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This report is being written rather late, but the pictures of leaping harriers were so fantastic I thought they should appear here.
After basking in the hot sun whilst waiting for a lift to the race it was quite a shock to arrive at registration to be met with cold winds and the threat of rain. The hill itself could not be seen and I gestured in it’s general direction and told Michael, ‘it’s over there somewhere you can’t miss it’. Not only did we have the temperature to contend with but the midgies who were savage and outdid their highland cousins in their lust for human blood.

Auld Scotland, on thy bonnie face,
Whan Mither Nature gied ye grace,
Lown, birken glens an floery braes,
Wild windy ridges,
To save ye frae deleerit praise,
She gied ye midges.

The race soon began and on the way to the foot of the hill, I and many others, fell victim to the swamp-like terrain and went in knee deep or worse. Careful footing is needed in this race approaching the hill (marsh) and then once on the hill (rocks). The mist was thick on the top and as previously road cones were strategically placed to show us the way, I found these particularly useful on the return journey. Once at the finish we all scarpered quickly as the midgies were swarming like runners at a post-race buffet.

Results:
16 98 Stuart Sanderson 40.08
19 104 Rob Wilson 41.04
24 103 Michael Greens 41.57
51 91 Chris Downie 50.43
53 102 Sadie Kemp 52.45

Finish-line pictures:

After enjoying last year’s race so much I was looking forward to this greatly. I again travelled up with Billy, Daniel and Michael to camp at Glen Nevis campsite, one of my favourite locations. This was my 10th marathon and so I may have become a bit blasé in my marathon prep, after failing to follow any sort of training plan (rule number 1- always follow a training plan),
I realised on the days leading up to the race that I didn’t possess any running shoes capable of getting me round the course, so after buying a pair on the wednesday and trying them out at hill reps on thursday I started the race in an untested shoe. The same went for my running vest that had only been tried on once since it had come through my letterbox (rule 2 – always try out your gear beforehand).

Just to compound my rule breaking I decided it would be a good idea to walk up and down Ben Nevis the day before the race (rule 3- always rest in the days leading up to a marathon).

So I only have myself to blame for the fact I was slower than last year by several minutes (I must have angered the marathon gods). I did 03:55:35 last year and had hoped to get in under 4 hours this year too.
Hey ho it was a fantastic weekend and I love my new clobber, it was much better behaved than I was.

Result, out of 383 runners:
Position 87 Time 04:03:38 Cat position 7 Gender position 15

The backstory – Alan (Gilly’s better half :-)) had a back operation and his place for the Spartan was up for grabs. After an online gurning contest between me and Yan, I won – obviously the ugliest – me that is!

It was only afterwards that I asked what the Spartan was. Apparently – a trail race obstacle race –  there is the Spartan Sprint (3-5 miles), Super (~8 miles) and the Beast at 12-14 miles. We were doing the Beast! Ugh!

Luckily, I was running with Gilly and Sadie, so when I would undoubtedly become undone, I knew I had some strong alpha females to drag me across the line!

This Spartan Beast was a ~20 km “fun” run hill/trail race through the southern Pentland Hills (starting/finishing at Spittal Farm). Oh – and there are some obstacles! I have no idea how many there were (30+?) – the semi-tortures of the day have muffled my mind into a muddy hazy mess.

Here is a rather schematic map of the route (I am sure Gilly can produce a better one from her fancy Garmin). Truth be told, it is not the route itself that adds on the miles, it all the switchpacks and running/stumbling/staggering in circles that pile up the distance.

The Spartan Beast Route – sort of!

Here is an idea of the types of obstacles we had to go through – there were probably more, but I am sure you get the gist:

Wading through muddy pools, carrying sandbags (2 for guys and 1 for women – where’s that equality?), climbing walls (which got higher as the race went along), carrying logs ridiculous distances up and down steep muddy terrain (nightmare), crawling under barbed wire (never-ending – some electrified), carrying more logs up and down hills, climbing hoops and monkey bars, swimming and wading through parts of the North Esk Reservoir, throwing javelins at bales of hay, carrying buckets full of gravel (this was a xxxxxxx nightmare), breeze block dragging, tipping a caber (up and down slope!), horizontal wall traverse, more bloody logs, rope climb, and carrying a 50kg metal ball for 10 meters (epic fail for me – I had to go for the lighter girlie ball).

And if you do FAIL (or refuse to do) any of these, you have to do 30 burpees – basically a combo press-up and star jump.

And then between all of these obstacles – blissful running – I mean – blissful – one fully appreciates what a joy running is when your arms have popped out of their sockets a few times. I honestly think I might become a hill runner now :-).

What a day! Not sure at this moment if I’ll do it again, but a small little devil is already eating at my “competition brain cells” and asking “how quick do you think you could run it if you had not stayed with the girls?” However, it was great fun going round as a threesome and certainly much more relaxing than it would have been if I had gone for it. Maybe if Mike Brooks is fit next year…………?

A final thanks to both Gilly and Sadie for not getting too grumpy when I nearly broke their ankles. Moments of madness and puppy-like excitement – or it could have been the many many gels I consumed. I am still buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuzzzzzzzzzing!!!!

Rob

Results:

We came in 286^th from 687 finishers in 5:10:13

Sadie:  34^th F from 155; 6th F40-44 from 16.

Gilly: 34^th F from 155; 4^th F45-49 from 10. You look so good for your age. 🙂

Moi: 253^rd M from 532; 16^th M45-49 from 29.

James Bell was also running and came in 1^st in the Open Category in 2:59:18. EXCELLENT!!!

Distance 5 km
Climb 502 m

There were a total of 24 runners in this race. It’s short and sharp and a lot of fun. The race forms part of the ‘St. Ronan’s Border Games – Innerleithen’s Festival.
“Scotland’s Oldest Organised Sports Meeting, incorporating the Festival of St. Ronan”
THURSDAY 7 – SATURDAY 16 JULY 2016
http://www.stronansgames.org/
There was a great atmosphere with spectators out for the day with their fold out chairs and bottles of cider. The ‘shows’ were on for the kids and there had been a parade and other events on throughout the day. The race starts in Victoria park where you do a circuit of the park, whilst sprint races are going on, then you run up through the streets and then into the woods, there is a short section here that feels a bit like a cross country race then you are out on to the hill where it is up, up up. The path becomes a bit rocky near the top. You head for the cairn where some marshalls mark your hand with pen to show you have made it to the top. Then you turn round and retrace your steps to the finish line. This was Daniel’s first hill race and was a great one for beginners.

full results and pics
http://moorfootrunners.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/st-ronans-games-lee-pen-hill-race-report_17.html

Rachael and I were the only 2 ladies competing. Rachael got first lady and won herself some cash. 🙂

12= Michael Greens 00:33:17
18 Rachel Lees 00:38:08
19 Sadie Kemp 00:39:30
20 Chris Downie 00:39:41
22 Daniel Greens 00:41:20

Having tackled 3 hills yesterday I was ready for the 7 that awaited me in my most favourite city of Edinburgh. As this was my fourth attempt at this race you would think I would know the route pretty well now. Well for the most part I can find my way around Edinburgh without much difficulty you will be happy to hear. But I always find the middle part of this route a bit difficult and several times I missed an alleyway and was very glad some Portobello lassies did me the favour of shouting me back. It was great to see Dave en route and get some advice on which way to go before failing to take this into account and carry on following the people in front of me. By the time I got to Blackford hill I sent caution to the wind and tried a different route from previous years, avoiding getting my feet wet. This worked well until I lost confidence in myself and instead of heading straight along the path I headed up through the woods, then spent several minutes entangled in gorse, nettles and brambles. There was no way I was turning back down at this point so I scrambled on up the hill and eventually came back to the path not far from the top of the hill where the piper was entertaining everyone. From this point on the air got hotter as the sun broke through the clouds, I enjoyed the downhill here and saw Bert and Amy briefly. As I headed to Arthurs Seat I spotted Des, we took different routes up the hill. I headed for the most direct route simply as it was not a path I had taken before and I wanted to try it out. It was a very nice climb and I really enjoyed it. Once at the top of Arthurs seat all I could think of was being at the finish and having a nice cold drink. It seemed to be getting hotter and hotter. It wasn’t long before I got there and was handed my coaster (so pleased to now have a set of four to use at home :-)). I made sure I got my miniature of whisky for doing the double, Edinburgh marathon too. Not my best time for this race but I did enjoy it and was pleased to have completed my 10 hill weekend.

Race:

29 Des Crowe 2:05:03 (Freaking awesome time and winning himself a prize)
85 Yan Horsburgh 2:19:58
95 Kevin Anderson 2:23:14
121 Alasdair Hind 2:32:01
123 Andrew McDermott 2:32:17

Challenge:

48 Craig Davenport 2:36:16
75 Sadie Kemp 2:41:48
104 Amy Kerr 2:47:01
158 Melanie Dunbar 3:02:12
176 Susie Maxwell 3:05:05

Des with his prize

With the formidable Des Crowe

My battle scars.

Distance 7.2 km
Climb 480 m

These little hills look rather innocent in this picture and might fool you into thinking this is a rather easy run. Well on the day they proved to be a slippery and cantankerous beast. The sun had been shining as we left Penicuik, and in what seemed to be a cruel twist of fate the rain was coming in heavy downpours at our destination in melrose. We picked up our numbers at the Rugby club, thought better of a warm-up on the waltzers that were there for the gala day and left our jackets in the car as this was a summer race and no amount of storm cloud was going to stop us from wearing vests. The race is fast and furious up through the town, through a narrow lane where the route bottlenecks for a couple of minutes, then up through the woods where you can take the wooden steps or take your chances through the trees. Then you are out onto the hillside. The going gets tough here, so the tough got going and i just slipped and skidded my way up as best I could trying not to be last. It was a good excuse not to run as the path was narrow and the rain had made the clay soil very sticky and slippery. Once onto the hill tops there was some nice running and the rain came and went without causing too much issue. The problems only came again when on the last downhill where even with hill shoes I couldn't get much traction. What goes up must come down, so I did but with little speed and even less grace. Back at the finish we didn't hang around for long as there was another downpour and news came over the tannoy that the sack race had been cancelled for safety reasons. So off we headed back to sunny Penicuik. I really should stop moaning as I do like a mud race and usually pay extra for it!

49 Duncan Ball M50 00:43:19
78 Rob Wilson M40 00:46:32
86 Michael Greens MU23 00:47:32
108 Gillian Cairns F40 00:49:42
156 Andrea Wilson F45 00:56:00
173 Sadie Kemp F40 00:59:03

The Venue:
Cultybraggan lies close to the village of Comrie, in west Perthshire. It was first used as a prisoner of war camp during World War II, and then became an Army training area. It later housed a Royal Observer Corps nuclear monitoring post, and a Regional Government Headquarters.

The camp ceased to be used by the military in 2004, and now belongs to the Comrie Development Trust, bought through a community right-to-buy option for £350,000 in 2007. There are now allotments and small businesses contained in the camp.

Some of the original 100 Nissen huts on the western side of the camp were demolished in the 1970s to make way for a firing range, but the majority remain. The surviving huts, together with an assault course and modern Officers’ Mess facility, make Cultybraggan “one of the three best preserved purpose-built WWII prisoner of war camps in Britain”. More info here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultybraggan_Camp

A couple of the huts were used for registration and changing rooms. There was the possibility of camping which was free to runners, but as the forecast wasn’t great we opted for driving up in the morning. Yan and I headed off at 5.45, Vicky made her own way there.

The Race:
We were set off to the sound of pipers and did a little loop of the camp before we headed out on to the roads. There is about 1500 feet of ascent and the route is on quiet B roads, so the traffic isn’t stopped.

The route winds up for quite a while then out over the moors. There is quite a steep hill around mile 11, so I took the chance to walk a bit and eat something at this point. I didn’t take any gels or drinks and just made use of the frequent water stations that were provided (water points at approximately 3, 7.5, 10.5, 14, 18.5, 21.5 and 24 miles). The marshals were fantastic and didn’t let the drizzly weather dampen their spirits. The pipers appeared at various points on the course and it was fantastic to hear their drone float over the moorlands as we ran. The finish line was well managed and our names were shouted out as we crossed the line.

There were showers available on site which were very welcome as we were soaked to the skin on the course. Then it was off to one of the other huts for multitudes of home baking and tea. Mark Beaumont was there to help out with the prize giving. The race had a lovely community spirit and is a marathon I will have a go at again in the future.

Route map :

Route profile:

The Results:

14 201 Yan Horsburgh MV50 3:10:01
61 35 Sadie Kemp FV40 3:44:40
153 36 Vicky Lyon FV40 5:38:44

On Wednesday night, 12 hilly Harriers turned up for this fast but fun hill race. It was a lovely sunny evening, though a bit on the warm side. For some of us, this was our third race in a week (getting my excuses in early!). The course was incredibly dry, not very typical of our usual hill runs, making for some slightly slippy moments in hill shoes. It’s such a fast run and I was really glad to reach the Kips so that I could slow down. My legs were reasonably ok until the final plunge down the tarmac hill, and was also passed by two speedy ladies in the last couple of minutes of the race. I really needed Rachel Cambell’s legs at that point for a final
sprint!

As usual a great race to do, but it never gets easier! I think all of us were very happy with our times too. Nobody got lost / ended up back in Penicuik instead of at the finish, so all good. Great representation from Penicuik Harriers too! Well done all.

28 Des Crowe 0:49:55
44 Billy Colvin 0:53:06
68 Gill Cairns 0:56:49
71 James Bell 0:57:38
74 Michael Greens 0:58:51
80 Tim Doyle 1:00:08
86 Jan Dawson 1:01:16
87 Chris Downie 1:01:25
95 Tracy Philp 1:03:09
99 Mel Dunbar 1:05:54
100 Sadie Kemp 1:06:05
109: Michael Philp 1:09:15

I hadn’t originally planned to do this race, and wasn’t even aware of it until recently, but it suddenly became a ‘must do’ long classic. Having done Stuc and then Slioch in the last month or so, I was in the mood for another long-distance hill run.

The big drawback of this race is its distance from Penicuik i.e. the north end of Skye. After some deliberation I decided to repeat the Slioch experience and use my brother’s house as a B&B and drive from N. Kessock to Portree on the morning of the race. The various route planners suggested under two and a half hours which meant an early start of 6:15 to leave the house at 6:45. But by the time I had filled my camelback and faffed around, it was 6:55 when I actually left. Fotunately there was little traffic on the Saturday morning and
I got to Porteee High School at 9:10, leaving me just about enough time to write down the 7 check point grid references on my maps and get organised. We were issued with a set of plastic numbered tags (which we were told to leave in the check point baskets) had our kit checked and listened to the Organiser’s briefing.

At 10:00 we boarded the coach and headed north for Flodigarry. Apparently we were going to run back south all the way along the Trotternish ridge, past the Old Man of Storr to the Storr Lochs Dam (Loch Leathan) – a mere 18.5 miles. This is a smidgen under the length of the Two Breweries, but has 11 hills as opposed to just six. It looked spectacular on paper and we weren’t going be disappointed.

It was quite warm at the start, the sun was out and most people were in vests, but there was no indication that there would be any problem with heat – it would be cool on the ridge surely. However, as soon as we set off, it became hard work and hot. Past two lochans and a rocky path and we were soon on the ridge and the first hilltop with Checkpoint 1. Then an enjoyable long descent down to Checkpoint 2 at a small carpark on a minor road. There were only 2 water stations on the route so I took a reasonable swig of a water bottle.

Checkpoint 3 was three climbs and over 4 miles away, so I settled back and paced myself with a couple of other runners. I seemed to be well up the field and began to wonder if I had gone off too quickly – especially as the HBT first lady of Slioch was somewhere behind me. The long climb up to Checkpoint 3 on Beinn Edra was long and quite stodgy. The Organiser had encouraged us not to follow the ridge line the whole way – partly so that we wouldn’t scare the tourists and partly so that we wouldn’t fall off the edge of the numerous cliffs on the eastern side. I am sure that it would have been firmer most of the time on the ridge.

I was beginning to suffer a bit from the heat and the legs weren’t performing as well as they should 8 miles in. The ridge was getting more spectacular with sheer basalt cliffs and steep gullies to the left and great views in every direction. I was holding my map but it was still quite difficult deciding whether to stick to the ridge line or traverse around a lump.

By this time, other runners were beginning to slowly overtake me, including the HBT first lady, and I was starting to think in terms of survival and getting to the finish rather than trying to be competitive. Another three climbs and we were at Checkpoint 4 and the second (and last) water station on Bealach na Leacaich. Well over half way now, but some stonking climbs to come.

Two shortish climbs and about a mile and we were at Checkpoint 5 – a bit of a moral-booster, only two more checkpoints! However, the next section was still 3 1/2 miles long and had the two biggest hills. In order to miss out the next small bump, we attempted to traverse around it. In hindsight, we should have just followed the ridge as the traverse was very hard with tired legs and the onset of heatstroke. Inevitably there was one canny ridge-runner who gained a good hundred yards on us traversers.

Off the ridge, down a steep gully and down into the Bealach Hartaval and the start of monster climb number one. Crikey, we were starting to go very slowly. After much slogging and comparing of poor bodily status with a couple of other toiling runners (walkers) we reached the summit of Hartaval – how could this hill be only 668m?? Unfortunately, monster climb number two was now in sight. How would I ever get up that thing?

‘That thing’ was ‘The Storr’ (I am sure that Rob could tell me if that means anything useful in Gaelic – huge insurmountable pain in the butt hill for instance?). Oh, apparently ‘Storr’ is Norse in origin and is thought to mean ‘Great Man’. The sting in the tail was an extra checkpoint added because SNH didn’t want sweaty clomping runners spoiling a ‘sensitive area of springs and flushed gravels’ – which I fully understand and respect – but when I couldn’t even jog up a 1 in 50 gradient from Checkpoint 6 to Checkpoint 7 at the top of The Storr, I did do some muttering under my breath.

Having got rid of my last tag, it was now all down hill – easy you would think. Not so – the legs were shot and starting to cramp and progress was slow and ungainly. We back-tracked north down past Checkpoint 6 until a marshall directed us east and down to the Old Man of Storr path. I had exhausted all my supplies of water by this time and was relieved to be offered a cup of tepid water. Only another 2 miles to the finish.

There were so many walkers paths around the Old Man that we had to follow a marked path – for some reason we were banned from the main ‘tourist’ path. Despite the fact that my legs (and feet) were killing me, I could still appreciate the stunning scenery of massive pillars of basalt and towering cliffs. Phew, there was the loch and the dam, but how to get to the road? The last yellow arrow was pointing vaguely at a bog which had sprung strange orange and red poles – were these for our benefit or was this another SNH no-go area? Would I be set upon by an SNH-trained red deer or golden eagle? Fortunately the delirium passed and I got to the road without mishap. Then it was just a painful tarmac slog to the dam and at last the finish. Phew.

There was an impressive spread of cakes, juice, tea and soup but I was now feeling so queasy from overheating and too many gels that I couldn’t eat much at all. Annoyingly, Jill of HBT was bouncing around looking as though she had just run a couple of miles rather than 18! A short drive in the minibus and I was back at my car in Portree. There was going to be a prize giving and then free food in the Portree Community Centre at seven, but as I had intended to get back to Penicuik that evening, I didn’t want to hang around.

As I didn’t think it would be possible to drive for six hours in my current state, I negotiated a shower and baked tattie back at my sister-in-laws house and was quite sprightly by the time I hit the A9.

What a trip! Well worth all the driving, but next time I might spend a few days on Skye and do a bit more sight-seeing – such a magic place! On second thoughts, after a run like that, I would just be sitting around watching seals.

I haven’t seen any results yet, but I was well down the field with a time of around 4:20.

Duncan.

It has taken me four years to gently persuade Andrea to run a mountain marathon (MM) and the final Highlander seemed like a good opportunity. As Andrea’s first, and my second (I ran the LAMM B-course in 2009 with Julian Hall), we decided to start with the “easy” course – D.

There are five course options, D through to A and Score. At about ~20 kms and 1000m climb per day, we felt that this was enough for a first time 2 day running event. Distance, height and navigation gets longer/harder up towards A. At ~£90/team pair, it might not be the cheapest race on the planet but as it includes food on the 1^st night and at the finish, plus a ceilidh with fabulous organisation and camaraderie, I can honestly say that the last 2 days were the most fun I have had for ages.

All we knew for the last month was that registration would be up in Cannich (near Glen Affric). We blitzed up there on Friday evening, registered and went for a leisurely beer at the one bar in the village – already full of runners buzzing with chat.

Day 1 – 19kms, 1010m

We decided to go for the 8.30am start, allowing some time for my creaky old body to unstiffen from camping. It was while getting ready and having a Latte at the campsite café that we bumped into Tim and Kate Darlow. Arrgh – they were doing the D-course as well. What started out as a leisurely 2 days jog through the hills, suddenly got a tad more competitive. Game on!!! They were starting at 9.30, so would be an hour behind us. Hopefully they would not overtake us. Kirsty Loudon was also running the D course and was a tad nervous.

Runners were bussed to the start – at this point, we still did not know where we were going, but it was soon clear that it was not Glen Affric and we took the windy road up into Glen Cannich – being dropped off up near the dam.

The way these MM’s work is that your time is electronically tagged at multiple way points which you must navigate between. Miss a point – disqualified! This is therefore not simply a hill run, the navigation is crucial and the terrain is rough – few paths. You also need to carry in food, stove, tent etc, so you cannot think – och – just like Dollar – no worries – under 2 hrs.

At the start, you are given a waterproof map, and a list of waypoints (OS coordinates). A quick frantic marking on the map of the points, check with your partner that you both agree – berate Andrea for getting 3 points wrong and then sprint off up the hill towards the first checkpoint (CP) and 19kms and 1010m of hopefully problem free running.

Now – you might have had lovely sunny weather these past few days, but Saturday morning in Glen Cannich was overcast and grey with low cloud. Already CP 1 was in the cloud and as we got higher the mist just got thicker and thicker – visibility being 50-100 meters. Far from ideal when one is trying to find a small orienteering kite. I will not go into a lot of detail, but finding CPs 2 and 3 was really tough in the mist. Andrea would put it down to my navigation skills, but to be honest, there was a luck element. However, with only minimal discussion and double checking, we hit the CPs bang on. At CP4 the weather started clearing up, the cloud burning off and by the time we were down in Glen Strathfarrar, it was pleasantly sunny but not too hot. The final 5 CPs were straightforward as most of the climbing had been done earlier. Like any long race, the key issue is nutrition but I think we both did a pretty good job on Day 1 – certainly only minor cramp at worst. The final km descent to the campsite was a nice grassy track and after the bogs and tussocks was a nice end to the day. We still had juice in our legs which was important as not only had we a second day ahead of us, there would be a ceilidh in 6 hours.

Overall, we did rather well. We came 3^rd in the D course in 4:58:30. Tim and Kate had problems on one of the CPs in the mist and came in 6^th in 5:16:07. All to play for in Day 2. (Andrea: Oh no – could see Rob’s competitive eyebrow twitching when he saw our time. I knew day 2 would now not be the same leisurely cruise. Treated myself with 2 beers to psyche myself up). Kirsty and partner came in at 10:12:05, but not last so I think she was happy.

Campsite

Unlike the LAMM, the Highlander is a rather civilised affair. There is a huge marquee with food and a bar, tables, chairs and space for dancing. There was plenty of space for the 100s of small 2 person tents (> 500 runners) and the weather was lovely. The wind was stiff enough to keep the midges away while not cooling the air temperature down. We all lounged around drinking beer, eating copious amounts of pasta, chips and burgers (trust me, you cannot eat enough!) and when the sun went down behind the hills, we gravitated back into the marquee for the ceilidh which was a laugh although I toned down my usual energetic approach to dancing as I did not want to injure myself 🙂 . I tried to get Tim drunk, but he was adamant on having only a half – secretly, I think he was taking our little battle seriously – I know I was!!

Day 2 – 16.5 kms, 960m

So – me, Tim, Kate and Andrea (Andrea: Why did he put me last? Subconscious mistrust in the running partner?), being within an hour of the leading pair were in the chasing start. What this means is that from 7-8am, the bulk of the runners start off at their own leisurely speed, but we started in reverse order at specific times relative to our time behind the leaders. So the leaders started at 8.30am, Andrea and I at 8.09 am (a nice lie in actually) and Tim and Kate ~16 mins before that. Andrea only got one point wrong – getting better!! 🙂

The first kilometre was flat and quick and I was amazed how good my legs felt (Andrea: Great for some. My legs felt like 2 well rooted tree stumps). We caught Kirsty up around CP2 and missed it by accident because I was busy saying Hi. Luckily we realised quickly and backtracked and then started the scrubby climbed up the first hill. This was probably the toughest part of Day 2 as we climbed up through mixed pine/deciduous woodland with copious amounts of deep heather. After shredding our legs for about 15 minutes and getting quickly tired, I found a deer track which took us to the edge of the woodland and the ascent was much easier and we soon started passing multiple D course participants. We again entered the mist, but it was already burning off by 9.30 and by the time we got to CP3, patches of sun were already breaking through.

Just as we got to CP3, Tim and Kate came loping towards us – somehow we had caught them up – they had again gotten a little lost – Game on indeed. The pressure was now on them. At CP4, we were above the cloud and the views were amazing with mist still down in the valleys below us. However, it soon became clear that it was going to be a hot one. We managed to keep just behind Tim and Kate until CP6, but Andrea was starting to flag a little with the heat (Andrea: and the extremely hard effort I put in that day! When I finally caught up with Rob – too sick to even utter a word, he asked me if I wouldn’t mind speeding up a bit. “Are you not even a little bit competitive?”)   and T+K slowly edged away. The good news was that we had done the hard climbs already and from CP8 the route was straightforward and the terrain not to tortuous on our ankles. From CP 11, we could already see Cannich and the finish in the distance and from CP12, there was a good track all the way down to the road. I would not say we flew down but we made it. Of course, once we hit the road, we still had a km to go. It was then that my legs decided to start cramping. Ugh! Despite the ungainly nature of the last 500 meters we still came in under 4hrs at 3:53:17. Tim and Kate had made up for their lost time at 3:53:29. I missed Kirsty coming in; their time was 7:17:05.

Full results for the D course are here: http://www.sportident.co.uk/results/2016/Highlander/overall/d_class.html

Summary:

Andrea and Rob: 3^rd overall (1^st mixed vets, 2^nd mixed team, 2^nd vets): 08:51:47.

Kate and Tim: 4^th overall (3^rd mixed team): 09:09:36.

Kirsty and Ina: 48^th (from 49 completing pairs): 17:29:10

The prizing giving logic was a little confusing, but got excellent trophies for 2^nd vets.

What a fabulous weekend. I think we might have the bug and am pretty sure we’re going to do another MM. Tim and Kate would have been on top of us if they had not slightly messed up their navigation so we are pretty much agreed to do the LAMM next year – possibly the C course!!!

If we could get more Harrier’s pairs to do this, it would make a great weekend, although this was the last Highlander. The LAMM is more serious – no ceilidh and extra food – but the running similar. You have to bring your own entertainment.

Rob and Andrea

PS. Thanks to Sarah for tent and Julian for the sleeping bag

What a lovely day to be beside the seaside.

Well done to Yan on coming second in his category.

10 29:29 Yan Horsburgh male SV
75 33:20 Sadie Kemp female vet

Full results: http://www.portobellorunners.co.uk/component/content/article/534-porty-beach-race-2016-results

Gilly and I hadnt done an OCR for a while and decided to give this one a try. This was Michael’s first OCR so he went on ahead to see what kind of time he could get. Gilly and I decided to go at an easy pace and have a few giggles along the way. Well this race delivered. There was plenty of mud to crawl through, we were in the river a few times and there was an inflatable water slide that was alot of fun. 🙂

7958 1:41:21 1:41:02 Gilly Marshall (F) V40 3.67 mph 16:20 min/mile
7944 1:41:21 1:41:03 Sadie Kemp (F) V40 3.67 mph 16:20 min/mile
7922 1:07:31 1:07:18 Michael Greens (M) U20 5.51 mph 10:53 min/mile

Full results: https://www.britmilfit.com/major-series/results/

Plus we raised some money for the Royal British Legion.
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/sadie-kemp2