Hill Running Grand Prix 2012

The complete Carnegie Harriers Hill Running Grand Prix for 2012 is as follows;

1. 11/02/2012 Carnethy Hill Race (M)
2. 04/03/2012 Bishop Hill Race, Scotlandwell (S)
3. 07/04/2012 Clachnaben Hill Race, Banchory (M) SHR Championship Event
4. 09/05/2012 Dumyat Hill Race, Stirling University (S)
5. 03/06/2012 Yetholm Hill Race (M)
6. 16/06/2012 Durisdeer Hill Race, Dumfriesshire (M) SHR Championship Event
7. 27/06/2012 Law Breaker Hill Race, Tillicoultry (S)
8. 14/07/2012 Glamaig Hill Race, Skye (S) SHR Championship Event
9. 04/08/2012 Creag Dhubh Hill Race, Newtonmore (S) SHR Championship Event
10. 19/08/2012 Lomonds of Fife Hill Race, Strathmiglo (M)
11. 22/09/2012 Two Breweries Hill Race, Traquair (L)
12. 14/10/2012 Pentland Skyline Hill Race, Hillend (L) SHR Championship Event
13. 10/11/2012 Tinto Hill Race, near Symington (S)

(13 events with your best 7 to count, S – Short, M – Medium, L – Long)

The updated Grand Prix Rules can be found below;

1. There will be three annual Grand Prix Series held for club members in the following categories – Road Running, Cross Country Running and Hill Running.

2. A member may only compete in his or her own age group (outwith the open event), qualifying age being that at the date of the first event in each Grand Prix.

3. The Running and Hill Running Grand Prix will be held during a single calendar year and the Cross Country Grand Prix will cover the activityseason, normally autumn to spring.

4. The events to be included in each Grand Prix will be decided by the Committee from guidance provided by the respective Team Captains.

5. There will be a range of distances and standards of competition in each series that provides a balance of local and national events that will aim at encouraging participation by all ability levels. Due recognition should be given to national events series where appropriate e.g. Scottish Hill Running Championship.

6. The Road Running and Hill Running Grand Prix Series will each consist of 13 events, with the best 7 scoring events qualifying for each competition for any individual. The Cross Country Grand Prix will consist of 8 events with the best 5 being counters for the competition for any individual. The person with the highest number of points in the open competition and each age group category will be the winner. To qualify for an award, an individual must take part in a minimum of 7 events in the Road Running Grand Prix, 7 events in the Hill Running Grand Prix and 5 events in the Cross Country Grand Prix.

7. Scoring in each event will not be age group based, but on a single finish list and will be 50 points for 1st
home, 49 for 2nd, 48 for 3rd etc with all competitors scoring at least 1 point for completing an event.

8. There shall be Awards in each Grand Prix for the following age group categories: –

Female
Open – Female (any age)
Female 40 to 49
Female 50 to 59
Female 60+

Male
Open – Male (any age)
Male 40 to 49
Male 50 to 59
Male 60 to 69
Male 70+

The Open class will be awarded to the first three in the overall table irrelevant of age group, thereafter the awards will be determined by age group. No person may receive more than one award in any single Grand Prix.

9. There will be an award made to every individual who takes part in the full number of counting events in any of the Grand Prix, e.g. 7 for Road and Hill, 5 for Cross Country. Each Grand Prix will count for a separate award.

Happy Hill Running Folks 

If there is one thing that Carnegie Harriers really enjoy, its a good day out racing! Sunday 11th September was the Comrie Hill Relays organised by Strathern Harriers http://www.strathearnharriers.org.uk/ and we at Carnegie jumped at the chance to enter teams. We’ve always had a team running at this event but in previous years it has unfortunately clashed with other big races, not so this year though and we had 4, yes 4! teams running! Fantastic!

Now seemingly in years gone by this event has always been graced with blue skies and glorious sunshine but the weather god’s were not in such a good mood this year and Sunday dawned grey, wet and windy. But hi ho hi ho, of the Harriers go anyway, a bit of rain won’t stop us from enjoying ourselves.

The Simon Wake Comrie Hills Relay is a 42k relay race with 2,110m of ascent, run in 4 stages for teams of 5 runners. The highly scenic course starts and finishes in Comrie village, and follows a route up and around the hills surrounding Glen Lednock.

Legs 2 and 3 cover rough mountain terrain, while Legs 1 and 4, although challenging, are closer to trail races and are fully marked. Each leg had marked checkpoints where runners had to stamp their card. All the checkpoints where numbered and this card was a vital part of the race, which each leg runners had to pass to the next. All the checkpoints had to be marked of to fully complete the race.

Leg 1 started in Comrie itself and we had Iain Thomson, Judith Dobson, Calum McGraw and Roger Clark running for our 4 teams. Great to see Roger and Calum who would normally do more road running taking part in a hill race.

Leg 2 was a more challenging leg over tough hilly terrain and was the only leg that had to run as a pair of runners. Both runners must start and finish and run together at all times or risk disqualification. Luckily the weather, although very grey and fairly windy, had not worsened at this stage and visibility was fairly good. First Carnegie team round this leg was Stevie King and Pete Humphries.

Closely followed by David Greig and Willie Rennie. And then Stevie Greer and Tom Bowie and then the ladies team comprising of Fabienne Thomson and Alison West.

Leg 3 was the longest in distance and also in climb and terrain and unfortunately by the time the runners were setting of on this leg the weather had really deteriorated and visibility at the top was down to about 15 metres. Leg 3 goes up a rough, stoney path for about 3 miles, which had been made very slippy by all the heavy rain and then continues upwards for about another 1/2 mile over grassy ground to reach their first checkpoint (No 6) The next section of this leg was one big bog! A few runners went a cropper here, ending up waist deep in the green sludge. After checkpoint number 7 though this is where the navigational skills did come in useful, as visibilty was terrible and there were no clear markings or tracks to follow. Quite a few runners took wrong turnings here and went a bit of route in the unfamiliar territory. The Ladies were convinced that Melanie Sinclair was lost up this hills forever the amount of time it took her to get round and Malcolm Smith and Jim Robb were both grateful that Angela ‘I was born up a Hill’ Mudge went past them both so they could see were to go. Pete ‘The Awesome’ Simpson was back on form though after suffering from injury and kept the momentum going for the Mens team finishing his leg 3 in an outstandingly good time.

Leg 4 runners had a fully marked route to follow which took them all the way back into Comrie for the finish. Ian Johnston brought it home for our leading men’s team. Jo Wilson literally flew around her leg 4 in a brilliant time proving she has a lot more to give in these hill races and Morna Fleming continued in her fine form to make up some good time for her team over the leg.

32 teams took part in the Comrie Hill Relays and all the Carnegie Harriers teams did very well in what was defiinitely a very challenging race.

Full results from the race can be found here http://www.strathearnharriers.org.uk/ComrieHillsRelay2011results.pdf

All the pictures that are shown were taken by David from Fife AC (normally takes pics with Pete Bracegirdle who alot of us know) He did an outstanding job getting such good pictures in such terrible weather and we all thank him very much for being out there to do that! Thanks David

Full set of pictures from the day can be found here: http://web.me.com/dsmyth/Run/Comrie11.html

Huge well done to all the Carnegie Harrier runners and a big thank you to those runners who wouldn’t normally dabble in the hills! Perhaps we have given you a little taste of how good the hills can be and might even see you at somemore races in the future! Hills are the way forward!

Happy Hill Running Everyone! 

In a shock announcement yesterday Neil “The Shorts” Campbell told awaiting reporters that he was “hanging up” the lime and tangerine shorts he is so well known for on the hill running scene.

The shorts have to go...

Campbell said that he is moving to Carnethy Hill Running Club and announced this at the Inveraray Jail Break saying this race was a symbol of him moving on.

He can now be seen on the hills sporting the Red and Gold of Carnethy. Campbell could not be drawn on his future short choice saying, “This change has been quite sudden and I have not had enough time to consider all the short options”

Campbell in his new Colours - Photo: J. Weir

This is a Great Video as to why you should get involved in local issues. Including Running Clubs.

After the launch of the Campbell Carnegie Minifesto David Cameron was asked by the press what he thought about the Minifesto. Cameron refused to comment.

His mind must have been on other things.

Old rival and local Scottish MP Gordon Brown also didn’t have much to say either but was more supportive.  At least he wasn’t smiling or was he?

Gordon Brown

Carnegie Hillbillies "takin' care of business"

22/04/2011 5:30am

At a pre dawn Press conference the Campbell Team launched their Manifesto

Campbell said, “As everyone is putting out big Manifestos at the moment we thought we would put out a Minifesto”

“We have  taken our proud clubs name, Carnegie, as the backbone of our Minifesto”

“In keeping with a running club our Minifesto should be things to think about before your run or race.”

The Campbell Minifesto

Compulsory Risk Assessment Protocol (have you done one)
Are You Smiling?
Run Run Run
Never Give Up
Everyone can enjoy risk/danger
Give it everything you have got
If in doubt keep running
Even if you want to Never Give Up

“Carnegie Harriers are on a journey and the path ahead is a bright one. Now is a time for all Carnegie Harriers to keep moving forward”

The Annual General Meeting takes place on Tuesday 26^th April 2011, at 8.00pm at the Academy of Sport.  Sandwiches and tea and coffee will be available for those attending the AGM.  All members are encouraged to come along.

Campaign Dance with Mel, Bill & Neil (Mel is the one without the beard : ) )

Take your partners for the Hillbilly Hare

Click to see video

Hillbilly Hare

In this cynical age of focus groups and poll-driven policy, America has at last unearthed a presidential candidate who will not blow with the political wind, or any wind for that matter. A candidate who will hold true to his principles through thick and thicker.

Stuff the author doesn't have. Pic: AP

Meet Donald Trump’s hair, the frontrunner for next year’s republican nomination. While notoriously unreliable sources like The New York Times have mistakenly suggested that it is Mr Trump himself who will run for the White House, The Punch can exclusively reveal the candidate is in fact the rug atop his head.

“I will comb over the thinning budget and plug any gaps,” the perfectly coiffed hairpiece told The Punch overnight. “And if you don’t like my policies, you’re fired.”

Read the full article here

In a carefully prepared statement Campbell said ” I am really glad I don’t have to run against Donald Trumps hair in the Carnegie Harriers running club Presidents election.”

In a message of support Ken Macdougall, the Heid Yin of Tinto Hill Runners, suggested a campaign anthem. Elected by Alice Cooper.

Macdougall said “A special tune for your campaign. Thought it is appropriate and as the heid yin of the THR you have my full support.”

http://tintohillrunners.com/

Or the live version on YouTube

Alice Cooper -- Elected