Report from Bruce from race on Sunday, 27 May with further comments from Tomoyo. After having a worried eye on the weather forecast for most of the week beforehand, like most I was dreading running yet another hot marathon. The day got off to a bad start with us leaving the house a little bit later than planned, getting caught in a diversion getting onto the M8, having underestimated how long it took to drive to Edinburgh City Centre and then realising that the ‘London Road’ start was actually quite a long way from the old Regents Road start. Oh dear. So after a panicked warm-up scurry to the baggage truck, flinging on some factor 30 all that remained was to fight my way through the crowds of spectators to the start pen. By that point I didn’t actually care that I had 26.2 miles to run. Victory was mine just for making it to the start line. Once the race started the crowds thinned out quite nicely, and (as usual) I set off too fast at sub-6 minute miling and ended up 3.5 minutes ahead of my target by halfway. I spent the rest of the race waiting for my legs to seize up – but thankfully it never happened and was able to hang on. And luckily the weather never got quite as hot as it looked thanks to a cool sea breeze. My low-tech anti-Garmin device (race pace band printed off the Runner’s World website: http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/pacing/javascriptcalcs3-v2.asp) worked quite well until the latter stages, by which point I’d flung so much water over myself to keep cool that it had turned to a gooey pulp. Oops. It wasn’t like I was paying attention to the plan anyway, so it didn’t really matter. After a seamless hand over of hydration juice and a gel from Nina at the 23 mile point, I was able to relax and soak up the atmosphere as the realisation that I was going to beat the 2:45 target sunk in. All that remained was a quick dash up the finish straight for 7 minute PB, encouraged along by a big shout-out from our own race commentator Bryan and the impressive crowd. The nice weather brought out a decent crowd of spectators on a pretty inaccessible route for spectators – special thanks to Gerry, Louise and Mrs (Geordie Jim’s wife) Robinson for the shouts of support, they were much appreciated. So all in all, a great day out! Here are the results I could find on the EMF site before it crashed, I’m sure I saw more Bellas than this though: Pos Gun Chip Name Category 18 2:41:33 2:41:24 Bruce Carse SENM 220 3:07:28 3:07:10 Neil McEwan SENM 236 3:08:31 3:08:12 Jim Robinson V50M* 307 3:11:53 3:11:35 Robert McEwan V55M** 1220 3:38:07 3:35:02 Tomoyo Fujiwara V35W 2132 ? 3:51:46 Lucy Mackay 2907 ? 4:02:29 Sarah Gillies * PB, 5th in MV50 category and all important London Good-for-age place ** 7th in MV55 category Race report […]
edinburgh
This afternoon saw the first running of a new addition to the Scottish marathon scene, the Meadows Marathon in Edinburgh. The idea of two Edinburgh students to raise funds for charitable causes, there has a been a fun run and a half marathon in previous years. However this year included the 26.2 miles for the first time. Organised by students from the University, the course ran alongside the half marathon, 7 laps of the Meadows park & Bistro Square for the 13.1 milers & 15 laps of the same route for the marathoners. Registration was held at the ‘Potterrow Dome’ in the southside of the city, & was well organised and efficient. At 1225, after a pre-race gentle aerobic workout, the races commenced. My first Scottish marathon was underway. I ran this event as a long training run prior to the Madrid Marathon next month. The 15 laps were easy to follow, with stewards from the Uni giving noisy encouragement to the participants as well as directing the runners. However there was a sting in the tail. The laps in the park were straightforward enough, but the cobblestones up to Bistro Square & back down again, 2 per lap, were a real shock to the system. And painful too. Throughout the course, a real effort was made to add to the atmosphere, with live music in the square, and the Uni blasting out songs from their PA system. Also, loads of encouragement from the crowds of spectators. There was also live music in the park, though the performers did a runner during a hailstorm. 15 laps sounds rather repetitive, but I quite enjoyed it! There was no hidden surprises (apart from the cobblestones) and you knew what to expect in the latter stages. The only other grumble was the distance of the race. 26.87 miles is the longest marathon I’ve ever ran. I was led to believe 26.2 miles was the norm. To be fair, the organisers did say this in an e-mail issued, due to the logistics of the course. I ran the event in 3:34:55/8 minutes per mile, so in summary a good workout. No medal to the finishers. Just a cerificate and an awful ‘goodie bag’ full of leaflets. I would recommend this event. It is excellent preparation for the London or Edinburgh marathons, and its good to run the distance psychologically prior to these events. However, it is essential the organisers sort out the distance aspect. Why not put the finish line in the park? On a lighter note, why not tarmac over those cobblestones? Report from Mark
On Saturday I headed through to Holyrood Park and Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh to compete in the Great Winter Run 5k and then watch a feast of top quality Cross Country action with Kenenisa Bekele topping the bill. The 5k started on the road next to Arthur’s Seat went uphill for two kilometers, levelled out for one and then back downhill for two. The first kilometre was sheltered and I found myself out in front. We were then met by a fairly strong headwind and I held onto the lead until two kilometres. At that point Adam Priestley from Corstorphine AAC and Sean Gaffney from Inverclyde AC both came past me and then got about 50 metres ahead. I was feeling tired, but dug in and hoped for the best. At about 3.5k I caught Sean and moved back into second place. At 4k I passed Adam and had the amazing feeling of only having the pace car and 1k of running between me and a win. I managed to hold on and for the first time in my life had the incredible feeling of breaking the tape at a race. Neil Thin of Edinburgh AC came through to take second place. My split times should give a flavour of how hilly the course was. The first mile was run in 6:03, the second in 5:52 the third in 4:49 and the last 0.1 mile in 4:52 pace. The third mile was the first time that I have broken five minutes for the mile. After the race I met up with Stewart Roberston and Bryan Burnett to watch the cross country. It was very entertaining and we witnessed the race event of Bekele being outshone in a cross country. To finish of the perfect day after the races had finished we headed to The Royal Mile for a few beers. Report from Russell
The Seven Hills of Edinburgh took place yesterday, described as: “a few hundred hardy individuals taking part in one of the most unusual running events in the country, The Seven Hills of Edinburgh — a combination of road-running, cross-country, hill-running, and urban orienteering… 14 miles in length and with 2200 feet of ascent/descent.” Brendan Moriarty and Jane Simpson took part, and sent in this cracking report: Yesterdays big race was not the Mens Health 10K but actually the “7 Hills of Edinburgh”. The race starts at Calton Hill and takes in Castle Hill, Costorphine Hill, Craiglockhart Hill, Blackford Hill, Braid Hill and Arthurs seat before returning to Calton hill to finish. There is no set course which means that you constantly see people running in all directions. Its a mental start, ploughing through throngs of tourists that were sightseeing early on the Sunday morning before taking to the streets for the first few miles as you make your way up to the castle swarming all over the royal mile like a plague. You clip your number at the bottom of the castle esplanade with the orienteering clip and and then from there it gets a bit more sane… well all apart from scrambling up near vertical hills, sliding down near vertical hills, jumping walls, jumping hedges on round abouts, scaling walls, wading through burns, jumping walls/ fences, ploughing through nettles and gorse, dodging traffic, getting covered in mud and ( if you are Jane Simpson) doing an impromptu forward roll down a hill in to the gorse and nearly whacking a fellow runner as you pretend to be a plane on a downhill“triple salco and somersault combination”. In total you do about 14 miles and about 2,200 ft of climbing. There is plenty of water juice and food stops along the way, which were great on such a hot day.. At the finish there is a feed to rival even the Bella 5K. A cracking race that is thoroughly recommended, not just for the cake.. Results below: Jane was 4th Lady home. 65 Brendan Moriarty 02:11:01 Bellahouston RR 66 Jane Simpson 02:11:03 F Bellahouston RR Well done both of you. Excellent performance, and great report!