The last half of 2012 has seen me suffer badly from tendonitis deep within my knee and my fitness was waning as quickly as my tummy was swelling 😉 but all is not lost as finally during the 6 weeks prior to Christmas I made it back to some form of pain-free consistent training, happy days. And as I am about to go under the surgeon’s knife on the 18th of January I decide on a final burst of effort and set myself a special little Xmas Holiday Challenge , to run the Borders Abbey Way over a long weekend.
The Borders Abbey Way is a 65 mile long trail that circumnavigates the best of the Scottish Borders, taking you on your way between 4 ancient Abbeys. It’s a trail that I have used in part but never really followed it in its entirety so I thought why not give it a go and it’s always good to put a goal down while looking for a new adventure 🙂
the Borders Abbey Way …. follow the post 😉
There is nothing extreme about this trail as it travels over hills and through forests . then across farmland and by riverside path for the rest. It is however exceptionally beautiful and constantly varied in its journey. Never was I bored, at every turn there was always something different appearing on the Horizon. In fact I was actually buzzing for the next stage to see what was there , and I live here !! Yes , it is THAT good.
Jedburgh Abbey
Running it over a long weekend the daily mileage was reasonably comfortable , and the climbing shallow and easy-going, so even without loads of training I was able to enjoy it all. A hill runner would run this route in its entirety , a cautious trail runner might on occasion walk the odd hill but still enjoy the trail either side. I recommend this to everyone from walker to Ultra runner. It is a fantastic journey from start to finish and one that I will return . I will have to be patient though as I have an operation and a fair bit of training to do before then , but at least now I know the “Way” 🙂
There is a race that is a myth to many , one that most are never likely to see , it’s a mystery held deep within the European mountain bike community. A race where invitation is the only means of entry, a race purely for fun yet there is a winner, one who is elevated to god like status yet is openly mocked for winning . It is a race of endurance, hard trail and brutal climbing. Add to that tricky navigation , remote night stages and a sprinkling of crazy challenges ….. It is everything yet it is nothing !! it is “Men of Porage”
My friend and adventure racer extra-ordinaire Kenny Short rang me up last week , the conversation went like this …
Kenny: Hey Mark fancy a mountain bike race on Saturday”
Mark: ah Kenny I’m no racer on the bike mate.
Kenny: Dont worry Mark its an endurance event you wont need to go fast .
Mark: Fuck it then Kenny I’ll come along ….. what is it ?
Kenny: it’s the Men of Porage and this time its set near Innerleithen.
Mark: THE Men of Porage race Kenny ?
Kenny: yes !! THE Men of Porage
Mark: fuck !!
a Porageer …..
Originating in the Czech Republic , home of some real hardcore nutters when it comes to sport so you just know it is going to be tough. I’m not sure of the UK history but to quote Lawrence Tring : “About 8 year’s ago a British Porage event was launched with élite riders from mountain bike endurance and orienteering/trail-quest events invited” , obviously 8 years later they were scraping the bottom of the barrel if I was getting an invite . 😉 it’s a race that travels to a different venue every outing and is a slightly different incarnation every time. This year it was set close to me in Innerleithen, so not to far to for me to travel either. Gary Tompsett of Rat Race fame was in charge of this Porage so it was sure to be a good one.
Traquair house and the Maze ….
Kenny picked me up at 11am Saturday morning. Andrew Tullie would also be accompanying us , good news as Andrew is part of the greatest Orienteering / hill running family EVER !! he would be the man to count on when things got tough. We were to be at the Corner House Hotel Innerleithen and be ready to race for 12 noon , here we would be escorted as a peloton to the starting point which was unknown to all. About 50 riders from all over the UK were in the hotel car park excited and nervous in equal doses. Suddenly a rider appeared and after a short briefing we were off , a 50 strong mountain bike peloton heading for Traquair house. As we arrived we were told to position our bikes against a long wall as if preparing for a mass start. We were then ushered to the top of the garden by the old Gates and given a briefing on what to expect , 50 miles at least , 20 checkpoints to reach , probably 3000m of climbing all in …. WOW !! I knew I was screwed right here 😉 We would be given 4 maps , but only 1 at a time , once we had hit the CPs we would be “rewarded” with our next section of challenges before moving on to the next area of the the Peeblesshire hills. Gary then told us there was a twist to the starting of the race. We had to race the 400 metres to the huge maze situated at the back of the house , find the centre to get our first CP then head back to the bikes before disappearing into the Forests and hills of Traquair , amazing !! but before all this the Porage oath had to be taken ….
It was now tiem to go , all of a sudden we were running down the length of the Traquair gardens to the maze at the back of this grand old house. In we went, 50 adventure racers fleeting like mice in a laboratory puzzle, all trying to find the centre of this ancient maze . After 5 minutes we realised that it was harder than we thought , hmm let’s think … here! shouted Kenny seeing a hole in the maze leading to the centre , as we squeezed through the short-cut the event photographer caught Kenny with his camera .. ha-ha red-handed !!!
Kenny caught red handed !!
We noted the CP number and found our way out , running quickly to the bikes and trying at the same time to decide the best route to CP2 …. for this checkpoint we headed into the forest trails and used a logging road to gain height before heading out and over the moors to come round onto the next hill, man !! what a slog !! My legs were on fire after nearly one hour of solid energy sapping climbing !! eventually we left the forest and headed over the high ground , the inclement weather had left the paths soft , muddy and very wet , hard going indeed. At times I wished I had been running , it would definitely have been easier .. yet I was enjoying being out there so much , really buzzing that after my injury , I was finally back racing in the hills , albeit on wheels.
Kenny caught red handed !!
Eventually we made our way up and over the amazingly beautiful Gypsy Glen and down over the hills to Peebles where we had to find a checkpoint deep in the countryside to the North . It was dark now and we were relying on good judgement and luck, actually just luck 😉 We made it back to Peebles and I looked at my watch , 4 hours on the bike already and we still had to find a railway tunnel before we could head on to the next map. A stroke of genius happened , the organiser had made one of the CPs next to a good old SPAR !!! yassssssss !! in we went and grabbed the goodies , stuffed ourself full of Bounty bars and wine gums .. Next we headed North east to a trail that took us to a point above the railway tunnel , or so we thought. We found a sweet descent trail and dropped height , and more height until we ended up on the banks of the Tweed !! aaaaarrghhh SHIT !! we had over shot the tunnel and dropped way more height than we had meant to. 30 minutes of hauling bikes around a steep and over grown banking ensued and eventually we had found the tunnel , 200 metres long and pitch black we scanned its walls looking for a CP number , eventually finding it in a small bay full of nasty nasty things ,the unmentionable. We sent the bold Kenny in first 😉
Andrew enters the Nasty !!!
Finally we shot out the tunnel and headed for the final checkpoint to receive our next map , this took us to Cardrona Village and a pump track where we had to complete the challenge of pumping our way round with out a pedal stoke , easy and we were off heading down the country lanes towards Traquair house again for another crazy checkpoint , every hill now felt like a serious mission to my very tired legs .
Hardened Vets singing for their supper
We arrived to a moon lit Traquair house and a checkpoint full of Beer !! we gave our names to the official so he could check us in, at night things get a little more serious and a cold night like we were having takes no prisoners to anyone stuck in the hills . Kenny gave his name and all of a sudden the official picked up a tin of cat food , eat he said to Kenny. Kenny looked up , why ? you must eat or you forfeit your race due to cheating in the maze …. hahah Andrew and I laughed , Kenny picked up the cat food and ate it .. eeuurgh ! Kenny turned round and said “Tuna and jelly isn’t my favourite , I much prefer chicken and gravy” 😛 this cheered me up no end. We headed out of traquair and the back roads to the final CP at Innerleithen downhill car-park We met Gary who offered us an extra loop to spice up our adventure … we accepted it and headed down to Walkerburn to climb to the the reservoir high above , the trail is reputed to be a tasty local secret , this would be fun at night. Unfortunately our powerful bike lights were now dropping like flys and we were down to Zipka head torches . No good for technical trails , Tullie was also on a promise !! you can’t keep these young lads from their Shnazzzms 😉 so we bit the bullet and headed back to Innerleithen to call it a night … 8 hours in the saddle , thousands of metres of tough technical ascents and descents … lost many times , cold and exhausted !! and lets not mention my arse !!! Never had such a good time for ages 😛 😛
Alan Watts, philosopher, writer and public speaker .
Alan Watts ….
Since my youth I have had a strong interest in both the nature that surrounds me and who I am within it, not in a flaky way I might add ! 😉 I’m not dancing in the streets shaking my tambourine just yet 🙂 but I have been strongly drawn to looking deeper into life than most . Over the years I’ve read books, listened to philosophies and even tried to experience various belief’s and religions and have built a strong association with Buddhism. I have even immersed myself in some of its teachings through several retreats at the Samye Ling centre near my home, every time thoroughly enjoying my stay. Am I a Buddhist ? unfortunately not, I am in no way a person pure enough of soul to restrict myself to the practices of Buddhism no matter how much I respect it as a way of life. My drive for knowledge is not about religion , it’s about wonderment of nature and the why of me , it’s a big picture I know 🙂
Contemplating the Universe ..
I have asked the following question many times; Is it because I am an outdoor sportsman that I wonder about the world or is because I wonder about the word that I am an outdoor sportsman ? chicken and egg ? 🙂 I remember my early days as a climber sitting on tiny ledges looking out at the vast topography below me, taking it all in and wondering, this wonder is probably what sets me apart as one of the people who take notice and look deeper into what is spinning around me, many doubt, some mock and most just aren’t interested in anything apart from the confines of their daily life, but for those interested enough to look there are beliefs and teachings out there that when you take the time to read or listen to may actually make more sense than what you actually have believed to be true before. laughing yet ? ask yourself a question, do you use a mantra to help your running , if the answer is yes …. Ever wondered why you use it and why it helps ? 😉 read on …….
A video titled “What if money was no object” seems to have captured everyone’s imagination in the outdoor sports community right now, probably because it helps justify spending time on our own desires, many of us giving priority to our love of our sport over financial gain or family commitments, an explanation on “living the dream” it eventually hit my inbox or twitter feed and a name came up from my past, Alan Watts , a British philosopher and writer who I had a real interest in during the 90s. Back then his books and transcripts had been a huge force in giving me answers and questions about myself, he ignited a lot of little sparks that still burn within me all these years later. So it was with great interest that I watched this little video go “viral” all these years later . I have spent the last few days looking back into Alan’s work and decided to post a few of his interesting videos for all to enjoy …..
Alan Watts was born in London in 1915, at the start of the first World War. At a young age he became fascinated with the Far East, and at fourteen he began to write and was published in the Journal of the London Buddhist Lodge before writing his first booklet on Zen in 1932. He moved to New York in 1938 and then to Chicago, where he served as an Episcopal priest for six years before leaving the Church. In 1950, he moved to upstate New York before going on to San Francisco to teach at the Academy of Asian Studies. Among Alan Watts’ earliest influences were the novelist Sax Rohmer and Zen scholars D.T. Suzuki and Christmas Humpreys. In late 1950, he visited with Joseph Campbell and composer John Cage in NYC.
Worldview
Alan Watts was profoundly influenced by the East Indian philosophies of Vedanta and Buddhism, and by Taoist thought, which is reflected in Zen poetry and the arts of China and Japan. After leaving the Church, he never became a member of another organized religion, and although he wrote and spoke extensively about Zen Buddhism, he was criticized by American Buddhist practitioners for not sitting regularly in zazen. Alan Watts responded simply by saying, “A cat sits until it is done sitting, and then gets up, stretches, and walks away.”
1950’s and early ’60’s
After teaching at the Academy of Asian Studies in San Francisco, he became Dean and began to give regular radio talks on KPFA, the Berkeley free radio station. In 1957, he published his best-selling Way of Zen, and in 1958 returned to Europe where he met with C.G. Jung. He was an early subject in pioneering psychedelic trials, and, after recording two seasons of the public television series Eastern Wisdom and Modern Life, travelled to Japan several times in the early sixties. By the late sixties, he had become a counter-culture celebrity, and travelled widely to speak at universities and growth centers across the US and Europe.
Later Years
By the early seventies, Alan Watts had become a foremost interpreter of Eastern thought for the West, and was widely published in periodicals including Earth, Elle, Playboy, and Redbook. He appeared on CBS television’s Camera Three in 1969, and in 1971 he recorded a pilot for a new show titled A Conversation with Myself for NET, the precursor to PBS. When the series was not produced, he recorded the shows with his son Mark and his long-time audio archivist Henry Jacobs in 1972. Overall, Alan Watts developed an extensive audio library of nearly 400 talks and wrote more than 25 books during his lifetime, including his final volume, Tao: The Watercourse Way. Alan Watts died in his sleep in November of 1973, after returning from an intensive international lecture tour.
Some of my favourite lectures ..
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The Art of Meditation …. a great explanation and guide to meditation
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Our Image of the World
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The Nature of conciousness
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The Web of Life
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There are many many more great lectures available on the web and they are well worth spending the time listening to “some may say rubbish , some may say good and some may change for ever ” Marko 2012 😉
23rd of September 2012Parking and registration at Stobs disused camp site (GR500094), 4 miles south of Hawick on B6399 (turn off at war memorial near Woodfoot Bridge).Race takes place on farmland with livestock, so please do not bring dogs.
Entries on the day – £3
Entrants must be aged 16 or over.ROUTE DESCRIPTION: Start next to site of Stobs camp GR500094, proceed SW up track, through 2 gates and alongside Barnes Loch with wood on LHS. Carry on below a second wood then turn uphill until coming to a farm track at cattle grid GR491071. Cross straight over the cattle grid and carry on track SSW until crossing a second cattle grid GR486060, immediately after which turn back along the fence NE and proceed to top of Penchrise Pen GR491063. Follow path off top of hill NW which will go through a gate and past a stone shelter to rejoin the track, turning right to go back down through the first cattle grid. Continue on track for about 100 yards until before cutting off to the left and downhill towards Barnes Loch and rejoin outward route for run down to finish.further details here : Penchrise Pen Hill race / Scottish hill racing websiteFor further information, contact Keith Murray: email kjmurray63@hotmail.com or telephone 01450 374971
Penchrise is a little known hill nestled near Hawick , full of history and with an epic view on a bright day. It is also the main feature in my local hill race “The Penchrise Pen race” , a relatively new hill race organised by Keith Murray, one of the borders finest hill runners , a man who can climb hills like a Kenyan runs the flat. Keith has found a little gem with his race and I’m sure it will gain in popularity once word gets around. As a fledgling hill runner and a training buddy of Keith I had looked forward to it for a while, so it was with sadness that I could not run on the day due to the tendinitis in my knee. Not to miss out entirely I went along to help out and I was lucky enough to Marshall from the summit on what was one of the nicest days of the year.
Stobs camp back in the war…
The race starts at the old Stobs camp near Hawick GR500094 , it was the base of a military camp from 1903 and later became a prisoner of war camp during the second world war , loads of info and pictures can be found here: Stobs camp . Nowadays it’s used for everything from Mini Rallys , a quiet place to practice reversing your caravan and even teaching your kids to drive for the first time , none the less a beautiful setting and the perfect staging post for this cracking hill run.
Barnes Loch .. Penchrise
The race would start at the camp and head up towards Penchrise following cattle trails and sheep trods before heading steeply up to pass Barnes loch before joining a rough track for a short distance before veering up to the summit of Penchrise to touch the trig point and head down the other side dropping all the way home. The run at only a little over 8 km and a pretty gentle climb of only 280 metres its pretty easy in comparison to a lot of hill races in the calendar but with the beautiful setting and the easy access it is definitely a race worth doing , a great introduction for a novice or a speed trial for a seasoned campaigner, you can go as hard as you can for the top, see what you have in your legs and once you get there grab a few seconds of that view before tearing down the other side for home … a race day that everyone is sure to enjoy.
This years date for the race although perfect for the late good weather was also the day after the Two Breweries hill race over at Traquair , an 18 mile hill-fest of epic proportions so it was always going to be a tough call for entries , however a decent amount of dedicated runners arrived including several Two Brewery racers going for the double crown and a bunch of local stalwarts from the Teviotdale harriers, it would definitely be a closely fought race at the front and a great day out at the back .The weather was a beautiful cool sunny day so visibility was to be outstanding and the views would be enjoyed to the full.
K.J event organiser
I headed up to the summit to set up my marshalling station (get my camera out) … and below are a few shots from the day . A great race ! with fabulous cake …
