Armagh 10k 3rd April 2011

305 finishers

Emer Beattie 164th 52min 55sec

David was given the task of writing up this short pithy  report. Emer says this was a tough 10k with several large hills and was into the wind the last 2 miles home. The kids and I ate ice cream at the finish line awaiting her return and enjoyed the early Spring sun shine  - it's amazing how different things can seem to 2 people in the same spot! Armagh is a beautiful city - the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland -  with a superb open green space known as The Mall where the race ended and was a very pleasant place to spend an afternoon .  Emer was happy enough with her time and is looking forward to a flatter 10k next weekend .  

Omagh Half marathon 2nd April 2011 

 1st Stephen Duncan Omagh Harriers 1 06 32

373rd David Beattie 1 41 46

1166 finishers

5k race

Ruairi Beattie 28.50

Clodagh Beattie 31.20

Conor Beattie 31 42

 School Easter holidays 2011. Where should we go/what should we do ? Easy - back to Northern Ireland for free accommodation with parents and lots of racing over both weekends. 

Event number 1: Omagh half marathon and 5k run for the kids. Emer volunteered to escort the kids round the 5k and save her energy for a 10k the following day. The event had the interesting idea of starting the 5k and 1/2 marathon at the same time . Even with chip timing , chaos was virtually guaranteed as small children and elite 1/2 marathoners vied for the front positions on the line . 

 Plenty of weaving was required in the first kilometre before routes diverged  (I only needed to kick a few small children out of my way) and then managed to maintain a steady sub 8 minute pace. The route was undulating but nothing too murderous and at the half way point I realised that a good time was on the cards. The pace slowed slightly at mile 8 -9 but managed to return to pace thereafter and sauntered over the line absolutely delighted -  2 minutes faster than my previous PB .

Ruairi had a great time beating his older brother and sister in the 5k race. 

The edge was taken off a marvellous day when we heard of the murder of a young policeman in Omagh shortly after the race ended. The 2 sides of Northern Ireland were once again on evidence: a wonderful community event spoiled by a a few dinosaurs living in the past.

Bellahouston 10k 13th November 2010

 David Beattie

371 finishers

 1st Robert Gilroy 31.37 Ronhill Cambuslang

 35th Ian Hannah 38.38

164th David Beattie 46.36

180th Allan Strang 47.29 (PB)

207th Chrissie Vincent 48.37

244th Emer Beattie 50.38 (PB)

273th Martina Moore 52.37

 6 of us ventured up to Glasgow for the inaugural Jimmy Irvine 10k. I had assumed that Jimmy was a recently departed runner from the club, but there he was at the beginning waving us on (at least I hope he was OK - I suppose that he could have been exhumed and someone was waving his cadaverous arm for him but this is unlikely)  The event was organised by Bellahouston road runners , and as is usual with a new event , there were a few teething problems. The main one was that the event was far more popular than expected , and the start had to be delayed for half an hour to deal with the late infllux. 

 The course was basically 2 laps around Bellahouston Park , with several sharp turns and switchbacks . I encountered the leading runners coming back towards me on 3 occasions. If you had been at the back of the field , you would also have been lapped just to make you feel really slow! The course was reasonably flat however , with a couple of water stops and well marshalled . It would make  a great spectator event as the course is very compact and  easy to see runners on several occasions - thanks to Beattie children who cheered us all on . 

 Stars of the day were Allan Strang and Emer Beattie who both PB'ed - a good end to the racing year for both of them . Well done. I was bombing along at 3 miles and convinced that a sub 46 was on the cards, but couldn't keep up the pace and was aware of Allan gaining on me towards the end  - nothing like a bit of competition to drive us all on. Ian finished a very creditable 35th ,  Chrissie ran approximately the  same time as last week - her third week of competitive running in a row -  and Martina was much faster than Stranraer. 

 There were warm showers after the finish and  tea and buns plus a decent medal and goody bag - all for £7! 

After the enjoyment of a pleasant morning's running , I suffered the punishment of an afternoon's preChristmas shopping in Glasgow. Ghastly! 

Loch Ness Marathon 3^rd October 2010.   A Tale of  Several Doctors.

1^st Thomas Abyu  2h 20 min.

2488 finishers

David Beattie 3h 59min 34s (955^th)
Adrian Leach (withdrew at 22 miles)

As Adrian and I drove up to Inverness, we mused on a title for our race report. Provisionally, we decided on “A Tale of Two Doctors”. This turned out to be rather prescient, though our story ended up involving more doctors than the good Dr Leach (PhD) and  Dr Beattie (MbBch) had intended.

The drive to Inverness was gorgeous , and Adrian’s Volvo ate up the miles. Inside the car we ate half of Tesco’s lunchtime supplies, feasting on sandwiches and pasta. Registration was painless, leaving plenty of time to drive the route. I was initially a little sceptical about the need to see the following day’s torture. Seeing the course however proved invaluable. The course is much more undulating than I had expected, with a couple of tough hills in the first 10 miles. They don't feel too bad at the time but badly sap energy for later on. The killer hill comes at 20 miles – a real slog, though with a redeeming long gradual downhill afterwards.

Race day involved setting the alarm for an unearthly 5.30 am, breakfasting at 06.00 and then arriving at the “finish” at 07.30. From here, the 2500 competitors were loaded into numerous buses and driven to the start by a very circuitous route, which took forever. I’m not a fan of buses at the best of times. This was not the best of times. I was nervous, tired and nauseous. In addition, some yabbering wassock from “Souf London” behind me had verbal diarrhoea and simply would not shut up. It was a relief to escape into the fresh air and join the queue for the loos. Another 10 minutes on board with that fool and I might have had to resort to drastic measures to silence him.

The start is amazing. It’s the middle of nowhere  - really in the middle of nowhere. Not a spectator in sight. Not much time for last minute preparations either because of the enormous toilet queues. At 10.00 prompt off we all trotted. I won’t go through the agonies of my run, but I set off too fast, and was punished for my foolishness by mile 21. Passed an ambulance  at mile 22, but thought no further about it. Had to start walking at mile 23 when I had reached a pretty dark place mentally and physically.  Somehow managed to start running again and finished a few seconds under 4 hours.

Where was Adrian? I had expected to find him at the finish, so wandered round a bit, forlornly carrying a banana and bottle of water. Have to confess that I thought Adrian had become bored of waiting for me and had wandered off for a shower – wouldn’t have blamed him. Only when I collected my bag did I find a voicemail message on my phone , telling me to collect him from Raigmore hospital. He had collapsed at mile 22 with dehydration and an ambulance was called, the one I had run past (now time for a guilt trip from me) and  required intravenous fluids.

By the time I located him in Raigmore, he was looking quite chipper and was charming an attractive young lady medic, Doctor Tierney. She reappeared a couple of minutes later with 2 glasses of water. I assumed one was for me, and gratefully downed it . She then pointed out that they were both for the patient, and I was sent off  in disgrace to the water cooler to refill them! The hospital staff were all superb and we were soon on our way back to the hotel to rest up.

 I’m really sorry Adrian's  race didn’t work out as planned; he was on course for a sub 3 time when the wheels came off. He had trained phenomenally hard for several months. I, on the other hand, had not trained as hard as for previous marathon attempts , and really did not deserve to escape with a sub 4 time (but am very grateful for it!)

So there you have it. Marathons are tough events and can push you to your physical and mental limits. I wonder these days if it is seen as all too easy with celebrities saying that they have “run marathons”, when in fact they completed the course in 6 hours and walked perhaps the majority of the course. When pushing hard, the distance deserves immense respect. Whatever you do , fill in the information on the back of your race number. Otherwise I might still be wandering sadly round the finishing zone looking for my lift home.

Gatehouse Roon the Watter 3rd August 2010

David Beattie

9 Harriers completed Roon the Watter this year . It's a cracking 6 miler organised as part of Gatehouse gala week. An entry fee of £3 is tempting enough, and in addition the whole of the town seems to come and offer support. The final mile downhill is superb - well done all Gatehousians! Weather was perfect for running - slightly overcast and light breeze. Emer, Kev, Grant and Lorri cheered from the sidelines; thank you also.

Ross was first home , and 3rd overall. Not too far behind was Adrian , who definitely wins the prize for furthest travelling Harrier.  He drove down especially from holiday in Tarbert to compete. Either very dedicated or a teeny weenie bit unhinged - you decide. Charlie missed out by seconds on a sub 40 minute time , apparently on the back of a bit of rugby pre- season training - makes the compiler of this report sick with envy. Plenty of mid table tussles out on the course between David ,  Paul Cleer and Allan who all finished close together. Rick had to be held back at the end - he thought he had 5 laps of the course to complete before he could say he had run a "proper" race.

In the children's race , the Beattie children all competed valiantly aong with Olivia (Plumridge granddaughter) , but Matthew and Emily Cleer claimed the honours - 3rd boy and 2nd girl respectively .

Results (may be inaccurate as I can't find any official times on the web)

Ross Bark 34.41 (3rd overall)
Adrian Leach 37.27 (7th overall and 2nd vet)
Charlie McNeill 40.03
John Plumridge 41.54 (2nd supervet)
Rick Williams 42.11 
David Beattie 45.33
Paul Cleer 46.03
Allan Strang 47.??
Jemma McNeill 50.40 (first pregnant woman to finish  !)

David Beattie

Once upon a time, in a small Galloway town, lived a club runner . He wasn’t very fast , but he always tried his hardest. He was a lucky runner, a member of a wonderful club who always supported him at all the events he ran in and were good friends. Sometimes, however, if you looked really hard , you could see a sad look in his eye.  One night the Good Fairy visited him. “Why are you so sad mediocre club runner ?” she asked. “Oh Good Fairy” replied the runner (a little annoyed at the Good Fairy’s ability to instantly sum up his lack of athletic prowess)   “I love my running so much but sometimes I look at all the other runners collecting their medals and trophies from the podium , and once, just once , I would like to stand with all the other proper runners and receive a prize too”. “You  are asking a lot “ said the Good Fairy “because you really aren’t that good , but just to keep you quiet , I will grant  your wish by organising a competition where many of the club’s decent runners will either be away or forget to entry the team category in time ………”

As usual, the Stranraer half was superbly organised, including a rather dashing T shirt. It was rather toasty out on the course - about 20o and not a great day for PBs. Fortunately there was plenty of water to go round - well done organisers .  The course itself is quite tough - plenty of undulations to keep everyone on their toes.

Support from non running Harriers was superb – Kevin, Chrissie, Paul and Amanda and Gemma (who appeared all over the course “en velo”) -  many thanks.

Two Galloway Harriers gave the rest of us something to cheer  before the half marathon. Allan Strang competed in the 4 mile run and finished 3^rd , just missing out on a sub 30 minute time. Amy Vincent  finished as 3^rd girl in the 14- 16 age group.

Sean Connor was first Harrier home in the 13.1 miler (not a bad time for someone who did no training) , with Ian Hannah narrowly pipping Grant in a tight tussle a few places back . John continues to hold back the years finishing 26^th , and with time one does become accustomed to his excuse for a  beard .  Emer squeaked home in under 2 hours much to her delight and was also first Wigtownshire woman home.

Our young Harriers had a great afternoon, with great performances from Matthew, Lucy and Clodagh ,all of whom won medals - see more below.Emily, Freya , Ruairi and Bronagh battled valiantly in the younger fun runs as parents proudly watched.

Trophies won :

1^st male over 45 – Ian Hannah

2^nd male over 45 – Grant Morrow

1^st male over 60 – John Plumridge

1^st local female – Emer Beattie

2^nd Male team – Ian Hannah, Grant Morrow, David Beattie *

3^rd place age 12-13 girls Clodagh Beattie

3^rd place age 10-11 boys Matthew Cleer

1^st place age 10-11 girls Lucy Vincent

*many thanks fellow male Harriers who didn’t register in time or were unwell and gave me this moment of glory (and thank you Good Fairy of course ) !

Half marathon results: 152 finishers

7^th   Sean Connor 1h 26 min 21 sec

11^th Ian Hannah 1h 28 min 23 sec

12^th Grant Morrow 1h 29 min 09 sec

26^th John Plumridge 1h 36 min 36 sec

71^st David Beattie 1h 51 min 37 sec

100^th Emer Beattie 1h 58 min 21 sec

105^th Michael McNaught 2h 0 min 38 sec

111^th Simon Taggart 2h 03 min 48 sec

135^th Ailsa Taggart  2h 14 min 09 sec

Late that night, the happy club runner gazed lovingly at his cherished trophy on the bedside table. “Thank you so much Good Fairy” he said …. “Any chance of a new right leg next?”

A seriously sprained ankle, two torn calves, a creaking ankle bolt, a hamstring twang, a 10-hour Ironman, a ruined back, an entire ruined body and a week sipping cocktails on a beach in Lanzarote were just a small sample of the apparently insurmountable impediments that the Galloway Harriers carried into battle last Saturday. Given these setbacks, it’s fair to say that none of us were expecting tremendous results and, yet, our fondness for this excellent local race demanded that the Harriers turned out in force to give the KAHM 2010 all the support that our ravaged bodies were able to muster.

Being my most local and most loved race, it was to be the early summer highlight of the racing season so when, two and half weeks before the race, I got a small tear in my hamstring then I thought it reasonable to express my frustration by means of a thin veil of mild dejection (or become “utterly bloody unbearable” as Ruth actually put it)*.  After two days of this abject self pity, I used my uncanny sixth sense for a woman’s mood to detect that my gloom was starting to rankle with my wife.  Call it animal instinct if you will, but when Ruth let out a strangulated scream, stormed out to the shed, grabbed my bike, blew up the tyres, threw a bicycle helmet at me and told me to “b*gger off and not come back until I was at least half human” I sensed at a rudimentary level that it was time to indulge in cross-training.  Hard as it may seem to believe, I still have to remind Ruth, on an almost daily basis, just how lucky she is - not all husbands have my sensitivity

Back to Saturday 12:10.   Some brave decisions were required: despite his gazelle-like gait, could Simon (Club Champion) manage another half marathon with his ankle bolt about to drop out?  Would David attempt a half marathon wearing a crepe calf bandage that could have doubled for a spinnaker in the Americas Cup?  Was Martina really ready for an 11.2K after a week of conga-ing round a pool at Club La Santa?  Would Emer (calf strain) and Jemma (ankle bracelet) be content to being towed round the kid’s fun-run course in a soap box go-cart?  And would John really brave 13.1 miles sporting a goatee that might have blown off into the Dee with the slightest puff of wind?

Happily the answer to this list of questions was yes, yes, yes, no and yes.  Of all the GHs only Chrissie and Jamie were shamelessly excuseless and, needless to say, they both went onto produce great things in the 11K and HM respectively.

The weather was rubbish for spectators but absolutely perfect for running: cool, overcast, light drizzle and a gentle breeze.  The Harriers’ 11 K-ers did well with all completing the course and returning none-the-worse for their respective injuries.  Chrissie, injury and fancy-free, flew round gaining 3^rd veteran spot in 55:58 (34^th).  Shortly after Chrissie came Emer in an pleasing 56:49 (36^th) followed by Jemma, the Queen of Competitiveness, who sensibly managed to kerb her need to grind all other runners into the dirt by taking a ankle-protectingly sedate approach and going round in 59:11.  Martina, the Canaries’ Conga Queen, shook off any last vestiges of a holiday hangover off with a fine 1:00:24 for 49^th.

So, five boys went for the half: “Blackwisp” Plumridge; “Roboprop” Taggart; Jamie DuVin; David “Balfour” Beattie and I, “Gorgeous” Leach (there’s got to be some benefit for writing these blo*dy race reports).  Simon put in a giant performance that saw him get round in 1:57:33 and went quicker than he did in Blackpool even with a hurting ankle.  David had a sound run and only struggled in the head-wind where tacking was required because of his sail-like bandage.  With the wind abaft and abeam, however, he sailed into the Academy harbour with a 1:50:04 to be proud of.  John did a miraculous 1:34:40 (7:14 mins per mile), but was seemingly unimpressed by his performance. In order to determine whether he was entitled to his despondency, I put his result into the “MacMillan pace calculator” which allows the inquisitive (aka nosey) to compare race-pace at one distance (in a recent event) with the expected time and race-pace at another.  Taking into account the hilliness of Kbt HM compared with Troon 10K and the Holywood Stroll his result was exactly as one would expect! So cheer-up you miserable, piratical old bugger J, you were/are fantastic.  Jamie was only 9 seconds short of a sub-1:30 – and, yet again, it’s important to realise what a mind-boggling result this is from only a couple of days of running a week!  And his result bodes very well for the men's team event in Stranraer next Saturday.  I happily squeaked out a PB of 1:24:40 for 26^th place (1^st Kirkcubright and 2^nd Stewarty man) and was thoroughly and unbearably pleased with myself – apologies to all those that I bored witless with my inane grin and incessant retelling of excruciating race details.

Loads of GH’s kids did the fun run, showing that even children of running parents (including some teenagers(!)) can still see the joy in going out for a run.  Proof, if any was needed, of the pure and primal joy of simply running. Well done the GH juniors!

After a marvellous Academy tea and prize-giving we all decamped to our house by the Dee – all, that is, apart from John who, as male club welfare officer, selflessly went home to make sure Lorri, female club welfare officer, was not over-exerting her back (shame you couldn’t both have been with us but we hope Lorri’s back is feeling better soon).  While we had all been running, Ruthy had been slaving hard to get everything ready for us by preparing a wonderful array of victuals that were also fabulously augmented by Emer, Chrissie and Jo.  A barrel of “Grace”, courtesy of Sulwath brewery (Castle Douglas), was doing brisk business especially once Grant arrived who was apparently looking for a sizeable personal best (and possibly chasing a World Record) - a giant performance by Grant on the day and, almost certainly, performance of the season.

By the time I had showed off our veg patch and the welcome multitudes had drank lots of beer/wine/water and ate lots of food, the kids, it seems, were about to settle down to some DVDs.  Little did they know that Ruth had other plans as she whipped out the rounders equipment and got everyone outside (apart from a couple of Stewartry and Shire barrel-loiterers) into the afternoon sunshine for some more running about, good natured p*ss-taking and Tourettes-style shouting-out of half-remembered rounder’s rules.  Two important prizes were given here: Simon for the Most-Children-Made-to-Cry-Prize awarded for ultra competitive fielding and David for the Most-Verticality-Achieved-for-the-Least-Horizontality-Prize at the batting crease.

The evening went on for quite some hours but as this a race report and not some salacious gossip column then I shall not indulge in further detail here ... mainly because I can't remember any.

Thanks to all for coming round afterwards, we loved having you.  Clearly, as lord and master of my domain, I can say right here and now that I am looking forward to doing it all again next year ... but, if its alright with you, I had better check with Ruth first.

Cheers

Adrian x

Culzean Family Fun Run - 25th April 2010

The plain fact of the Culzean Family Fun Run is that, for me at least, it hurt.  My legs were fresh, confidence was high, training had been going well and I added that all up and made the classic eejit's mistake and went off too fast.   As a result, it was the most painful five miles I have ever run:  after two miles I wasn’t even sure I was going to finish; by three miles I knew I wouldn’t; and at 4.7 miles, but for the encouragement of Grant telling me it was only half a mile to go, I nearly didn’t.  Also, I can’t believe that I was taken in by the misty-eyed romanticism peddled by my good friends in the Harriers during the preceding weeks: “the views are spectacular”; “the route is breathtaking”; “the trails are brilliant”.  I mean, at what point in ANY race does one get to stop and muse on the velvet waves fondling the wrack drizzled, barnacle crusted shores?  Or gape wondrously at a gnarled beech root snaking sinuously along a shingled path?  Never in my recollection.  Nor do I remember co-competitors making interesting historical/natural observations such as the blue granite dome of Ailsa Craig being a haven for Catholics during the Scottish Reformation and now being the site of the UK’s third largest gannetry.   It doesn’t happen.  The reason for such a woeful lack of appreciation for the galvanising beauty of our environs?  We were too busy with the crippling business of getting air into our lungs, not falling off cliffs and running fast when every tortured fibre of one’s being was whispering persuasively that a little lie down would be a much more sensible option.   I guess my point is that the words “scenic” and “fun” are almost irrelevant when your heart is doing 180bpm and trying to leap, salmon-like, out of one’s mouth along with whatever deeply regretted last minute snack one had before the race.  Racing just hurts ... there I said it.

Now onto the real business of this report, on Sunday the Harriers turned out in such a superb show of athletic and numerical force that our 23 runners (including 6 junior members!) made up 12% of the entire field of Culzean’s Family Fun Run.  And we acquitted ourselves admirably.  Digger (35:13), Grant (34:39) and I (34:35) finished in 7^th, 6^th and 5^th respectively with Digger putting such a final uphill sprint that he had to park a tiger at the finishing line.  A psychedelic yodel or a critical review of the menu, call it what you will, it was a testament to the huge effort given by our young speed machine.  Also, let’s not forget that our glorious leader, Grant, was only operating on half a lung at the time - I dread to think what he will be capable of when is back to full fitness.  Jamie, John and Kev were in the next tranche of GHs coming-in in 13^th, 16^th and 23^rd respectively, with both John and Kev mastering their various injuries to fight another day – long may it continue.  Jamie seems to be able to muster an amazing level of speed and fitness from a seemingly low training volume - makes one positively verdurous with covetousness.  Matthew (Junior) and Allan (Non-junior) continued their on-going racing duel and both turned out fine times with Matthew (55^th) just pipping Allan (56^th) again at the finishing line.

Helen (Junior) also did superbly well running round with her Dad, Billy, in a shade over 45 minutes for 66^th and 67^th place respectively.  We hope Helen’s triathlon dreams go well in 2010.   Helen and Billy were followed closely over the line by Chrissie in 69^th in a time that was a full 3 minutes and 6 seconds quicker than 2008!   We haven’t seen as much of Paul C as we would all like so far this year, but he is obviously still getting his training in as both Paul C and Emer came through as the next couple of Harriers in 80^th and 81^st around 46 minutes - Emer’s time being 1 minute and 17 seconds faster than 2008. 

Martina (102^nd) managed to beat the Club Champion (CC) despite taking a nasty fall on one of the aforementioned tree roots.  Tuesday nights and bike turbo session in front of the telly are clearly paying off.   Given Simon’s tendency for bashful coyness in the face of personal success then I feel awkward about mentioning that Simon (the Club Champion’s No. 1 Champion) seems to be getting faster too and ran well over 3 minutes quicker than he did in 2008.

 Lorri and Ailsa put in great times despite Lorri not feeling very well and Ailsa recovering from a monumentally bibulous 30^th birthday weekend. Happy Birthday again, Ailsa!  Hope you feel better, Lorri!

Clodagh and Emily were truly excellent in 182^nd and 183^rd, encouraging each other all the way round – a pair of club stars of the future demonstrating the true nature of teamwork.  Like Martina, Emma had a nasty fall and hurt her leg causing a her to limp quite badly but she still had the bloody-minded resolve to keep going and ended up two places behind Clodagh and Emily– well done Emma.  Finally, my wife and brood, Ruth, Isobel and Jessie, ran about 3.5 miles of the course courtesy of a handy little short cut and I was a very proud Dad to see them come in smiling and waving.  

Afterwards we had coffee, beer, sandwiches and such a superb diversity of delicious cakes that it would be impossible to list them.  The banana and chocolate fairy cakes were my favourite - thank you Beatties, Taggarts, Vincents and Morrows (apologies to any missed bakers here).   The children and the adults were then royally entertained by Simon the Slightly Scary Clown who ate nettles, bit the tops of beer bottles and whipped the kids into a giggling frenzy before all the tired teddy bears (big and small) in black and white vests had to traipse home for a well earned rest.

Despite my pathetic bleating at the beginning of this report, I really did have a lovely day and Culzean really is a beautiful place and I really will look forward to running it again next year but if you see me before the race next year, vibrating like an overexcited jelly, then please feel free to give me a slap* and tell me to pull myself together.  Thanks. 

On a completely personal note I would like to thank Grant for his words of encouragement at the end that kept me going when all I wanted to do was lie down and wait for the crows.

 Cheers

 Adrian

*Does not apply to Simon.

Kirkcudbright Candlemass 6th February 2010

OK, it may not strictly class as a race , but it was good crack.  

17 Harriers and partners made it to our annual Scottish dancing evening . As always, the lady Harriers looked stunning (even better than in lycra and hi viz jackets) while Paul , Charlie and David (a kilt virgin ) worn traditional Scottish dress. John gave his suit it's annual outing and it has indeed served him well since his last court appearance.

The dancing was perhaps not our strong suit , though most of us at least managed a few rudimentary steps , except Simon , whose late evening dance with Gemma pushed the description of "waltz" to it's very limits. Rick managed to clock up 7.93 miles on his Garmin Forerunner at 8.38 pace through the evening , while injured Harriers John , Paul and Charlie (rugby frolics) had a  more sedate time. 

Highlight of the evening was the food , which was magnificent . The skill was constructing your plate in as many layers as possible to avoid having to go back for "sixths" or "sevenths". John managed an admirable reconstruction of the leaning Tower of Pisa , using vol au vents, sandwiches, cocktail sausages and asparagus wrapped in parma ham  - sadly no photographic record remains.  

Next report should be a running event .....

11th overall, so very pleased!