Rinnes Runaround

14 miles 4900ft

Having decided that I'm not bothered about championships this year (getting cuffed anyway!), decided to go and try for the Ben Rinnes 5 tops race. So contacted Manuel on Friday night, he and Lesley kindly offered me the chance to kip at their place in Newtonmore. While chewin' the fat with Manny on Friday night I could see that he was getting seriously interested in going along too.

Saturday morning Lesley, Manny, young Manuel and Duncan all got their stuff packed for going to a beano for Kevin Doonan (of Westies notoriety) being held in Forres. And with Forres being so near Dufftown Manny decided to do the race too.

It was overcast and humid at the start, and with Paul Raistrick and another Paul from Forres Harriers blasting along the couple of miles of track up to the golf course it was horribly sweaty. Alan Smith and Alec Keith then started tanking after the front two, with Alan taking the lead by the summit of Little Conval. Paul Raistrick was right on his tail and I had moved up to third. Running was now in the mist, which we dipped out of in the bealach before Meikle Conval. Then into the mist again as we ran up Meikle Conval, a long plateau run before spotting the marshal in the murk. Alan and Paul made a real dash through the heather on the descent to the road crossing. I was probably about 30-40 secs back. However, the race then starts the relentless 3k and 1700ft climb, so I removed my vest and started to work. Managed to catch up with Paul just after he blasted past Alan on the initial zig-zags. However, I was feeling quite strong and proceeded to keep running all the way up to the top, giving me a lead of about a minute at the summit. Now in thick mist again, humidity 100%! Panicking that I would lose the track after going over/round the summit tor in the mist, had to really concentrate on looking for the flags (a few folk have gone wrong on this before and did this time too). Descending into the mist was interesting, with runners coming up towards you in the gloom and trying not to collide with them.

Back at the road crossing there is a very steep heathery bank to climb...Into even more heather on an easy gradient, but my calf muscles were giving me grief after the Snowdon race the previous week. So plodded through the heather until the peat bog which is good for running, then run back up Meikle Conval and try to stride out in the mist concentrating hard looking for flags. The marshal appeared to be a rock sitting in the mist, but when he stood up it was a relief as this was the penultimate top. Again concentrating hard to find my way back into the bealach I passed the marshals there and ran steadily up Little Conval. This was very disconcerting as you get to the highest point and there is no marshal. In the mist you start thinking that you've missed the checkpoint, but after spotting another flag I kept running on the trod I was on. Then you descend almost imperceptibly to a trig point and the final marshal. Not wanting to mess up now the focus was all on finding the flags which guide you through and over a maze of little trods in the short heather to the golf course. It was nearly back at the fence above the golf course before the mist dissipated. Then run hard down the farm tracks into the games field.

A good hard run with Manny putting in a superb performance to take fourth and lo and behold the sun came out for a while too.

1. Ronnie Gallagher 2.06.06 Westerlands

2. Paul Raistrick 2.07.53 Highland HR

3. Alec Keith 2.11.20.HBT

4. Manny Gorman 2.12.?? Westerlands

5. Alan Smith 2.14.11 Deeside

S.Wingrove 1st L 2.29.13 Cosmic

E.Patterson 2nd L 2.55.57 Highland HR

L.Bethell 3rd L 3.04.33 Lochaber AC

Posted by Ronnie Gallagher on Mon 2 Aug 2004 | 1 comment

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