Cioch Mhor Hill Race15th April 2006

Brian Brennan bottled it this week, choosing digging the garden (or his own grave?) instead of a good race, leaving a small field of about 20, with 6 potential winners and loads of scope for variable route choice, making for the most interesting tactical race for some time for me.

Alec Keith in an Inverness Harriers vest led the runners up the first hill through some soft slippy ground, and the fantastic sight of a pair of Red Kites sailing very low over our heads!!

Beautiful birds....really!

By the top of the first climb Alec and Forres Harriers international junior, Kyle Greig had together forged a gap with Carnethy's Mark Johnston, HHR's Paul Rodden and Dave Cummings in his 2nd claim HHR vest and lastly myself, all chasing on more or less random lines off the hill towards a fast moving river crossing with a rope for safety (the river had thankfully dropped to just above knee level from waist height since yesterday!!)

Route choice here proved descisive for Alec who along with Kyle took a wise line across to a 4x4 track which made good running for most of the way up Cioch Mhor, while the rest of

us blundered about blindly in deep heater and boggy ground, gutting ourselves to keep up.

Paul and myself had worked hard to pull back Mark who had open a good gap with a nifty shortcut, but after a brief climb over very rough ground to the summit and back, the real race was on for the return journey over the same route.

Paul and I chose to stick to the now obvious track, but Mark trying to be cute with another shortcut had to work too hard to keep pace with us.

Inexplicably Kyle had fallen back and re-appeared before us at the return river crossing and with Dave just behind, so places 2 - 6 were still to be contested over the last hill.

I came close to distaster by taking a dire line on my own away to the left of the others, and finding myself in thick clay mud which turned my shoes to concrete blocks. Glancing over I saw that Paul had made a break on the others on the runable climb and we both came together for the last few hundred feet up to the trig, going toe to heel every step of the way as we both watched for weakness that did not come.

With Paul leading me out on the climb, I took the initiative on the descent which still had had some tough flat track running before the final fling down the steep fields at full sprint, over dangerously slippy ground.

My trailshoes were at a disadvantage on this terrain/speed and I took a first high speed fall in the mud, losing the small gap I had opened on Paul, and then nearly killed myself on a closed metal farm gate when I slipped again just before it and piled into it at full speed (possible cracked rib!) With a final manic sprint across the final field and dash down the farm lane, I bagged 2nd place in 74:44 with 3rd,4th, 5th all only about 10/15 seconds behind, and Dave trotting home in 6th very soon after.

Alec's good early route choice had let him cruise to a 4 minute win in a record time and a grand bottle of malt at the prize giving where I think virtually everyone got a prize, even ex-westie Jim Hall in his HHR colours mumbling something about Westies never traveling.....

If you get the chance next year I would recomend this one.

(sorry results not out yet)

Posted by Manny Gorman on Mon 17 Apr 2006 | 7 comments

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