Races

I'll have some comments about racing through to the National Championships in Falkirk on 21st February but several members will be in action over the holiday period. Prasad is taking part in the Tinto Duathlon on Saturday, 27th December but the snag is that it's at 11:00 am. Still, it's a good day out with plenty of exercise guaranteed while watching the race on Tinto Hill and its beautiful surroundings. Then Johnathan Farrell is competing in the New Year's Sprint at Musselburgh Racecourse on Sunday 28th and, with any luck, on Monday, 29th. The event starts at 11:00 am on the Saturday and has races at every distance from 90 metres to 3200 metres. The races are all handicap races and this is Johnathan's third year in the event. Off 7.5 metres, the 'Edinburgh Evening News' rated him as the main contender a couple of weeks ago but two things say that we should be careful. First is the handicapping: you never know what will be the result of races where starts range from 6 metres to 25 metres over 90 metres! Second is the way of organising the cross ties. The runners are organised in races roughly corresponding with their ability and often the top eight runners are in the same heat. Two years ago he was beaten in his heat by less than a metre and had the second fastest time of the day but failed to make the next round because only the winners go through.

Anyway both events are held in pleasant surroundings, you can have a bit of exercise at each, you can support a club runner and generally have a good day out.

If that's not enough exercise for you, well they say that a simple kiss uses up three calories. 67 of them mean that you can eat a doughnut and not put on weight. So if you do the kissing and don't eat the doughnut, you've lost 200 or so calories! have a good Christmas and New Year and do what Spencer Davies says - "Keep on Running."