Otley Athletic Club

Race 2 of this year’s Eric Smith Handicap Series was the flattish route from Esholt on to the Leeds Liverpool canal towards Shipley cutting up to main Hollins Hill road and back through the village. Eriks passed Tom just after the pub and it wasn’t because he’d stopped to re-hydrate… and held on for a clear win.  David Fox just failed to catch Tom by 2 seconds to finish third. Rogan recorded the fastest time of the day crossing the line in 5th, but as the handicapper had set off Gemma and Nicky 10 seconds late he was pushed down one place in the final standings.
The top of the Handicap table sees John Armistead top with 47 points ahead of Hugh 45 and Ian Broadbent 43, see the full table here.

Report from Andrew Webster: Steve Robinson and myself took the trek over to the North Yorkshire Moors for this enjoyable 8 mile fell/trail/road race. There was a surface for every runner.

The weather was sunny but cool. The route was marked but there were still opportunities to take the wrong turn if you did not keep your eyes peeled (only two near misses for me).

Steve raced ahead of me early on and finished 34 out of 90 runners in a time of 64:15. I managed to find myself in the middle of the field with a massive gap in front (hence nearly taking the wrong turn) and a gap behind. The marathon is leaving me sufficiently fatigued to leave me struggling for speed and stamina. Eventually coming in 52nd in 70:48.

Nice run in an area of the country I have never run, well worth another trip up here for another race in the future.

Leeds Park Run

Maidstone Park Run

Results for Snake Lane. Otley took the team prize. And some photos on the club’s Flickr site.

There doesn’t appear to be any OAC runners but does anyone recognise anybody in this race from 1991?

Billy Rayner & Sara Richard were the lone representatives for Otley AC at Roberttown for the Liversedge Half Marathon. Both runners were nursing tired legs after completing the Harewood House Half Marathon and Rombald’s Stride respectively the week before. Conditions were perfect for the race which was won by Kevin Ogden of Spen AC in a time of 1:15:33. Billy Rayner was first home for Otley AC in a time of 2:03:07 closely followed by Sara Richard (6th FV45) in a time of 2:08:03.

Report from the Hon. Handicapper

The Carnethy 5 in the Pentland Hills south of Edinburgh is one of my favourite fell races, a 6 miles, 2500ft of ascent covering the summits of Scald Law, South Black Hill, East & West Kip and Carnethy and the 45th race this year, so just a year younger than yours truly!   The race description from the Scottish Hill Racing sums up the race pretty well, steep climbs and descents with plenty of fast running in there too:

Line of runners on the climb to Scald Law

The startline is something to behold. 500 runners like extras from Braveheart lined up for battle, fittingly at the site of The Battle of Roslin. The race starts with a chaotic charge across flat marshland for the gateway to the hill. Then steep climbing up Scald Law in a heather trod where passing is awkward. Once at the summit of Scald Law you are exposed to any freezing cold northerly winds for the ridge run to South Black and the Kips. From the top of West Kip drop rapidly to pick up the trail and fast running down to the Howe.

Once down at the Howe the climb back up looks a little daunting. Gradual climbing leads into a sheltered gully which steepens until it spits you out onto the ridge where you can see there is fair bit more climbing to reach the summit of Carnethy. Once around the huge summit cairn drop sharply onto a spur, then steeply down rough heather with buckling legs, through the gate, then gather all remaining strength for the dash back across the marsh to the finishing mound.

After a quiet end to January training and racing wise I decided not to push hard on the mad dash to the bottom of the  first climb to Scald Law.  This however isn’t the best race tactic at Carnethy, as the deep heather and where there is one, narrow path means that passing anyone involves wasting lots of energy, which I didn’t think was a good idea.   After Scald Law it’s a lot less congested and you can settle into your own pace for the next four summits.

I was surprised and pleased for the support of a couple of  “come on/well done Otley” shouts from spectators and Caron managed to run round & shout me on at three points of the course too.  I was hoping for a sub hour finish, but was a little disappointed with a time of 1:01:10, but not too much considering my recent training, finishing in 70th position.

The race was won by Andrew Douglas, Inverclyde AC in a time of 49:23, first woman was Charlotte Morgan, 56.46 from the host club Carnethy.  The current English Fell champ. Tom Addison, 6th, helped Helm Hill take the team prize, a Claymore sword! south of the border to Kendal.  See full results here and a funny punters guide to the pre-race favourites for the race here.

Ps.  Thoughts on the recent BBC report that running fast isn’t good for you and that a speed of 5 miles per hour for 2 and half hours a week is the best for your health?  I’m pretty sure all of the that seven over 70’s who finished on Saturday would argue with that one… including Jimmy Jardine whose done all 45 races!  and was 495th / 515 finishers.