Hill Running Grand Prix success for Tommy and Alison
Congratulations to Tommy Lawrence and Alison West who are our 2008 Hill Running Grand Prix champions. Our popular series of hill races saw 46 club members take part in this year’s Grand Prix which featured 13 events with the best 7 to count. The opening event was back in February at the Carnethy 5 and it reached its conclusion at the Tinto Hill Race on Saturday.
Tommy Lawrence who has been in superb form on the hills this year won the men’s title with 346 points while Alison West won the ladies title for the 9th time in the past fourteen years with 298 points.
There was a tremendous battle between Steven King and Kenny MacDonald for 2nd and 3rd position and after their 7 counting events they were both tied on 341 points.
Looking at their 8th best counting event they were both still tied together but Steven edged ahead on their 9th best result by a mere one point to claim 2nd spot overall with Kenny securing 3rd. Andy Sim enjoyed an excellent year on the hills placing 4th on 327 points and Colin Reynolds placed 5th on 326 points.
Well done to Allan MacAulay who won the M50 award with 317 points (6th overall) and to Neil Campbell who won the M40 award with 222 points (8th overall).
Our ladies club captain Fabienne Thompson was in great form on the Scottish hills placing 2nd female overall with 250 points and Gail Murdoch excelled finishing 3rd lady with 145 points. Congratulations to Morna Fleming who wins the F40 award with 137 points (4th overall).
The hill running awards will be presented at the King Malcolm Hotel, Dunfermline on Sunday 14th December at our annual awards evening.More on Carnegie Hillbillies Grand Prix Results
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Report by Iain Taylor
Excellent Carnegie turnout at Tinto Hill Race
Tommy Lawrence was in fine form on Saturday afternoon placing 7th overall in the Tinto Hill Race covering the 4.4 mile (1500ft) course in 35.20. Richie Cunningham broke the 40 minute barrier finishing 35th in 39.02 with Steven King placing 63rd in 41.26.Fabienne Thompson was the leading Carnegie lady clocking a time of 46.10 (130th) winning the 2nd F40 award. Lynne Bennet was our next lady in 50.04 ahead of Lynne Kuz (52.27), Helena Sim (56.17) and Gail Murdoch (56.22).
Twenty six club members completed the challenging Tinto Hill Race which our club has now adopted as our Tribute Run for George Murdoch who sadly passed away last year. Many other club members were unable to make the trip to Tinto today but all had George in their thoughts.
Several Carnegie’s made their hill running debut at Tinto including Catherine Wilson who completed her run in 1.03.07 and Julie Humphreys who finished in 1.05.17.
The race also incorporated our final event in our Hill Running Grand Prix and congratulations to Tommy Lawrence and Alison West who are our 2008 winners.
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Five Hillbillies made it down to Broughton to take part in the Two Breweries Hill race. The race is part of the SHR Championships as well as our own Grand Prix.
As this is a one way race we all jumped on a bus at the brewery and headed over to the other brewery Traquair. Apart from having a brewery Traquair is the oldest inhabited house in Scotland.
Results HERE
Two Breweries Race Profile
Hillbillies promoting Broughton Ales.
More Photos HERE
Even More Photos HERE
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The Hillbillies sent the “two fat laddies”, race numbers 88 and 89, to take on the Ben Nevis Hill Race. Andy Sim and Neil Campbell toed the line with some of the best runners in Europe as this was part of the Buff Skyrunner World Series.
The conditions were great for hill running. Much to our surprise Fabienne was up the mountain taking photos and cheering us on.
Full results when they are available.
Race Profile
Neil Campbell
Andrew Sim
Race Route on Google Earth
Ben Nevis Hil Race route
More Photos HERE
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Richie Cunningham completes the Ultra Tour Du Mont Blanc
Carnegie Hillbilly Richie Cunningham has just taken his ultra running to another level having completed the Ultra Tour Du Mont Blanc over the weekend.
Richie was amongst another 2000 competitors in the 166km race from Chamonix, France which involved over 27,000 feet of ascent around the gruelling course which crosses the borders into Italy and Switzerland before returning to Chamonix.
Very well done to Richie who placed 307th overall in 36 hrs 53 mins 37 secs.
Richie has written a report on his blog HERE
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Monday 25th – Saturday 30th August – TransRockies Run, Colorado, USA
Congratulations to Andy Symonds who has completed an incredible six days of endurance running to finish second overall in the 2008 Gore-tex TransRockies Run in the Colorado Rockies.
Transrockies Briefing
The event which involved over 100 miles of running with around 27,000 feet of climbing saw Andy and his team mate (Tom Owens) win one of the six stages, place second in four stages and third in another.
Running in the Rockies
So after six days of intense competition at an average altitude of around 12,000 feet the gruelling event was won by Team Nike with Andy’s Saab Salomon team placing a superb second overall.
Camping in the Rockies
Over 130 teams completed the event. Further race reports and videos can be found on the event’s website by clicking HERE.
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Six Hillbillies took up the challenge of the Ochil 2000, race 10 in the hill running Grand Prix
Well done to Kenny MacDonald for coming in first Hillbilly in a time of 3.35.03
It was a tough and long course particularly towards the back end of the route.
Ochil 2000 race profile
Carnegie results
| Pos | Runner | Cat | Time |
| 58 | Kenny MacDonald | MV | 03:35:03 |
| 110 | Colin Reynolds | MS | 04:08:14 |
| 111 | Andrew Sim | MV | 04:08:36 |
| 140 | Allan Macaulay | MSV | 04:32:39 |
| 144 | Alison West | FSV | 04:39:41 |
| 156 | Neil Campbell | MV | 04:59:05 |
Full Results HERE
More Photos from SHR HERE
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Andy Symonds came home to win in a very tight race with less than a minute between the first three. Andy retained his title from last year. At the start of the race he said he was going to take it easy as he is off at the end of the week to run a trans Rockies race in the USA.
Well done to Fabienne Thompson who got second lady vet, despite setting off after everyone else, and Alison West got 5th lady.
It was a good turn out from the club with ten Hillbillies starting the race. Well done to Paul Arnott who ran his first hill race.
I really enjoyed the race especially the last steep downhill where I must have had the fastest time of the day aided by a plastic bag I literally flew down the hillside. My biggest fear was hitting something solid as there was no way I could stop. I have also spent last night and this morning picking thistle spikes out of my hands and arms.
TOP TIP if you are going to do the slide wear a jacket and gloves.
Carnegie Hillbilly Results
| 1 | Andy Symonds | MS | 01:34:51 |
| 29 | Kenny McDonald | MV | 02:01:33 |
| 42 | Colin Reynolds | MS | 02:15:58 |
| 45 | Andrew Sim | MV | 02:17:04 |
| 50 | Paul Hutton | MS | 02:21:00 |
| 51 | Fabienne Thompson | FS | 02:20:00 |
| 53 | Neil Campbell | MV | 02:23:13 |
| 54 | Alison West | F50 | 02:23:53 |
| 55 | Alan McAulay | M50 | 02:24:21 |
| 72 | Paul Arnott | MS | 02:48:40 |
Full results HERE
The video and some photos from last year HERE
Lomonds of Fife race profile
From Race Organiser Alan Graham:
“There were days before and after the race they would have needed water wings but again we were lucky. The sun shone (not on top of the hill!) and it didn’t rain too much. Seventy five lined up at the start (correction 74 – Fabienne thought we started at two!).
It’s a steep climb up the west with the rabble disappearing into the mists and reappearing disgustingly soon for the tough traverse round to the forest with no-one quite sure if they are on the best line (the sheep have it sussed out – follow the trods). The next section is a varied forest trail up to the monument and on to Craig Mead (sorry Manny someone did remove our tape). Back on to the old route now out to East Lomond with Brian Marshall holding a decent lead and Andy Symonds and Tom Owens chasing. The wee dog-leg out to the iron age fort of Maiden Castle gives scope to pick up ground (or lose it) and then its the long slog back to West Lomond with tiring legs. Andy and Tom were steadily pulling up on Brian and by the descent were ahead.
From the finish the sight of the leaders descending was truly spectacular. This year some of the runners were employing increasingly inventive ways to protect their rear ends (on the descent) but most were just enjoying the ‘unprotected’ experience. Well done Andy on a second victory but Tom and Brian definitely had you in their sights!
Lucy Colquhoun arrived well in the lead amongst the ladies with Val Houston in second place as first vet and Jocelyn Scott in third as first over 50. Manny Gordon did well to take the male vets prize with Gordon Pryde of Lomond celebrating his recent 50th as first supervet.
(I have a black bum bag with all the gear if someone wants to claim it -tel 01337 831425)”
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Well done to Andy who won the first running of the Glenshee 9 Hill Race. The race is 21miles with 9 Summits and 6000ft of climbing. Andy’s time was 3hrs 26min 24sec
I was speaking to Andy at the start and he said he needed a long Sunday run as part of his training as he is soon heading of to the Rockies in USA for another challenge similar to the Trans Alp.
Carnegie Hillbillies bracketed the field nicely. There were 72 starters and I finished 55 in a time of 5hrs 54min 14 sec with only four runners finishing behind me. Room for improvement.
This is a tough race and we were fortunate to get clear running conditions. If the weather was bad you would need to be good at navigating as there are not many paths on the route.
This was a very well organised race and I would highly recommend it if you want a challenge next year.
Full results HERE.
Some great photos from Steve Fallon HERE
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