It was during my training for the Devil o’ the Highlands down on holiday in Wiltshire that I heard about this new Ochil Ultra marathon. I had had a few good runs around the New Forest and along the canals between Bath and Devizes, and so after one too many scrumpy ciders in the tent one night I booked the full 50 mile ultra on my phone. In the morning I remembered this and thought, what have I done, I’ve entered a 50 mile hill race by accident!!! 😮

Things got a bit more worrying when I checked out the route which was coming through bit by bit on their Facebook page. It looked very rough ground with little in the way of actual trails. I was thinking I’ll get lost for sure. There is little information about the race on their website apart from booking it. All the details are on their Facebook page and the organisers get back to you really quickly if you ask a question. I asked about maps and they said I’d not need one as it would be well marked with arrows and tape along the full race. I was still not assured by this and got an OS map anyway which I marked down the full route on (Perth & Alloa OS58). There’s the full 50 mile route which starts at Stirling University on the outskirts of the city to Perth which has 5 sections with 4 drop bag posts. There’s also the 30 mile option which starts at check point 2 at Glendevon. I was still glad I went for the 50 miler as I wanted to see the full stretch of the Ochil hills. I’d ran the Alloa half marathon a few years earlier and they looked great as we ran past then from the road.

My training had been going well with many runs around the Pentlands and John Clerk Estate, taking in as many hills as possible as well as The Ben Nevis Hill race. I looked into hotels in Stirling where I found the Stirling Court Hotel which is in the University grounds where the race starts. There was a bus put on for us to take people from Perth to the start line so runners would have their car at the end (Had to be booked and paid for well in advance). This was a very early start though and would involve booking a hotel in Perth anyway, so I opted not to do this and have longer in bed and register from 5:30 on the morning of the race in Stirling. In Perth you could register on the Friday too.

On arriving at Stirling Court hotel I was surprised they actually offered to take my breakfast up to my room at 4:30! This was great to have orange juice, some toast and a good coffee first thing. The cereal packet was smaller than I’d give the kids though so I was very glad that I’d taken a porridge pot that you just add water to from the kettle. This worked out great and I was all set. I had done all my faffing about with bags and info the night before so just headed down to registration. It was clear I was in with some serious ultra runners for this race and I was correct in thinking I’d be very far back in the pack during the race which I was fine with. Finishing without missing the cut off time was all that mattered. They had made the cut off point just after check point 4 where you head up into the woods overlooking Perth as they didn’t want people going up there after dusk at 7:30. Their cut off time was 7:28 at that point and they were operating a soft cut off, so runners would still finish the race but get diverted away from the proper route and go round the side road into Perth. This would be faster and much easier but I wouldn’t feel like I had done the course properly at all.

We got our race briefing and issued with a very handy route leaflet with lots of information in it. The race started at 7:00 and we were off. The weather was fantastic and I thought I’d been so lucky with the few races I’d done this year as the weather was set to be terrible the next day. We headed up to the first hill and were rewarded by brilliant views of Stirling below with the Wallace monument on our side of the city. We then got into the hills properly which were much the same as the Pentlands to start with. As we came to the first descent there were a lot of people slipping in the mud. It was then that I realised that they had road shoes on!!! One guy said his Hocas weren’t too good and I wasn’t surprised as I noticed there was no tread on them. I then heard a big thud as he landed fully on his back behind me. There were quite a few runners in road shoes.

As we came down from the first few hills to the little town of Menstrie my hamstring felt very tight, so I thought I’d best stretch it rather than keep up with the others. I was very glad I did as it was really stiff. I had to keep doing this quite a number of times over the first section but it got better later. It was quite an easy stretch now all the way to Tillicoultry where there was an excellent 1st check point where you had to place your chip over the scanner. I was so glad I had put this on my wrist and not my ankle like normal, as I was expecting it to get lost in a bog if I had done this. It also made it much easier to be scanned by the marshals at the check points who had it on the table. There was lots of great home baking and water here. We then headed back up into the Ochil hills. This section was very hard going with there being so much rain over the past few days, really muddy and slippy on the downhill. My trail shoes were okay with it apart from a few 180 degrees twirls! It really slowed me down though and was very tiring on the legs. I was told by a local couple who had ran the sections before that it got easier after check point 2. This was great to hear as I was starting to think how am I going to get through 50 miles of this!

The Ochils looked great in the sun, the grass was golden yellow on the various rolling hills that stretched on and on. Although I liked getting glimpses of the views I was starting to notice how long it was taking to cover this stretch, and started to think of the cut off time after check point 4. At last I got off the really slippy last hill here and ran down past the upper and lower Glendevon reservoirs. This was a great stretch and I was glad to see this at last as it was a main point on the route map. I was on mile 17 or so at that point and my legs were already very tired, but thankfully I had no cramp. I had taken some salty peanuts earlier to help stop this. This road section was great for a change after the slippy hills and I looked out for more arrows for keeping me on the right route. There were times I got quite worried I’d not seen an arrow for a very long time, but this was really as the route was obvious at that point. It was a relief to come to the next arrow though so I knew I hadn’t zoned out and missed a turning. The route then took us through some nice wooded areas along and over River Devon and up to check point 2 at last (This is where the 30 mile Ultra starts)! I then stopped to call Jan to say I was going to be over my expected 12 hours. I had some sandwiches before heading further into the hills and eventually back into very wooded areas and check point 3 at Middle Rig. The marshals were great and very encouraging and I knew at this point I was going to be okay for the cut off time as long as I kept going. This was around mile 30 and I was really knackered, but fine really as the other runners I had been chatting to were the same. One woman had ran 72 ultras!!! Crazy people you meet on these races.

The route was quite varied now with obvious roads and tracks, then through hills and back through woods and fields which were very scenic. It had however not eased up in the amount of bog in many parts. At one point I had to get over a gate which had an enormous puddle of mud and cow poo before it. I tried to jump onto one bit of mud which quickly sank and I plunged deep into the sludge! I wiped my trainers on the grass as my feet were heavy with it. I then felt that I should stretch my leg and lent against a fence for support. I got two bursts of electricity right up my arm…. This has turned into Tough Mudder! I think it was this recharge that got me through the last twenty miles!

Next came a forestry track which wasn’t finished and so I had to clamber over a big fallen tree at one point which thankfully caused no trouble with my hamstring. It then got better and I was onto a great downhill open trail for quite some time. I was really wanting to get to check point 4 now and I asked a few marshals how far it was along the way, but none really knew. I got speaking to another couple on this stretch and the guy knew the area well and it was down the hill we were on, overlooked the town of Kintillo. Kilgraston School was the name of check point 3, but it was actually just a couple of marshals in a field next to the road. Even though I knew I’d make the cut off time now I was concerned about how long it may take me to do this last stretch of around 10 miles, as I knew the course actually packed up at 9:00. I set off as quickly as I could which was more a shuffle in sections now, and got to the cut off point with about an hour and twenty minutes to spare. There was a brilliant marshal at this stage who was most enthusiastic about my progress, even though I knew I was very slow. He assured me I was “Totally awesome!” 🙂

It was just a mile down the road now till I headed up into the woods overlooking Perth. There was still plenty light to start with but as I got further on in it got darker as dusk was 7:30 and there were quite a few hills to get over here too in the dark. It was then that I realised I’d not changed the batteries in my head torch for some time and it was quite dim. I was okay with this as I had a back up in my bag, but it was just too much trouble to get unless I really needed it. It was getting colder too and my hands started to turn to the death claw Raynauds I get. I was actually just walking now as every time I tried to run a little I’d trip over the uneven ground. The torch showed obvious bumps and rocks but not the smaller mounds. The woods were beautiful though and I did enjoy the parts I could see earlier. I was very glad to do this section and not be timed out and sent along the bypass to Perth. I would have got a much quicker time and position that way but it would not have been the full course and very boring. My GPS watch had given up at mile 32 so I was very glad I had my normal watch and knew I would make it to the finish line as long as I didn’t take a wrong turning. I shuffled up the dark trail to a marshal with a very bright head torch which blinded me every time I looked up to talk to him. I marked down my number on the tracker log. They had a fantastic tracker system which worked by giving every runner a GPS which they had to have at the top of their bag. This was great for you to call in if you were lost but also good for friends to see where you were on the course from the web link they provided.

I then had one more hill to go over in the woods before my descent down into Perth. There was a group of friendly marshals at the bottom who pointed me on my way and I was heading down into Perth at last. I picked up a little here and could manage a very slow jog as long as there was no ascent. There were about another three marshal points as I was pointed down towards the harbour area and finally to the finish line in the main park!

I was wondering if Jan and the kids would be there by the time I got in but I thought they may be as it was around 8:45 by now. I was delighted to see our three kids run down to do a group finish run with me which made a fantastic finish photo. I had actually done it! I got a fantastic medal and very cool T-shirt in the tent at the side where I sorted myself out before getting driven home. I couldn’t get into the car covered in mud and cow poo but it took me ages to get my shoes off with my cold claw hands which had also puffed up and gone red! What did help was Jan had two chilled ales in a cool box for me on the way down the road….. What a woman! 🙂

Time

Mark Dawson
50 mile route from Stirling University: 13:54:21

Tim Doyle
30 mile route from Glendevon: 6:24:18

Gilly took us all to Broughton in her 4×4, then we piled into the coaches to Traquair. The cafe there opened at 11 so people were anxiously queueing for their scones and coffee before the kit check.

Having run this race a couple of years ago I knew I was in for a challenge. Michael and I had ran the route with Rob and Gregor a couple of weeks before so I hoped that would stand us in good stead, but I knew there were a few pathless sections. I was a bit nervous and as the organisers had said it was fine to use gps I set my watch to show the route I had downloaded so I would have that to fall back on. With it being such a testing course I didn’t want to do any extra miles, unfortunately the cloud was thick and low over the hills so a few runners came a cropper. For me it was just after checkpoint 1 Birkscairn Hill where me and several runners continued along a path when we should have cut off to the left. I had the route on my garmin and it beeped to say I was going off course but I decided to stick to the other runners instead. As soon as I came out of the cloud I looked over and could see runners heading up the hill to my left, past Glensax. I shouted to the other runners we were going the wrong way, then proceeded to make my way down the hill cutting back towards the old farmhouse by the river. There was no path and I was cursing myself for not trusting my gps as I bounded down the heather in a most undignified way.
It was good to be able to see where I was going but as we gained more height we entered the cloud again. As I got to the checkpoint at Hundleshope Heights I was told I was just on the cutoff, so I got my head down and pushed on. This time I decided to trust the watch and this paid dividends for me. There were a few runners following me now, they were saying ‘can you see anyone up ahead?’ I was not enjoying having the responsibility of people following me when I was so unsure myself. I carried on and as we contoured the hill and came back out of the cloud I saw runners coming down above me, I had taken a better line and felt I had clawed back a few places after going wrong earlier. I really need to work on my navigational skills but I was glad I had my watch to help and I clearly wasn’t the only one who had hoped to follow the crowd.
On the way to Glenrath Farm there was Chris Downie out on the hill, he said he had seen Duncan, Gillian and Jan, but when I asked about Michael and he said he hadn’t seen him I started to worry a bit, after a restoring hug from Mr Downie I was on my way again. When I got to Glenrath Farm and stopped to fill my water bottle Jan called my name, she was in the capable hands of Moffat mountain rescue. Her knee had been playing up and she had decided very sensibly not to do it any more damage by continuing, we had a brief chat and she said she would be at the village hall later. Just after this I spoke to a Carnethy runner who said he had had a few navigational issues too. The field had thinned out considerably and I ran most of the second half of the race pretty much alone. I feel more confident on this section as it’s more straightforward so I didn’t mind.
As I came down Whitelaw Hill and saw Stobo in the distance I met a runner who was rolling around on the ground retching. I offered him a drink which he declined and I checked he was OK before heading off, this race really is brutal! Once I got past the entrance for Stobo and headed up the track I needed my watch again as I was a bit unsure which track to take, as I wandered up each one trying to find the right line Michael appeared behind me looking rather bedraggled but still in good spirits. I was really happy to see him and he told me how he had gone wrong after checkpoint 2 and ended up with another runner on completely the wrong hill, they spoke to a walker who confirmed where they were (Glenrath Heights) and they managed to work out how to get back to the race route. They had realised they were going wrong when they noticed there were no footprints on the path they were on. The unmistakable tread left by hill shoes was absent in the mud. This detour had added considerable time and distance to what was already Michael’s longest race yet.
He had some crisps while we headed up the track then off he went in front towards Trahenna. I kept him in my sights for most of the rest of the race and willed him on. On Trahenna I met the guy from Carnethy and he said ‘How many times am I going to get lost in one race?’ so we weren’t the only ones who had problems. Before long we were headed down Greenmantle hill, I slipped on my bum at this point but knowing I was nearing the finish wasn’t bothered by it. I was so glad to finally get to the end, about a quarter of an hour longer than it took me last time. The navigation and the fact it was a bit muddier this year had affected me. Gillian smashed her previous time by about half an hour though. As Michael and I walked along to the village hall we met Gilly, smiling and looking fresh as ever on her way to Broughton brewery.

Results:
30 Duncan Ball M50 3:45:42 125.8%
61 Gillian Cairns F40 4:18:14 144.0%
89 Michael Greens M 4:53:28 163.6%
91 Sadie Kemp F40 4:56:51 165.5%
95 Gilly Marshall F40 5:09:00 172.3%

Full results: http://www.scottishhillracing.co.uk/RaceResults.aspx?RaceID=RA-0103&RaceYear=2017
my relive: https://www.relive.cc/view/1198059771

As the “designated navigator” for our Roc Mountain Marathon A course, I didn’t get off to a good start when losing our way through Carlisle city centre. I also failed to find the promised evening meal in Egremont. Fortunately we were given directions by the very nice landlady of the very grotty pub whose advertised food, had it been available, might not have been the best preparation for serious athletic endeavour. Ninety minutes later, after driving through heavy rain, and filled by copious quantities of battered fish, scampi chips and mushy peas, we arrived at the event centre near Millom. After a thorough registration process with team “photo”, we got the tent up in a very wet and muddy field and turned in for the night.

Sorry if what follows is accompanied by photos of maps, but GPS-enabled smartphones were not allowed and cameras have positive mass so I didn’t take one.

In the morning the clag was down so I confidently suggested that we leave later than we might in the hopes that it would lift. It didn’t. So, after I marked up my map and Yan folded his up neatly into his bag, we set off and were soon walking strongly up into the cloud. The control descriptions sheet stated a course length of 39km with 1800m climb, but neither of us spotted this! Fortunately, after reaching the top of the obvious crags, there was an obvious spur to aim for and, with an altimeter for the height, we found 201 easily. From there, we climbed up to our high point of the weekend (c500m), crossed a track and headed down, out of the cloud and straight to 203. By now, since we’d covered about 5km in 01:13, with roughly 200m on tracks, Yan was realising what this mountain marathon business was all about. He’d also discovered that walking uphill on trackless terrain was painful if you have a broken rib: his diet for the day was to alternate between paracetamol and power bars. After another short but rough leg to 204 came a long downhill, which doesn’t hurt as much with a broken rib. However, we paid for that with a long uphill climb into the cloud before a long leg ended with the compass and altimeter bringing us neatly to a control in a steep gully. And so it went on, for a long time. Just as Yan was running out of water and cramping up, we dropped down almost to sea level in Eskdale. Now we were navigating country lanes [the purple is “out-of-bounds”] with me grumbling that “this isn’t a mountain marathon”. Yan’s legs by now had decided to protest about being forced to cross trackless terrain and being denied hydration by refusing to work properly on roads. Fortunately we climbed up out of the valley, pausing briefly to wave at the passing narrow gauge train. Uphill progress was slow, but at least a slightly dodgy-looking stream provided Yan with something to drink – and take another paracetamol. I’d also long since run out of water. Although there were some paths, the terrain became rocky as we contemplated whether we’d reach the overnight camp before the courses closed at 18:00. We had our first encounter with a young pair Jack and Eleanor, who caught us just as we’d found 257 where, since I’d failed to pick up the dotted track from the north, we had to come in from the lake. Jack and Eleanor disappeared off into the distance, leaving us to navigate the out-of-bounds. This was trickier than it looked on the map since there were far more paths on the ground than marked. Fortunately we managed it and, after briefly taking a path which went down rather than up, I found the route up to 243. As we were leaving, Jack and Eleanor appeared, having had much more trouble than us with the out-of-bounds. History repeated itself as they shot off and we plodded on. By now I was trying to identify routes with minimal climb, even if it meant a little more distance. At long last we had another decent descent, and arrived at the final control, just where the altimeter said it should be. When we left, we soon saw Jack and Eleanor coming back uphill towards it, once again indicating how much time can be lost by bad navigation. That gave us a lead which we kept all the way to the finish, thanks to Yan’s re-hydrated legs giving him renewed road speed. At the finish camp, we learned that we hadn’t been timed out, so our 09:18 had beaten Jack and Eleanor [who had started well before us] by 17 minutes, and was only five minutes behind another team, so were 8th of 9 finishers with 2 retired. Elated, we pitched the tent and I sat in the tent doorway to start boiling water for hot food. Yan’s meal-in-a-pouch didn’t re-hydrate as it said on the pack, unlike my cheesy pasta and two packets of Supernoodles. Fortunately, after heating Yan’s meal through in the pan, it became edible. At the end of this culinary process, I was full and warm and Yan was cold in the stiffening wind [sorry!] We went to sleep at 08:00 and hardly stirred until 06:00!

Sunday morning was cold but the skies were largely clear. After Yan’s porridge-in-a-bag (which worked) and my patent oats-sugar-milk-and-hot-chocolate-powder mixture, we packed up the tent and, with nothing else too do, started our day 2 course at 07:20. Suddenly there was a track for Yan to run along for most of the first and second legs to 231 and 241: we were flying! Then it was back to climbing tussocky slopes and traversing tussocky boggy ground to 238 and round Hesk Fell to 234 before slogging back up to its summit (233). From there we had a bit of a run down, before another climb up and a fun run down to a fence. Obsessed with not going out-of-bounds, I thought that we had to cross it at a marked point 1km away, so we took a long route to the penultimate control. [Yan, we could have crossed the fence since the crossing point was only advisory!] However, there was less climb than my original route – which others took and were significantly faster. Time was ticking by and, despite some gnarly contouring on steep bracken-covered slopes, I was confident that it would take little time for the final 2.5 km on tracks with 400m descent. And so it proved! We finished in 06:14 but this was much 50 minutes off 8th for the day, and even further behind the slower competitors of the previous day. So, with an overall 15:33, we were last by 75 minutes. As the only male veteran pair we could claim a victory of sorts, but the satisfaction was in finishing our first A course and, in Yan’s case, his first ever mountain marathon. We were in time for the prize-giving which, after handing out awards for all the usual categories, degenerated into random distribution of goodies. I was thrown an MSR water filter as “someone on the A course who hasn’t got a prize” and Yan received the same, later, for being “the oldest on the A course (who hasn’t got a prize)” [Yan’s a couple of months younger than me.] Thus my daughter and, maybe Yan’s son, have water filters for their DofE expeditions. Yan and I will continue to drink from streams!

Analysis: with Yan’s superior hill-running ability, ultra trail marathon experience and general “hardness”, I’d have been worried about chasing his back for two days were I not the navigator. However, what we both learned is that if a pure runner does a mountain marathon, lack of experience of crossing trackless terrain will hit him or her hard. The ground speed on MMs is low: we took 15:33 for 65km and 2800m climb, and even the speed of the elite boys is much slower than that of a good hill runner replicating the same distance/climb on tracks. As for navigation, if the weather is clear it’s easy but, in the cloud, years of orienteering and MM experience paid off. What I’d never considered until this weekend is that doing hundreds of orienteering courses translates into being relatively strong on pathless terrain. It also helps if you don’t try to run a MM with a busted rib. I wouldn’t have started: Yan, I’m so impressed that you finished!

After spectating the last 2 years I finally plucked up the courage to try this race. Downhill is not my strong point so I thought I should face my demons and give it a go. I was very glad I did as it was great fun and I even won a prize (second FV40, OK there were only 2 running but I will take that! :-)). It was Daniel’s first time doing the race too and he also enjoyed it.

Runners are set off from the top of Caerketton at 15 second intervals and its a manic dash to the bottom of the hill. At the finish prizes are raffled off, you can win anything from a bottle of wine to a packet of teabags. Most fun! 🙂

7= Michael Greens MS 06:08
32 Chris Downie M50 07:23
44 Daniel Greens MS 08:52
46 Sadie Kemp F40 09:26

Bill’s grandchildren from Fife AC did extremely well!
10 Struan Bennet MJ 06:11
35= Ailsa Bennet FJ 07:51

Richard Askwith’s book, “Feet in the Clouds: a study of fell-running and obsession” has a chapter on the Ben Nevis hill race and finishes off with a statement that one is not a hill runner until you have run the Ben race. This has been mildly frustrating for me as fieldwork has clashed with this race date for most of the last decade. Last year was the first time I could have run it and I did not get in. My grovelling over e-mail got rather pathetic. They would not budge.

So – 2017 – I was super organised, got my registration in as early as possible and along with Stuart, Gillian, Alan, Mark, Sadie and of course Chris (27^th time!!) we all met up last Saturday lunchtime at Claggan Park Rugby Pitch on a warm bright sunny day with building apprehension and excitement.

Ben Nevis race profile

For those who don’t know, Ben Nevis is the highest mountain in the UK and therefore every Tom, Dick and Harriet wants to do it – hence the difficulty in getting a place. The race, from sea level to the summit, is 14kms long with a hefty 1345m ascent and descent. What makes it doubly tough is that is a highly technical rocky gnarly course with very little of that nice soft peaty mud that we are spoilt with in the Borders region.

http://scottishhillracing.co.uk/RaceDetails.aspx?RaceID=RA-0098

There are essentially four sections to The Ben – see map.

The Ben route

The first kilometre is on road – fast going out and can be cruelly slow coming back. I initially took my time on this hoping that it would leave some strength for later. Once Stuart was out of sight in the throng of the many runners, I settled into a comfortable jog and tried to keep my eyes on the track at my feet with a periodic look-around to see the glory of Glen Nevis unfold as we climbed. There was no chance to look around on the descent!

As we left the road, the climb started, initially gently, but by the 3^rd km, the steep ascent begins. The path at this point has been modified extensively to reduce erosion which means that the whole track is like a large unforgiving cobbled path with periodic “steps up”. These are not always small steps and as you climb, you think that running down it would be a nightmare. Once the race route tracks round into Red Burn valley, we left the main tourist track and deviated up a now quite badly eroded track to cut out a large corner of the main tourist track south of Lochan Meall an t-Suidhe. After the large blocks of the previous section, this was a nice change and there were some short sections of nice runnable track.

After crossing the Red Burn (about the half way point – with shouts of encouragement from Billy), the climb notches up a gear. While the tourist track zig-zags up to the summit plateau, the race route goes straight up through a tortuous blocky scree. Richard Askwith describes this section much better than I; “……….scrambling up a slimy scree slope steeper than a London Underground escalator, …….. – and trying to ignore the fact that, the harder I thrust myself upward, the faster the stones crumble and slide beneath me. The heap of sharp-edged rocks stretches upwards. Though my legs are already limp, I know that, compared with the bone-threatening descent to come, I’m still on the easy bit.”

It is indeed a tough section – steep, loose and you cannot help thinking, “how the hell am I going to RUN down this”. I simply focussed on putting one step in front of the other, trying not to lose any places while ensuring I consumed a gel and a muesli bar while drinking plenty of electrolyte so I would have the energy for the descent. Near the top of the scramble/scree section, Finlay Wild flew down past us – way ahead of the next fastest runner. He was obviously on track for winning the Ben race for an 8^th time in a row.

On reaching the broad summit plateau, there is still about half a kilometre before the turn around at the actual summit. The tourist track is a knobbly blocky track at this point – not fun to run on at all, especially with my right foot still sore from Dollar and so this was probably my slowest section. It was at this point that I saw Stuart coming towards me. I shouted encouragement but as he came up to me, he stopped, grabbed his thighs and screamed at me “CRAAAAAMMMMPPPPP!” and then stumbled off down the track. To my utter shame, my sympathy was very short lived and I mostly thought, “Oooh – I might catch him”.

I reached the sunny, but cool, summit in 1hr 27 mins which I am pretty happy about, although, for context, Finlay finished the whole race in 1:31:37!!! On the turnaround I took it easy over the initial summit track although one could not go too quickly as you had to not only dodge runners coming up but also the 100s of tourists who were walking up/down as well. It was a very busy summit!

However, once the descent down the scree started, the manic madness started that would not let up until I hit the road at the bottom. Loose scree is actually much easy to run on than unresisting knobbly blocks. I wont say that this initial steep descent was fun, but I went much quicker than I thought I would and with other runners constantly breathing down your neck (literally), I only vaguely saw/heard the other Harriers going up. It was all a blur really and adrenaline levels were probably very high as I seemed to fly down with my arms whirling like a windmill to keep balance as my feet, with semi-control, flitted from one loose cluster or rocks to another. Before I knew it, I had crossed the Red Burn and was traversing round to the blocky tourist track. Ironically, this section is the only bit where there was a muddy track and most of us were slipping all over the place.

To my utter surprise, the blocky tourist track was not that bad although the temperature rose to uncomfortable levels as we descended and it was rather hot in the valley. Going down this section was a lot easier than the trudge up – more of a matter of skipping across the large cobbles – although this would however be quite slimy if the conditions had been wet. In my probably slightly unwise reckless descent I passed several runners on this section and somehow did not trip. It would not be pretty if someone went head over heels here.

As the gradient lessened, I realised I was coming towards the road. Everyone says that this is where many runners come unstuck as their legs cramp up as soon as they hit the tarmac. It was now uncomfortably warm and we were all sweating quite profusely. I had been sucking on electrolyte the whole way and as I started on the road for the final km, my legs seemed thankfully to be OK. I was not fast – never am on tarmac – but I managed to keep a reasonable pace with no muscle twinges.

I crossed the finish line in 2 hrs 18 mins – not feeling too broken at all. The atmosphere was fabulous with runner’s names being called out over the tannoy and everyone standing and sitting around enjoying the mid-afternoon sun. Stuart had come in around 2:08 and was on the ground groaning and whinging about old age. The rest of the Harriers came in over the next hour (Chris and Sadie being very close!) with Mark just coming in under the 3:15 cut-off.

This was my 140^th SHR race and according to Richard Askwith, I am now a fell runner. What a relief! I can finally relax!

Of the 489 finishers, the Harriers results were:

106^th: 2:08:44: Stuart Sanderson [FASTEST FIREMAN PRIZE!!!]

172^nd: 2:18:30: Rob Wilson

339^th: 2:42:58: Gill Cairns

441^st: 3:06:33: Alan Thornburrow

446^th: 3:08:06: Chris Downie

447^th: 3:08:22: Sadie Kemp

461^st: 3:14:46: Mark Dawson

Loads of piccies on the internet – here are a few

Distance 3.6 km
Climb 300 m

It was a lovely evening and there was a great turnout for the kids race this year, which was fab to see. Bill was on the hill as was Kate giving us encouragement. The midges were out in force so we scarpered pretty quickly after the race. Well done Des, coming first in your category.

13 Des Crowe Penicuik V50 21:00
20 Michael Greers Penicuik Senior 21:50
93 Sadie Kemp Penicuik FV40 30:09

Well done also to Bill’s grandchildren (I hope I got that right Bill!):

23 Struan Bennet Fife AC U20 22:09
84 Ailsa Bennet Fife AC FU20 28:19

Full results: http://carnethy.com/2017/08/caerketton-hill-race-results-2/
More photos here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/32508164@N07/sets/72157687400422385
Thanks to Steve Fallon for the great action shots.

I was surprised to get in as there’s just 300 places for this very popular ultra. Jan also got a place, so we quickly booked our accommodation at Strathfillan Wigwams as they are just 3 miles from the start. It’s a 42 mile race from Tyndrum to Fort William following the second section of the West Highland Way, the first section being covered by the Highland Fling race from Milngavie to Tyndrum (53 miles), or if you’re seriously hardcore you could do the full 95 mile West Highland Way race!

I had to drop out of the Highland Fling race during training due to injury and had this in mind over my training for the Devil. Too much running on tarmac was my downfall for the Fling, even though I was also on the Pentlands a lot. I stuck mostly to trails for the Devil training, but still doing some road as there’s a lot of hard stones on the rough trails of the Devil, so too much soft ground training would also be a mistake as I’d need to be used to the impact.

Jan and I went up to the Strathfillan Wigwams the afternoon before the race. Unfortunately any thoughts of an early nights sleep were quickly shattered by a neighbouring wigwam blasting out heavy techno music at seriously loud levels till 11pm, but still very noisy till 3am! With getting up at 3:30 to get ready for race registration at 4:30, I got about 2 hours sleep with the noise. I was still positive about the race though as I remember I had serious insomnia before the Lochness marathon back in 2010 and all was fine once I got started.

We headed down to the Green Welly Stop at Tyndrum who were open super early to take us all in before the race and we got our two drop bags and race finish bags dropped in and picked up our bib numbers and time chips. We met Sadie, Gilly and Alan there and we had some coffee before heading to the start. We headed off at 6:00am on quite a damp but fine morning.

There were only two things that were needed in our kit, a foil blanket and a mobile phone, which was great as some races need you to take quite a bit. There was a kit check at mile 7 and everybody got checked.

Stations:
P1 – Bridge of Orchy – 7 miles – water
CP2 – Glencoe Ski Centre – 17 miles – water – drop bags
CP3 – Kinlochleven – 27 miles – water – Coke – drop bags
CP4 – Lundavra – 35 miles – water – Coke

With this being my first ultra I was quite worried about it being over 50% longer than any run I’d ever done before! I’d done quite a few 26 mile runs over my training, but the one week I was to do the longest run of my schedule of 31 miles I went on a three day Munro trek. This turned out to be fantastic cross training really, but I still was concerned how I’d manage another 16 miles on top of anything I’d run before over quite a tough course. I decided early on that I’d just take it easy, as finishing was important and time was not so much for my first ultra. I started off keeping to a slow 10 minute mile or so, this was quite easy going and I thought it would be easy to keep to along the route apart from obvious steep parts I’d have to fast trek.

The first section of the race was brilliant and even the masses of midges that were landing on us all were not any trouble as they quickly drowned in our sweat before biting…. Nice! We were rewarded with great views after ascending to higher ground. Fantastic lochs and hills along the way as we notched up the miles.

We got our chips scanned manually at Bridge of Orchy and headed onto the Glencoe station where Susie jumped out from behind the woman registering my number and gave me a hug! It was great to see a friendly face at mile 17, just before my first ever drop bag point. Thanks for marshalling taking everybodies time Susie! I however did what a few other runners were doing and sat down next to them to eat some salty crisps to avoid cramp and had a chat. I didn’t realise I should have really just grabbed everything and eaten as I was going, but I didn’t really have enough space in my bag to fit the extra food, so I thought eating it all there would be best. A lesson for next time not to do this as I was quite far back now.

After munching too much and heading back off I met Alan at the road crossing point, who was great for motivation! It was great entering Glencoe from the south this time (we headed from the north from the Red Squirrel campsite for the Glencoe Marathon I did last year which covers the second half of the Devil). The views were outstanding as we ran towards Buachaille Etive Mor, and then along most of the glen before heading up to the right to start our ascent of the Devil’s Staircase. We all got a lot of support from tourists trekking parts of the route along the way which was great. I was looking forward to seeing Yan at the top of the Devil’s staircase as he was playing the Bodhrán at the top, just across from the Devil with a pitch fork to spur us on! She was very encouraging and was handing out jelly babies.

The sun was still out and the views were brilliant looking down the glen from the top. I kept thinking how slow I was going compared to doing this section in the Glencoe Marathon. I’d not ran 18 miles or so before getting to this point before though. The stones descending the Devil’s Staircase were quite wet and I had to take it easy jumping from rock to rock on the way down to avoid slipping. I’d seen a few runners take bad falls on route and knew how easy it would be to get injured and not finish. I had tripped on a stone previously with my left foot and as I corrected myself I strangely pulled my right calf muscle. I did a couple of stretches and all was fine to carry on. I was taking too long to clear the slippery rocks and was getting quite worried about the cut off time at Kinlochleven. I however had well over an hour to spare when I got there and picked up my second drop bag. I again spent a bit too long there but not as bad as the first station. The marshals at the checkpoints were great and offered assistance with everything, from taking our litter from food, drink and jells, to handing out jelly babies and helping us refill our water.

I knew there was a steep forest climb after Kinlochleven but it wasn’t too bad and I had a chat with a few other runners along this section. I was looking forward to running past the Mamores mountains again and this didn’t disappoint. They again looked stunning in the sunshine and although it was now hotter, it wasn’t too bad. The scenery is so fantastic you really want to look at the views for a few seconds as you run, but this is very treacherous as the trail is scattered with stones and rocks. This section is great but quite long and it took me ages to get to the fourth and last check point. I was quite hot at that point and pored two cups of water over my head to cool down when I eventually reached the station. The marshals were again great and I had a good chat with them as well as other runners. After the flat run past the Mamores to Landavra, there’s a very long uphill section before heading down the forest track to the finish. I really started to slow even more here, but I was quite invigorated by the fact that I’d ran far further than I’d ever done before and knew I’d be able to finish even if I had to walk parts.

The views kept me going as my legs started to hurt. My knees were really complaining now at any downhill stony ground, which was all there was really! I eventually got to the forest trail section but couldn’t run very fast down the trail like I had done in the Glencoe marathon. It was great to see Ben Nevis towering up to the right of me through the trees. I thought I’ll be seeing you for the hill race next month if my knees are better! This was the finishing section of the Glencoe Marathon, so I was disappointed to see that we took a left turn up a smaller steep trail which totally wiped me out for the last mile or so. My watch was almost out of charge like myself, but still showed me I had covered more than 42 miles. I think I had zigzagged here and there and gained a mile by the end! It was great to hear the music from the finish line at last, and there was some totally brilliant soft grass before the finish line, so I managed to start running again to the finish line. I was a bit taken back how long it had taken me, I had thought I’d have been quicker but it wasn’t to be and I enjoyed it and had finished my first ultra which was the main thing.

Jan gave me a big hug as I crossed the finish and Alan handed me my goody bag. Gilly and Sadie were there too and we all had some great food in the finisher tent with a great selection of dishes as well as a free beer! We were all given a token for a free shower at the Sports Centre, so I headed there after as I knew I didn’t have too much time before getting the bus back to Tyndrum at 6:00 which was organized by the race and we paid for before the race. It was a fun journey back and we had a good chat with others runners who were also quite taken back at how long the bus took to get back to Tyndrum and so highlighted the distance we had run!

I’ll take some tips from this race for other ultras in the future and go for a better time.

This is a fantastic epic race and I’m very glad to have finally done it. Thanks to all the fellow Harriers for their support and banter along the way! Marshals Susie and Alan and runners Jan, Sadie and Gilly for such a fun weekend.

Penicuik Harrier times:
Jan Dawson: 8:36:13
Sadie Kemp: 8:36:13
Gilly Marshall: 9:04:05
Mark Dawson: 10:50:34