East District Cross Country League, Broxburn 22/11/08
Amanda squeezed some Princes St. Christmas shopping in immediately before jumping in the car and driving with us to Broxburn where there was even more bobbing and weaving through the crowds. This time though the crowds were dressed in shorts and vests – clearly daft attire for a teeth-chatteringly cold November day on a hill above Broxburn in bitter winds.
Ah the cross country! I'm a convert. I used to question the value of these short, sharp, mud-fests which are attended by some of the strongest runners in the country, hence no chance of glory; but there's something about the intensity of the workout and weather combined with some great courses that make them a real winter treat. I enjoy shorter races and I prefer running off-road – what could be better than half an hour of racing round hilly fields with some patches of mud?
Photo stolen from Roadrunpics
Surprisingly little mud this time. A couple of visits ago, Broxburn was a quagmire and the final dip before the sprint for the line was a skating rink of slippery mud and tearful girls picking themselves up looking for shoes. This time the course was almost too dry, though it was hard to turn the sharp corners without a certain degree of caution and tip-toeing.
Photo from Roadrunpics
We arrived in plenty of time but I got chatting to loads of folk beforehand (while the girls warmed up) and though I made my way up for the 1.55 start of the women's race, they started a couple of minutes early and so I missed recording the gun and stampede.
The course does three loops per lap, threading each loop past the central start/finish hub affording good spectating and plenty of opportunity for photos and film. The women (and under 17 lads) did 2 laps, the men 3.
I was trying to operate both camcorder and camera. Just as Ivor was asking was it possible to do both simultaneously, I was filming the sky 2 feet above Amanda as she cruised past, leading the PRC women's team.
Yes we actually had a Ladies Team! Amanda had been worried about injury but when she heard Rachel was up for it, she agreed to make up a team. I think Amanda's strategy was going to be start out moderately and take care over the uneven ground, but I suspect once she got going, caution was thrown to the wind. Although there is a good chance of going your length on these courses, the soft ground is less likely to aggravate muscle and joint problems.
Rachel also seemed to enjoy the day out, going past Mary in the second lap, looking comfortable over the tough course. Megan Wright from HBT led a strong field with Jenny McLean and Rosie Smith pushing the pace at the front.
HBT were also out in force in the men's event. There was just time to pass over the cameras to Amanda and Mary having done a bit of a warm up and stretch while they were running, before the men's race was started. The course begins with a sweeping fast downhill to a narrow corner and I made sure I ran this as fast as possible in order not to get caught up in any log-jams there. Good tactics as Gerry told me later he got caught in the bunching and ended up 40 seconds behind me after just one lap.
I probably went off a bit too quickly as I was overtaken by some quality runners throughout the race - although Brian Cruickshank was kind enough to report he had to work hard to go past about the halfway mark. I might have to frame the pictures Amanda took with Brian behind me. Look out for the Hare and Tortoise race on the 28th December he is helping organise – it promises to be a lot of fun. Mary and I are hoping to race it as a team.
I was pleased with my run at Broxburn – sometimes you feel chased and tired the whole way, other times like today you feel relaxed and up for it. I noticed afterwards I ran a very uniform deterioration of 13 seconds slower each lap. I enjoyed the last lap ticking off each obstacle as it went by for the last time; last time up lungbuster hill, last time round the 2nd loop single track etc. And although you wouldn't want to hang around long in the cold wind afterwards it wasn't bad running conditions at all.
These 2 beat me to the line - don't know what the hurry was about.
After cheering Tony over the line we headed down to Broxburn Academy where we had some excellent soup. There had been so little mud we decided to get home for a shower rather than risk the (previously cold) school showers.
Running in a group half my age (apart from Brian directly behind.) (Roadrunpics)Sadly there wasn't a full PRC men's team, but we did have enough for a vet team. Extra points to Graham who arrived by bike though he cut it a bit fine time-wise. He had a massive 33mile run planned for the following day with Stuart and Ian from Dunbar. Tempting as this was, I opted for a couple of hours of low level Pentlands in the sleet of Sunday afternoon. However we were blessed with a murky sunset which rounded off a pretty good weekend.
Report pb
Photos Amanda, pb and many thanks to Roadrunpics - more great photos here
Results hereFILM of Cross Country HERE
Almost snow on the Pentlands
Murky Sunset
