Congratulations to Brain Ross who ran the Pinedale 1/2mar in on his hols in Wyoming USA in a time of 1:47:07 - all the more impressive once you realise its at an altitude of over 7000ft - see seperate race report, right column.

Well done!
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Congratulations to Jason Wilson who took part in the Great North Run at the weekend.
He writes "1 hr 30 min 12 secs was my official time (finishing 722nd). That is a new PB (by about 4 mins) and also 6 mins faster than my time at GNR last year. As you can imagine I am pretty pleased. This is my 4th GNR so I know the course fairly well, but this year I started on the right hand side for the first time - the same side as the Elite and Fast Club runners. I think this helped as that side of the race gets away quicker. Also I had a good starting position just 5-10 metres behind the Elite runners and was over the start line in less than 15 secs.

The weather was near perfect, slightly cold until we got going and no wind. As usual the crowd support was awesome as was the organisation.

The satellite pickup by my Garmin was sporadic so I had to use my brain to work out split times. So, it wasn't until I saw an official timing clock at 10 miles that I knew I was on for a good time.

Finally if anyone is planning on entering next year avoid booking the Jesmond Park Hotel. Nae great!"

Well done Jason!
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Congratulations to the GRRers who took part in the Cairn William Hill race last weekend.
Times were as follows:-
James McGregor 56:25
Richard Ingram 1:06:24

Richard is now on the list of runners heading for BHR this weekend, who will have competed in all 3 hill races in the Aberdeenshire Hill Series.

Well Done!
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Congratulations to the GRRers who took part in this years Dyke 10k. Despite jetlag from the flight back from his hols in the USA (& by the sounds of things some supersize-USA-style post-1/2mar celebrating for a week) Brian Ross took part, only to find out that 10k race pace and jetlag only result in one thing - copious ammounts of lactic acid....
Times were as follows:-
Brian Ross 44:27
Assyny Macleod 39:17 (PB)
David Blane 40:32

Well Done Guys!
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Bennachie Hill Race Latest.

Things are starting to shape up for this year's BHR.

A fine dry spell of autumnal sunshine has left the course in great shape under foot (the hills this morning with the early morning mist looked like something out of a Tuscan autumn photo album...fab!) Heres hoping it will last till Sunday!

A big thanks to Steve Waites who has (once again) done all the groundwork for this years race - heres hoping we dont let him down..

So a wee reminder of the dates & times this weekend:-

SAT: meet at Back o' Bennachie at 0900 to mark out the course. All kids/dogs/anything else capable of caring marker canes welcome.

SUN: meet at Back o' Bennachie from 1000 onwards to setup shop for the race. There's a couple of key tasks to complete including a meccano set tent to put up, registration to setup (usually opening for around noon), a relay race course to markout & some marshallying of cars in the car park , before the race kicks off (@1400hrs).
If you are planning coming along to help marshall, please bring your mobile phone, so we all can keep in contact around the course, and a digital camera if you have one, for the photo fest we put on the website (most competitors seem to loook forward to looking up the results & being able to see a photo of themselves in action on the hill).
We'll decide on the day who is doing what once on site, unless you've got any strong preferences.

Finally, Audrey Leel tells me that Blairdaff & Chapel of Garioch Church are having a parish breakfast in chapel hall 7th 0ct 9.30-10.30. if anyone fancies bacon & sausages (juice & cereal too) before going to back o bennachie its just a matter of poping in.

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Thanks to everyone who responded to our request for race reports - keep 'em coming!

What's Up This Week

After a few days of living the American lifestyle and catching up with our friends over many a bottle of Bud light and the odd scotch it was time to run the Pinedale half marathon. It started early in the morning where there was not a cloud in sky and the temperature was a nice cool 50deg, there was music pumping from huge speakers that were assembled at the start line. We went into the hall to register and were duly given our numbers and a goody bag, WOW what a goody bag, the bag itself is a decent rucksack, there was a running wind proof top in what ever size you asked for, water bottle, socks, key rings, a compass, sunscreen, lip balm and loads of food and other freebees all the cost of 15USD (£7.50). The first mile of the course was quite flat but unfortunately that was very short lived. The rest of the course was extremely hilly but was very scenic. Unfortunately for me the altitude at Pinedale is about 7100ft and the course climbed to over 7600ft and I can guarantee you that it is a lot harder to run at this altitude specially when you are trying to put in a bit of effort i.e. going up hills, which there was a lot of. The race finished at the same point as it started from and by this time the temperature was now into the mid 80s and the music was still blearing out. The event organisers wanted to get as much of the community involved with race as possible so there was a 10K and a 1mile fun run on the same day, the sponsors had cow bells made with there logo on it and were handing them out to all the kids and anybody else who was along the route watching. At some places on the course when you ran past the spectators it was like being on Ski Sunday with all the cowbells ringing, it was unusual but very enjoyable. After the race there was a free BBQ for the whole community and again WOW you should of seen the spread they put on I have never seen anything like it before, it was amazing. My time was 1:47:07, which was 18th place out of 100.

In Short: the toughest 13.1 miles I have ever ran but also the most enjoyable race I have done.