Scottish 6 stage relays Livingston 31/03/13

Looking back at some past results from this race its amazing how things have changed over the last few years...hard to believe we were 2nd overall and only 20 seconds away from winning back in 2006!! That day I was the slowest of our long leg runners with 29.50!...changed days indeed. For a club like Irvine to get a silver medal at the Scottish Championship was something special indeed. Since then its been a pretty poor championship for Irvine with us struggling to get in the top 30 some years with the main problem being to get all our best runners fit and injury free at the same time. So this was probably our strongest team for a few years, this year and we knew we had a decent chance of a masters medal.
After a last minute change of running order Jim Sneddon  started us off on the opening short leg .Jim went off a wee bit too hard and suffered later in the race but hung in well. Alex was next up on the 2nd leg, which was the 1st long leg. Alex had a great run bringing us through the field and handing over to the evergreen Colin Miller. Colin had a solid run on the short leg before Jamie Findlay who had a fine run despite being isolated most of the way. Mark Livinstone ran the last short leg leaving me to run the last long one.I set off steady hoping to pick it up 2nd half of the race but felt a bit sluggish.During the last mile I could see the Killie boy up ahead but didn't think I would catch him .I dug in as much as I could to catch him by the bridge but the legs were totally gone when it came to sprint finish! Never Mind.....Irvine finished 12th overall, respectable and 2nd masters team......so another hard earned silver medal at this race, hopefully next year we can get a few boys back and try and get that Masters title!!

Alloa Half Marathon 17/03/13

Thought i would get a half marathon in early this year ,having only run 2 in the past 5 years (neither of which were particularly good in terms of time),it was a good chance to test my fitness after my best winters training for many a year.It must be at least 10 years since i last ran this race and what memories i had of it were mainly about the hills in the last 2 miles.
Set off at a decent pace,sitting in a pack with ,among others,Robert Gilroy of Cambuslang.Glanced at some of my mile times and was surprised how comfortable i felt at what was a faster pace than i had raced Halfs since my pre-injury days.The hills at 11 miles were not as bad as i remembered but still tough enough to make the last 2 miles testing.Was outsprinted by Gilroy at the 13 mile mark to finish 9th and 1st vet in 73.05...was convinced i was on for a sub 73 until the last mile when i could feel it slipping away.Still,good run and feel i'll take a chunk off that time later in the year.

Special thanks to Lesley and James for their Support.When Lesley dropped me off at the start James said ,unprompted ,"Good luck with your race Daddy!" just as i was getting out the car.Makes it all worthwhile!

Scottish Masters Cross Country - Forres 02/02/13

Another M40 bronze medal!Ran as hard as i could on the day so have to be happy with that.The re-introduction of the 35 age group meant i was a few places further down the field than last year, finishing in 8th place overall .The 5 mile course at Forres was firm and fast with some absolute killer hills which really hurt on the 2nd lap and i was totally drained by the finish .Thats my Cross country season over for the year.Good way to finish after the disappointment of the Ayrshire xc and non selection for the Scottish vets team (!?)....next years Masters Champs is meant to down in the borders,looking forward to it already!

 

Good runs by George,Andy and Jim....thanks to Andy for doing all the driving!

Scottish Masters Road Relay 27/01/13

Its been a while since the last blog!....the reason being i havnt raced apart from the club xmas handicap.I took ill the night before the Ayrshire XC Champs back in November and had to miss the race .Really frustrating as i was in good shape leading up to it.So after a few days in bed i picked up the training again and put in the best mileage ive ever done in December ,which i hoped would pay off at my next planned race..The Ayr Turkey Trot on Boxing Day.Surprise,surprise i come down with the flu just before it and have to give it a miss ,losing another few days training. So the Scottish Masters Road Relay was my first proper race for a few months.With Alex and George not able to run we were struggling to put a team together that could match our good performances in the past.Big bonus for us,however was the vet debut of Jamie Findlay.Jamie ran the first leg for us,sitting in into the wind on the way out before hitting the front at halfway.Jamie pulled away to win the first leg in 20.16 despite going the wrong way at one point.Great run.I ran leg 2 in 19.34 getting us a 2 minute odd lead.My time ended up being 3rd fastest .The wind made it really hard work so was happy enough with the time.Colin ran 3rd leg for us but was up against it with the days fastest runner, Kerry Wilson ,chasing him down.Colin finished 3rd so pressure was on Jim Sneddon on the final leg.Jim Gave his all but was caught by several runners in the final mile and finished 6th. Graeme McFarlane,Andy and Jim White ran for an incomplete B team. Hopefully we can get everyone out next year,get in amongst the medals again!

Ayrshire XC Relay 20/10/12

     Thanks to my wonderful employers for the 8 hour warm up before this one!!...Legs felt awful jogging round the course when i arrived but eased off a bit by the time the race started.With so many guys from the club injured or ill we had no chance of winning this year but had a wee chance of a medal.Stevie Stirrat had a fine run on the opening leg to finish 6th ,i ran the 2nd this year,didnt feel great but had an ok run getting us up to 3rd.Havnt seen results so don't know how times compared to others.Colin Miller 3rd leg and Mark Livingston 4th,held onto 3rd place with Mark running 30 seconds faster than last year....All in all not a bad result.

Aviemore 10k 14/10/12

Yes,bit of race form at last!.....having injured my foot the previous weekend while doing a 10 miler i was forced to take 6 days off training and didnt think i would be able to run this race up until the Friday night.Thankfully the heel responded to a lot of stretching,ice and rest and was no problem come the race day. We arrived on Saturday 2 hours before the Family Fun Run Mile race.Lesley ,james and i all ran it although it was harder work than i had imagined due to James hitting the Wall after half a mile and me having to run the rest of the way with him on my shoulders!Great fun though! So the next morning,buses took the runners from the Aviemore Highland Resort out to the start of the 10k in Glenmore and the Half marathon at Badaguish.With nearly 500 in the 10k and 1000 in the Half the place was mobbed at 8 o'clock in the morning.Got a really good warm up for an hour up at Glenmore which was needed just to keep warm!It was freezing but no wind at all so ideal for racing. So,at 10 o'clock we set of back down the Ski rd to Aviemore with Grant Wilkie of Costorphine taking the lead from the off.I managed to catch him early on and hung on to what was a decent pace.A few times i ended up at the front but Wilkie started to get a slight gap again heading down towards the town.When we turned to run past the Old Bridge Inn i had closed the gap and was on his shoulder.So entering the field at the finish i managed to muster a bit of a sprint to win by 2 seconds in 32.50,which is my best time since the ormidale 10k in 2006! Well chuffed with my run and best of all no aches or pains injury wise.Great weekend,will try and make it up for the Half marathon next year...

George Cummings Road Relay 29/09/12

Now when Football match reports talk about a team being "decimated by injuries " i know what they mean!With Davy going to miss the first few relays due to his recent illness ,Alex out with his foot injury and then George and Jamie both injuring their calves in the run up to this race,it was down to myself ,Pat,Mark and new recruit Stevie to put in a decent showing.....

Pat found it hard going on leg 1,finishing 38th in 15.57.I ran leg and felt heavy legged but strong bringing us through to 16th in 14.14. Steve had a fine run on leg 3 clocking 15.54 handing over to Mark ,who had a solid run in 16.01 to keep us in 16th place...all in all it was as good as we could expect on the day.The B team all had solid runs with Jim White making a welcome return on the last leg.Looks like theres only a few from Irvine going to the McAndrews on Sat....Next up for me the Aviemore 10k next week then the Ayrshire xc relay