Penicuik 10k 9/05/09
Last year as the Penicuik 10K drew to a close, the thunder and lightning that had stalked the runners over the hill tops descended on the finish line with a vengeance, even washing away some of the results sheets. This year the weather was merely awful: cold, rainy and windy and the results team had a nice tent to hide under.
I knew I was in trouble from pretty much from the start when John Forker shuffled past me in his inimitable fashion on the big hill out of the Esk valley and disappeared into the distance. John has been hampered by eye trouble this last year but secret training sessions with McLeish, S. have obviously brought him back up to speed. On the other hand he always overtakes me on hills but then I usually stage a comeback so I thought I could still make good later in the race.
Having decided to wear a long-sleeve and a race vest I thought I might have made a mistake going up the long hill but once up on top of the course a rainy wind blew across the open farmland and I was glad of every bit of cover I had. Of course, everyone was soaked by this time and making the best of it. I should say there was a good turnout from Portobello but John was the only one I saw throughout the race as at the front end of the race team PRC was making good headway.
I consistently run the Scottish Gas 10K 3 minutes faster than Penicuik, which can only be put down to the different course profiles. Other people are clearly less affected by hills and indeed Jacqui Ramsay managed a pb under less than ideal conditions and came in second senior female. Not only that, the men’s team of James Harrison, Marc Grierson and Willie Jarvie walked off with the men’s team prize with duathalon specialist James 6th overall.
I managed to get to within about a hundred metres of John near the finish but was beaten back by a headwind and having to run through muddy, long grass in the final stretch as he went armadillo-like over the line ahead of me.
Thirteen club members took part this year in one the most testing local races including new member Caroline Iley who joined the club last week having already registered.
Full results here
Report Douglas Young
More photos on the Penicuik site
