My amigo, Dave Henderson rang me soon after Martin and I got home from the Scottish ‘25’ Championship at Forfar; “how did the race go?” he asked me. ‘John Archibald, Pro Vision Scotland won with a Scottish record 47:57; Jon Entwistle, GTR with 49:27 was second and David Griffiths, Pro Vision Scotland was third with 50:12.’ I replied.
There was silence then a low whistle down the line.
If, like Dave and I you grew up in an era where Glen Road Club’s Big Drew Brunton would win the ‘25’ Champs with a ‘58’ I could well understand his reaction – these times seem other-worldly, astonishing.
John Archibald eclipsed Graeme Obree’s 1994 record time of 48:43 and lead his team mates Griffiths and Kyle Johnston [54:14] to a new Scottish team record.
And please don’t think this was ‘float’ conditions; whilst the ladies enjoyed a lovely summer morning, by the time the top seeds were passing us a few miles from the line the hood was up on my sweatshirt as a cold head wind delivered stinging rain.
But let’s go back to 04:30 and the alarm; it’s like Robin Williams said in ‘Good Morning Vietnam.’
‘What does the ‘oh’ stand for in 04:30? Oh my God – it’s EARLY!’
But the sun was splitting the sky and it was a nice drive up to Forfar where the Big Macs were already flying over the counter – we went for double sausage and egg McMuffin meals complete with hash browns and cappuccino.
Hideously bad for us but they hit the spot perfectly.
The course?
Not much to say; gently rolling A90 dual carriageway with a flyover turn – little scope for our usual wee history lessons save for a mention of the historic 17th century Finavon doocot. With space for 2,400 pigeons, it was the takeaway of its day and sits just before the Finavon ‘services.’
First over the Brechin flyover turn was junior off number two, Ross Thomson (Dunfermline CC) who’d eventually stop the clock with a highly creditable 56:24 – a shame to see just three youths/juniors on the sheet though.
The first lady to appear was Georgia Mansfield (RT 23) [eventual 1:04:00 and Scottish junior ladies’ record] with the sun still blessing us, albeit there was a nip in the breeze as the traffic count began to lift with the artics shifting huge amounts of air as they hurtled under the bridge.