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Lomonds of Fife Bum Slide

The new improved Lomonds of Fife route attracted a good turnout of Scotland's and Westies' finest hillrunners for the 3rd championship race of 2007. Courtesy of the Miller-mobile I was chauffeured to the village of Strathmiglo, at the foot of West Lomond. At the start it was straight uphill to West Lomond, a runnable section through the fields to begin with, then a backache-inducing steep walk up to the summit. I wasn't feeling too great at this point, but that wasn't unusual for me early on. Turning at the summit for the steep descent down to the checkpoint I spied Murdo and Steffen zooming away in front of me, and had a slipping sliding contour down across to the woods. The runnable forest tracks were a bit of a slog, but I was feeling OK, helped by Ellie catching me up and forcing me to up the pace on the narrow trod to the monument. It was a slow plod up but when we reached the monument I managed to pull away slightly from Ellie and chase Tommy Begley of Irvine A.C. I passed him but Tom Bowie of Fife A.C. also caught me up and together we headed for Stevie Bell just ahead. Crossing the road at Craigmead I passed Stevie and we were in turn passed by the leader who had already been up East Lomond and back! On up to the summit and back with big gaps ahead, but trying to raise my pace a little. I reeled in a couple of runners on the way to West Lomond, just spying Dave Duncan and a wee group ahead of me near the top. I donned the Manny-inspired waterproof cut-offs for the mad descent down the green wall, though they did not fully prevent some sore grass burns on my backside - some modifications still needed to the design. The bum-sliding technique definitely worked as I power-slipped my way past a Boggie, but not quite quick enough to catch the group ahead. I finished in a shade over 2 hours, just failing to beat my pre-race target of improving 7 seconds on last year to break the 2 hour mark, but still there's always next year. Chris led the Westies men home, I think, and Ellie had a great run to lead the women home and finish just a few minutes behind me as 3rd lady. In between and roundabouts were Nigel, Manny, Steffen, Murdo, Stevie Bell, Brian Brennan, Cat, Elsie, Jason, Pauline.

Mannycatellie and stevethe finishjdmannysteffenLomonds of Fife Bum Slide 2007Lomonds of Fife Bum Slide 2007

Posted by John Donnelly on Sun 19 Aug 2007 | 4 comments

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  1. Chris said...

    My first time on the Lomonds of Fife revised course, and definitely a big improvement on the old route. What looks slightly contrived on the map, actually works as a great varied race route.

    I started out fairly steady and found myself at the summit of West Lomond with Steven Fallon, which set the tone for the race. I chased after Andy and Chris McCall who were chatting away on the long diagonal descent. In the forest I caught Dave Cummins and Steven Fallon again, and we ran together up the single file forest section past the monument.

    Once out in the open to East Lomond and back to Maiden Castle, Dave Cummins pulled away, and I thought I'd dropped Steven. However Steven took the better (shorter) line back to the main track to West Lomond after Maiden Castle, and reeled me in, with Nigel Scott closing as well.

    I took off as hard as possible for the base of West Lomond, targetting the red Carnethy vests of Adam Ward and Simon Peachey. Once on the steep slope I could see Chris McCall and Steven closing me down.

    I stoppped for a brief drink of water at the summit, and to gather myself for the final plummet off the edge of the world. Steven and Chris McCall dived in just ahead of me and rocketed down the bumslide. I followed suit and very nearly caught Davy Rogers (clearly not having a good run) who was trying to stay on his feet. Once back on my feet I gave chase to Davy Rogers across the last few fields, and just failed to get past him on the line. Nige and Manny both arriving a few moments later.

    Monday 20th August 2007 11.26am

  2. Jason said...

    Straight back off holiday and into a longish race I wasn't sure how I'd go, especially as I had been running quite a lot whilst away and so wasn't feeling light or rested. Anyway the weather had improved from the day before so here I was and it was lovely to see lots of friends again. The start was very sociable but Ellie sped away from the off, with the strength of the Defi defi-nitely showing (gedit!). I plodded on up the hill slowly falling behind, had a good first descent and had caught Cat back up by the forest before stopping for a comfort break and never really going again. The final descent was very steep but I just took it steady and jogged down, with no one behind and I passed the guy ahead and trotted across the final fields. I had an aim of 2:20 and was just over this so not too bad but hopefully more to come in the September races, which are shorter. Can you see how I am already discounting the Ochils?

    Tuesday 21st August 2007 7.51pm

  3. jd said...

    13 Chris Upson Westies M40 01:39:4914 Nigel Scott Westies MS 01:40:1115 Manny Gorman Westies MS 01:41:5038 Steffen Gorgas Westies MS 01:54:0242 Murdo McLeod Westies M50 01:57:0654 John Donnelly Westies M40 02:01:0958 Ellen Homewood Westies FS 02:04:4559 Stephen Bell Westies M40 02:04:5776 Catriona Miller Westies FS 02:11:2889 Brian Brennan Westies M50 02:17:4498 Jason Kaushal Westies M40 02:24:18101 Elspeth Scott Westies F40 02:28:05124 Pauline McAdam Westies F50 02:54:25

    Tuesday 21st August 2007 10.31pm

  4. Chris said...

    Full Results

    Photos

    Wednesday 22nd August 2007 8.14am

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