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

Another great turn out for the club. This is such a fun race and getting a free beer at the end is a bonus!

58 YAN HORSBURGH 28:43
189 RACHEL DRUMMOND 32:10
211 MICHAEL GREENS 32:39
233 GILLIAN CAIRNS 32:57
237 ANDREW MCDERMOTT 33:04
386 TRACY PHILP 35:33
406 SADIE KEMP 36:00
486 RACHEL MCGAVIN 37:00
609 MICHAEL PHILP 38:51
755 GILLY MARSHALL 41:41

Full Results: http://www.blackrock5.org/results/2016

We got cracking weather for the 5 miler, and some great times for the harriers. Amy came first 40W and the ladies were second womens team. Derek was first home out of the harriers and the guys were fifth mens team:

29 30:58:00 Derek Newport 50M
35 31:18:00 Yan Horsburgh 50M
64 34:01:00 Amy Kerr 40W
66 34:21:00 Rachel Drummond SW
69 34:33:00 Allan Dunbar 40M
76 35:29:00 Michael Greens JM
94 37:25:00 Sadie Kemp 40W
102 38:05:00 Rachel Mcgavin SW
128 46:04:00 Julie Young 40W

full results here: http://www.caac.org.uk/sites/all/_files/_publicdocuments/caac52016.pdf

We got great weather for the 2 races with it just becoming too warm in the last few miles of the marathon. Some great times for the harriers well done all. 🙂

Half marathon:
534 Rachel Drummond (17412) 1h 33m 51s (6th in age category)
790 William Dickson (16318) 1h 36m 59s
1231 Louise Campbell (18680) 1h 41m 4s
1592 Rachel Mcgavin (19917) 1h 44m 19s
1674 Ezmie Mccutcheon (19514) 1h 44m 59s
3333 Ngeme Ntuli (24849) 1h 55m 31s
6775 Sandra Vick (26702) 2h 19m 16s

Marathon:
1160 Sadie Kemp (3604) 3h 38m 46s
2397 Tracy Philp (5133) 3h 59m 44s
5300 Christopher Burns (10292) 4h 58m 52s
6233 Vicki Lyon (12351) 5h 41m 53s

Well done to our hairy haggis team (position 83 out of 429) :
1st Leg Mark Snodgrass (8.3 miles) : 1h 5m 34s
2nd Leg Eugenio Garcia (5.5 miles) : 43m 38s
3rd Leg Julie Young (8 miles) : 1h 16m 27s
4th Leg Michael Philp (4.4 miles) : 37m 44s
Gun Time:3h 44m 41

I had wanted to do this race for some time, so when Mel and Jan mentioned it on Facebook I was tempted. When Jan suggested we indulge in a bit of fancy dress I was sold on the idea. We got money off the race entry for making the effort too. We had Jan the Zombie, Michael the Pirate and I was a fairy. When we arrived at registration there were a lot of club vests and we appeared to be the only ones in costume. So we started our warmup and tried to blend in.

Nearer the start nuns, clowns and spartans to name but a few began to appear and we were reassured that we had not fallen for a dastardly trick. The race is 2 miles up, 2 miles along and 2 miles down roughly, so after the hill you can really let yourself go and enjoy the downhill. I enjoyed it so much I tweaked my hamstring slightly and was grateful to Jan for some ‘biofreeze’to ease it. This was a really fun race with a lovely atmosphere and lots of locals out to give support. There was one water station halfway round but although it was a warm evening I didn’t need to stop. At the finish we were handed a bag with water, a banana, a cereal bar and a voucher for a free coffee at ‘Craigdon mountain sports’. I just might have to go along for that coffee and a browse….

results:

21 37:45 Derek Newport
46 41:41 Michael Greens
47 41:44 Kevin Anderson
66 43:07 Jan Dawson
90 44:45 Sadie Kemp
108 47:22 Mel Dunbar

It was a beautiful sunny evening as we left Penicuik. As we got closer the Peebles the skies blackened and the rain began. It would stay like this until after the race, when the sun found its way out from behind the clouds. We were all thoroughly soaked as most of us had dressed for the summer. This didn’t dampen our enjoyment of the race though and we were all smiles at the finish. Great turn out again for Penicuik harriers. Nice to see Scott and Rob out supporting too.

23 Des Crowe 0:37:35 121.0%
25 Yan Horsburgh 0:37:53 121.9%
34 Billy Colvin 0:39:00 125.5%
37 Mike Brooks 0:39:32 127.3%
52 Gillian Cairns 0:41:48 134.5%
55 Michael Greens 0:42:03 135.4%
65 Andrew McDermott 0:44:26 143.0%
72 Christopher Downie 0:46:23 149.3%
73 Tracy Philp 0:46:37 150.1%
74 Sarah Burthe 0:47:44 153.6%
75 Sadie Kemp 0:48:39 156.6%
76 Melanie Dunbar F40 0:48:46 157.0%
70 Rachael Lees 0:45:51 147.6%
78 Kate Crowe 0:49:30 159.3%
82 Ali Hilton 0:50:55 163.9%
83 Michael Philp 0:51:04 164.4%

A DOUBLE REPORT FROM DUNC AND ROB

Rob’s bit 

Torridon is one of my favourite regions of the Scottish Highlands and I cannot believe I have waited this long to finally run the Slioch Hill Race. Slioch is a beast even for fell walking – its Gaelic meaning is “the Spear” – and the mountain dramatically dominates the skyline at the eastern end of the Torridon region. This is the 2^nd race in the Scottish Long Classic Series.

http://www.scottishhillrunners.uk/Championship.aspx?ChampionshipID=C-006

The conditions were very wet this year and the race officials decided to shorten the race a wee bit and cut out the full horseshoe (about 1km shorter) which was a real shame as the weather did improve and I am pretty sure we would have had no problems on the descent off Sgurr an Tuill Bhan. Anyway – the edited route is shown below and at ca. 18.2 kms and 1100m climb, it is still not an insignificant race and in fact race times appeared quite similar to previous years.

Slioch Race Route 2016

Duncan and I stayed at his brother’s house in Inverness the night before so we had a leisurely start on race day and got to Kinlochewe with plenty of time to register, cogitate the alternative route and jog the mile to the start. The rain had lashed down all night and it was still raining when we were all huddled at the start line. Despite the rain, there was little wind and the air temperature was mild, so deciding on what to wear was not that easy as it was mild at the bottom but presumably colder on the peaks.

At noon the start “bell” rang and we sprinted off. The first 4 kms was a relatively flat trail (minor undulations) but a little technical in places as it was so wet. Rocks were slippy and all the streams coming off the hillside were in spate. I tried to keep up with Steve Fallon for a while who was loping along in his usual style but he kept going his own route through the undergrowth so decided to follow the main line of runners on the track. Duncan passed me after about 1 km meaning I could finally concentrate on running (and enjoying?) this race for the first time with no pressure of trying to beat a PB.

Slioch race profile – full route

After crossing the bridge at the bottom of Gleann Bianasdail, the route started to climb – gently at first, but after about a kilometre, the route left the main path (more often a river actually) and went straight up to the summit of Sgurr Dubh. The cloud was down at this point so all one could see when looking up was this behemoth of a mountain disappearing into the cloudy murk. If you think the climb out of Glen Sax on Stuc a’ Chroin is steep, then you’re in for a shock if you do this race. Best technique – doggy style – all fours!! The main issue for me was that I assumed we would have to come down the same route (should have looked at the map) – that would have been horrendous so I was cursing the climb while mildly panicking about the descent. Luckily, the return descent was on the other side of the hill along the track although that was far from easy.

On reaching Sgurr Dubh, the route became nicely runnable and the cloud lifted for a while and we had great views. Bar a steep sandy/gravely section after the 2 lochs, the broad ridge traverse to Slioch submit was great fun and my legs soon loosened up after the steep climb. The wind kicked up for a while around the final summit and I had to put on my hat and gloves, but these soon came off again on the downhill plunge after the turn around.

One does not really fully appreciate the technical nature of a race until you are trying to sprint down a mountain. The descent was horribly technical and the wet rocks and bog made the descent a gnarly, slippy uncomfortable run. I fell quite a few times – my right arm having quite a few scrapes now – but did not do any serious damage. I mostly followed a V50 lady as she seemed to know the optimal route which only became embarrassing when she popped off the path for a pee. Enough said! Having made it down to the bridge at the bottom, there remained the nice leisurely “flat” 4km run back to the finish. However, despite sucking on an energy gel on the final descent, there was nothing left in my legs. What was a nice sprint out, was now a slow stumbling jog back with me reduced to walking every little rise.

This was a tough race. Although shorter and less height than Stuc a’ Chroin 3 weeks ago, the conditions really made this quite technical and was far from ideal for someone trying to overcome Achilles tendonitis. I would love to do this in dry conditions though – next year!!! Bar the technical nature of the terrain, the worst part is the ascent up Sgurr Dubh. From there to the summit is an epic few kilometres which I would love to do on a sunny day – the views are epic.

Now unfortunately (written Sunday), as my final training weekend before the Highlander in 2 weeks, I must go for a run today and see how well my legs function!

——————–

Dunc’s Bit

Although Slioch is a shorter distance than Stuc a’ Chroin, which we suffered three weeks ago, I was still slightly nervous about this race. I had walked up Slioch twice before and it had taken hours and hours! But mainly due to the 4km walk-in from Incheril – although, this is not usually a problem because of the great path and stunning scenery.

It was a bit miserable at the start with most people wearing their emergency waterproofs to keep warm and fend off the rain (except for the usual manic ones with just vests). And as well as the prospect of mist and no views, we wouldn’t even be running the horseshoe ridge (due to the poor conditions). A couple of minutes before 12:00, we stuffed our soggy tops into our backpacks and waited for the starter’s cow bell (the hooter had been dropped in a burn or something).

Once going, we soon warmed up, forgot the rain, concentrated on the wet path and tried to keep up with Steve Fallon of Carnethy. He seemed to be powered by something other than carbohydrate and we soon gave up – not even turbo-Stuart would have been able to stay with him. The field was obviously high quality (he says hopefully), as there seemed to be lots of runners in front of us. But I had resolved not to go too fast, pace myself and enjoy the run as much as possible.

Being used to the ‘tourist route’ up to the coire, the steepness of the climb was a mild shock, but having done the Arrochar Alps last year which had at least three such climbs, I wasn’t too perturbed. And, unlike Rob, remembered that we wouldn’t be coming back down the same way! From the top of Sgurr Dubh, it was much more pleasant and I was mostly running with three other runners – one of which was the first lady, so I must be doing OK.

We did get a bit of a view at the summit and could see all the way down to Kinlochewe and across to Beinn Eighe in some places through the patchy mist. Of course, we could also see the horseshoe ridge which looked perfectly runnable and quite inviting. But it was good to know that it was now all downhill, and I wondered if I had been going hard enough and had left too much in reserve. That thought soon disappeared as we slipped and slithered back down towards the main coire. By this time the rain had stopped but it had all been dumped onto the hill which was now beyond soggy with happy new burns appearing every few feet.

I thought that my down-hilling had improved over the last year or so, but I couldn’t shake off any of our small group and almost came a cropper a couple of times attempting it. After many slippery rocks, burns and bogs, we reached the raging torrent at the bottom of the hill and started the flat slog to the finish. Despite having eaten a gel and plenty of energy drink/electrolyte, my legs were not functioning all that well on the bumpy path and the first lady and the two other runners slowly pulled ahead. However, it was still a respectable pace and the finish appeared after not too much pain and joyfully no cramp!

I think I can truthfully recommend this race (in better weather) and the organisation was great with stupendously good soup/stew stuff in the hall and a bottle of beer for all finishers. We will definitely have to come back sometime to do the horseshoe. Now I have to get back to the Birthday Cake and Birthday Beer.

——————–

Full results here:

http://www.scottishhillracing.co.uk/RaceResults.aspx?RaceID=RA-0214&Year=2016

Winning time was 2hrs 12 seconds. Of 61 runners, Duncan came in 21^st (2:24:18 – 2^nd lady) and I stumbled in 38^th (2:49:10 – 3^rd FV50).

Rob and Duncan

Thanks to all who took part in the 33rd Penicuik 10k Road Race – finally some excellent weather for running (and marshaling, being involved, supporting and recording!). Although some of you might have thought it was a little too warm… Well done and thanks to everyone – runners, marshals, supporters and anyone who gave up their time to make it happen.

Results are now online at http://penicuikharriers.org.uk/10k-road-race/10k-race-results/.

Category winners are available here http://penicuikharriers.org.uk/10k-road-race/10k-race-results/race-results-category-winners/

Some video of the start and finish will follow in the next few days, however, in the meantime, long term friend of our race Bob Marshall has already uploaded a load of great photos which can be found here https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipPudhna-wlVR2uo-LdrCYHnrt1AZjSFPAYBsxViYelfh-riZGTyYfrn6gwpnzXHGg?key=dnI0ZFRqSzBITnlhdnZTanlGWkR6b1JLc3lxNnVn Thanks again Bob!

We’ll also be adding to our own photo album which has had a good head start with photos from young photographer Jake Horseburgh; thanks Jake! https://goo.gl/photos/E5zmmK181wpWwMv66

Update: Also, plenty of photos now on our Facebook Page (thanks Chris Burns).

Thanks again and see you all next year

Susie, Race Organiser

Bit of a last minute decision to do this one, but it had always been on my list as it’s another long distance effort (20 miles) through my lovely home county. But maybe too long after the 50k two weeks prior? At least I’d be trained up for it! So, after some car-sharing-shuttling shenanigans was hastily arranged, Allan Dunbar, Ngeme Ntuli and I set off for Porty Prom.

The weather was pretty grim on the day. No rain, but cloudy, cold and most importantly – very windy. North Easterly too, in the exact direction we were heading. Looking back on the race’s history this seems to be a common occurrence. Well, it is a coastal run so it’s sort of to be expected, even in early May. So, after faffing about with various kit combinations I settled on a thin base layer, club vest, gloves and buff and combined with a pair of shorts to catch any rays of sun that might eek out through the clouds. We gathered at registration pretty early so Allan could drive all the way to NB to drop off his car where his mate had gamely agreed to pick him up and drive him back to Portobello. Ngeme and I set off for the start-line about 10:40, which is just as well as it was a fair walk to the start line from the Sports Centre. At the start coach Dave (officiating on the day) was trying to mark out a line in talcum powder, which was a challenge in the wind! Lining up with a nice smell of talc in our noses, Ngeme and I saw Allan dashing up to the start just in time for the gun (11:00).

Off along Porty Prom we went, Allan and I running together while Ngeme decided to hang further back and enjoy the distance at a more leisurely pace. I was expecting to be left for the seagulls by Allan pretty early on but by some miracle this didn’t happen, which was probably a result of a knee injury he sustained on a training run we did in the Pentlands a month before, where my constant gabbling led to a momentary lapse of concentration on the marshy track! The gabbling continued a fair few miles into this race too, to the consternation of one runner who we kept passing/kept passing us, and who remarked “You’re obviously not trying hard enough if you’re talking so much!”. Ah well, it took our minds of the headwind. But I did keep hearing Dave in my head shouting “If you’re talking you’re not running!”. Sorry, coach.

Despite the chatting, glances at my Garmin showed a pretty steady sub-8min mile pace for the first half of the race. There were a few spectators out to cheer but mostly it was a dedicated set of marshals following us along the course who provided the encouragement. It was odd not seeing the familiar landmark of Cockenzie Power Station to help judge the distance, and running past the ghostly remains of it was even weirder.

By the approach to Gullane the constant pounding on tarmac was beginning to hurt, and I kept looking longingly at the nice soft John Muir Way trails that were tantalisingly close to the roads we were running along. The wind too, when out of the built-up areas, was getting pretty tiring. Along the golf course into Gullane I struggled with my bumbag to get some fuel and started to lag behind Allan. By the time we’d reached Dirleton though I’d caught him up, and slowly passed him on the way into NB. The long approach into town seemed to take forever, and I was counting each breath in and out just to keep going. Just past St Baldred’s Church there was a welcome bit of downhill, where my dad was waiting to wave me on. Then a short slog across the green to the finish, were Dave was recording the finishers. A quick chat with him and a hug from my dad and there was Allan, just behind.

A tough race, but a really good one. Made tougher by an uphill walk to the Sports Centre to pick up bags, coffee, tea and snacks. Even tougher still as I lead Allan and another runner the ‘scenic route’ there! Oh well, good to loosen off stiff legs before a stretch.

Mark and the kids were waiting at the Sports Centre. I didn’t stay for the prize-giving, as I was really cold and had the promise of BBQ food at my dad’s nearby. Later that night though I got a message from Dave – 2nd L40 over the line. Turns out there are some advantages to getting auld after all!

Results:
Jan Dawson – 2.40.22
Allan Dunbar – 2.41.38
Ngeme Ntuli – 3.28.26

Full results here.

I have googled the meaning of “Stuc a` Chroin” and there appears to be two definitions bouncing around the inter-web.

1. Peak of the little sheepfold
2. Peak of harm or danger

For anyone who has ever run this race, I think they would all agree that the latter definition is probably more apt.

I have ran Stuc twice before (the first time in 2012 failing due to a pulled muscle) and the 2^nd time in 2013 in probably the worst weather conditions I have ever experienced on a hill race. For more on that, see the 2013 report:

http://penicuikharriers.org.uk/2013/05/06/stuc-a-chroin-hill-race-2013/

so, it was high time for a nice weather problem free iteration of this race. Ha!

Last year, they changed the route slightly and instead of the first (and last) 3 kms being a nice easy forest road (blue), the route now passes through poorly trodden and very boggy woodland tracks (red). In fact, the distance of the new route is ~1km shorter, but this beginning and end is much more technical than the old route (with major implications for tired legs after 3 hrs of running!). This has therefore turned an already technical race into an uber-technical race and there is almost no respite from intense continuous concentration through boggy holes, half sunken trees and rocks.

Stuc a`Chroin Hill Race Route and Profile

So – this race is really not for the faint-hearted and while Yan, Kevin, Tracy, Chris, Susie and Gilly plodded their way along 53 miles of the Hoka Highland Fling Ultra (slackers!), me, Duncan, Stuart, Mike, Tim and Andrea braved the Munro Stuc.

The forecast was cloudy with bright periods and bar some drizzle at the beginning and some hail at around the half way point, the weather was actually almost perfect – I would have overheated if I had ran in my leggings! The ground conditions were however far from perfect. Very soon from the start, we already entered the melting snow line and the run up through the wood for the first few kilometres was a rather slithery affair. Fine when one is fresh, but did cause some anxiety for the return. The melting snowy/boggy mess continued after we left the forest and traversed northwards up towards Creag Mhadaidh. Strangely the steep plunge down into Glen Ample was snow free although typically wet and slithery. However, this is where I started picking up places and really enjoyed this rather reckless descent and only slithered on my tush once.

Blah! What can I say, the steep > 400m climb out of Glen Ample up Bein Each is horrible. Really no way to pass anyone on the thin very steep muddy track even if you had the energy in your legs. However, on reaching the top, despite quite a lot of residual deep snow in places, I raced an American along much of the ridge for the next 20 minutes or so and passed several runners who were taking the rather treacherous route more sensibly. This was the best section of the whole race. It was only on the final ascent up Stuc itself through the deep snow that I realised that maybe I had pushed a little too hard and my leg muscles were already starting to twitch.

Just before the summit, Stuart, followed closely by Duncan, came flying past (well – actually – it was more of an uncontrolled slither with mad desperate looks in their eyes). Blimey – I was not that far behind them – again – clear evidence that I had probably ran far too fast. I quickly chomped my way through yet another muesli bar to ward off cramp. From the peak, the profile hints at a mostly continuous run down. However, the course really does undulate rather annoyingly and my steadily tiring legs were now losing their precision control and I was less than spritely down to the turn off from the ridge. I took the descent down into Glen Ample steadily – the melting snow and contouring not making it very easy on tired legs. I lost a few places, but decided that a steady slower place was better than forcing myself towards a cramping disaster.

Although relatively short, the return ascent out of Glen Ample is a grim steep affair. I passed one guy who was suffering awfully from cramp and I stuffed down my last muesli bar to hopefully ward of a similar attack. From the top, it was all downhill although by no means easy. The snow had continued to melt and was probably even more slippery than on the original ascent. The return through the wood was exactly how I had worried earlier – slippery, hidden boggy holes and slimy slippery fallen tree stems – urgh! However, I somehow kept plodding through. For some reason I had 3.25 as my 2013 time and felt that I might just be able to beat it. Alas, I was a tad deluded on that score, and in the end was a tad slower than my previous time of 3:18. So, not a PB, but with the conditions, was very happy how the race went.

This is a serious race – a fabulous race and a perfect start to the Scottish Long Classics Series:

http://www.scottishhillrunners.uk/Championship.aspx?ChampionshipID=C-006

Here are the final results with individuals BPs to highlight how much tougher the new course and conditions were:

163 runners completed the race.

Winner: Finlay Wilson: 02:25:24 (BP = 2:12:51)

Stuart Sanderson: 36^th: 03:06:28 (1^st time)

Duncan Ball: 39^th: 03:10:30 (BP = 2:53:51)

Rob Wilson: 60^th: 03:21:52 (BP = 3:18:05)

Mike Brooks: 90^th: 03:37:26 (BP = 2:58:03)

Tim Doyle: 121^st: 04:02:56 (BP = 3:53:13)

Andrea Wilson: 150^th: 04:28:55 (1^st time)

Roll on Slioch in 3 weeks

Rob