British Hill Relays 2022 – 24 runners, 4 teams; what can possibly go wrong?

The British Fell and Hill relay championships this year were hosted by Carnethy and held in the Scottish Borders starting in a remote field near Broughton. 4 teams made the trip down the M8 and up the muddy track to compete against the best of Britain. This years hill Captain John Connaghan gives a full report of how the teams got on…

Last minute u-turns, dramatic changes of personnel, monumental cock-ups? No Liz Truss’s government this time but the British hill relays! It’s that time of year for the last big event in the hill running calendar. When the call went out for runners early in September, we had enough interest to field 4 teams with runners to spare. As time passed however, there was a steady trickle of call-offs, so that by the week of the race, it looked like we might only manage to get 3 teams. Thankfully relief came from two club stalwarts who stepped up to the plate in our hour of need (Peter Mackie & John J Duffy, you are legends!), along with new club member Cameron Young (who stepped in at the last minute), and Iain Pender testing negative for Covid the night before the race. 4 teams ready to go just in the nick of time!

This year’s event was held in the sleepy little village of Broughton in the Borders.  The logistics of holding a race that triples the local population was always going to face some challenges, not least of which was finding somewhere to park the cars of the 1,200 competitors and officials. The solution was to use a local famers field and ask everyone to car share, with a requirement that each car have 3 or more occupants, or you ain’t getting in! This proved a bit of a headache, given that people were starting and finishing in different parts of the country. After a heroic amount of shuffling of people and cars by Bill Breckenridge, there were still people without transport on the night before the race. This is when plan B kicked in; everyone was instructed to rendezvous in Biggar at 8:30am the next morning, so that cars could be filled up for the last leg of the journey to Broughton, a 15-minute drive away.

Disaster nearly struck the next morning, however. Zoe Barber, had planned to drive to Biggar, then cycle to and from Broughton, so she could make a sharp exit after her leg, to get back to Glasgow in time to start work. A sound plan you would think, except that when she stepped out of her front door on Saturday morning, she discovered her van had been clamped! It turned out the tax had not been paid on it. Pointing no fingers, but someone [cough]Dan Dry[cough] had forgotten to do this and might have a bit of explaining to do when he gets back from his stint overseas. Once more unto the breach stepped Bill Breckenridge to instigate Plan C, and he managed to arrange a last-minute lift for Zoe to and from Glasgow (thanks to John J Duffy coming to the rescue – again). Crisis averted.

After all the shenanigans of getting the teams to the start line, the actual race itself went off in a relatively straightforward manner.

Men’s A team

They were led off on leg 1 by the Cameron Young who made his Shettleston hill running debut in style, finishing 16^th on the leg, which is a terrific achievement for a first timer. Cameron is one to watch for the future. The performance of the day though was the run by Harry Pulham and Robert Simpson, who were 4^th fastest overall on Leg 2 and rocketed the team into 6^th place overall. Next came the navigation leg which was run by two veterans Tom Owen and Jethro Lennox, who showed the youngsters a thing or two. Their strategy was to keep up with former club mate and British Orienteer Ali McLeod. As you get older, sometimes you need to run smarter not harder. Following Ali was both smart and hard, so they did well to keep close to him for a good part of the course, finishing 8^th on the leg and 8^th overall. This left the 4^th and final leg to Lucas Cheskin, who was slightly anxious after leg 2 at the prospect of being so high up in the field. Lucas is just returning from injury, so he was a little anxious about letting the team down. As it turned out, he had nothing to be anxious about; he gained a place and brought the team home in a very respectable 7^th place overall, improving by 2 places their performance of 2021.

The women’s team

CJ McPhail has been in fine form this past couple of months and that was on display today finishing 8^th on the leg against top quality opposition. CJ was followed by the flying doctors Zoe Barber and Anna Wallace making their debut for Shettleston in brilliant fashion, finishing 6^th team on the leg and lifting the team into 6^th overall. Next up for the nav leg were Bryony McLeod and Myrtle Breckenridge who had a solid run finishing 18^th on the leg  and 8^th women’s team overall. Alice Carver made her relay debut on what can often be the hardest leg of all – the 4^th and final leg. There’s a lot of standing around waiting for your moment to go, trying to keep warm but not using up all your energy. In the end Alice had a great run bringing the women home in 11^th place overall, matching their performance from last year. 

Men’s B team

Led off by Alex Clarkson who finished in 52^nd place on the leg and handed over to leg 2 runners. Good to see Grant Boyne marking his first run for the club after a few years in New Zealand. His partner in crime was Andrew Shields another runner making his debut in the relays. They had a solid run finishing 62^nd on the leg and 52^nd overall. The nav leg was masterfully negotiated by Ross Cruickshanks and Iain Pender in 52^nd on the leg and 54^th overall. Returning legend Peter Mackie had a very good run picking up a few places to bring the team home in 49^th overall. Job done!

V40 men

John J Duffy started the action for the M40s and after he described a photo taken of him on the course, as looking like a drunk man falling up a hill. John staggered round in 101^st overall, which is pretty good going for a drunk person! Leg 2 saw a solid run from Mark Thistlethwaite and John Connaghan who were 36^th on the leg, lifting the team up to 54^th overall. The 3^rd leg was left to experienced hands Bill Breckenridge and Alastair Pringle to navigate. Unfortunately, they missed out one of the checkpoints, and when they got back to the finish, to their dismay they were disqualified. These things happen at the relays; in fact, it wouldn’t be a proper day out if there wasn’t some kind of disaster. We’ve all been there. Well, I certainly have – several times!

It was a shame as they had a great run otherwise finishing 68^th on the leg and would have put the team in about 60^th place overall. All this unfolded completely unknown to Rod Reis, who was out on the course, running leg 4, finishing 124^th on his leg and would have put the oldies at 68^th overall. Never mind boys, there’s always next year to make up for it and an even earlier opportunity for redemption at the Devil’s Burden relays in Fife.

All in all, it was a great day out and the weather was relatively benign. Thanks to all the Shettleston runners taking part, and a special thanks to Bill for helping organise the transport. Next stop is the aforementioned Devil’s Burden relays in January where new club captain Susan B will have the pleasure of organising the teams. It’s a piece of cake Susan!

13 of the 24 for the group photo not bad considering it was a day of relay madness