PAXTON HOUSE

Finally. The Borders cross country got underway today.
After the "first" three legs being cancelled because of the weather, today's leg was "upgraded" from 4th leg to 1st leg status.

Got down there early so Anne and Ian were able to help with the registration. I had hoped that being the first to register I might get number 1 !! Sadly the numbers started at 1400 - bollocks.

Anyway. Once the registration got underway and runners started to arrive I decided to pop out and have a wee recce of the course with Ian "S". Very icy underfoot at a few places and snow covered in others. But its been so cold lately that those places where there was "snow", a lovely thick crust had developed over it. We both noticed that we were not even leaving a mark on the crust - never mind breaking it. A strange sensation, but at least it made for fairly good running.

Watched a bit of the junior race then went for a last minute pit-stop and then made my way to the start line. Over 100 runners, so not a bad turnout given the weather.

The route was a sort of squashed and distorted two loops of a figure of eight, that took in a ploughed field, a wee drop and climb through a wooded "glen" and a bit of a pasture/field that had a fairly steep drop before you ran parallel (and close) to a fairly nasty looking barbed wire fence. Lovely scenery and despite the awkward footing in a few places a nice route.

I did find some parts of the second lap a little tougher where the snow/ice had finally been broken up by all the runners on the previous loop.

Managed to get in in 15th place, so I'm quite happy.

Best bit? A very nice tea room attached to the house was opened for the event. Not every cross country where you can get a hot drink and roll at the end of it - very civilised.

Got home and worked my way through the results and got them posted (I suppose I could have just changed my number to 1).