Deeside Runners

6 Deesiders took the long trip South on Saturday to compete in the latest round of the SHR Championship at Durisdeer. This is a 16k 1200m largely pathless race over the hills of Dumfries and Galloway. Richard Bannister was our first finisher in 58th place. Richards time of 2:03:56 saw him finish 10th in what was a very competitive M40 category. Next in was Sally Wallis 66th in 2:06:46 which gave her 3rd place in the F40. Martin Pritchett scored points in the M50 finishing 15th in that category and 80th overall in 2:11:46. Alan Smith finished 92nd and 7th in the M60 after running 2:14:09. Lina Payne continued where she left off at Ben Chonzie by winning the F60 finishing 106th in 2:22:55. Charlie Ritchie also put a lot of points on the board finishing 2nd in the M70, Charlie clocked 2:59:20 to finish 146th.

Well done to you all and best of luck to anyone running any of the multitude of races on next weekend.

I know there are a number of you keen to see if any late spaces become available for this year’s Lairig Ghru Race. In order to offer any additional spaces the entry list needs to fall below 250 runners, however we still have a healthy entry for this year so unfortunately we will not be opening up for any additional places. Please note transfer of entires is not permitted, and we will not take any entires on the day.

Hopefully all those interested can get their entry in next year. All updates will be posted on our social media pages.

Last weekend saw club members compete in 3 very different races.

Harry Bloomfield and Jill Stephen were over on Jura competing in the Isle of Jura Fell Race. This is probably one of the hardest of Scottish hill races covering 28km and climbing 2370m over the unforgiving terrain of the Paps of Jura. Jill was visiting the island and the Paps for the second week in a row after doing so as part of the Scottish Islands Peaks Race last weekend. The ladies race won by John and Marianne’s daughter Naomi in a new record time of 3:38:02! Harry finished in 58th after running 4:28:06 while Jill won the F40 finishing 69th in 4:35:22.

Down in a very hot Edinburgh we had Ross’s Jamie and Jordan running in the half. Jamie finished runner up in the M50 finishing 72nd in 1:21:48 and Jordan ran 1:49:15 for 1529th.

In a completely different type of event Donna Leslie was running in the Kirkhill 8. The format for this race is simply how far can you run in 8 hours doing laps of a 4.3-mile course? The answer in Donna’s case was 27 miles which saw her finish 66th.

Well done to all of you and best of luck to anyone running Dunnydeer this weekend. If you’re running in anything else, please let me know.

The last few weeks have seen club members racing on hills all over the place. Some have raced over incredible distances; some have done simple up and down races and one an uphill only. We’ve also visited various islands and even raced on boats.

Starting with Alan Smith, making the first of several appearances in this write up, who was racing down in Dunkeld a few weeks ago at Newtyle. Alan finished 1st M60 and 14th overall after covering the very runnable 7.8km 300m course in 41:45.

Alan was back at it running Ben Sheann last week, this time joined by James Espie who won the short steep 4km 430m race in 28:23. Alan was 12th and 2nd M65 in 36:18.

We had a sizeable turnout from the club, despite the awful weather, for our own Pressendye race and we managed to win both the male and female categories. These were won by Andy King and Sally Wallis. Andy got up and down the 9.5km 450m top and back route in 41:39 with Sally finishing 5th overall in 44:55. In between was Harry Bloomfield 3rd in 44:02 and following Sally were Peter Torrance 6th and 2nd M40 45:17, Ruth Gooch 7th and 2nd lady 47:30, Rachel Little 12th and 3rd lady 49:07, Martin Pritchett 16th and 2nd M50 49:59, Patrick Lang 18th 52:09, Sam Burgess 19th 52:35, Mhairi McInnes 27th 56:24, Charlie Ritchie, running on his local hill was 1st M70 and 29th 59:52, Sarah O’Sullivan 39th 1:08:20 and Claire Conway 41st 1:08:41.

Dave Hirst unwound from the stress of organising Pressendye by running in the Glas Tulaichean Uphill Only Race a couple a couple of days later. Dave was surprisingly our only entrant in what is a very local race?? Dave climbed the 7km and 670m to the top of the Munro in 58:02 for 25th place and was 2nd M60.

On the same day Stuart Pringle, Marie Entwistle and Alan Smith travelled to Arran for the Goatfell race and all took away bottles of beer as prizes. Stuart was particularly pleased with this as Marie doesn’t drink beer. Stuart was 1st M40 and 9th overall after running the 15.6km 880m top and back route in 1:36:18, Alan was 1st M60 and 29th in 1:50:05 and Marie was 2nd F50 80th overall in 2:24:33.

We now have the first of our people who ran over the whole weekend and not just on a single day. Jill Stephen and Craig Freshwater were once again competing in the Scottish Island Peaks Race. This is a mixture of sailing and running, the runner’s team up with a sailing boat crew and they race from Oban to Troon with the small matter of the runners having to disembark several times to run up and down mountains. These stops are firstly on Mull to run Ben More, next stop is Jura to run the Paps and finally Arran to run Goatfell. This amounts to around 60 miles of running. The sailing crew will then sail the approximately 160 nautical miles between the island while the runners try to rest. Jill and Craig along with the crew of Pippa VI finished 5th overall and 4th in their class, which I assume is related to the type of vessel they are sailing in? Also taking part in this event was Alan Bennet who was sailing his boat Tulla and who’s running team contained his son Ewan. Alan and Ewan finished in 19th place.

Another running across most of the weekend was Steven Watters who was running in the Ultra Trail Snowdonia. Steven was running in the 100k race and had to battle some pretty horrendous weather on his way to finishing in 60th place. He covered 106km and climbed 5500m in 8:58:55 which also saw him finish 13th M40.

If that’s not far enough for you, Andrew Douglas was running the imperial equivalent over in Ireland. Andrew was running in the 100mile 5500m Beara Way Ultra, that’s right I did say 100 miles!! Although Andrew reckons he ran 102! He also figures he climbed a massive 6800m finishing 22nd after covering this incredible distance in 33:16:31 which also gave him 6th M55.

Coming back down to a much more manageable distance now, the 3.1mile or 5k of our local Parkrun. Now as a rule a don’t often run write about Parkruns, although I’ve been known to make a few exceptions. So, with the Castlewoods Parkrun now being a year old and with many of the volunteers having links to the club I thought it might be a nice idea to highlight all the hard work that has gone into putting it together and what a success it has gone on to be. I’m sure it has inspired quite a few in the local area to take up running and motivated others to keep at it. So well done to all involved, I might have to come and run it one day.

Well done to all racing in this write up and good luck to anyone racing on Jura or as part of the Edinburgh marathon this coming weekend.

The last couple of weeks have seen Deeside Runners win on the roads and set PBs in the hills.

Last weekend was the traditional early season suffer fest that is Stuc a Chroin. 3 Deesides took on the 22k 1500m route, which nobody in their right mind would ever take to the summit and back. Harry Bloomfield finished 28th after running 2:58:32 and was followed by Alan Smith who won the M60 finishing in 3:06:58 for 11th place. Sarah Dunn took 3rd F50 and 84th overall in 3:38:20.

Dave and Jane Oliver were running in the slightly flatter Tay 10 which is a 10 mile road race in Perth. Dave finished 202nd in 1:32:06 and Jane 258th in 1:45:10.

Staying on the tarmac Alyth Gollan was the winner of the Run Garioch 10! Alyth ran a quick 37:58 over the far from flat course to finish 11th overall. Sneaking in just ahead of her and winning the M50 was Jamie Ross in 6th place after running 37:13.

Back on the hills Stuart Pringle, Marie Entwistle and Tom Richmond were tackling Ben Lomond. Stuart ran the 12k 970m route to the top and back in 1:27:50 to finish 10th and 2nd M40. Marie scored a massive PB after running a full 8 mins quicker than last year finishing 62nd in 2:01:40 also taking 3rdF50. Tom was running with his father, and they crossed the line together in 71st place 2:27:35.

Far away in the Canary Islands Robbie Simpson was running the Transvolcania Ultra Marathon. This is a 73km route on the mountains of La Palma climbing a whopping 4300m. Robbie finished in 13th place after covering this torturous course in 7:12:23.

Well done to all and best of luck to anyone taking on Pressendye, Goatfell or both this coming week.

On a record-breaking weekend in London Deeside had 3 runners amongst the near 60,000 taking on the London Marathon. We also had 2 running much further that, 1 competing in an iconic English hill race, 1 winning a duathlon and another running in a 10k.

This years London Marathon will be remembered for the record-breaking achievements of the elite men and the record number of participants, but 3 Deesides will remember it for their own great runs. Lucy Taylor has put in a lot of marathon training and ran a rapid 2:56:39, David Anderson must also have been putting in the miles as he ran 3:05:35. Amanda Kentish is another who has been putting in a lot of training and she finished her first ever marathon in 8:08:21. Very well done to all 3 of you.

Running the imperial equivalent of the metric measure of a marathon, you might want to read that a couple of times, were Daniel Christie and Steven Watters who were taking on the Devil O The Highlands. This is the 42 miles (get it now?) of the West Highland Way from Tyndrum to Fort William. Both had great races with Daniel running 6:04:46 to finish in 7th and Steven not far behind in 14th after running 6:32:12.

James Espie was down in Yorkshire. Where he was once again taking part in the iconic 3 Peaks Race. This race runs 37k and climbs 1600m over the summits of Pen-y-ghent, Whernside and Ingleborough. James completed this in 3:30:16 to finish 11th.

Hamish Battle was the winner of the Westhill Duathlon after running 4.2k, cycling 16k then running 4.2k again in 55 minutes dead to win by over 2 minutes.

Mabel Balfour was running in the Hidden Glen 10k which is held near Balquhidder in Perthshire. Mabel ran 49:20 for 49th place.

Well done to all and best of luck to anyone taking on Stuc or Ben Lomond in the coming weeks.

The season is now definitely underway, and the last few weeks have seen some great runs from those in Deeside green.

Robbie Simpson (in Terrex white) was over in California running the Lake Sonoma 50k. Robbie won the race, covering the metric 53k and climbing the imperial 5700ft (must be an American thing?) in 3:29:39.

Also running over 50k was Jill Stephen who was taking part in the British Trail Running Championship. I don’t have any imperial or metric stats for the course, but it was in the Lake District. Jill finished 48th in 5:35:39 and was a brilliant 2nd F40!

Sarah Dunn was also taking on a challenging race in the shape of Heart of Granite. This is held down in Galloway and climbs 1850m over 32k. Sarah finished 21st and an excellent 3rd lady in 5:57:00.

Alan Smith was over in Lochaber running Eagle Crag, this is a great wee race and packs a lot into its 8.6k and 760m. Alan was 1st M60 finishing 13th in 1:18:36.

Local favourite Clachnaben saw a good turn out from the club and a lot of category winners. James Espie took 2nd place after covering the 14k 750m route in 1:08:56, and was followed by Hamish Battle 5th 1:14:09, Harry Bloomfield 12th 1:23:59, Dan Whitehead 15th and 1st M50 1:26:48, Al Sealy 25th and 1st M60 1:38:48, Mhairi McInnes 32nd 1:44:57, Miles Newman 33rd and 2nd M60 1:46:02, Dave Hirst 36th and 3rd M60 1:47:58, Ruth Mackenzie 37th and 1st F60 1:48:06, Katie Henderson 40th and 1st F40 1:48:24, Charlie Ritchie 57th and 1st M70 2:05:38, Jim Dukes 58th 2:06:08 and Tom Richmond 71st 2:29:04.

Ben Chonzie was the first round of this year’s SHR Championship and Deeside were well represented on the 23km 1435m course. Chasing championship points were Harry Bloomfield 54th in 2:30:34, Richard Bannister 62nd 2:34:10, Sally Wallis who just about managed to stay upright winning the F40 in 65th 2:34:54, Alan Smith finished runner up in the M60 91st 2:45:18, Martin Pritchett 114th 2:53:06, Rachel Little 147th 3:06:46, Lina Payne was 1st in the F60 168th 3:12:51, Al Sealy 171st 3:13:34 and Jane Oliver 262nd 4:18:47.

And coming down off the hills David Anderson and Linda Lett were running in the Budgies Mega Half Marathon at Edzell. David finished and excellent 3rd place in 1:26:32 and Linda was 119th in 2:19:02.

As always well done to you all and good luck to anyone racing in the coming weeks.

This week it’s all been about Balmoral. We’ve had loads of you running at the various events. With a runner up and a category winner in the 10k.

Starting with the 5k. Hamish Battle ran a PB 15:30 to finish in 6th place. Matching the PB and the 6th place (in the ladies) was Lucy Taylor, running 18:07 to finish 26th. Steven Watters who was running in the Devil wasn’t far behind in 32nd 18:14 Roshan Fernandez ran a fine 20:26 for 79th with Barry Chalmers (running with his son) a few seconds back in 85th 20:32. Jemma Rendall started her Devil with a 23:04 for 202nd. Jane Oliver finished 513th after running 30:12 and Rhian Anthony was 712th in 38:40.

In the 10k Aylth Gollan finished as runner up in the ladies’ race running 38:51 to finish 17th overall. Jamie Ross was 24th and 2nd M50 in 39:21 closely followed by Steven Watters 25th 39:26. Next in was Charlie Ritchie winning another M70 after running 49:52 for 304th. Jemma Rendall continued her Devil with a 51:07 giving her 305th place. Faye Smith was 928th in 1:02:38, Gordon Drummod 988th 1:02:35. Lynne Strachen finished 1115th 1:07:08, Bess Lacy 1205th 1:07:17, Julie Mitchel Mehta 1372nd 1:17:05 and Hazel Rush 1409th 1:27:03.

On Sunday in the 6 mile race we had Steven Watters finish 5th and 2nd M40 in 39:54, Jemma Rendall was 45th 52:21, Jane Oliver 182nd and 2nd F60 1:07:19 and Bess Lacy 227th in 1:12:48.

In the 12.5mile 15mile race Steven Watters finished in 14th and 3rd M40 in 1:25:05, Martin Pritchett 36th 1:33:26, Jemma Rendall 157th 1:55:01, Linda Lett 247th 2:08:24, Dave Oliver 285th 2:14:06 and Bess Lacy 350th 2:35:48.

In the Devil, which is a race over all 4 races, Steven Watters finished in 5th place and was 1st M40 running 3:03:30 and Jemma Rendall finished 37th and was 5th lady after running 4:01:33.

These are the results I could cobble together from those of you who responded to Hamish’s poll and those of you with Deeside against your names. I’m sure there were more Deeside’s running but it’s just not possible for me to trawl through thousands of names.

Away from Balmoral, quite far away actually, Dee Watters was having a superb run in the Berlin Half Marathon. Dee ran 1:33:44 for 4110th place.

Well done to everyone who raced over the weekend, including those I’ve undoubtedly missed out.

The race calendar says it’s spring, even if the weather doesn’t quite agree, and Deesides have been taking part in some early spring racing. We’ve been running on the roads and the hills, where one member has been particularly prolific, while also competing at national level in Duathlon.

Jane and Oliver were both running in the Cupar 5, which exactly as it sounds is a 5 mile road race. Dave, who was making a return to running after an injury ran 46:05 to finish 170th with Jane in 187th after running 49:41.

Hamish Battle was competing in the Scottish Duathlon Championships and did rather well. Hamish finished 9th overall for his run/bike/run, the results don’t give distances, but he completed the race in 59:39 to win the 30-34 age category!

Craig Dunain was the North District Hill Championship and Deeside had a few medal winners. Ruth Mackenzie won the F60 running 41:45 and finishing 62nd for the 6.5k 400m course. Richard Bannister took bronze in the M40 after finishing 24th in 35:33. Also taking bronze was Alan Smith, this time in the M60. Alan ran 40:06 to finish 56th.

Staying with Alan, he had a double race weekend finishing 18th at Chapelgill and 23rd at Criffel. He covered the short steep 2.4k 430m Chapelgill in 28:59 and the probably very muddy 11k 560m course at Criffel in 1:19:44.

Alan was also running at Birnam last weekend where he finished 81st after completing the 6.5 335m course in 42:46.

Surprisingly Alan wasn’t running at Deuchary the following day, but Dave Hirst and Miles Newman were flying the Deeside flag in his absence. This was run over a bad weather route so I’ve no idea of the distance etc, but Dave finished 18th and won the M60 category running 1:11:31. Miles was runner up in the same category finishing 22nd in 1:14:34.

The weekend just passed was also the culmination of our latest C25K programme with many of the runners taking on the Castlewoods Parkrun and the others running alternative 5ks. Congratulations must go to, in no particular order, Scott Michie, Jodie Dawson, Lisa Hewitt, Michelle Patterson, Wendy Ramsey, Iain Ramsey, Trish Coombs, Trevor Rickets, Gordon Drummond, Gillian Needham and Linda Cunningham.

Well done to you all. With Run Balmoral taking place this weekend can I ask that if you are running, please let me know as it is just not possible for me to rake through the thousands of names. I know of one runner taking on the Devil, but if you think this isn’t you then please get in touch.

Entires open Thursday night! 👇

Entries open here on Thursday 19th March at 7pm - https://www.deesiderunners.com/races/lairig-ghru-race/

We aim for a total of 250 runners. This year we will be opening up 350 entries on 18th March. We will not be running a waiting list. However following withdrawals, if there are spaces 4 weeks before the event we will open again for last minute entries. There will be no on the day entries.