Aberdeen Cross Country 10/12/05Nobody really explained why we were going to travel such a long way for a cross country event with only 2/3s of a team. I think it was inspired by cheap rail tickets. This advantage was partially lost when Gerry and Willie travelled north the night before, leaving Ben and I to travel on the Saturday morning. And I was beginning to think of the trip as something of a fools errand when Ben who had said he would book the tickets could only get seats on the horribly early 8.10. Having spent my student years in Aberdeen I was reluctant to spent any more time there than necessary.
Bleary eyed I met Ben in Waverley a full 40 seconds early. As the train crept North I began to enjoy the day out and tried to be positive. We met Gerry and Willie in the granite city and went for a coffee in the gallery before heading north - Willie navigating - to Bridge of Don and the 3 muddy fields we were to run around. The weather was warm and sunny, most unusual for Aberdeen. We watched Gerry's sister run round the course before warming up. The men were set off at 2.30 - a crowd of a couple of hundred maybe - and headed down the first field before a muddy turn and alon
g the perimeter of the sports ground. Ben went past quickly but I felt I should try and pace myself evenly. After another 2 turns we climbed up a couple of banks before going along near the changing rooms then off round a clump of bushes, before crossing some sucking mud swamps, then climbing to the top of the course. The relief here was short lived as you remembered there was 2 more laps after the sprint back down to the start. I looked at my watch after the first lap and saw it was about 12 minutes into the race - it felt like we had been thrashing round the soft course for half an hour. I let my mind drift and it was difficult not to just follow the bloke in front, but to try and force a few places when you got a chance or felt strong for a few seconds. There was a very strong field and so if you let up at any point loads of folk were there to come past.
The second lap took 13 minutes and the third just under, to cross the line seconds under 38 mins. Just to let me know I was too old for this game a couple of
young upstarts out-sprinted me to the line. I was just glad to be finished. I shook hands with Ben who had got so far ahead I was able to cheer him on, as he had come round the bushy dogleg, working so hard he could only make a mutant grunt in acknowledgment. It's a brutal and dirty game and all four of us were shiny-faced and filthy from the chest down. We ran to the showers and changed quickly to reverse the whole trip back to Edinburgh and the PRC Christmas Bash. Having been sceptical of the value of our trip, I was now pleased to have run such a challenging course and was looking forward to several beers later on. Unfortunately it was to be quite some time as the train was delayed for a half hour at Markinch, then went on an unscheduled circuit of Fife. Luckily Willie had a bag of Jaffa cakes to keep him going till we eventually got off at Haymarket where we caught a bus to Gerry's flat and had a quick beer while changing into our evening wear. Having missed a warm down after the race the team went to some lengths to dance the stiffness out our limbs at the party. Not a pretty sight.
Report and photos pb
As something of a post script to this day out I noticed, when the results came out, that Gerry, Willie and I had inadvertantly gained a place on the Vets team scoreboard as it was only 3 runners required for an over 40's team. We placed 6th out of 13 oldies teams: pretty good going in the cross country world.
Ben Kemp 36.29
Peter Buchanan 37.53
Gerry Scullion 38.45
Willie Jarvie 39.29pps Also at the meet was John Blair, who we thought we had lost to the more sedate world of golf but who has had to start running again to keep up with daughter Samantha. John was not running this time, just on the sidelines watching Sam come 5th place in the under 13s. Well done Sam.
Full results here
