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Introduction
to Carnethy
by
Nick MacDonald, Colin Pritchard
and Anne Nimmo (Past Presidents)
| What is Carnethy? Carnethy is a Hill Running Club, of course, but much more than that. Carnethy is arguably one of the premier Clubs in Britain and is certainly the largest hill running club in Scotland with a membership of 250 in 2008. A glance through the past and present member’s list reads like a Hill Running Who’s Who, with World, British and Scottish Champions, Ultra-distance record holders, Internationals and the like, but that would give a false impression of Carnethy’s origins and what Carnethy is still about today. In essence, Carnethy is an association of like-minded people, enjoying hill running for all it has to offer whether it is some crucial competition or a social stravaig ‘up there’. |  |
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Once labelled ‘a particular lesser club’ and proud of it, Carnethy was formed on 12th April 1983 as a refuge for the homeless! A place for all those unattached hillrunners or displaced hillrunners in Athletics Clubs who didn’t have a real Hill running club to call home. As such, Carnethy is now ‘home’ to a wide-range of eclectic and some say eccentric individuals. With an oldest competing member in his seventies and a youngest, non-competing, member of eighteen months, we’ve quite a range of runners, raconteurs and rogues. There are many outstanding athletes of all sorts in the Club, as well as people talented in all sorts of diverse ways. One of the features of the Club is that, whether champion or also-ran, we are all enthusiasts. You will find mountain bikers, sea-kayakers, dancers, cross-country skiers, sailors, rock-climbers, orienteers and mountaineers among our membership, all eager to share their own interests and skills. Time and again people have said that they joined the Club because of the friendly people and their attitude to running in the hills. With a strong ladies section - a third of our membership- and an enthusiastic junior section Carnethy’s strength lies in the diversity of its members and their interests. |
What do I think makes Carnethy special? Well, it doesn't just boast World, British and Scottish Champions (along with its 'also-rans') but, unusual in a running club, it contains a majority who are recreational runners. This is undoubtedly because hill running has a non-competitive side to it that track and field athletics doesn't have. Carnethy offers these runners something too (something the stereotype athletic club doesn't) - journeyruns, weekends in the hills and foreign trips running over well-trodden trails or through remote wildernesses. This interesting mix of competitive and non-competitive members makes Carnethy a breath of fresh air. The club Journal and website is alive with stories of exploits as well as races and is a huge incentive to make you 'get out there' and join a trip, enter a race or organise something yourself. |
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| Races Carnethy organise, or are involved in organising, about a dozen races a year, spread across the running year and across the country too. From East Linton to East Fife, from Moffat to the Moorfoots, from Skye to the Skyline (Pentlands that is) we try to contribute to well-organised competition in the hills. |
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| Night Runs In the winter months when the moon is up and the darkness descends Carnethy organise a series of night runs in the hills. The locations and terrain vary but always end with ‘pub and grub’ somewhere near at hand. The pace is often slow but the conversation and the wit is usually quick. |
| Handicap Races In the summer months we organise a series of handicap races. Based on the Biblical principle that ‘the first shall be last and the last first’, runners are given different start-times, with the slowest off first and the fastest off last and gives everyone the opportunity to beat a British Champion or two. There is a catch of course. If you thought Catch 22 was bad, wait until you try to outsmart our handicapper. For points are gained throughout the series and the only way to gain points is by running fast but the faster you run the worse your handicap is next time out. The only way to get a good handicap is by running slowly but then you don’t score points. So how is it done? Come along to a handicap race and find out. |
| The
Journal, Newssheet and Website The Journal has been an integral part of the Club and a mainstay of its fabric and cohesiveness, since the Club’s formation. Many members have said how much they enjoy it and read it from cover to cover on the day it drops through the letterbox. Free to all club members it expanded over the years from a one-page NewsSheet to a 40-page Journal with a wide variety of contributions from many members. From poetry to politics, records and results, tales of derring do and didn’t dare, it is an invaluable record of the doings of the Club and an important archive resource. In the last couple of years, the development of the World Wide Web and the excellent Carnethy website has meant a drop in the number of Journals produced. However there continues to be hardcopy of the club's activities as and when sufficient material is collected. Those without access to the Internet are also posted a monthly Newssheet of forthcoming races and club activities (which is emailed to those with email). |
| Social
Events Throughout the year Carnethy organise a number of social events, including Club Weekends away, occasional trips overseas and long, leisurely, all day ‘journey’ runs, interspersed with dinners and dances, video nights and talks, and lots of other events. |
Carnethy HRC Constitution |
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Name The name of the club shall be Carnethy Hill Running Club, hereafter referred to as 'The Club'. 2 Object 3 Membership 4 Officials of the Club 5 Subscriptions 6 Annual General Meeting 7 Voting Procedure at the AGM 8 General 9 Carnethy Hill Racing
Club 10 Club Colours 11 Alterations to the
Constitution 12 Winding-up |
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