Cruim Leacainn hill race 26 Dec 2008 by Roger Boswell

I don't know what they have for breakfast, but Dawn Scott and David Rodgers won the women's and men's races by a street. Dawn smashed the female record by nearly 3 minutes. She embarrassed Paul MacLean, by beating him to the top, though Paul did save his reputation by catching Dawn on the descent. Visitor Heather Dawe from Ilkley came second in splendid isolation nearly 6 minutes behind Dawn, and then it was nearly 5 more minutes before Nix Forster, who is no slouch, led home 15 more grls, all beauties. Elma Murdoch dropped out after twisting her ankle and Clare Rumgay stopped to help her off the battlefield; thanks Clare.

In the men's race, Donald Paterson set of like a greyhound. The first half mile is tarmac, Donald is not a road runner, so he paid for his over-enthusiastic start losing ground and places on the climb; Alan Smith thought Donald was going backwards as they neared the summit. David Rodgers soon took control of the race, he cruised up and down with a big lead, to finish just 12 seconds outside his own record. Behind David, Ruri Watt and Tom Smith were going great guns, ding dong all the way back. On the finish line it was hard to judge who got the verdict, maybe Ruri by a vest. This duel made it hard for Ross Bannerman, 1st claim club Highland but in this race he wore his second claim Lochaber colours. Ross thought he had a shout of catching Ruri and Tom, but at the end he had to settle for 4th, just 20 seconds back. Meanwhile Donald Paterson had got on to his favourite ground, a rough pell mell descent, he plummeted down to finish a creditable 7th.

Great weather, great fun, remember Cruim Leacainn, Torlundy, Boxing Day 2009. Next race is the Aonach More Uphill race from Nevisrange 1100 on New Year's Day

Cruim Leacainn RESULTS 26-Dec-2008

1 David Rodgers M40 Lochaber 00:41:48 29 Benjamin Cluderay u/a 01:00:19

2 Ruari Watt Lochaber 00:43:27 30 Emma Pearce F40 Lochaber 01:00:27

3 Tom Smith Lochaber 00:43:27 31 Lyndsey Shaw F Lochaber 01:00:40

4 Ross Bannerman Lochaber 00:43:46 32 Mark Henrys M40 u/a 01:01:45

5 Craig Mitchell Lochaber 00:44:54 33 Bill Scott M50 Lochaber 01:02:33

6 Johm Hepburn M40 Lochaber 00:45:00 34 Ian Adams M50 Lochaber 01:03:13

7 Donald Paterson Lochaber 00:45:25 35 Andrew Finnimore M50 Lochaber 01:03:27

8 George Cairns Lochaber 00:45:30 36 Bruce Davie M40 Jog Scot 01:04:05

9 Alan Smith M40 Deeside 00:46:28 37 Sharyn Morgan F Lochaber 01:04:18

10 Bruce Poll Lochaber 00:47:19 38 Bruce Sharrat M40 u/a 01:06:34

11 Ian Marr u/a 00:47:36 39 John O'Neill M40 Lochaber 01:07:09

12 Paul MacLean Lochaber 00:47:44 40 Susan Jane Ross F40 Lochaber 01:07:15

13 Dawn Scott F Lochaber 00:47:48 41 Kate Gray F50 Lochaber 01:07:18

14 Nick Sedgewick u/a 00:48:54 42 Jo Ness F40 Lochaber 01:07:29

15 Owen Bass M40 Deeside 00:49:15 43 Ursula Bass F40 Deeside 01:08:53

16 Andy Craig M40 Lochaber 00:49:22 44 Siobhan Bradley F Lochaber 01:11:27

17 Ken Rumgay M40 Lochaber 00:49:32 45 Kathy Tighe F40 Lochaber 01:11:57

18 Ali Kennedy M40 Lochaber 00:50:47 46 Jim Cameron M50 u/a 01:12:13

19 Graham Brooks M50 Lochaber 00:52:26 47 Claire Treasurer F Lochaber 01:12:36

20 Ronnie Turner M40 Lochaber 00:52:27 48 Jackie Hepburn F40 Lochaber 01:13:30

21 Jim Treasurer M50 Lochaber 00:53:30 49 Ellen Morrison F Lochaber 01:13:31

22 Heather Dawe F Ilkley 00:53:35 50 Gavin Rankin M16 u/a 01:21:54

23 David Orr Lochaber 00:54:13 51 Jenna Jackson F Lochaber 01:22:48

24 David Duncan M50 Lochaber 00:54:37 52 Margaret MacPhee F40 Lochaber 01:25:56

25 Ray Murdoch M60 Lochaber 00:57:15 53 Ailsa Cant F Lochaber 01:25:56

26 Ernnie Orr M60 Lochaber 00:58:06 54 Teresa Kennedy F40 Lochaber 01:30:55

27 Nix Forster F40 Lochaber 00:58:59 DNF Elma Mudoch F50 Lochaber

28 Mick Tighe M50 u/a 01:00:15 DNF Clare Rumgay F40 Lochaber