My 50th Race of 2009 and I wanted to make it a bit special so I took the opportunity to join with the small Bella posse that was sailing over to Rothesay to take part in the Isle of Bute Highland Games 10k. I had heard that parking at Weymess Bay was a bit problematic and although I thought about taken the train, when Katy and her kids agreed to come along for the ride, I decided to drive down and park at a railway station a couple of stops north.
The weather was glorious as we sailed across the Firth of Clyde in a jam packed Calmac Ro-Ro ferry. The Bellahouston Road Runners had all went for an earlier ferry but I met up with some Clydesdale Harriers, including Marina and they showed me the way to the Games, the Registration tent and the changing rooms.
I met up with my fellow Bellas and we made our way to the playing field for the start of the race and some team pics. After a brief description of the amended route we lined up and the Games Chieftain, Blyth Duff, of Taggart fame, sounded the Start.
Andy and Maddie Smillie said that they would be aiming to run the race in between 45 and 48 minutes. I had run a relatively fast 10 mile training run on the Friday “That will do me” I stated, whilst Norman Bolye said that he would run it at his marathon race pace. Whilst the massed cheers from the packed stand as we made our way around the Games’ stadium encouraged us to run a wee bit quicker than planned, the heavy underfoot conditions played their role in cooling our enthusiasm. After leaving the stadium the race ran down the High Street to the seafront and the 1km marker and then turned left and headed along the promenade. I was in front of most of the Bellas apart from Andrew Hardman who is a class above me and Joanna Lennox, who I could see in front of me. I decided then that my target for the day would be to beat Joanna and I started to increase the pace. I was overtaking a few other runners but there was a young lad from Motherwell AC who was running along with a female club mate and kept running on my shoulder, so close was he that he actually clipped my shoes on a couple of occasions. He did apologise though and I didn’t mind when he ran shoulder to shoulder with me as this encouraged me to dig deep. The sun was scorching and I was so happy to see that they had a number of water stations which allowed me to take a small drink and cool myself down by pouring the rest of the water over my head. In a reversal of Wednesday’s race with Paula Wilson, I overtook Joanna at about 3k and was aware that she was sticking close to me as we reached the turning point at just after 5k. I had noticed that Joanna’s brother Jethro and Robert Gilroy where running along together at the front of the race and that Andrew Hardman was doing well.
As we turned around and made our way back I could see that Joanna was just behind me and then Andy and Maddie, then Stephen Bell, Norman, Jackie O’Grady, Terry Brennan, Scott Telfer and finally Carla Deans. The sun was shining, the sky was blue and the scenery was gorgeous, with the Firth of Clyde and the views over to the Ayrshire coast. Joanna had tried to overtake me a few times but I had been able to increase my speed and held her off. About 7k I was starting to tire and decided to let the Motherwell pair overtake me. I also think I might have eaten too late as I was feeing sick by the time I reached the 8k marker. I could hear the footsteps of a woman running quicker behind me and thought that Joanna had caught me and was therefore a little surprised but relieved when Greenock red haired runner Terri overtook me. Just after the 9k marker the route headed back up the hill and I worked hard to overtake a few runners on the final section. I noticed Jethro running down the hill and heard him shouting to Joanna to overtake me but I had spied Terri slowing in front of me and managed to overtake her just as I entered the cheering stadium. I saw and heard Katy and her kids in the stand and I gave it my all for a strong sprint to the finish line overtaking a few runners on the way. I was shattered and was still feeling sick but composed myself enough to congratulate Joanna on her great race, she had managed to take 2:45 off of her PB and was exhausted but also extremely happy. We collected our bottles of water and our smart looking medals and then made our way back to the finish line where we applauded the other runners, especially the Bella ones over the line. Before posing for some post race photos and heading back for a cold shower. I then met up with Katy and enjoyed watching some of the Games, including the Caber Tossing Final before heading back to the pier and homeward.
Bella Results:
Andrew Hardman 38:34
Ian Goudie 45:28
Joanna Lennox 45:29
Norman Boyle 47:24
Stevie Bell 47:24
Maddie Smillie 47:27
Andrew Smillie 47:28
Jackie O'Grady 49:29
Terry Brennan 49:41
Scott Telfer 56:44
Carla Deans 60:14
No comments:
Post a Comment