Borders Series Cross Country #3 Dunbar. 13/12/09 + Apres run.
Fabulous day today: Dunbar hosting the next round of the impeccable Borders Series XC and they were out in force to marshal the almost entirely flat route round the John Muir Park just West of Belhaven Bay. Flat maybe, but the soft sands of the first couple of miles more than made up for the lack of hills and mud.
Stuart in control of the juniors.
First junior with a good lead.
That sand wasn't as hard packed as it looks.
Mary and James warm up.A slightly changed route from previous. After a compact start the field became strung out along the long stretch of beach where minutes before we watched the juniors do an out and back. I had no idea of the course beforehand apart from the description Stuart Hay gave us at the start line. There was quite a lot of beach and sand in the narrative and I was looking forwards to getting past the sand traps and into the forest trails.
James being followed by the invisible man.The beach was pretty bad to start with: soft sand stretching way into the distance. Reminiscent of the energy sapping St Andrews beach run of the Tour-of-Fife. However the lack of wind kept the misery to a minimum and I focussed on trying to catch young Alastair Robertson who as always set off briskly. We swap leads on alternate races and I had fully expected him to prevail this time as I have only run about 15 miles in the last couple of weeks due to a tenacious cold bug that flared up every time I overexerted myself. Unfortunately I continued to fuel up at the normal rate and had been steering well clear of the scales as things spiralled out of control. However Alastair met my excuses with his own – he had been up till 3 the night before drinking. Maybe I might catch him after all.
The leaders swung over to the hard packed sand near the sea but it wasn't easy going. After an age there was a water jump – too wide to cross without maybe 3 steps into ankle deep water. As we progressed over more sand it became firmer. I picked up the pace and caught up with the small group beside Alastair, (was it before the bridge?) I think a high tide saved us from crossing the stream below the bridge and instead we ran over it. Just before three trees across the track that required committing jumps I went past Stuart Whitlie. That was a first and I suspected he may have been enjoying the hill free course less than Lauder. Shortly we came to the end of the beaches and turned left up an embankment that allowed us to return on grassy dirt trails just above the beach that ran through the forest. Dunbar must have had a few extra rolls of hazard tape as a blind man could have found his way through the woods – every second tree had tape markings. And there were marshals at every junction.
Soon after we got onto the trails Stuart went past, restoring the natural order. I tried to stick with him but as usual he surged forward in the second half. He overtook the runner ahead (Damon Rodwell?) who I followed closely but couldn't catch. I probably encouraged Damon to keep the pace going along the zig-zag paths to the finish, where he spent some time looking at the ground in distress.
Finishing within sight of proper runners!
James prefers hillier courses but still held onto to 8th. Alastair in the background contemplates late nights.
I was very pleased to have found some sort of form after being laid low with the cold (missing a couple of Wednesday nights) and cutting right back on training. Johnny came in very close behind. He had been full of beans before the race and I realised if I had a bad one he would be going past. Alastair maybe regretted the late night and will no doubt be gunning for the next few. Graham, back from his French marathon, enjoyed the day out as did Greig Glendinning (Bella) racing for the first time in 3 months on his way back from injury. And road testing a tiny (thumb-sized) headcam which he wore for the race. Should be interesting although its always difficult to bypass the inevitable shoogle.
Lynn looked strong as she crossed the line not far behind Graham and Rachel kept the pressure on Mary. Dunbar get top marks for a smoothly run well organised race over a beautiful course.
The lovely soft weather added to the joys of the day and we were happy to be headed off to Lucy's at North Berwick for mince pies and mulled wine afterwards. Lucy, Kipper and a small group of us went for an hour's beach run (in case we didn't get enough sand between our toes at Dunbar) along to Dirleton and back by the golf course. It was a perfect ending to a delightful day and the mince pies and mulled wine were terrific. Thanks Lucy.
Next one Gala XC 10th Jan. Great Fun!
Report pb
Photos pb and Ian Nimmo - Many thanks to Ian whom I didn't spot lurking, sorry, positioned on the course at the water jump and towards the finish and provided the quality action shots. Full set here.
Results
Mary's Blog
Kipper leads us along North Berwick beach.
Scott and Sula
NB Law with a wooly hat on.
Dan, Scott & Sula.
