Christmas Comes But Twice a Year - My Ninth Race of 2011

Saturday, 22 Jan

There was no parkrun or other race for me on Saturday as I started my 11 week Photography Techniques SVQ Class at the City of Glasgow’s North Hanover Street Campus. There was at least one other parkrunner in the class but our absence didn’t seem to make much of an impact as some 248 runners participated in the Glasgow event; 251 at Edinburgh and 97 at Strathclyde.

I cycled home after class, had a cup of tea and headed out for a training run at around 1:30pm. A warm up, five miles fairly fast and a warm down, as prescribed by my Alloa Half Marathon training schedule. I chose to include some of Pollok Park in my run, not only because it’s a wonderful place but also because it was the venue of the Scottish Veteran Harriers Christmas Handicap Race, rescheduled for Sunday. It wasn’t long until I noticed that the road in the park adjacent to Lochinch had been skimmed, in preparation for relaying of bitumen. It was still possible to run on the uneven surface, with caution. It was the same situation on the hill outside of Pollok House and as I approached the Pollokshaws Road entrance to the park, I saw a huge yellow mechanical contraption, the type which is used for relaying roads, in front of me, surrounded by smoke and a small army of ‘boys of the blackstuff’, dressed in their obligatory luminous yellow vests. I could smell the, once familiar, dry, hot, odour of bitumen as I approached the navvies at work.

A long time ago, I had worked with various ‘Tinkers’ (In Ireland and Scotland somebody who travels from place to place as a way of life) during the non-study periods afforded to sandwich course students. Much of the work had been the laying of ‘Tarmac’ on the private driveways of farms and country houses throughout the west of Scotland. However today I was training and not doing ‘casual work’, so I turned up to my left and along a path through the woods to join Bells Road and the Haggs Road exit and onward home.
I was therefore uncertain if the rescheduled Scottish Veterans’ Christmas Handicap Race would go ahead on Sunday.


Sunday, 23 Jan

Santa Dash

I made my way down to the Broomielaw on Sunday morning to cheer on the runners and walkers participating in the rescheduled Charity Santa Dash. It’s a bizarre sight, at any time, to see a race where almost 3,000 people are dressed as Santa but it’s somehow wackier when it’s taking place on the 23rd of January, rather than the 23rd of December. The event raises cash for the new Marie Curie Hospice at Stobhill Hospital and the Marina Dalglish Appeal cancer charity. Well done to all concerned in supporting such worthwhile causes.


Scottish Veterans Christmas Handicap

The quantity of runners arriving at Cartha Queens Park Rugby Club in the early afternoon may have been much smaller at 35 but the quality was much higher as some of the country’s better veteran runners assembled for our rescheduled annual Christmas Handicap. Two unexpected participants were, fellow Kilmarnock Harriers, Liz and Leslie McDerment making their veteran race debuts.

After picking up my race number and exchanging New Year greetings with the other runners and organisers the chat turned to comparing handicaps, with the usual ribbing associated with such occasions. My handicap was 20 minutes, which meant that I was in the same pool as Annmarie McCaffrey, Kenny McVey and Henry Curran. It was a bit strange that Bobby Young, should be given a two minute start on me and Tom McChord a one minute advantage. I had been given a one minute start over Marie McChord though.

The organisers advised us of the two lap route, pointing out that we would be marshaled onto the grass at Lochinch as they were resurfacing the road. I warmed up as the less handicapped runners set off and when my time came lined up with Kenny and Henry, Annmarie was a ‘no show’ deciding to opt for her long run, rather than the race. I was scheduled to do ‘8-10 easy miles’ but decided to incorporate my ninth race of 2011 into my daily mileage.

I’ve know Kenny for a long time, when I was first thinking of joining a club, years ago, I went along to Victoria Park AC and went out training with him but he was way too fast for me, I couldn’t keep up with him and I never returned to Scotstoun. I was surprised last year when he narrowly beat me at the Vets Clydesdale 5k and even more surprised when I had beaten him at last week’s West District Cross Country Championships. I’ve never noticed Henry around me when I’ve been racing, so I was a little surprised to be setting off with him.

At the ‘off’ I sped down the road, turned right onto Haggs Road and made my way along the perimeter of Pollok Park. The first kilometer had taken me 4:10 but I must have slowed going up hill in the park. Henry overtook me, Kenny was right on my shoulder and the second kilometre took me 4:24. Kenny was making me work hard and we completed the third kilometre in 4:11. However I wasn’t feeling comfortable and decided to pull over and let Kenny pass. My 4th k took 4:22, my 5th 4:33 and my 6th 4:40! I’d overtaken two runners in the first lap but as the second lap progressed, I was able to target some more and caught a few in my 7th k, which took 4:26. Of course by now some of the runners behind were catching me but I used it as a positive to spur me on. I was concentrating on catching Liz, when Les overtook the both of us, I followed behind him and for a while there were three Kilmarnock Harriers running in succession. I worked hard for the rest of the apparently 5.4mile race, narrowing the gap on Kenny, to cross the line in a time of 37:45 (an average pace of 6:59 min/miles).

The usual post race mutual congratulations took place and I was slightly staggered to learn that Tom had taken 37:59 and Marie 37:54 to complete the course. I think that’s the first time that I’ve run a race faster than Tom and it’s a rare occurrence for me to beat Marie.

A quick drink of cold water and I was off again, running a large lap of the park, to clock up another 3.2 miles, a total distance of 9.12 miles, in line with my training schedule. A hot shower and a hot cup of soup back at the Cartha club house warmed me up, in time to catch most of the prize giving ceremony. My 14th place was enough to earn me a bottle of Valvona & Crolla Prosecco, not at all bad for a £2 entry fee and a prize donation. Les did even better, as his predicted time was the closest to his actual time (six seconds out), he took a massive shield and a tin of chocolates back to sunny Ayrshire.

The results indicated that I was 17th across the line and 16th fastest on the day.  They also reveal that Kenny and Henry's estimated times were quicker than mine but they had been grouped together with me.  Kenny finished in 37:31 and Henry in 36:42.  Les completed the course in 33:21 and Liz in 40:01.  The fastest man was Gerry Montgomery in 32:53 and the fastest woman was Leslie Chisholm in 33:18.

Full Results