Although marred slightly by politics, this was a grand day out.
Several cars turned up at Penicuik Centre just after midday on Saturday, but
we managed to sqeeze most Harriers into two cars. It was only half an hour or
so down past Biggar to Symmington and we stepped out of the cars to be
greeted by damp and cold and the hill was suspiciously sprinkled with white
stuff with the top shrouded in cloud. Even more worrying, as we were writing
emergency contact details on our numbers, it started sleeting outside!

However, it was just a shower and milling around the start at the bottom of
the hill it didn’t seem too bad. Until it came to the kit check. Rob wasn’t
going to be allowed to run! What! Apparently we had to carry waterproof full-
body cover (perfectly normal) and the jacket had to have a hood (perfectly
un-normal). OK, so everyone had read the small print on SI Entries but it
hadn’t really registered. Fortunately most runners did have hooded jackets
(thankyou Ronhill) but there were several non-runners – notably Ngemi who,
unlike Rob, didn’t put up a fuss and wasn’t able to beg and borrow a spare
Carnethy top. So Ngemi very stoically ran the Junior Race instead.

On to the race itself. As I didn’t have to kill myself chasing Stuart, I
enjoyed the run a lot more. It was quite muddy at the bottom, but the path
soon became easier underfoot with a mixture of gravel, rocks and peat. After
the initial 5 minutes of leg- and lung-burning, things settled down to a
steady threshold pace and run-jog-walk depending on the gradient. In fact
quite a lot is runnable with only a few really steep bits. Ah, here was the
white stuff – weird! It became deeper and deeper but didn’t seem too slippery.
The last couple of hundred feet to the summit cairn was fairly arctic and
quite exciting. I started counting the descending runners but got bored after
twenty.

Round the cairn stepping daintily on the snowy, jaggedy rocky path and then
the mental descent. It was a mixture of high apprehension (would the worn
Walsh’s hold?) and extreme fun. The gradient of Tinto is not particularly
steep and you can run down at a stupid speed if you have the confidence (and
the calfs). With the first lady breathing down my neck I found an extra gear
and it must have looked like the Tinto Troll was after me at the finish. I
survived though and was quite pleased with ‘first lady’ (Rob’s jargon).

Within a couple of minutes, Carl pounded down (what an excellent run)
followed by Rob and the remaining Harriers, all with big grins on their faces.
As it was beginning to rain again we jogged back to the cars. Two strange
apparitions then appeared mistily through the windscreen. The first was one
of the Harriers’ ladies (I’ll mention no names) who was showing actually
quite a lot of thigh (we supposed that she was changing but she got a hoot
from Rob anyway) and the second was what looked like somebody wrestling with
a flan dish. Oh it was a flan dish. Both wrestler and wrestlee then squashed
soggily into the car and proceeded to hand out rather wet but exceedingly
tasty golden syrup tart – excellent work Carl!

Thankyou Carnethy for an excellent race. No doubt they will get a few emails
about the hooded tops, but you can see their point. Rob suggested filling in
a disclaimer form so that we could run wearing whatever we wanted (no thongs
please).

Harriers results are:

Duncan 26th 38:52
Carl 45 41:05
Rob 73 42:58
Jan 156 50:12
Andrea 161 50:44
Amy 166 51:12
Mark 178 52:25
Chris 183 53:09
Helen 216 59:43

Duncan.

Apologies for the belated report…

Last Sunday I completed the Jedburgh Three Peaks Ultra. For those that aren’t familiar it’s a 38 mile ultra marathon which includes the three peaks of the Eildons – roughly 3700ft of ascent. This was my last big race of the season and rounded off my year from non-runner in January to completing a marathon and two ultras.

The day started early with a 5am rise to get organised and fed and down to Jedburgh (approx 1 hr 15 mins away) for registration. I had left it very late to print out a route map and lo and behold at 5:30am my printer decided it would stop working completely. Magic. Next followed a last minute trip for petrol. First petrol station wouldn’t accept my card (at two different pumps) so I left and headed for the next station. Success. It was about 6:20am now and I was on the road at last.

Arrived in Jedburgh easily enough and headed straight for registration. A bit of faffing around with attaching my race number then dropped off my drop bags for the three checkpoints throughout the route (mile 10, 18 and 28). Once all that was sorted it was just a waiting game til 8am when we kicked off.

There had been heavy rain the night before and the morning had brought blue skies but some light showers. The forecast was pretty mixed for the day ahead. The course would turn out to be pretty muddy although not as much as I’d read about the previous year.

The gun went off and buoyed by my speed sessions in training I set off pretty quickly aiming to really improve my overall time. From a typical 10 minute mile on long distance races I was covering the first few at 8:30 or so and felt great (idiot). There were a few tarmac miles at first then we joined St Cuthbert’s Way where we would spend the bulk of the race. It was definitely muddy and I found it took a bit of extra effort in the mud to keep moving.

The terrain was a nice mix of trail paths and fields and I seemed to cover the ground quite comfortably. By mile 8-10 or so I had settled into a more sustainable pace of about 9:30 – 10 minute miles. A false sense of security at the start maybe as I’d headed out too fast but not to worry (yet!). Sustain this pace and all would be well.

I felt a massive twinge at some point before CP1 in my left ankle. I’d twisted it umpteen times on the hills in training but it stopped me in my tracks. I picked up slowly and kept on. Hit the CP and grabbed my drop bag without stopping. Soon after – by about half marathon distance – I was getting a lot of pain on the front of my right foot. It ran from my ankle down to just about my toes. I’d felt this before and been sent for an X-ray for a possible stress fracture a few weeks back. I hoped it would improve but it didn’t and my average pace was beginning to suffer now. I’d been fine in training.

CP2 and I had already been battling thoughts of withdrawing (the dreaded DNF) but kept pushing them far away. Collected my bag and spent a couple of minutes refilling my water bottles and getting some food onboard before tackling the three peaks. It was a slow ascent for me but the reward of reaching the top of each peak was worth the work. It felt like gale force winds at the top and I was running and hoping I would remain on the ground as I descended. Last descent and I let go a bit but my right foot was really bothering me.

The next miles to CP3 were pretty grim and I managed to walk / run most of it. By the time I reached CP3 I was really hungry – having under-estimated how long I would be out I had not brought enough food. I was delighted to see a table full of left over food that other runners didn’t need. I stopped for a good 5-10 minutes to take on a sandwich, cheese, sweet bits and bobs and some fluids. I was sorely tempted to withdraw here. I had walked the two miles heading up to CP3 and was facing the prospect of walking another 10 because running now was near impossible.

I got a grip and decided it was definitely happening and I should man up. I was limping by now and developed a new style of movement that I like to call power hobbling. This format continued for the next 9 miles. My foot was bloody sore and I was in obvious pain but I knew I would recover sooner from that than withdrawing and feeling bad about it for a long time to come. Besides, I felt there would be more learning in doing what I did than pulling out. In retrospect I stand by that decision and would do the same again.

The weather really closed in by this time and it was cold and wet. Add to that the fact I had really slowed down and was covering a mile in about 15 or 16 minutes I was really cold. Tough. I was tired too by now and had forgotten about navigation. The route was an out and back 18 miles with a loop of the Eildon’s so I had covered the route I was coming back on but couldn’t really remember some of it.

I kept holding out for the road section as I knew by then it wouldn’t be more than a couple of miles or so. It was getting dark now as I approached Jedburgh. I was being passed by two runners and thought I can’t have far now so really dug in to attempt to run. I’m not sure it was any faster but I kept it up and finally crossed the line to be welcomed by a small but cheery group of volunteers who were whistling and clapping. I felt a bit emotional briefly but was mostly glad it was over.

Time of day 5:07pm – just the 9 hours and 7 minutes! I had literally spent a whole day out there.

I’ve since seen the Dr who suspects a stress fracture. X-ray done and waiting on results. I’ve been advised to take a couple of weeks off running and focus on cross training. I took last week as complete rest and am back on my bike this week.

All in all a learning experience and there were a few obvious lessons (and some not so obvious ones) but in the end I still completed it and was on my feet for longer than I’ve ever been. Despite some injuries, four seasons in a day weather wise, some tough hills and the fact it was my longest race yet….I stuck it out and got the job done.

So as the majority of runners took to Lauder for the first of the Borders XC series today I decided to throw my support to the Lasswade Cross Country event in Gorebridge. A great afternoon out running over the playing fields and park areas of Gore Park with fine views of the distant Pentlands. 3 laps of 2 miles for the seniors. Not quite sure of my overall time but finished pretty well in the field. I think Pete Avent finished 5th and seemed to be running well. Dave Cairns as always was there to lend support which was great. A good well organised event by Lasswade covering all age groups. I think they just won an award for their youth development and impact in Scotland. A fudge as well for all finishers!! Next stop Galashiels in two weeks. Cheers, Mark S

Bob Marshall sent us a link to his fantastic photos – a fair few Harriers in there!

https://picasaweb.google.com/113562417702657933373/LauderCrossCountry2013#

So, ever the glutton (for punishment, that is!), I decided to reattempt the OMM this year.  After all, last year turned out ok; my running partner, Eddie, and I came back with the Military Trophy, so what did we have to lose?! Apart from the trophy, of course. And ourselves. Ok, poor turn of phrase.

In eager anticipation we awaited the announcement of where this year’s event was to be held, only to be socked with the behemoth of uppercuts when the organisers confirmed their absolute lack of humour: Brecon.

So with weather warnings aplenty, we made our way down to the hills made famous for being used to select the Army’s Special Forces.  Ok, so we were slightly to the West of the infamous Pen-y-Fan, and I must admit that the terrain this year was more rolling than last year, the contours slightly more forgiving, but this only meant that we were expected to run that much more!

For the uninitiated, the OMM contains several classes.  The classic ‘line’ event includes the Elite, A, B, C and D classes, for which runners have to follow a set route of checkpoints, the quickest time winning.  The ‘score’ event is different in that the competitors are given a map with various checkpoints on of different values, and they have to choose their own route in order to gather as many points as possible in the time allowed.  We were competing for the military trophy in the Long Score event, so we had 7hrs on Day One and 6hrs on Day Two.

Day One was good fun (read: dry!) and we covered approximately 38kms, navigating with good accuracy and not wasting much time.  We accumulated 285 pts from 14 checkpoints and reached the overnight campsite in around 33rd place overall, 2nd military team.  Day Two was slightly wetter(!) and we went for a more sensible approach, ending up safely inside a reduced time-limit of 5 hours, and dropping slightly to 43rd overall on what ended up a very tight-scoring contest.

I would highly recommend this event as an epic adventure in map-reading and long-distance endurance running, bu certainly not for the faint-hearted! That said, why not have a go at the short score (5 hrs & 4 hrs) or a B or C Class line event…?! I shall see you at the OMM 2014! Maybe… 😉

Carl

I was looking for a hill run at the weekend to prolong some fitness, as I usually prefer
racing to training. The best looking one was just past Aviemore, but I knew that I would
probably get cheap B & B at my parents’s house on the Black Isle (well I hadn’t seen
them for a while). The course actually looked really good on the map.

It was only 2 1/2 hours drive up the dodgy A9 and I arrived in plenty of time to drink
in the superb scenery – spectacular autumn colours when the sun came out. Race
Registration and the start was at the Badaguish Outdoor Centre just short of Loch
Morlich on the left hand side of the road. A really nice setting with canoeing, archery,
hill walking and mountain biking on offer. I was quite surprised to see a large contingent
of HBT and found out that they were up for somebody’s party and were staying in the cool-
looking log cabins.

At the race briefing there was no mention of any mountain rescue – they probably had more
pressing duties in the proper Cairngorm mountains and these were just titchy easy hills
anyway. The course lived up to every expectation and started off in the sunshine along a
flat forest road for a couple of kms and then turned left and started to climb through
forest towards the main hill. I was actually struggling a bit on the flat, partly
because I don’t really like flat and partly because we stupidly had mince and tatties
for tea the previous evening. Much better when we were at last climbing. The path was good
almost all the way to the top of Meall a Bhuchaille, which is a modest Corbett of 2657
feet. Stupendous views at the top but then we were flying back down again and on to a
heathery traverse around to the next hill Creagan Gorm. Up again to a mere 2398 feet
and then a cracking undulating ridge run 2 1/2 km to Craiggowrie. After being far too
hot at the start, we were now freezing and running into a strong wind whilst
negotiating a mixture of bog and rocky paths.

A left turn and then a slightly mad descent down a rocky hillside followed by a very
peaty muddy slidy path and then suddenly back into wonderful forest. The track turned
into forest road and became flatter and more painful, but I managed a good pace all the
way to the finish. Gee whizz I enjoyed that!

The £8 entry fee included soup or a burger and cup of tea so I changed out of muddy
atire and eagerly partook of the hot grub. As I had come such a long way, I decided
to hang around for the prize giving and started chatting up – I mean chatting to some
of the HBT ladies. The prize giving was a complete HBT whitewash – until it came to the
M50 prize and surpisingly it was Penicuik Harriers! What! And a bonus bottle of wine.
The organiser must have been wondering where all these Lowland Scots had come from
and why all the bottles of wine were disappearing south down the A9 (they were actually
probably emptied before they got on to the A9).

Anyway, a great hill run complete with cracking Highland scenery and well-organised by
Highland Hill Runners.

Duncan.

So as myself, Ngeme and Vicky left Penicuik yesterday it looked like the wind and rain were going to be the winners of the day. The wind was certainly challenging however it did remain dry in Jedburgh for both the 10k and half marathon races. Both races set off at the same time beside the beautiful abbey in the town centre of Jedburgh with about 800 runners in all competing in both races. The 10k race peeled off after about 5.5km at which point most of the half marathon runners suddenly realised that they were perhaps overdoing their pace. Well I did anyway!! The wind was also gusting in the right direction at this point.

So the half marathon continued along the lovely country roads of the borders for another few miles towards Kelso before turning around. As both courses were out and back the return leg was a bit of a nightmare in the wind. Sorry, total nightmare in the wind!! The organisers also managed to find a nice large hill to throw in at mile 11 as well. That was nice of them!!

A great race all round and well organised.The roads were completely closed to traffic as well.

A good turnout of Harriers for both the 10k and half marathon. Results as follows:

10k

Rachael Campbell (110th) 49mins

Vicky Lyon (323rd) 1hr 10mins

Half Marathon

Mark Snodgrass (18th) 1hr 25mins

Jan Dawson (99th) 1hr 38mins

Mark Dawson (220th) 1hr 50mins

Ngemi Ntuli (334) 2hr 1min

Congratulations to Ngemi who shaved off 15mins from last years time and to Jan who came 4th in her age category.

I think Alan may of been doing the 38 mile Ultra race but i am not sure!!! Alan?

A great day out. Windy but good fun.

Cheers,

Mark

Hi

Following our chat at the AGM I went home and found out that I hadn’t made it through the public ballot to the London Marathon. But I am thinking of doing the Belfast one next year if entries are still open. I think they are but I’m waiting for pay day – these things are so damn expensive. It’s in early May and I may even then be tempted to try and do the Edinburgh at the end of May. Anything to keep aiming for. I won’t be at training for a while yet – old complication flared up again and put me back in the hospital. So advice is to rest and no running for a while and then only small distances to begin with! Bugger. But I’ll be in shape for the Fling relay. Mind you sitting on my bum watching rubbish on Netflik and having everything brought to me including sweets isn’t as bad as it sounds!

Hopefully see you sometime soonish.

Lou

The Pentland Skyline is a great race, a real achievement to run 16 hills, 16 miles (although my Strava said 17.5m) and climb 6200ft all in one race and of course in the beautiful Pentlands! Carnethy HRC do a great job organising it and have lots of crazy people willing to be out on the hills taking numbers and making sure you go the right way. The record was broken this year by Murray Strain, he took an amazing 6 mins off the previous record in what Carnethy described as ‘quite harsh conditions’ so that’s amazing!

Well as far as my race went I’ll start with the positives : I made a new friend, I completed the Skyline for the second time in my life, em, em, actually that’s it for positives!
Don’t want to be too negative so I won’t be but I did find it really tough this time. The harsh weather seemed to ‘do me in’ over the first half of the route also I’d stupidly tightened my lace on my left shoe too much and meant to loosen it but forgot and when I lost feeling in my toes I thought it was due to the cold and wet and didn’t remember about the lace so unfortunately was pretty uncomfortable by Sth Black Hill:-( Was just deciding whether or not to give up at the half way point when I met another runner (James) who got me chatting and seemed to be happy to hang out with me for the rest of the race – I know, I couldn’t believe it either and he did most of the talking!
Managed to run all the flats and downhills and enjoyed the fact that we were steered clear of the bog at the Green Cleugh although I did think the cold of the bog might stir the blood back to my toes, that makes no sense at all but I wasn’t really thinking straight.
Had a few pauses for thought/help from above/help from anywhere on the steep climbs back over to Hillend with James really encouraging me even though he’d turned his ankle and obviously in pain 🙁

Finished in not the best of times but finished all the same.

29th Duncan 3.02.53
53rd Mark 3.16.47
171st Rob 3.39.21
156th Sadie 4.07.14
176th Susie 4.30.34

Mark managed to complete the Man or Mouse challenge in an incredible time of 4.38.22 and came 5th out of 11.
Carl ran Manor Water and started the Skyline but due to a sore knee had to pull out. He drove round to Flott and managed to make it to the Maidens Cleugh to take photos of us though – what a guy!

Huge thanks to Chris Downie who supported us on Carnethy and Black Hill, a real treat to see him in the mist – dread to think how his photos will look though 🙁

[picasa width=”600″ height=”450″ bgcolor=”#000000″ autoplay=”1″ showcaption=”1″ album=”es_Skyline2013″]
 

Silly me. Thought the ‘Doon Hill’ in the title was just Scots for down hill. Turns out Doon Hill is actually a 6th century homestead, 5 miles up hill, and the mid-way marker for this scenic race which loops round the farmsteads south of Dunbar.

It was a fine, warm morning  when Sadie and I reached the race venue – Hallhill Healthy Living Centre – eventually, after being sent down some back road by my sat nav. Just enough time to pick up numbers, get organised and attempt a warm up. There were a LOT of club runners there, mostly Portobello, which made us a wee bit nervous. We set off at 11am and wound through the housing estate at the south east of Dunbar before heading out onto the farm roads on the other side of the A1. The race was touted as a part trail, part road race but I think the split was about 70% tarmac 30% trail. Was wearing trail shoes but didn’t really need them. The roads were lovely and quiet though and once we’d gone under the bypass we barely saw a car. The route took us gently up hill via farmsteads and alongside fields, steepening towards Doon Hill itself. Managed to keep a steady pace throughout though, plus a wee burst to get past a guy who’s running vest stank like he hadn’t washed it in weeks (yuck). He passed me again not long after though…

We ran round the back of Doon Hill and finally began the descent back down to Dunbar. Ramped up the speed quite a bit at this point, hitting a 7-minute mile and trying to atone for the slow slog up the hill. The runners in front had the same idea and I only managed to pass someone who’d already passed me a couple of miles back. Felt strong though and the view over the Forth with the Bass Rock, North Berwick Law and Traprain Law to the west was lovely. The trail did seem to head west for quite a long time though and I wondered if we’d ever start heading back to town. At 7 miles we eventually turned towards home and once back under the A1 I decided to risk a bit of speed and tanked it past stinky vest man (again) and a female runner. Felt a bit sick from effort as I passed the finish line back at Hallhill but jubilant at my 1:18:10 time. Sat on the grass and waited for Sadie, who came in only 4 minutes later at 1:22:18. Fantastic effort despite experiencing crippling shin splints in the first 2 miles which nearly made her pull out – what a tough mudder! Local man Andrew Crichton won the race in 00:56:55, with 1st lady Nicola Duncan of Portobello finishing in an impressive 00:59:59.

There were free sports massages on offer in Hallhill centre so Sadie and I got in the queue. As the therapist (who looked so sweet and innocent and gentle) gripped my hamstring I nearly hit the roof. Ten agonising minutes later – during which I didn’t know whether to laugh, cry or both and managed to almost rip the head rest off the massage table – I hobbled off to the prize-giving to see if I could bag Sadie and I any soup and sandwiches that might be left. All sandwiches had been scoffed but I grabbed a cup of soup and was heading back to Sadie when I heard my name called – 1st Vet Woman! What a lovely surprise.

All in all, a great race and a great day 🙂

Results and photos available at http://www.dunbarrunningclub.com

I had heard that this race was quite tough but nothing had prepared me for what was to come
on Saturday. I had hoped that either Rob or Mike might have been there to help with pacing
and navigation but they had other committments (or were possibly saving knees). So I drove
down to Broughton myself on a misty morning and parked at the Primary School. By the time
we boarded the shuttle bus to Traquair the sun had come out and it was feeling very pleasant.
It was quite a drive via Peebles and Innerleithen to Traquair and I was wondering whether
running all the way back was actually feasible.

We got to Traquair House with over an hour before the start and had plenty of time to check
water bottles and gels and enjoy the sunshine and even drink tea and eat scones! Ah, there
were some faces I recognised – it was Sarah and Hilary! Hilary had actually done the race
before in the dim and distant past and said that it wasn’t too bad and ‘just a few rolling
hills’. Oh yeah. Sarah on the other hand hadn’t and had a slightly dodgy knee (but had her
Mum standing by at Stobo in case she had to abort).

It was getting warmer and the second layer really had to come off – ridiculous weather for
this time of year. After a kit check we were off promptly at 12:00 and 140 or so runners
started back up the drive and turned right along the quiet Traquair to Peebles road. I was
feeling quite strong and confident despite having done hardly any endurance running for
yonks. After a mile or so we turned left up a track and then on to the hill towards Orchard
Rig and Birks Hill. By the time we got to Birkscairn Hill we had been climbing steadily on
quite good paths for over 3 miles and it was a relief to turn right and down into the valley
and the Glensax burn.

The descent was actually quite tricky with deep springy heather and it went down lots, which
meant that we had to go back up lots. The climb up to Hundleshope was long, pretty steep and
very hot, but it was worth it for the amazing view. There was a sort of path on and off
towards Stob Law but most of it was narrow, muddy and did lots of tricky traversing around
the hillsides. The descent down into the Manor Water valley was better, but by then my legs
were starting to complain and the lack of recent hill running was beginning to tell.

Right along a farm track and then left through the farm and across the burn and into the
forest. Oh, relief, lovely and cool. But not for long, a stupendous long and hot climb up
through a forest ride to the top of Whitelaw Hill. Fortunately I shared the experience with
four or five other runners and nobody was going particularly quickly. Left at the top and
then down some paths and tracks into another river valley. Across a bridge (that must be the
Tweed) and then right along a road in the direction of Stobo.

It’s amazing how naff running on tarmac is after running on hills, but it was only half a
mile before we turned left up another farm track. Hooray a water station and sweeties! No
jelly babies today though, thinking of Stuc a Chroin. Time to squirt down a gel and slosh
down some water, and on to the last leg. Only another five miles to go! The farm track
turned into a very pleasant forest track, well it would have been pleasant except that
my legs were greatly underperforming and it was slow going. I had heard Rob talk about the
last hill and a fellow runner had mentioned the sting in the tail, but how hard could it be?

After another mile we turned left back on to the hill and started a painful ascent of the
greatly-feared Trahenna Hill. I was going steadily until we hit some deep tussocky and
soggy stuff which didn’t agree with my legs at all and the first twinges of cramp appeared.
It got steeper and steeper and hotter and hotter and slower and slower. Dig in. After a
very long time it rounded off and I made some attempt to jog up to the bunch of Marshalls
and well-wishers at the top. Very tired and sweaty I wondered why they were clad in thick
jackets – were they expecting snow?

Now came the last descent. Unfortunately my left leg cramped up after only a couple of
hundred yards and I found myself spreadeagled across the path. Some remarkably fresh-
looking runner deftly nepotiated my legs and I began to work out how long it would take to
crawl the remaining two miles. Where were the Mountain Rescue bods? Remarkably one appeared
jogging up the path. “Cramp? Yeah, there’s a few like you!” and jogged on!

There was nothing for it and I wobbled to my feet and carried on. The view down to
Broughton was a huge relief and I started down the last steep grassy slope. Although the
cramp had mercifully gone, my legs were in bits and it was very slow going, but eventually
I was running on tarmac again. Left on to the main road and then right up to the Broughton
Brewery and the finish! Barely a minute or two later Hilary appeared looking remarkably
un-exhausted and pleased with a PB.

We wandered along to the Village Hall and began to think about cups of tea and venison
burgers. However, about 10 yards before the barbecue cramp struck again and it was over ten
minutes before a could stand up again. Unfortunately by that time I was feeling slightly
queasy and had to make do with soup with lots of added salt. I am still mourning the loss of
that venison burger. The compensation was a bottle of Broughton Ale we were handed at the
finish.

Well, that was some day out! And Sarah’s knee held out enough to get her to the finish as
well, and in a highly respectable time. Results have just been published and I came in at
3:49:11 with Hilary at 3:51:12 and Sarah 4:17:54. Many thanks to the Organisers, Broughton
Ales, Traquair House and Moffat Mountain Rescue.

Duncan Ball.

So in terms of magnificent views, organisation and running banter I am not sure you could beat the Loch Ness marathon. A great mornings run along the south side of Loch Ness.

The day kicked off at about 7.30am where all 3,500 runners met at Bught Park so they could get transported to the start line at the other end of Loch Ness – somewhere in between Fort Augustus and Foyers. The start was literally in the middle of the hills with only sheep there to cheer you on.

The first two miles were straight down hill which was probably my first mistake – I think I made the first mile marker in 5 minutes 40 seconds….ooops there goes the big marathon alert buzzer for stupidity. Anyway caught up in the fever I continued onwards at a slightly slower pace but enjoying the view and watching the miles burn away. I think my 10k time was about 38mins, 13 mile time of 84 mins and implosion time at 20 miles of 132mins. Things were going quite well up until then. Unlike the Edinburgh marathon in May when my entire body went into meltdown this time it was just the legs…but boy did they buckle. From there on in it was head down and a really tough last six miles to the finish. Final time of 3hrs 15mins. It literally took an hour for me to complete the last six miles. Pacing, Pacing, Pacing….must remember that for the next time!!!

Despite all that as a marathon course and event I thought it was excellent and after the largest bad boy burger one could buy and consume quickly it was back home to Edinburgh on the train…happy days.

The one extra prize of the day was receiving a free tin of Baxters soup in the goody bag at the end. The only thing that topped that off was seeing one of the other punters on the train drink his cold from the can on the way home….I think he got off in Kirkaldy!!

I would certainly recommend this race for next year if anyone is looking for a good marathon experience. No sign of any other Harriers so apologies if I have not made any particular mention. I think maybe Vicky was doing the 10k.

Cheers, Mark

I went down to Great Langdale campsite the night before the race with my family. I had a good sleep in our tent and a nice breakfast of muesli and boiled eggs. I was glad of that as the race start time said 11 on the website but turned out to be 12 on the day and in fact was delayed until 12.15 for some unknown reason. It wasnt too bad as we had the stickletavern to wait in so I had a cup of tea and made use of the wifi.
When we got started the weather was quite overcast with alot of low cloud and a bit of drizzle. I quickly took off my waterproof jacket though as not long into the race there was a pretty steep hill and I was feeling the heat.
The route meanders through the hills and past a couple of little lakes and through a few homesteads. The cloud lifted a bit and I was able to enjoy the beautiful surroundings.
The other runners were very friendly and there was lots of marshals to give support. There was water stations about every 3 miles and even some chocolate and winegums being handed out. This was welcomed by me and I am sure by the full marathon runners who were doing the same route twice!
I really enjoyed the race and had another night camping at the national trust campsite. I also indulged in a pint at the stickletavern where they had a live band on and there were lots of other runners there to share race stories with, we even had some energy left for a little dance. 🙂

I finished in position 104 out of 297 with a time of 1:51:59
06/017 for my category
The winner got a time of : 01:21:37 (a Portobello runner)!

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Waking up to dire warnings of 100 mph gusts on Cairngorm, the day started in a state of minor apprehension for our sojourn down to the Galloway Forest to run the Merrick.

It is a long drive (2 hrs 45 mins) and Jan (driver), Sadie and I left Penicuik in good time to get to Loch Trool to allow a decent warm up and stretch. The forecast was not brilliant (to say the least) and the drive clearly showed us that there was every opportunity that we would experience high winds, heavy rain and poor visibility. As the Merrick is also a rather technical hill race, this was one race in which I was happy to have full body kit, map and compass. That could not be said for the two gals and I made fun of Sadie the whole trip who steadily got more anxious about not having a map.

On getting to Loch Trool, the heavens duly opened with very heavy rain while we registered which sounded horrendous in the small caravan as we signed the forms. However, the race start was very calm as essentially the first hill of the race nicely sheltered us from the stormy westerly winds somewhere above.

Just before 1 pm, 32 runners gathered for a photograph and pre-race briefing. The marshalls had just abandoned the Merrick summit as the winds were > 80 mph. The race organisers decided that the race would be shortened and the turnaround would be Benyellary instead. This was a great shame as the section between the Benyellary and Merrick summits is normally the most runnable section of the whole race. Therefore, instead of 12.4km (780m), the new route would be 9.5 km (580m).

I cannot really describe the first slope up Eshoncan. It is probably the most technical piece of ground I have ever had the “pleasure” to run up/down. It is a steep slope with thick bracken with a rough route trampled down to expose an intermittent rocky, muddy “path” with water running down it. I am not sure if there is normally a small stream, but with all the rain, it just seemed to be an endless tangle of rocks and small ankle deep pools interspersed with mud – all hidden by a layer of trampled bracken. Going up was bad enough, but I was deeply worried about the descent.

Starting off in relatively mild conditions in the knowledge that somewhere above you were potentially 80 mph gusts makes it rather difficult to judge what to wear. As usual, I leant towards dressing warm which initially I was cursing as I was way too hot as I got to the top of the first rise and crossed the bogs and forest track towards the ascent up to Bennan. However, about half a km before the summit of Bennan and skirting around it to the east, the weather finally hit us with full force. The strong westerly wind made the heavy rain feel like hail. I soon pulled down my sleeves, pulled up my Buff and put on a hat and was incredibly thankful that I had experimented with contact lenses as I would not have had a hope with glasses in those conditions over the rough terrain. The next kilometre or so was just a blur of stumbling (not really running), trying to stay upright and not being blown constantly to the right. Luckily (especially for Sadie), the route was well marked at this point. At the wall rock style above Corse Craig where the route turns right to the NW, the conditions were truly atrocious. I had hoped that the westerly wind might have helped a little following the wall up Benyellary. Unfortunately, it was mostly a side wind from the left and you can imagine how much I had to lean sideways to retain some semblance of balance.

Finally, there was some relief when the route joined the main tourist trail. Although the wind was still whipping from the left, the path was a relative joy to run along. Waving mad thanks to the poor Marshall waiting at the Benyellary summit and thinking that I was glad not have been him, the return trip back down to the stone style was great fun. Despite the wind, I think I really picked up the pace (it has been a relatively slow race until this point) and passed one guy and had my eyes set on someone about 200 meters ahead. The return trip was thankfully much quicker although there were sections around Bennan that had to be taken cautiously due to the wind, hidden boggy holes and slippery rocks. At one point, my map pouch flew out of my jacket to strangle me as the wind tried to blow the map away with the string nicely wrapped around my neck. The two marshalls at the forest road near Eshoncan, just before the final descent, seemed in very good spirits as I passed. Probably just happy that people were returning from the stormy weather above and they did not have to go up and look for us – or perhaps they saw my dance while trying to get my map under control.

As my legs were still quite fresh, I tried to slip into neutral for the final dreaded descent, but it was simply too technical and I went much slower than I wanted to. Very frustrating as someone overtook me who I had kept ahead of since Benyellary. However, at least I made it down without spraining an ankle and the sun even popped its head out as I crossed the finish line.

Of 31 runners (lead time: 1:07:26), we came in at:

13th: Rob Wilson: 1:21:49

23rd: Jan Dawson: 1:38:56 (3rd woman – likely missing out on a prize as we left quite quickly)

26th: Sadie Kemp: 1:47:09

All in all, a great day as usual. Despite being a long drive, I will have to go back as I still have not ran the Merrick and it has been 33 years since my dad dragged a wee 9 year old boy up there. Hopefully next year the weather will be better. Although an extreme weather challenge once in a while is fun, I do prefer to run instead of stumble.

Rob

Quote of the day:

“That was worse than Tough Mudder, and we got electrocuted at that!”

Sadie