Edinburgh Athletic Club

Race report by Graeme Brown

This past Sunday saw round 3 of the 2008/2009 Borders XC series held at Peebles and organised very ably by those nice folks at Moorfoot Runners.  In terms of numbers the totals show an increase on last year and give some weight to my overall impression that this great little race series is getting more popular.  The day itself was a bit overcast with an occasional spit of rain but thankfully not very windy.  Having run this race on two previous occasions, and enjoyed the variety of the terrain very much, it was nice to see that the course hadn’t changed from last year.

For those that have never the done the race the route is a picturesque one making full use of  both sides of the River Tweed.  The race starts with a single lap of Haylodge Park before heading up along the banks of the Tweed on a narrow twisty and rocky track crossed by numerous large tree roots.  Its quite difficult to pass people in this stretch but thankfully this section falls early enough in the race for it not to be too much of a problem.  From here the course continues along a wider track beside the Tweed before turning back on itself to follow the old railway, crossing the river on the disused bridge.  A short section of forest trail immediately follows the bridge crossing and, in my experience, this has the affect of lulling the runners into a false sense of security before the next challenge begins!  As the runners emerge from the trees they view the route descending almost to the river before climbing back up to the summit of the hill in one sustained effort.  Thankfully the hill training which the author has been doing this year allowed him to make short work of a climb which had previously seemed quite difficult.

After the course winds its way through South Park Wood  for a short it enters a mostly downhill section in three large, and quite muddy, fields.  By this point people who have done the course before know they are almost in the home straight.  Thereafter a quick steep descent, almost back to river level, brings competitors back to the old railway but this time heading in the direction of Peebles before switching back towards the finish line which is located almost opposite the start though on the opposite bank of the river.  The straight and almost flat finishing section gives a good opportunity to catch people in front or be caught depending on the state on your legs!  The state of my legs after a long Pentlands session on Saturday meant that, on this occasion, I wasn’t doing much catching.

Five people from EAC competed in this year’s race.  Sue Ridley put in a great performance to win the womens race and finish 22nd overall and  in what was a good quality field.  Marek Jurasinksi also had a good run to finish in 29th place in a time of 27.04.

EAC results

The varied terrain and scenery make this an excellent introduction to cross country for those folks who like trail running.  It ranks among the author’s favourite races ever topped only by the Borders XC course at Norham which is to follow on the 25th of January next year.

For full results and other information on this series see the Borders XC page on the Norham site.