Lasswade 10 Miles Road Race 6/3/05
Glorious weather meant the jog to the start line wasn't the usual freezing cattle drive. Spirits were high at the start and the almost windless sunny day meant potential course pbs over what has been a blustery and exposed route in previous years. The r
ace is notorious for its "undulations" and a couple of days after, legs were still unusually sore from storming down steep hills and soldiering up the other side.
My only memories of the first half were watching Willie pull away with the leaders while I gasped up steeper and steeper gradients. I was counting off the miles knowing that from about mile 7 the route map showed a long, gradual descent to the finish. Mountaineering up the last ascent I congratulated the leading lady as she went past, making very determined noises.
I wondered how far behind Porty's own bionic woman was, and had the question answered as Janet pulled up alongside going into Rosewell. That put an end to any thoughts of coasting the last mile or two and with ungentlemanly vigour I struggled to pick up the pace. The final mile is downhill and fast but even at 5.30 pace, I could neither catch the woman in front nor lose the one behind, and we all finished within seconds of each other.
Willie managed under 60 minutes (and first vet) which is very impressive on such a demanding route. Janet won first vet and second woman. On the day, City of Edinburgh won the ladies team prize but the results required scrutiny as some finishers' numbers had been mis-read resulting in 2 Douglas Youngs and 2 John Forkers appearing in the list. Mary Hunter had been third Portobello lady and missed off the initial results. It turned out that together with Janet and Shelagh McLeish, they should have won the first ladies team prize. After this was pointed out to the organisers they agreed and corrected the mistake. If CoE ladies would like to pass the trophies on to (their erstwhile colleague) Janet.........
Congratulations to all prizewinners and all who managed a pb. A great turnout from Portobello. Well done team!
Willie Jarvie 59.40
Peter Buchanan 1.02.27
Janet Laing 1.02.28
Graham Henry 1.03.45
Andrew Jeske 1.04.19
Steve Maley 1.04.34
Keith Mayfield 1.04.43
Ricky Fraser 1.05.58
Paul Eunson 1.08.43
Werner Kittell 1.10.33
Shelagh McLeish 1.11.51
Alan Aitchison 1.16.57
John Forker 1.17.05
Mary Hunter 1.17.33
Teresa Cleary 1.18.22
Craig Masterton 1.21.44
Douglas Young 1.21.57
Zoe Leitch 1.23.27
Karen Munro 1.23.40
M DeMulliez 1.24.23
Paul Edwards 1.31.09
Catherine Webster 1.34.58Women: First Ladies Team
Men: Sixth Male Team
Many thanks to John at MyRace
for permission to use his great images.Report Peter Buchanan
As a very noteworthy post script to this race, the organisers saw fit to purchase 3 new trophies and passed them onto Janet, Shelagh and Mary, a very noble gesture.
