Clyde Stride - 17/07/10
Running With the Stars
How I wish I'd had my autograph book with me on Saturday. I drove over to Partick with Lucy (Commonwealth Ultra medallist and second on the day): just after the first checkpoint, who should run alongside but Richie Cunningham (West Highland Way winner this year and a real gent), he pulled me alongside Gail Murdoch (part of the winning Scots' Ladies Team from last month's Anglo-Celtic 100k race), and on the train back to Partick, I sat opposite race winner Grant Jeans (also a Scottish international). Wow - almost enough to distract from 40 miles - though one by one they all disappeared into the distance in front of me...
This is a new ultra set up to form part of the new-this-year Scottish Ultra Marathon Series - and one I'd highly recommend. I hadn't realised running along the Clyde would be so scenic - I'd feared miles of industrial wasteland, but there was very little of that: Bothwell Castle was a total surprise. And running along a river there is almost always something to keep your mind off the running. Not that it is flat once outside of Glasgow. For those who think 40 miles is a little far, convenient train stations would also split this into two nice 20 miles, of which the second half is probably more scenic and on nicer trails. And it ends very close to a tea-shop! And the sun shone - well, at least some of the time. Even the showers were the refreshing kind.
I didn't have much ambition for this race coming a month after WHW, and this is the first time I hadn't got a plan or worked out splits to aim at - and I ran without my Garmin, something I also think is worth trying for the long stuff. I tried to settle into the peleton early on and avoid chasing the leaders, which turned out to be a good move - as 40 minutes in the leaders appeared coming back towards us, finding the path blocked ahead, so we detoured into Glasgow's East End, got lost again, and finally got back onto the river in a complete mess, with the tail of the race at the front. All of which was very confusing - it is hard to tell whose pace to follow if you don't know if they are the leader or backmarker! In winning the race, Grant Jeans ran 45 miles according to his Garmin - I didn't go that far extra, but I did get lost four times (once following Richie Cunningham, which shows even legends make mistakes). All my own fault for not bothering to recce the race or carry a map - I think the entire field had taken the rather blase attititude that following a river walkway shouldn't challenge our navigation skills...
The middle part of the race seemed very hard work. After the second checkpoint (18 ish miles), I ran for an hour with Gail and then stopped to pop behind a tree. She'd gone over the horizon when I emerged, and it was hard to get going again at anything other than a slow jog. I thought I could get to the third checkpoint (28 miles) and then walk in. But having got there, and taken a five minute walk break to drink and eat which cost me another place, I was surprised to get going again - and however slow it was, no-one else came past. After an hour on my own, I caught three runners who'd switched to walk/run, and then another pair still running who I managed to hang on to. Someone was coming up from behind which pushed me past that pair. The newcomer sat resolutely on my shoulder - it turned out to be Claire from London who had had enough of getting lost and was determined to stick with someone, even though she was clearly able to run much faster than me. But she was worried about 4th and 5th lady who were apparently closing fast. We met Ian Beattie (Vice Chair, Sport Scotland and WHW runner and organiser) on a lovely wooded section, who said we had 3k to go. So, ever gallant, I found myself doing a parkrun pace until we caught the next runner, which meant I could relax. The finish - which I think was far more than 3k - was a run into and through New Lanark, out to a waterfall and then back to New Lanark through the tourists, and a huge relief to stop. I finished just inside 6 hours in 13th. I don't have splits - but I suspect I did the last 12 miles faster than any other part of the race: bet that doesn't happen next time!
A good number of the field were doing this as their first ultra, and it is one you might want to think about if you're tempted.
Report - Richard Dennis
Photos - stolen from Debbie Martin-Consani
