Nopesport

By Jason Inman

The inaugural event in the Fight with the Night series took place last night on Hillend Park, just outside Edinburgh. A series of bi-monthly night races in and around Edinburgh concocted by Duncan"I'm home-sick"Coombs.

Planned by Jason Inman the 3.6km course took them all over the Park, around the famous Pentlands Ski Slope and graced the top of Kirketton Hill within its 230m of climbing.

Odds appeared to be stacked in favour of Duncan Coombs as the winner, given his history of Deeside night racing, but even the victor was a little surprised by his victory ! It was a close battle for 2nd and 3rd between Duncan and Murray Strain (5 seconds separated them) but the clear leader by two and a half minutes on the night was Mark Nixon. Having just returned from a 6-week lay-off due to a cold/virus Mark said he was very pleased to see that his accurate navigation could still win him a race.

In the ladies Beck Carlyle took what seemed an easy win from Jess Halliday in 2nd and Oti Karainen in 3rd. Janine Hensman is yet to compete - collecting controls on the night.

26 people turned out for the first race. A tremendous achievement given the very quick turnaround from Duncan's Dream to Duncan's reality.

Next race - Corstorphine Hill, Thursday 24th November. For full details of the series please contact Duncan Coombs - aka Preppi.

1 Mark Nixon 30.24
2 Duncan Coombs 33.08
3 Murray Strain 33.13
4 Oleg Chepelin 35.00
5 Dan Halliday 36.50
6 Andy Kitchen 42.28
7 Badger 43.55
8 Kyle Heron 44.08
9 Becky Carlyle 45.00 F
10 James Tullie 48.00
11 Jess Halliday 49.40 F
12 Paul Caban 55.00
13 Oti Karainen 55.10 F
14 Richard Webb 59.58
15 Ron Nolan 77.00
16 Jon Sjoholm 80.34
17 Richard Beattie 82.30

Steven Haley 41.27 half course
Janet Clarke 50.08 half course

Bill Stevenson DNF
Stuart & Iain DNF
Harry Lawson DNF
Chris Mitchell DNF