6.2 (and a bit) Miles on the Kirki Canal

Perhaps not surprising my legs were still sore and tired a few days after the Vale of Leven 10k. I therefore decided on Wednesday evening not to run the Kirkintilloch 10k being held on Thursday 16 June. Instead I enjoyed a very nice bottle of Rioja. However when Thursday came I decided, that as I had paid for it, I might as well at least turn up and run around the course. I hadn’t run this particular race before and, on paper, it seemed to be quite an easy route.

I made my way along the eight miles to Scotland’s, self proclaimed, Canal Capital and, as ever, met up with loads of running buddies prior to the race. I had a decent warm up, in fact maybe too decent as the sweat was already pouring out of me as I joined with 245 other runners in the East Dunbartonshire town’s leafy Northbank Avenue. After the pre-race announcements by the, ever efficient, Robert Rogerson, in which he described the after race refreshments and special 30 year anniversary club memento so well that we all wanted to get to the race HQ as soon as possible, we were set on our way at 7:30pm.

Race
The route took us over the slight hill on the Northbank Avenue, before turning left onto Alexandra Street and along to Townhead. The police then directed us around a sharp right turn, where a sloped path took us onto the Forth and Clyde Canal towpath. At this stage the race was still quite congested, I was just behind local runner Annmarie McCafferty, with Clydesdale’s Marina McCallum on my shoulder. The first kilometre took us 4:00. I managed to hold off the challenge from Marina for the second kilometre, which took us 4:12 before she passed me.

The route was pretty flat, if a little narrow and uneven as we continued southwards for the next couple of kilometres. A couple of running buddies, including Katie Mathieson- nee Padgham, Caroline Jones and Roger McEleney caught me as my pace slowed to 4:19 and then 4:25. Although it wasn’t all bad news, as I caught Tony McGale, who had beaten me at Troon. I heard a voice greeting me on my shoulder and then asking if we had completed another kilometre when my Garmin bleeped. I answered positively, between gasps, before seeing Nicola May overtaking me on her way to a Season’s Best performance. The 4th k had taken me 4:25. The fifth kilometre continued the downward spiral taken me 4:30. However I wasn’t disappointed with a 21:45 midpoint time. I grabbed a small cup of water before leaving the towpath and heading uphill, over the bridge, and onto Cadder Road. Marie McChord shouted much needed words of encouragement on the hill as did her husband Tom as he directed me down the A803 Kirkintilloch Road.

Up the Hill........pic by Karen Craig

 The 6th k had taken an unacceptable 4:46 but, spurned on by the marshals’ support, I increased the pace, to 4:19 for the next kilometre and managed to catch a couple of runners. We turned left onto the A807 Torrance Road, over Hungryside Bridge and a couple of sharp left turns took us onto the towpath, under the bridge, and heading northwards. My pace had slipped to 4:30 but I could see Marina a few places in front and set myself the target of getting as close to her by the Finish as possible. The 9th k took me a slightly disappointing 4:24 so I increased the pace a little, managing to catch another two runners before crossing the line in a time of 43:57.

Post Race
According to my Garmin the 10th k had taken 4:18 and then another 0:08, recording the total distance to be 10:02k. As I collected my cup of water and exchanged mutual congratulations with the other runners, I was surprised to see Mark McGoldrick crossing the line, some 11 seconds after me. I had managed to beat him for only the second time and the first in a 10k.

It wasn’t long until the remaining runners crossed the line and we made our way back to Lairdsland Primary School for the prize giving and those promised mementos and refreshments. A £5 Sweatshop Voucher, a special commemorative mug and refreshments for an Entry Fee of £7 is good value in anyone’s books. Of course it was even better value if you were among the large number of prize winners, which, of course, I wasn’t but I could still share in the pleasure of my running buddies who did, including a delighted Chris Upson who earned third place and first veteran and the girls from the Scottish Prison Service, Jill Knowles, Jennifer Telford and Nicola May who, as well as earning individual prizes, also went home with the women’s team prize.

Harder than the Vale?
I was surprised to be told by race winner Paul Sorrie that his time of 31:58 was over one minute slower than his Vale of Leven time, whilst some of those that had run on Sunday had undoubtedly run quicker at Kirkintilloch, it does look like a significant number had slower times. I was one of the latter but my time was only slower by 4 seconds and I placed 76th.  I’ve got to be happy with that.


Thanks

All and all a great event well worth doing and amazed that, with no electronic chipping, the organisers still managed to get the full results (and photographs too) posted on their web site before the end of the day. Huge appreciation to all associated with the race.

Results

Photos