Water of Leith Half Marathon 2/12/06
Jim Bruce, Jim Macfarlane and friends have come up with this race and it is great. Somewhat eccentric, it is not SA, its nearly all downhill, its 13.45 miles and its run on the cycle/pedestrian paths along the Water of Leith from above Balerno down into Leith. Most of us will have run on these paths and enjoyed the way they meander pleasantly through town. However this was the first time I had raced along them. The most unique feature of this race is that it is run as a handicapped race. After being bussed to the start from the finish, the slowest runners start at 10am. Every minute or two another few are set off until the last runners (this year myself and Claire Gordon,) are set off. The idea is that everyone's recent half marathon times dictate when they start, with the aim of having a mass sprint finish around noon down in Leith. Whoever is first over the line wins the race. This rewards those who can improve most on their last half, and makes a nice change from the usual suspects. Also this year Eric Dodd put up a team prize.
Mary and I had just arrived back from a week of triathlon training in Tenerife: running, swimming and drinking. Less than 24hrs later and we are on the bus to Balerno with lots of familiar faces from the Hebridean half marathon series earlier in the year. The weather is looking good, in that its not snowing or raining too heavily, but I wear 2 vests as I have not yet acclimatised from running in 25' heat. The race starts at 10am and to my shame I was still on the bus keeping warm. I get off and do a few stretches and warm up strides then watch the rest of the Porties set off. Sally was sitting furthest up the bus when asked about team members and was reeling off names when Eric stopped her after 3 saying that was all that was allowed in a team. And so the team became Sally, Mary and I. At this stage its impossible to tell who would go faster than their given handicap but since it was a long course and I had been given 1.23 as a handicap I felt I would have to work hard to catch up with those set off so far ahead. Richard felt there was no way I'd be catching him, as he had a 15 minute start. I would have liked to have proved him wrong.
After cheering off team mates the crowd thinned down and after what seemed like a long wait we were down to the last handful. It took a diligent crew to organise this start but everyone was set off at their allotted time and eventually I set off up the first and pretty much last upward slope. I had told HBT Ivor (starting a minute ahead of me) that I'd be hunting him down and within the first mile I caught glimpses of himself and one or 2 others on the occasional long stretch down the hill to Balerno. We followed flour markings on the road where it joined and left the riverside and soon were onto the path that goes from Balerno to the canal at Lanark Rd. I wasn't catching runners as quickly as I would have liked, and then it occurred to me that the runners just ahead were very much in the same ability group as myself and if the figures were right we were all programmed to meet in Leith, and that there should be very little overtaking. I could see Ivor going well and by noticing what time he went past a specific point I could work out if I was gaining on him. Soon I had him down to 35 secs ahead. Then 30. The path was in reasonable condition but you couldn't miss patches of mud and puddles and everyone was well covered by the end. I started to go past people and really enjoyed the first few miles. Then I began to feel the excesses of the holiday catching up and although I had Ivor down to about 20 secs ahead I couldn't get any closer. We then popped out onto Lanark road and Paul who I overtook minutes before caught back up with me. We ran past the Water of Leith Centre and along to Gorgie Road past the allotments.
I enjoyed the whole starting behind everyone else. Although you can see where the next few runners ahead are you have no idea about the ones who started over half an hour before. But you know they will have had to contend with the same muddy paths and road crossings. There are several places where the path emerges onto the road and you have Saturday traffic to contend with. Some boldly dashed between cars - others stop to catch breath and wait for a gap. If you're really lucky the green man appears as you do. I was green-manned at the Pizza Express Stockbridge, but lost 20 secs at Gorgie Road while the guy beside me took his luck in the busy traffic. Paul and I waited, then after a short while caught back up with the sprinter. I could see Ivor was still out ahead. I can't remember much about Murrayfield and Roseburn but by the Dean village Paul had left me behind and I was flagging quickly. I wasn't sure when he had started but knew that he'd be finishing ahead of me. I wondered if I'd see any familiar faces. I passed Jim Bruce going strongly just before the weir at the Dean Village, then somewhere between Stockbridge and Powderhall I saw Mary up ahead. I guessed she was suffering a bit of jetlag (beerlag) too and although she said hello I could only answer with a wave. I had used up the last of my vocabulary wishing a Happy Birthday to Geoff Simpson, last year's fastest runner, who was marshalling at Inverleith Terrace Lane. (Jim B had primed us before the race.) Geoff also let us know our position - to inform us how many we had to overtake to win. I think I was thirtieth at that point. During the last sorry mile I managed to get up to 16th but it cost me a lot and Ivor crossed the line in front moving back out to 47secs ahead. I just managed, by 13 secs, the quickest time of the day. I was met beyond the finish by Richard who had run a half marathon pb of 1.35.38 nearly two and a half minutes quicker than his handicap, despite a fall early on. He was very pleased to have crossed the line in fifth. Just behind and first woman, was Sally who had swapped places with Richard during the race but had to settle for 6th overall, again more than 2 minutes ahead of schedule. Mary and I were both slower than our handicaps but the real story of the day was PRCer Graeme Sproule who smashed his time by 7 minutes 44 secs to win the race outright, three and a half minutes ahead of second. He puts this improvement down to regular Wednesday night and Sunday training sessions.
Sally and Graeme were presented with their prizes at the pub, where Portobello unexpectedly won the team prize. (We had inadvertantly put forward our 3 slowest entrants.) Which we shared out to all the team.
Many thanks to all the marshals, Linda (?) who provided the soup, tea and cakes at the finish, Jims Bruce and Macfarlane and Eric for the bag of beers - an excellent race. See you at the Heb 3.
Report Peter Buchanan
Photos Peter Buchanan, Jim Macfarlane
Further info here
