HomeTrail Run Series
Added on 03 October 2019
What a great ending to a great series. It was fitting to hold it in the beautiful venue of Fairburn. The course itself was a real cracker. A fast descent from the centre down through the woods with a few high and low hurdles before turning to come back up the devious track of bog, branches and 20% of gradient.
1st back and catching the timekeepers of guard was Danny Mcpakefollowed by Alex Ellen and Michael Hoult.
It was all about the age grading though and top of the hill climbers was Danny Mcpake followed by the young team of Andrew Baird and Rowin Schiller. The two youngster really showing they have a bright future in the sport and will be hard to beat in the upcoming XC series. What would that do to the final league standings?
tied on the same points was Danny and Rowin for 1st however Danny took the 1st Trail running series prize due to taking 2 first places in the series. That left Rowin to collect an amazing 2nd place. 3rd and 4th place was tied too with Andrew Baird and Michael Hoult on the same points. Andrew collected third though due to having a 1st place finish to his name. Picking up the first female prize was the ever smiling Morag Lynch.
A fantastic series with athletes young and old surviving the varied courses thrown in front of them. From the hilly 1st race at Evanton where Morag Hickey and Pirate Ruaridh Ellen took flying lessons over a broken fence. To the sabotaged Alness race where everyone was grateful to make it back to the finish alive. On to the Culbokie race where there was bleeding noses and forgotten items. The Contin trail race saw the sprinters head off hard on the first part of the course only to regret this option when they were faced with the double hills of doom or "jobby shovel" as one of them is known.
Then to end it at the Fairburn Activity Centre where only one frog and 100 ticks died in the creation of the course. The determination shown at the race showed how much the front runners wanted that prize and the kudos of being the first club trail champion.
Thank you all the marshalls, timekeepers etc. The people who brought yummy goodies tonight for us to feast on and Sandy MacKenzie and Susan Davison for their amazing hospitality tonight putting on not only the venue but refreshments and food.
It has been a real joy to watch everyone race and see the smiles and the chat about the courses. I will have my work cut out for next year designing a few more. You can rest easy that the upcoming XC courses will seem a walk in the park after those ones.
Cheers E.