Crieff 10k, 10 July

The Crieff 10k is a highlight of the club season, and this year was no exception. We had nearly 300 runners, including some of Scotland's finest, a man dressed as a grouse, and Rhian's Dad coming all the way from South Wales just to run in our race (seeing his daughter was incidental, of course). Could you imagine a better way to spend a Saturday?

In amongst all the huge efforts that go into organising and catering the event, it's almost possible to overlook the results, but for those interested, the men's race was run by Prasad Prasad, one of Scotland’s finest hill runners, in a very fast time of 33:37, just 5 seconds outside the course record, and therefore saving us having to pay out extra prize money for breaking the record. First woman home was Edel Mooney in 39:05. First local man was Patrick O’Kane, still running as an HBT runner, and Angela was first local woman, in a time of 44:02.

For the first time, a Juniors race was run, over a distance of 1 mile. This was won by Dominic in an outstanding time of 5:45, followed by Matthew in 5:59, with Matthew’s younger brother James finishing 3rd (and 1st in the under-11s race) in 6:29. Daniel du Pon and Andrew McInnes were second and third in the under-11s race. First under-13 girl was Abigail, and first under-11 (and second girl overall) was Catriona Roberts, I find these times from the juniors a bit disturbing - under 6 minutes for a 13-year-old is some going!

As always, massive thanks to everyone who helps with the organisation of the event, from AliB as Race Director to the kids who helped served the juice and tea at the end. Gordon was his usual unflustered self with the results, despite a bit of glitch with some of the times coming n from the finish - it all came good in the end. And thanks to The Famous Grouse Experience for their very generous sponsorship, and their contributions to the goodie-bags for all runners, and thanks to Rob for organising the Comrie Pipe Band who sent the runners on their way at the start and met them home at the finish.

And then we went for a curry, which was nice.

Harriers 5x5 relay and juniors prize-giving, 23 July

This year saw the 3rd running of the 5x5 relay. This was set up to mark the club’s 25th anniversary and has become a fixture in the club calendar, and in past years has been followed by assorted shenanigans at Braidhagh or at Fiona and Murray's farm.

The route starts across the Morrison's playing fields and makes its way across the bridge and up Knock Mary, with a first handover at the road down to Strowan. From there, Leg 2 winds through the woods to Auchingarrich and down to Comrie, with a handover in Laggan Park. Leg 3 is the brutal one, up to Braefordie and then on to the Turret Dam. Leg 4 is downhill all the way back to Taylor Park, with Leg 5 reprising the Crieff 10k route.

As usual, Kirsty won the prizes for best team t-shirts with variations on the royal theme, while I was reduced to recycling last years' Tony the Tiger t-shirts. This years race was won by Jayne Martin's team, with a storming run from Josh Murchie on the leg from the Balloch Road, through Auchingarrich, to Comrie, setting up Digby with a comfortable lead for the hard leg from Comrie up to the Turret Dam. Digby extended the lead even further before handing over to Peter for the downhill leg back to Taylor Park, leaving Beth with the glory leg to win with minutes to spare. Josh was definitely the star of the show, with a fantastic run. Then again, he is an international junior triathlete, or something equally impressive.

In the evening, we gathered at Braidhaugh for the annual barbeque and, for the first time, the prize presentations for the junior section of the club. The junior prize winners are:

Club Champion under 11 boys - Lewis Forsyth

Club Champion under 11 girls- Sammy Wake

Club Champion under 13 boys- Dominic Mestecky

Club Champion under 13 girls- Morgan Oates

Most improved boy- Chris Martin

Most improved girl- Catriona Roberts

Runner of the year for boys - Sol Sweeney

Runner of the year for girls - Abigail Johnstone

Clydestride Relay, 16 July

The Clydestrde relay was a new outing for us all. The Clydestride 40 is an ultramarathon, run over a 40 mile route along the banks of the River Clyde from the centre of Glasgow to New Lanark. It follows the course of the river from Glasgow through Hamilton and Strathclyde Park to finish at the historic village of New Lanark.The first half of the race seemed to consist of a tour of Morrison's supermarkets, although the scenery did get better as we moved out of Glasgow.

Liz T was running the whole thing, but some of us took advantage of the fact that for the first time, a relay was been added to the race schedule. Phil T ran Leg 1 for the men, and I think LizM ran Leg 1 for the women (apologies if I've got that wrong). Phil ran strongly to arrive at the 1st handover point in Cambuslang in 3rd position, somewhat bemused at the pace of the leading men who were running the whole distance, and handed over to Al. I think Liz handed over to Shelagh. Or was it Karen?

Anyway, we then got lost driving to the next checkpoint at a hotel car park at the entrance to Strathclyde Park, just off the M74. V. scenic. Al was mugged a bit by the fact that his leg was longer than advertised and was feeling a bit bedraggled by the time he got to Strathclyde Park. We were waiting and worrying in case he'd got lost and we were going to have to send out search parties in south Glasgow. But he turned up and and over to me, and off I went.

Meanwhile Shelagh was striding through south Glasgow with the occasional route-finding incident, and also felt a bit mugged by the extra distance - it's a bit disconcerting to be expecting to run 8 miles on an unfamiliar route and still be running after 9 miles. But she made it, and handed over to Karen for the 3rd leg.

Leg 3 was really nice - initially alongside the loch (i.e. nice and flat) and then through assorted fields and woods, still nice and flat. I also had the pleasure of overtaking people, which was a pleasant novelty, and ended up handing over to PhilM as the first relay runner at the second handover, at a random bridge somewhere in South Lanarkshire (perhaps).

Meanwhile, the rest of the women's team were a) getting lost and b) getting sent in the wrong direction by a runner who had dropped out of the race and didn't appear to know where he was or where he was going. Their generosity in giving him a lift was returned with a stony silence when he got out of the car. But they got there before Karen did, which was the important thing. Karen had a good run and handed over to Kerry for the glory leg.

And then we all made our way to New Lanark for the finish. The route from the car park to the finish took us on a big detour, to the extent that although we'd seen Phil racing down the final hill, we arrived at the finish about 15 minutes after him. The Strathearn Stags were the first relay team to finish, and the Strathearn Sirens were the first women’s team to complete the course.

To round it off, beer was provided at the finish! For essential rehydration purposes of course! I think this was probably my favourite day out of the year - definitely one for next year.

Brig Bash, 6 July

Nine runners made it to Bridge of Earn for the Brig Bash, a 5-mile road race and the ninth (and penultimate) race in the Harriers Championship. Despite pouring rain most of the day, the race was run in good conditions and was won by Central AC runner Lewis Miller in a fast time of 25:17. At this time in the season, Patrick was still running as an HBT runner, but I think we can claim him as one of ours, since he was 5th overall in a blistering time of 27:53. The first Harriers vest to finish was worn by Will, in ninth position in a time of 28:33. Next was Phil T in 31:20, followed a bit later by me in 32:42. First woman Harrier was Patrick’s daughter Erin, in a fine time of 33:50. Cathy followed in 35:26. Also running were Mary O’Kane, Kirsty, AliB and club president George. Like the Milnathort Dash, the Brig Bash is always followed by a splendid spread.

The position at the top of the Men’s and Women’s Championship remained unchanged, with Will extending his lead in the Men’s competition and neither Angela or Kerry racing. So for the women, it was all down to the final Championship race at the Comrie Fortnight Hill Race.

Phil M at the Lairig Ghru, 26 June

The Lairig Ghru race is one of the beasts of Scottish running. It's a hard enough walk, from Braemar to Aviemore through the high pass of the Lairig Ghru, with ankle-snapping boulder fields and the potential for seriously bad weather, even in the height of summer.

So it seemed just the thing for Phil M to run this one. And very well he did too, with a top 30 finish and an outstanding time of 3 hours, 59 minutes and 3 seconds.

The photo shows Phil in the Rothiemurcus Forest at about the 3 hour mark. Being brutally honest, I do have to say that the leading runners did look a wee bit fresher than Phil did at this point.

Milnathort Dash, 23 June

For the eighth race in the club championship, eight Harriers made it to the Milnathort Dash. The Dash is a 5.5 mile race on minor roads through pleasant farmland to the north-east of Milnathort, near Kinross. This is the first year the race has been included in the club championship, so it was an unknown quantity for all the Harriers.

Once again, Will was first Harrier home, finishing fourth overall. Angela was second Harrier, finishing 27th overall and fourth woman. Kerry and I weren’t far behind Angela, followed by Gordon, Cathy, Nicola and Ali. In addition to the quality of the racing, this was an outstanding event made memorable by the quantity and quality of the after-race spread – heaps upon heaps of cakes, sandwiches, sausage rolls and assorted post-race scoff. Definitely one for next year!

Not surprisingly, this result cemented Will’s lead in the club championship. The women’s championship was a different story, with just one point out of 80 separating Kerry and Angela, making the results of the final two races very interesting!

Lang Toon 10k, 1 June

A record turnout of 18 Harriers made it to Auchterarder last Wednesday for the annual Lang Toon 10k race. This was the sixth race in the Harriers Championship series, and saw some great performances from the runners.

Not for the first time, Will was first Harrier home in a time of 37:17, followed by Phil M in 40:49. Angela and Kerry repeated their strong performances in earlier races, with Angela coming home as second woman overall in a time of 42:18, and Kerry a short distance behind to finish third woman in a time of 43:01.

At this stage in the season, Will had consolidated his lead in the club championship and was well set to retain his title. Kerry moved to the head of the women’s championship, ahead of Angela and Nicola.