East District League Cross Country, Broxburn 20/01/07
On a day when most sensible people decided to stay inside, eight of us braved the cold and turned up to run the East League cross-country race on the outskirts of Broxburn. Among us were some for whom this is a favourite past-time. Others had only just discovered the joys of running through deep mud in appalling conditions. For me it was the first time in probably 13 years to have a go at it. Having been injured for quite a large chunk of last year, I had put off the moment of truth, but finally I felt ready for it.
The lads u17 and women set off together.
Lucy running for City of Edinburgh
First off were Amanda and Mary, and supporting them gave us an opportunity to explore the course and get a feel for the terrain. The course consisted a convoluted loop of about 3.1 km, almost entirely on grass, with a few little hills. The route went through a mixture of open terrain and narrow tracks through shrubbery. There was plenty of mud and probably the worst patch was in a sharp corner on a steep downhill section about 100 meters before the finish, where several of the juniors and women lost their footing and landed flat on their faces in the mud. Meanwhile Amanda and Mary were gradually working their way around the course twice and even seemed to be enjoying themselves.
As I don’t have any trail or hill running shoes, I had decided to dig out my old track spikes. I had last worn these on an 800m in 1994. The points had never been very long but now seemed almost non existent so I ordered some new ones a few days before the run. When I screwed them into the soles, the 12mm long points seemed excessively long and very dangerous, but as I was warming up before the race it was soon clear that they did the job perfectly. In fact, not once during the race did I come close to slipping.
The men’s race set off at 2:30 and it was slightly worrying so see this mass of people setting off down a grassy slope, knowing that at the end of it the course became a lot narrower. Fortunately by the time we turned the first corner the pack had already thinned enough to allow space to run comfortably. After this it went up along a small burn, followed by a sharp climb (Lungbuster Hill) to pass within a few meters of the start and finish after about 1200m. Then through a gap in the barbed wire fence for another short loop of about 800 meters before climbing up to the highest point at Lookout Hill. From there it was downhill all the way with the wind in the back until the sharp slippery corner followed by a sharp climb over the last 100 m to the finish line. Repeat this 3 times and you have completed the race, 9.3 km in total.
Richard and John start just behind George Armstrong (in the hat.)
I had started off at a fairly relaxed pace having learned the hard way in previous runs. For the first km I ran with Keith but then I managed to step up the pace a little and slowly left him behind while I started overtaking the first people. This I managed to keep doing for most of the way. Gerry, Willie and Peter had been in front of me at the start and I never saw them during the race but according to their report after the race it had been a closely fought battle to decide the order in which they were to finish. In fact they ended up within five places of each other. The first two laps went really well for me. I managed to keep a good pace and the variation in the terrain allowed for a bit of recovery in between the harder muddy and uphill bits. Halfway through the last lap I started to feel the strain. At the same time the wind picked up and it started sleeting. Luckily it only got really bad once I had got to the top of lookout hill for the last time and I managed to force out a bit more speed on the last km to the finish. Keith finished a few minutes behind me followed by John Forker and Richard.
Peter and Gerry on the muddy section at the end of the first lap.
After all that everybody seemed happy to have come out and braved the cold, and I certainly enjoyed it myself and have regained my appetite for mud.
Report Leo Zijerveld
Photos Peter Buchanan, Mary Hunter, Amanda Henderson
Link to all Amandas Broxburn photos at better resolution here
Race results herePeter has his say....
Because Leo enjoyed the day out so much he forgot to mention the cold showers; I could not let that go unmentioned. Someone might think we didn't mind the showers being cold. They might have thought the sort of folk who'd go running over such lumpy damp ground in January might really quite enjoy a bracing cold shower afterwards. Where there's no sense, there's no feeling sort of thing. NOT THE CASE. Given the mud on the day, showers were obligatory and I'd just like to say how deeply unpleasant that five minutes was. At first I thought I'd walked into the only cold stall as nobody else was making a noise like a dog at the vets. But a quick survey let me know everyone was having the same fun. I tried not to let this spoil the day.
Which went remarkably well. Considering Mary and I had gone for what turned out to be a quite hard 14 miler the day before then (to aid recovery) beer and wine at Ben's place to look at his holiday photos. Quite a lot of drinks really. However less than one lap into the course and the hangover was a distant memory.
Here comes the bad weather.It took Gerry less than a lap to catch me and he steadily pulled ahead during the second lap. I was wondering where Willie was and cheering spectators let me know he was getting closer. Towards the end of the last lap he appeared and I shouted to him knowing I didn't have the strength to catch Gerry. And yet. Gerry had lost his huge lead and was now about 50 yards ahead. Willie surged forward and I tried to keep up as we went through the muddy bit before the dash to the line. Another couple of hundred yards and we might have caught him but Gerry finshed just ahead then Willie then myself.
Willie overtakes for the last hundred yards.
Glad that's over.
There was a real sense of achievement at the end - coming out to do something tough but energising on a grim winter's day. Many thanks to all the marshalls and spectators, Alex Jackson (as ever), and Martin Hyman for coming up with the re-jigged route. The course was really good and gave whoever wasn't running a chance to take photos and shout on the racers. Thanks to Mary and Amanda who stood around in the freezing weather after their race to cheer us on; it made us feel like stars. At least they were able to get a hot shower afterwards. Did I mention the cold showers?
Report pb
Not the Jarvie Brothers but friends of Amanda's, Dillion and Rosie.
