural Westies Curry league, of course!!!!!!!

Northern Cairngorms Walk

SATURDAY 22 JAN 2011

A brilliant winter's walk up the Chalamain Gap and on to the ridge. Lurcher's Crag, Cairn Lochan and on to Cairn Gorm (1245m). Then due north down the ridge above Strath Nethy and back to the car. A cracking day out.

Westies Wild and Wet Ochils Hill Run

SAT 15 JAN 2011
8 miles 3,000 feet


A healthy number of Westies and special guests turned up at Tillicoultry for a bash round the Ochils. The weather forecast was rubbish, and the weather was indeed exactly that, though we weren't deterred from our goal. Straight up to King's Seat we went, before dashing out the horrible weather down to the Maddy Moss. Plodded up to Andrew Gannell before the undulating slog in dire weather along to Ben Cleuch. A quick turnaround there saw us head over The Law and down out of the rubbish weather at last to the glen.

Lomond Hillrunners Pub Run

SATURDAY 8 JAN 2011

My annual beer and running jaunt with my Fife running buddies, this time from Elie to Kirkcaldy. Alan's report says it all =

In spite of the fresh dump of snow overnight we all made it to Leven bus station for the ride to Elie. There was little snow in evidence along the coast but no shortage of lethally iced pavements and roads. Gus and Jim were waiting at the Ship Inn and our first (not unexpected) task was telling Gordon that we would be waiting for the 11am opening. With an open fire blazing away it was good to escape the snell south westerly and we enjoyed every last drop of our first £3.80 guinness.

With the tide out and blue skies the run along Elie beach gave us a great start to the day. Gus's bare legs attracted the first of plenty of attention (incomprehension!) they were to receive during the day. On the way along we picked up Brian who had jogged along from largo to join us. From the end of Earlsferry we took to the chain walk which gave us an exciting break from running and Brian showed us the old Kelty custom of juggling with boulders (explains a lot!). Beyond Shell bay the long run along the wide open sands to Largo was definitely one of the highlights of the day

In the Railway Inn Jim continued with his quest to snap all the barmaids and we were pleased that the price of a pint had gone down to £3.10. The run along the big curving sandy beach to Leven was brilliant but our hopes of finishing in daylight got a major dunt when the tailenders found it hard to escape the delights of a swing park??? Eventually we all congregated in the cheap and cheerful Molly Malones pub in Leven where Guinness slid more happily down our throats at £2.80 a pint.

From Leven we teetered along the icy pavements of Methil and Buckhaven to the welcoming Railway Tavern and were excited to find that Guinness had slipped to £2.50 but there was no sign of Laurie and Fraser. In their enthusiasm we discovered they had got half way to East Wemyss before we could 'reel them in'. We also had a few garbled calls from Pat who was on a bus somewhere near and was successfully 'talked in' by our 'Keeper of the Mallett'.

By now the sun was slipping away but we managed the short jog past the ruin of Macduff castle and down to East Wemyss in fading daylight and find the decent Wemyss Central hotel. (prices on their way up again!) Darkness had fallen by the time we emerged and we had to cover what should have been one of our most scenic stretches by torchlight. It was a case of 'hinging in' for most of us now as we ran past the now publess village of West Wemyss and then up the steps over the rocky headland and along into Dysart where the Man I' the Rock beckoned. With a final pint sunk we slipped down the icy slopes to the picturesque wee harbour of Dysart. A final run through Ravenscraig park resulted in us separating into several groups which all reached Laurie's Cartridges world in time for a clean up and change of clothes. A fine day was rounded off very pleasantly with a meal in the Annapurna.