A record turnout of 241 runners gathered at Culbin Forest on Wednesday for the 10th anniversary of the Culbin Forest Run. The race, which was the idea of the local village hall treasurer Mike Rodgers, himself a runner, began in 1999 as a one-off event to help raise money for the new village hall at Dyke. From humble beginnings with just 89 runners, it has since become a really popular event in Moray. But despite having trebled in size over the years it is still run in the same informal way and continues to be organised by the Dyke Hall committee, who have now raised well over £4000 as a result.
The evening’s entertainment consisted of a 1-mile children’s race with 83 competitors and the main event where 158 runners lined up at the start. A very hard-fought race saw a new champion, with Keith runner Nick Brown, adding his name to the list of previous winners that have included Simon Pride, Martin Flynn, Kyle Cowie, Graeme Bartlett and Ben Livesey. Brown didn’t have things all his own way though, and he was only 19 seconds clear of Nairn’s Geoff Main in a time of 29:38 over the 5.2 mile course. The battle for third place was even closer, with evergreen Frankie Barton just managing to overcome Forres runner Andy Ross by a single second.
Older women generally seem to dominate the running scene locally, so it was refreshing to see youth triumph over experience in the women’s race, with Forres cross country specialist Eleanor Duncan storming home in a time of 34:14 to beat Glasgow University student Rachel Smirthwaite into second by almost a minute. Eleanor, who is still only 16, used to be a regular in the children’s race, having won it on 2005, and she is proving to be a real inspiration to many of the area’s juniors who are still too young to step up to this longer distance. Making up a trio of under 21s in the top 3 was Inverness Harrier Jenny Bannerman who finished a further minute behind Smirthwaite with veteran runner Jackie Nicol of Forres knocking 5 seconds off her previous best to push another young cross country star, 15-year-old Kirsty Rogan back into 5th by exactly that margin.
The 1-mile juniors race, which is now in its 8th year, saw an excellent battle between two classy runners, Craig Campbell from Fortrose Academy and Craig Daley of Forres Academy. The 13-year old Fortrose runner became only the third junior to break the 6-minute barrier for the race, with his time on 5:58 ensuring a 7-second victory over his Forres namesake. Another Forres runner, Fraser Scott who attends Applegrove primary, finished a superb 3rd in 6:10 with Nairn Academy’s Lewis Lyall just 4 seconds further back in 4th. The winning girl was 10-year old Dionne Milne of Mosstodloch Primary who first ran in the race as a 6-year old. Dionne dead heated with Katelyn Watson of Bishopmill, but was awarded the first prize as she was the younger by a year. One remarkable statistic from the race was the turnout from the local primary school at Dyke, where 20% of the school’s pupils took part.
Mike Rodgers, who has organised all 10 of the Culbin events, pronounced himself well satisfied with the evening. “We are all absolutely delighted with the turnout and the support we’ve had over the years from local runners. We’re also very grateful to all the local businesses who helped with refreshments and prizes. And we’re glad that the runners be able to benefit the hall that they’ve helped to fund when Forres Harriers hold their next 10K road race in Dyke in September.” Mike’s views were also echoed by former Dyke Hall Chairman, Andy Anderson who masterminded the hall building project back in 1999 and returned after an absence of several years to present the prizes.
The Cubin Run is the first of a series of 4 races which are stages at fortnightly intervals in local forests. The Moray Forest Runs series, as it has come to be known, was started a few years ago when the success of the Culbin event prompted 3 other village halls, assisted by runners from Forres Harriers and Moravian Orienteers, to organise their own races. The next event is at Roseisle on 11th June when another big field is expected to assemble. The format is similar to the Culbin run, with a children’s race at 6.45 and the main event at 7.15pm with entry costing just £3. The Roseisle event also features a slightly longer junior race for academy pupils who line up at the same time as the adults but follow a different route. More details on this, or any of the other events in the series is available from Mark Ellis on 01309 674466.