Creag Dhubh

Only 3 Westies (Brenda, Val and me) at Newtonmore for the highland games hill race to An Torr, on the slopes of Creag Dhubh. For those who don't know it, the route is out and back involving; a lap of the track, a stile, a couple of fences, a river crossing, a roadside barrier, some landrover track, plenty of trod and some heather. Then round the cairn and reverse it all. Once on the hill proper overtaking is difficult, so it pays to start fairly fast.

Val had a great run to finish 2nd lady, surprising herself by emerging back onto the games field with Clare Gordon in sight. She almost caught her on the final 3/4 of a lap of the track, but couldn't quite make up the last couple of yards. I had a steady plod in the middle of the field. Brenda was disappointed at the finish, thinking she was slightly slower than her time last year, but actually improved by about 25 seconds. The prize giving was a bit of a mess, as they had an error in the ladies finishing order, but the girls sorted the organisers out in the end.

Val and I stayed the night with Jim Hall (with Val's prize money buying the beer!). We had a cracking day on the hills with Jim on Sunday before heading down the road. A fun weekend and we should really try and get more Westies there next year, so we can get teams into some of the relay races.

One complaint though: why do they give whisky to the first 6 men, first M40 and first M50, but no water of life for the women? A baffling and distinctly disappointing decision.

1st Colin Donnelly 29:37

23rd Clare Gordon 37:45

24th Val Houston 37:45

38th Rob McQuater 40:11

61st Brenda Paul 52:23

Posted by Rob McQuater on Thu 7 Aug 2008 | 2 comments

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