Pentland Skyline

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Pentland Skyline

On Sunday 14th October 2001 seven Westies competed in a mammoth hill race that definitely sorted out the men from the boys. The Pentland Skyline is 16 miles and 6200 feet of pretty gruelling terrain......well this boy thought so anyway!

On leaving Glasgow, conditions looked pretty good. By Livingston the cloud was very low. Arriving at the race, the cloud was low and rain was in the air. Excellent!

Pulling into the car park, I noticed David Duncan from Ochil Hill Runners, and he didn't look particularly pleased as he glanced into our car. I assumed he wasn't looking forward to the usual competitive rivalry we'd built up over the last year or so, then I realised he hadn't noticed me in the back seat, it was Keith sitting in the front he was scowling at!!

Jane (fresh from not having partied at the Annual Dinner the evening before) Damon and Crispin were clearly up for a good wee blast round the hills - except Crispin (in his last race before leaving for new pastures down south) forgot his hill running shoes and had to make do with his Saucony Jazz 5000's...oh dear! Incidentally I reckon Crispin and Damon had hatched a wee plan between them to knock my confidence, because each of them came up to me before the race and commented on how thin and frail I was looking...thanks a lot, that made me feel raring to go.

The race started on the fairly steep cloud covered Caerketton hill and that in my mind represented the whole race. Less than an hour had passed and the rain came on very heavily and waterproof jackets were the option for the boys, I don't know what Ronnie did at this point, perhaps he was so far ahead he actually missed it. For me, the weather was a major concern, I already knew the second half of the course was tricky to navigate around in at the best of times, so I made sure I kept a few runners in my sight (not always a good idea, though).

At the first water station I was snapped by a Carnethy photographer who clearly thought I ran for their side. Yellow vest you see, and not the first time that has happened; clearly the vests are not easy to tell apart (unless Westies are wearing the retro style old cotton type fashioned by Liz at the cross country relays on the Saturday). Any other suggestions to avoid being mistaken in this way again?

Undulating round the first half of the course I began to relax when I recognised Carnethy Hill, Scald Law etc....then an eight year old boy went flying past me. I still had plenty of runners in my sight though, including Charlie Love.....no problem I thought....he's really experienced on the hills.....I shouldn't have to dig my map out try to navigate my way round to Black Hill.....just try and keep up with him and everything should be ok!.....hang on, is he slowing down or am I catching him up? Shit, he's stopped! 'Do you know where you're going?' he asked me.......AAAARGH!! Map and compass time. About ten minutes later we saw some runners ahead, one was John. I thought, excellent, we've inadvertently taken a short cut....I'm ahead of John and I'm going to beat David Duncan......'Where the hell have you two been?', shouted John in my direction, 'Keith's up ahead', he said pointing to Black Hill. Great, it seems John was having a bad race and Keith had slipped in front of me while I helped Mr Love find his way again.

Trying to make up for lost time I sprinted off after Keith but the heather was really tough terrain to move over. If that wasn't enough the low cloud didn't help, so low in fact that some of the tops were clear and surrounded by a moat of cloud, which in fact was rather beautiful actually ... until you have to descend again.....and this is where I got lost for a second time. And hands up,completely my own fault this time! However after five minutes of stretching my cramping legs and desperately looking around for movement on the hills around me I spotted a few women runners ahead. I was soon able to get back on track, and who did I bump into?...John again. And luckily he guided me round the rest of the course to the finish.

I staggered over the finishing line in 3 and a half hours. No too bad considering Chris Upson had suggested it would take around four hours!

Here are the results:

1. A.Kitchin (Lothian) 2:41:59

2. Ronnie Gallagher 2:43:18

6. Damon Rodwell 2:59:31

26. David Duncan (Ochils) 3:13:12

27. Keith Adams 3:13:21

28. Crispin Flower 3:15:37

34. Charlie Love (Dundee) 3:18:55

45. Graham Wright (under 13 / Carnethy) 3:24:59

49. John Donnelly 3:29:00

50. Blair Millen 3:29:45

60. Jane Robertson 3:36:00

Westerlands won first team prize, Ronnie won first vet and probably second man prize as well, which explains why he was carrying so much beer afterwards. He kindly gave me a bottle.