61st Annual Irvine Cyclists vs Harriers Race
A bit of history to this one – the Irvine Running Club, one of Scotland’s oldest running clubs, has historically been super competitive, fielding a number of elite level runners over the years. Every December since 1959 they’ve staged the “Harriers vs Cyclists” event in which runners race against cyclists on on a boggy (gotta love that!) moorland course, to test the mettle of both sports.
This was a bit of a last-minute event for me, as the invite to participate had been posted to the forum of my local road cycling club (VC Glasgow South) a couple of weeks before-hand.
In the spirit of “why suffer alone when you can get a friend to suffer with you” I invited my MTB buddy Mark to race with me. Entry was only a fiver along with a Christmas present donation of value up to five pounds – which is amazing value when most of today’s MTB races are well over £50/$50. Mark invited his buddy Dimitar as well, but Dimitar somehow missed the message about us showing up to race bikes, and having never entered a running race in his life gamely showed up with his trainers and no bike!
As we arrived we realized we really were out of our league – national level cyclocrossers were warming up on turbo trainers and rollers, while we got our MTBs (Mark’s a full susser no less) off the tops of our cars.
Weather was cold and windy, but not overly wet. Unlike the ground which was super boggy. The course itself is about 7km, everyone does two laps, with some designated running areas – ie cyclists had to dismount over one approx 300 meter section and another approx 100 meter section. If you’ve ever seen cyclists running in SPD shoes, you’ll know how well that goes.
I should also point out that this is exactly the kind of event I suck at – winning times are under 30 minutes, whereas it usually takes me an hour just to warm up!
Start was fast – I was in the top 10 (all cyclists) briefly. There was a tire barrier that, being a proper MTB’er and not a wussy cyclocrosser, I bunnyhopped on the bike rather than dismounting. Shortly after were a series of two or three cyclocross board barriers – which I also bunnyhopped but unfortunately I clipped the last one, knocking it over. In the maybe 10 seconds it took to stop and flip it back up I was surrounded by runners – how were they this close behind me?
On to the main course, including the mandatory dismount sections. These runners were FAST, especially on the boggier surfaces. In fact I have no idea how the cyclocross guys did the boggy bits – I was struggling with 2.3 inch tires.
The rest of the race went by in a blur – I could pass several runners on the drier sections, then get overtaken on the running climbs and boggy bits.
Eventually made it back to the starting line (I did dismount and run the obstacles on the way back!) having staying at max HR pretty much the whole time. And came in 13th cyclist, and something like 25th overall. This years the cyclists took first place.
The club had a very fun prize ceremony (and everyone got a Christmas present), and then I gave a young lad a lift home when I saw him jogging down the entry driveway. No way someone who’s just run that race should then have to walk or run a few miles back home!