CAIRKETTON DOWNHILL RACE

As someone who fancies himself as a bit of a demon descender, this race is one that i have wanted to do for a long time. However, the thought of battling through the rush hour traffic through to old reekie kept putting me off. However, having my knew trusty honda super blackbird steed to propel me through any gridlock, i knew this was the year to give it a go. A record entry of 32 runners had turned up including Ian Wellock and Alistair Anthony so i knew that Bruce Smith's record of 5:23 would be under threat. How close could I get?

We all wandered up to the summit and waited arround in the cold wind to be set off at 15 sec intervals at 7.00pm. I knew this was going to be like no other hill race i had ever done! Al Anthony was first away followed by Ian Wellock, Des Crowe and several others before my name got called out. I stood on top of the cairn and Mark Johnston counted me down - then i was off!

I probably went off too quick and was peching before the slight climb up to the subsidary top before the main descent started. You have to run to the LHS of the cairn before cutting back to the track down the side of the fence. I caught 4or 5 runners before the half way gate, another on the climb up to the fort, but then i hesitated at a fork in the path (in this race, every lost second counts!) which cost 3 or 4 seconds before i got my bearings again. The next bit of the route has a short technical section followed by lunge into a narrow steep trod through the bracken and down to the finish. My lungs were bursting and it felt as if my arms were going to come out their sockets from wildly waving them arround to balance myself. I don't think i have ever descended with such intensity. I closed in on the next runner on the run in to the finish but he just got in before me.

What a rush!! You have to try this race to believe it! My time :- 5.43 - exactly 20 sec slower than the old record which Ian Wellock lowered to 5:11. I am sure i can get below 5:40 and will definately be back next year.Even won a bottle of whisky as a spot prize! If you can beat the traffic, i highly recommend this race, partic. if you fancy yourself as a descender. Even better, we should have one on the west - any thoughts of a good location for one?

1st 20 results (full results in Carnethy website)

Ian Wellock HBT MS Record 05:11

2 Alasdair Anthony Ochil MS 05:14

3 Steven Fallon Carnethy M40 05:23

4 Murray Strain HBT MS 05:25

5 Des Crowe Shettleston M40 05:28

6 Dan Gay HBT MS 05:34

7 Neil Munro HBT MS 05:34

8= Bruce Smith Carnethy M40 05:41

8= Graeme MacDonald U/A MS 05:41

10 Don Reid Westerlands M40 05:43

11 Peter Buchanan Portobello M40 05:54

12 Mark Johnston Carnethy MS 05:55

13 John McPherson HBT MS 05:59

14 Derek Paton Carnethy MS 06:21

15 David Shanks Standard Life M40 06:23

16 Bob Waterhouse Carnethy M50 06:25

17 Davie Duncan Ochil M50 06:36

18 Chris Downie LB Police M40 06:49

19 Win Rampen Carnethy M50 07:08

20 Simon Fox Carnethy

Posted by Don Reid on Thu 20 Sep 2007 | 4 comments

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