Gypsy Hill Race and Edinburgh Marathon Weekend 2011
May 23rd, 2011A heady mix of road races in Edinburgh at the weekend and the charming Gypsy Hill Race near Peebles last week saw a good number of Gala Harriers putting their training to the test over a variety of terrain and distance.
The Gypsy Glen Race enticed Rachel Fagan and Derrick Brydon to don their fell shoes and race up and down a hill at a cracking pace, which they did, finishing 22nd and 23rd in times of 39 minutes 35 seconds and 39.56 respectively.
The Edinburgh Marathon Festival mounts a range of road races over the course of a long weekend and, in contrast to the past two years when temperatures have suggested a tropical climate, Saturday and Sunday on the city’s streets were wet, cool and extremely windy. Sinclair Hill sped efficiently around the 10k distance on Saturday in a most impressive 39.38, achieving 14th place out of 1242 runners. The next day, half marathon runners started at 8am and the line-up included seasoned Scottish internationalist Dianne Lauder and first-timer Vicky MacDonald. Dianne put in another great performance in 1 hour 19 minutes 58 seconds, coming home as the first Scottish woman while Vicky was equally chuffed with her personal best time of 1.57.39.
The roads were cleared for the next onslaught of marathon and Hairy Haggis marathon relay teams which snake through the city to the coast and hug the East Lothian shoreline before turning beyond Longniddry and finishing near Musselburgh Race Course. Streets congested with the thousands of runners from both the full marathon and the relay teams meant that the first miles were more like a slalom but 6 Harriers managed to make light work of it and progressed over the 26.2 miles to excellent times in the difficult conditions. The strong following wind on the way out meant that most had a very favourable first half but the turn into the relentless gales for the tough homeward miles mitigated against personal best times for many. First home for the Harriers was Calum Stewart in a fantastic time of 3 hours 5 minutes 54 seconds with Mark Bryson not far behind in a hard-fought 3.10.45. David Moffat was pleased with his PB of 3.14.19 and so he should be. Edinburgh-based Carole Fortune continues to amaze with her progress as she posted an impressive 3.34.59, while Dave Nightingale lived up to his name as he turned casualty nurse for a while to assist a female runner who sustained a nasty head injury, potentially losing precious minutes into the bargain. Speaking afterwards Dave said he could not have passed by without offering help, although many Bad Samaritans clearly did. All good things come to those that wait and Dave was rewarded with a very pleasing 3.41.18, with John Cairns a few minutes shy of him in 3.45.26.
The club had entered 3 mixed teams in the Hairy Haggis Relay over the marathon distance and spurred on by the promise of a President’s Prize for the first team home, 12 runners (all pictured here) blasted their way around the 3 relay handovers, all to finish well under the 3 ½ hour mark. Eileen Nicol, Rachel Fagan and Derrick Brydon handed over to Dawn Grant, David Hunter and Fiona Shepherd, who in turn passed the baton to Billy McCulloch, Paul Daly and Malky Gowans, and the final glory legs were run by Rosi Capper, Lisa Daly and Anne Purves.
