Drums

Hannah was out drumming at the Meadows Festival this morning. A short 15 minute show on the main stage to a small audience.

Cherry was out climbing Ben Vorlich with Beata and family.

Scottish Orienteering Champs

Colin took a long trip up to Kinlock Rannoch for the Scottish Champs. A tough course on challenging forest took 3 hrs to get round the M21L course. With all the stars doing the Elite course I managed to come a very creditable 2nd place (of the 5 participants).

James Gillespies Girls Win On Penalties

An exciting match at the Meadows this morning which finished 1 - 1 at full time. James Gillespies won the penalty shoot our against Sciennes 3 to 1 (out of 3). Hannah was in goals and watching the second penalty go wide of the post was enough to win the match.

Orienteering at Balkello, Dundee

Colin headed off for a mornings orienteering at Balkello in the Scottish O League. Long outing on the Black course. A few big errors but good practice after a few months without any orienteering. Came 3rd of the 5 on the course.

Meadows 2 Mile Race

Continued my good run of performances with another personal best in the Sri Chinmoy 2 mile race at the meadows. 13:22 which too 19 secs off previous PB.

Happy Birthday Max

Max invited his friends round for a barbecue and to watch the Hangover.

Stuc a Chroin Hill Race

Colin headed North to Strathyre to participate on the long hard tough rugged Stuc A Chroin Hill Race. 22km and 5000 ft of climb with a wide variety of terrain and tough rocky hill-top ridge. Very pleased with the time of 3 hrs 34 min and 158% of the winning time.

Vogrie

Max and Colin did the Cati-O at Vogrie on a nice sunny afternoon. Max got the fastest time on Orange and Colin was second on Green.

Meall Ghaordie

Got up early and drove up to the hills for a quick munro bag. Weather was pretty grim in Edinburgh but had cleared a little near Killin. Headed up at a good pace. Snow falling and on the ground at the top. Ran down. Total time just under 2 hrs.

Hunters Bog Trot

Ran in the Hunters Bog Trot in Holyrood park. Nice race with 3 hard ascents but none of them too long. Got round in a good time beating my PB by 51 seconds.

Trip to the Mountains

Colin had a long weekend away to the Loch Ness area for some Munro bagging. 6 summits over the 3 days. Not quite as much as planned as there was still a lot of snow on the peaks.

Day 1 - Saturday ; Tom a Choinich & Toll Creagach
Day 2 - Sunday; Sgurr nan Conbhairean & Carn Ghluasaid
Day 3 - Monday; Meall na Teanga & Sron a Choire Gairbh

Cycle from Balerno to Leith

Max and Colin cycle the 13 miles from Balerno to Leith. Nice and easy downhill all the way.

Holyrood Park Walk

Family walk in Holyrood Park to the top of the Crags.

Normans Law Hill Race

Normans Law is a delightful race. Not too high, not too long. Lovely setting in a small Fife village. Starts along some pleasant country tracks with a modest climb and then modest descent. Then up to top of hill with brief glimpse of Tay estuary then rocket down the hill and back to the village with various routes being taken. Better time than last year and again in the top half of runners. Oh yes - and after race tea, soup, sandwiches and cake included in the £3 entry fee.

First Day of Easter Holidays

Colin headed out to the Pentlands which were yet again covered in snow. A number of skiers had left the artificial slope and were heading down the hillside. There were some very heavy drifts in places. Walking was heavy going and running near impossible. Loop round Caerketton, Alermuir, Capelaw, Harbour Hill, Castlelaw and back via Alermuir and Caerketton. 3 hrs 24 mins.

Ian's Wedding

Ian got married to Yan in Basingstoke.

Ian's Stag

Travelled down to London for Ian's stag do. Laserquest in the afternoon and then Boot Led Zeppelin concert in the evening. Lots of booze and a missed train for Warren and Ian.

Chapelgill

Colin was out for the first race in the Scottish Championship series at Chapelgill just South of Broughton. A wonderfully isolated location down a deadend valley. Lovely weather. Incredibly steep and really tough race. Results not in yet but I'll be well down the finish list.

Pentland Skyline

No events this weekend so took advantage of the good weather for a long trek in the Pentlands. Followed the course of the Pentland Skyline race for part of the way. Nice clear day to start with but strong cold winds on the summit. Out for almost 5 hours with a mixture of walking and running. Still a lot of snow about.

SOSOL Gullane Dunes

Colin was out for the fourth race of the weekend at Gullane Dunes. A very nice sunny morning with temps around 7 degrees. Decent run with nothing going too wrong on the navigation front. Pace ok at the start but flagging a bit near the end.

KB 5 Mile Race & Scottish Sprint Champs & British Night Orienteering

After so many cancelled races due to snow and bad weather a very busy schedule planned for the weekend of 4 races. First off was the Kings Buildings 5 mile road race. Weather was nice with clear skys although still a chill in the air. Delighted to get my best ever time over 5 miles having run this course 5 times now.

2005 - 39:44
2007 - 36:35
2008 - 37:36
2009 - 38:35
2010 - 36:18

Also nice to end a rather worrying trend line !

After this I had about an hours gaps before a tough sprint around the Kings Buildings university campus on a short 22 control orienteering course. Good run although not too fast after previous race. Placing not great but a good fun race.

Finished the day off with the British Night Orienteering Championships in the North Pentlands hills. Night O is always a bit scary but not do bad when you know the location well. Horrible first leg which was really long and complex got me off to a bad start. Found a long and safish route to it. Couldn't find controls 4 & 5 so headed off the hills early (after 1 hr 19 mins !) having found 7 of the 11 controls. The BBC were out on the hills filming for the Adventure Show. Hopefully they will edit me out as I wasn't a pleasant sight struggling to find my way round in the dark.

Flight Home

Return journey on Sunday to arrive at a freezing cold Edinburgh.