Canal Bank Canter

Race two of the Tour of Clydeside saw us heading over to Clydebank for the 4.8 mile Canal Bank Canter. It seemed so good to be heading for a race in Clydebank which did not include the boring business park. Instead the course followed the canal tow path from the large metal bicycle eastwards for 2.4 miles before turning around and following the same course back. There were a few undulations in this one (30 feet at the highest point) and the numerous locks we passed on the way out confirmed that we were indeed climbing. The paths were mainly dirt tracks with about two miles of tarmac/shingle at the start/finish.

With my incognito vest from last year’s Grangemouth 10k on, I lined up with Erica and we headed off at 7:30pm. We shared the work for the first mile, taking turns each at leading and running shoulder to shoulder, whenever we could. We completed the first mile in 6:44, quite a lot faster than last night’s race. Knowing that I had a hard race on Wednesday to look forward to, I decided to slow my pace a little and dropped back, completing the second mile, which was more undulating and twisty, in 7:02. Four tenths of a mile later we ran around Peter Rudzinski, doing a fine impersonation of a bollard, and headed back. Erica must have slowed too, as she wasn’t that far ahead of me. With the confidence that I had from beating her last night, I caught up with her and looked for an opportunity to overtake her, however she wasn’t for giving in so easy tonight and I had to make several attempts before passing her around the 3 mile mark, the third mile having taken us 7:05. I pushed hard to ensure that she didn’t overtake me and concentrated on closing the gap on the, far travelled, Moray Road Runner ahead of me.

Graeme Aitken (aka Sputnik) cheered me on as I chased after the Moray runner with Erica in hot pursuit of me.

Moray Road Runner caught in the final strait.  (pic by Kenneth Phillips)

My fourth mile at 6:43 was the fastest of the week, so far, but I was still a fair bit behind the two runners ahead of me. The final 0.8 miles seemed to go on for ever and ever.
I kept expecting to see the finish line around the next corner but it took a while before it appeared. With the end in sight, I made one final attempt and managed to catch the Moray Road Runner, Jim MacGregor, in the final strait, to finish in 29th place with a time of 32:53.  A new PB, another 70+% wava (73) and third overall in my age group at the half way point in the Tour.

Erica finished about 15 seconds later and complimented me on my race, commenting that I was running much stronger than last year. I put it down to my marathon training schedule and pointed out that, unlike her, I hadn’t run a half marathon on the Sunday previous. Bobby Young, who I had failed to catch on Monday, finished saying that he had me in his sights but just couldn’t close the gap.

Full Results 

Huge thanks to the organisers for staging the event. Wednesday’s a rest day for them and the Tour runners but for me it’s a Kilmarnock Harriers’ Championship Race at the very challenging Dundonald 10k.