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| The Harry Potter Magic Portal. This takes you through to the enchanted track which winds its way to the road where there is a plate of cream buns. Okay there were no cream buns. |
The main event on today's menu was the open handicap Novice Cup
which is basically unchanged from 40 years ago.
The Novice Cup is for someone who has not won a club handicap race before and the Galashiels is for somebody who has previously won a club trophy.
The start and finish are in the
same place and the course identical to the one that Dave Hatfield ran when he
picked up the race record of 15.26 in 1981.
But there is a change which
perhaps indicates how impressive Dave’s record is. In the old days, once you
came out of the bush at the top of the track and headed down the sealed road
toward the water.
Instead of turning hard left onto the footpath and heading
for home, runners had to cross the road and run on the beach for a way before
getting back up on to the seaside footpath/road and then heading back to
the finish.
And that involved more intersection crossings.
Clearly with today's traffic this is a bit more dangerous for
competitors, hence the course change.
The change probably doesn't alter the distance much but running in
loose sand slows you down.
Coming off the seal onto the beach and then running
under the jetty was like running on sponge rubber and easily broke the rhythm. Tall people like Alan Wallis would have had trouble with the jetty.
The line you took along the beach depended on whether the tide was in or out,
but as I recall you didn't get your feet wet.
Also as part of the day the the Cole Land Walking Cup was contested and the kids raced for something as well.
I have posted some photos below. They are technically imperfect with some not quite in focus and some with the highlights blown.
I also missed some shots mostly when Lord Voldemort stole through the portal disguised as a woman walking her dog.
I have posted some photos below. They are technically imperfect with some not quite in focus and some with the highlights blown.
I also missed some shots mostly when Lord Voldemort stole through the portal disguised as a woman walking her dog.
