Clydestride Relay, July 21

The Clydestride ultra is a relative newcomer to the Scottish running scene. It follows the Clyde Walkway from Partick Station in the centre of Glasgow along the River Clyde to the World Heritage Site at New Lanark. Last year was the first time the organisers had included a relay option to the race, which our men’s team duly won, and in which the ladies team also put in a very fine performance.

This year, expectations were a bit lower, but we still all had a good time. Assembly and registration at the Morrison’s supermarket in Partick seems a bit weird, but it’s convenient for the start and has a decent amount of car parking, so it all seemed to work.

Leg 1 is the only truly urban leg, heading south-west out of Glasgow centre. Susan and Gordon G were our Leg 1 runners, with this being Susan’s first competitive outing since the Alloa half marathon. The new M74 extension made getting to Cambuslang for the first handover a breeze, and Susan was first in of our runners in a very creditable 1.25. Gordon wasn’t far behind. Susan handed over to Kirsty, while Gordon handed over to DaveG.

Back into the cars and onto Strathclyde Park for the next handover. Al had made his own way to his handover point with his loyal support crew and it was good to catch up. We had a wee bit of a wait for Kirsty and Dave. Leg 2 is advertised as only being 8 miles, but Al was convinced it was longer than that last year, and that seemed to be borne out by other runners this year. Kirsty took a bit more time out of Dave, so the ladies went into Leg 3 with an 11 minute lead over the men. Leg 3 runners were Fi and Al, and they both put in really good runs. Fi came in first, handing over to Elaine with a 6 minute lead. Al was chuffed to put in the 8th fastest time for the leg – good going for someone whose training has been disrupted for a lot of the year.

Leg 4 is distinctly hillier than any of the other legs, and the hills tend to be a bit short and sharp, complete with steps in some places. However, it’s not really hilly by Crieff standards. I was under instructions not to overtake Elaine, but I’m afraid I didn’t stick to that, passing her just as she was regaining the correct path after a bit of misnavigation (not her fault – blame the runners ahead she was following).

The last mile or two are a bit frustrating. You run within 100 metres or so of the finish in New Lanark, only to be sent off on a long loop upstream, which is terribly scenic, but does seem a bit arbitrary. Anyway, it ends up leading to a splendid finish, through a gate in the wall and nestled in among the fine old mill buildings.

The Sizzlers ended up 12th overall, in a total time of 6.11.09, and the Sirens were a couple of places behind, in a time of 6.21.55. I’ll certainly be game to give it another go next year – it’s a really nice friendly event, and logistically it’s not too hard now that we’ve mastered the routes between the handover points. Oh, the t-shirts are good and the hoodies even better.