Brig Bash, 4 July 2012

The penultimate race in the club Championship this year was the very friendly Brig Bash, as organised by Perth Road Runners, and run on a flat course on quiet back roads round Bridge of Earn. The club Championship hasn’t really taken off this year, with most of the main contenders either injured or having set their sights on different priorities for the year. Nevertheless, the seven of us who made the trip to Bridge of Earn had a good workout.

As seems to be usual for the Brig Bash (at least in my experience of a whole 3 years), the weather during the day was grim, only for it to clear up in the hour before the race, and by the time we started, it was a bit muggy, but without any real threat of rain. Despite the unpromising weather, the race still managed to attract a record field of 234 runners racing. Kinross Road Runners, Perth Road Runners, Carnegie Harriers and Wee County Harriers were particularly prominent.

To mark Olympic year, there was an additional element to the race, with the Olympic Mile Challenge – an extra prize of an engraved glass for the first man and first woman to reach the one-mile mark. Needless to say, the contenders for that one disappeared off into the distance before long.

I clocked my first kilometre as 3.53, and my first mile as 6.17, so I was a bit concerned I’d gone off a bit too fast – my first km was similar to last year and I certainly didn’t maintain that pace through the race. However, this year I did manage to keep going a bit better, albeit with a bit of a dip in speed in the second half. With about a kilometre to go, I was just behind Peter Edgerton, a Kinross Road Runner who had beaten me in the MV50 category at the Milnathort Dash, so I felt quite good about being to chase him down and pass him. My finishing time was 31.53, which was nearly a minute faster than last year, so I’m quite happy with the time. Unfortunately, this was the third time I’ve done this race, and I’ve improved my time each year, and I wonder just how hard I’m going to have to work next year if I’m going to keep on improving.

Maddy came in next, looking very strong and composed, in a very good 36.14. Cathy was next in 36.43, followed closely by Allan in 37.16 and Elaine was a wee bit further back in 38.49.  Fi wasn’t sure if she’d made the 40 minute mark, but was eventually very happy with her official time of 39.49. Liam Roberts, running as part of the preparation for the joint Crieff High School and Morrison’s Academy trip to Hong Kong later this year finished in 40.37, and Mary O’K was our last runner completing in 45.37.

Overall winner was Lewis Miller of Central AC in a time of 25.14. The women’s winner was a slightly grumpy looking Jennifer Emsley, also of Central AC, who also won the women’s Olympic Challenge. For the men, the Olympic Challenge was won by a very tall American from the Ann Arbor Track in Club in Ohio called James Kasten.

And the post-race spread was very fine, as hoped. Maddy managed to find a particularly splendid looking cupcake.