Ochils 2000 Hill Race →

OK then, no one with a bit of wit and literary skill has yet written a report, so you'll have to make do with me again! Another long race and yet another near-identical time to the previous attempt - so I’m getting older but at least not any slower, or something like that. This was my second go at this new-ish long race in the Ochils and a fine race it is. The fact of it being an A-B means you need to get to Stirling Uni pretty early to get bussed over to Glendevon for the 12.00 start. However, that gives plenty of time for pre-race socialising, as opposed to the usual frantic registering and warm-up routines. And you get a nice wee bus ride along the foothills of the Ochils thrown in too.

We were politely dumped at the forest start a good 45 minutes before kick-off, but this was fine as the weather was fair and the midges non-existent. The only reason for any sort of warm-up prior to such a long race was the very important matter of getting one’s bowels and bladders emptied pre-race, and the woods were dotted with runners lightening their loads.

At the off we all meandered up in usual unhurried long race style, or in my case, my only type of early race pace, slow and steady. The forest track spread everyone out well before we hit the ridge up to Innerdownie, Whitewisp and Tarmangie. I settled down to a plod, watching my usual rivals disappear ahead, possibly never to reappear again, who knows at that stage. I just tried to run my own little race with myself for the first few hours before seeing if my body could manage to push on or hang on at the end.

This (my only) tactic worked quite well as I enjoyed some steady running and climbing for the first few hours out past Ben Cleuch and on to the twin peaks of Buck and Ever. On the trudge through the bog/swamp/tussocks over to Blairdenon I passed Brian Brennan, and closed in on Susannah MacMillan and Louise Burt, who had been a good few minutes ahead of me earlier. There is much talk of secret fast lines through this morass, but I tend to just aim straight over and take what mess I find myself in. In this case I followed the two ladies hoping they would find any waist deep bog before I would. It seemed to work OK.

The three of us summitted Blairdenon together, then I led them off straight down the fence line, ignoring the alternative longer, but possibly quicker, contour. A few falls later into ditches that were masquerading as runnable trods, I found the line down onto the tracks near the dam at Jerah, passing new Westies signing David Dickson. An energy jel, some jelly babies and some juice gave me the energy to push on up to Dumyat in the warming weather, eye-ing up Davy Duncan who was not too far ahead, and trying to stay ahead of Susannah had started to close right up behind me.



Gaining the top of Dumyat in 3 hrs 20 mins, was a welcome relief with the old familiar mid-week race route descent ahead. I tried to get my creaky knees and heavy legs to descend as fast as they could, and managed down in 21 minutes, making up a few places knowingly – and a few more unknowingly as Steffen Gorgas, Stuart Barrie and many others had veered off route on the descent, easily losing at least 5 mins.



It was the usual pleasant relief to flop down on the grass besides heaps of fellow Westies as our bodies started to realise what we had put them through in pursuit of our “hobby” or whatever. Some nice refreshments and prizes followed, as well as the usual post-mortems and general chit-chat. Thanks to Ochil Hillrunners and all their helpers for the race.

Posted by John Donnelly on Tue 31 Aug 2010 | comments are open

Category races

Bar and Croy hill →

A fine evening and perenially popular route brought out a number of hibernating westies along with the usual suspects.

Posted by John Hamer on Fri 27 Aug 2010 | comments are open

Category club runs

Westies triumph at Two Inns hill race →

Results

Five brave Westies runners travelled to the inaugural staging of the Two Inns hill race. The others who stayed away probably did so following some awful weather forecasts. However, given the effort that goes into staging such a long race and given that this is an area of dramatic scenery I thought this is too good an opportunity to miss. As it turned out the mountain gods smiled on us with some lovely conditions of broken warm sunshine and a cooling southerly breeze throughout. Only exception was Fraochaid where towards the top some windproof was required.
The field of 37 runners (I thought there were more) started off in a field opposite the Creagan Inn and immediately begun the steep climb up Beinn Churalain on pretty much wild and pathless terrain. From there the race follows a number of fence lines on a fairly flat ridge with a few smaller tops before the climb up to Fraochaidh. From there on the race follows a slightly better footpath on better ground. The views are now becoming more spectacular with the Ballachulish Horseshoe as well as the Anoach Eagach ridge in full view, plus the hills on the southern side of Glencoe. The last major climb is up Sgorr a’Choise from where you follow some deer tracks back steeply down to the landrover track for the final couple of miles back to the Clachaig Inn. For safety reasons we were taken off the LR track and over some awful un-runnable tussock to cross the road right opposite the car park we go through to get to the finish line. This was by far the worst bit of the entire route.
Our efforts, however, were rewarded with what Manny described the “first Westies team victory in living memory”. Perhaps Manny winning the overall race had a lot to do with it. So congratulations and adulations to him are in order for such a grand achievement.
Refreshments were served in the public bar of the Clachaig Inn plus the usual selection of real ales that the place is known for. What a jolly amazing day out. I shall be back again and again.
Order:
Manny
Graham K
Dave Rogers
Steffen
Brian B

Yours truly.

Posted by Steffen Gorgas on Mon 23 Aug 2010 | 5 comments

Category Hill Race

Photos from Chapelgill and Glen Rosa →

Myra came along to two of the hill running championship races this year with her camera and took some photos which she has asked me to share with you. They're from Chapelgill and Glen Rosa. Those of you who ran will remember the glorious sunshine. Some of the photos are just begging for captions but I've held back so as not to spoil your fun.
http://www.kodakgallery.co.uk/ShareLanding.action?localeid=en_GB&c=rue9t3ht.jfzxqw9t&y=eoo42g&x=0

 

Posted by Pauline McAdam on Fri 20 Aug 2010 | 5 comments

Category Hill Race

Where were you? →

It was promising to be a glorious evening on the way out to Luss. As usual, when the wooden bridge appeared, I started signalling and slowing down for every exit from the A82 and then nearly missed the turn up Glen Luss as the sign is hidden by trees until the last instant. Myra and I gave ourselves a quick coat of 'Skin so Soft' and then ventured out to join those already there: a few midges, John Hamer, Tom Smith and three WoWs - Pat, Fiona and Helen. We ladies decided to set off early while John & Tom waited for the rest to arrive for the 7 o'clock start.
It's a long haul up Beinn Dubh but, with the Hill Running Championships and the Bog and Burn over, there was no need to push ourselves and so we enjoyed a leisurely ascent, caught up on summer exploits and stopped regularly to enjoy the stunning view. Eventually we caught sight of the later group catching us up. Only two - where is everyone?
When John & Tom joined us we set off for Mid Hill stopping at the top cairn to check out some fierce looking weather on the hills behind Ben Lommond. The descent of Mid Hill is one of those downhill runs where you just can't stop until the ground starts to flatten out a bit. The guys waited for us at the bottom which earned them much praise from the ladies who are not used to such chivalry. Once we'd regrouped it was back along the road to the cars. There is one massive uphill on this road that seemed much steeper and longer than anyone had remembered. The hill-reppers vowed to make an early start on the Monday night sessions, dug in and struggled up. We managed to pretty much stay together back to the cars where the midges and their friends and family were waiting for us. We quickly refuelled on some of Myra's excellent" Banoffee Bits" before heading back to the real world.
There were extra helpings of banoffee - Myra had obviously expected a bigger turn out, so, tell us, where were you?

Posted by Pauline McAdam on Thu 19 Aug 2010 | 7 comments

Category club runs

Lomonds of Fife →

For the first race in the club's autumn league, a grand total of seven Westies gathered in Strathmiglo for the Lomonds of Fife hill race.
As the lead runners dragged the peleton up West Lomond from the starting field, it became apparent that the heat of the day was going to take its toll. The dry, hard earth made the steep, contouring descent from the summit more tricky than usual and although the track through the forest offered some shade, the uneven, stony surface felt seriously uncomfortable to my Compeeded heels.
So, with relief, we peeled off the track to the softer and well funghified (did anyone else notice those toadstools?!) trod uphill. I was surprised to encounter an ambling Dave R on the approach to the road crossing who mumbled something about having a bad day. With Steffen ahead of me on the climb up East Lomond, and having been rehydrated at the water station, I had reason to keep a pace, but seemed to lose him somewhere on the path back down to the water station where friendly shouts were passed about between those going out to and those returning from the hill.
Scorchio- thank goodness for passing the water station twice!
I was keen to remember the advised route off the funny outcropped bit up to the track to W.L, but in the end, followed those in front over the spiky remains of burnt heather. Once on the track, the point is to just keep a rhythm, which I managed, overtaking another Westie walking wounded (John D). Knowing that I'd be finishing in a small matter of minutes, I stomped up to the summit and enjoyed chasing newbie Westie David Dickson to the gully where I put my shorts to the test down that textured grass slide. Nuff said. I couldn't quite catch him during the run out to the final field, so came in third Westie after Graham and David, and second woman.
Well done to Graham, Steffen, JD, John and John and what on earth happened to Dave R?

Posted by Ellie Homewood on Mon 16 Aug 2010 | 4 comments

Category Hill race

Aberfeldy Games Race →

What a long drive for a piddly short race! However, temptation was too great and the journey was sort of justified by a pre-race cycle around to Loch Tay. With ear plugs in place to dampen the furious Bagpipe noise, I set off within a field of 20 odd runners around the track and out of the games field toward Weem hill. The front runners quickly disappeared as we left the road and began ascending along a wooded trail behind the village. The angle of the path was perfectly runnable, and I kept neatly tucked behind Sarah Wiseman (Ochils). After a couple of kilometres, we left the woods and passed through a couple of grassy fields to the farmyard which marks the highest point of the race, here I caught up with Sarah and moved just ahead. From here, the route descended via a stony farm track back toward Aberfeldy in an unending series of zig zags. Strangely, some guy with a camera seemed to be joining in on the fun and setting the pace for us to follow. I was also slightly surprised to spot the lean mean Brennan running machine further down the track, but he helped us navigate the mysterious and unmarked turn into the golf course. I realised then that I'd been around this golf course before - looking for Muffy, who had been lost on her leg of the Rob Roy route, circa 2008 - champing at the bit now and desperate to stop for the sake of my burning soles, it nearly all went to pot when we followed the camera chap the back way into the games field, but were re-directed by Brian to take the official re-entrance and rather exhibitionist lap of the field to the finish. Davy Duncan was first local home, and we never found out if the lost American was re-located.

Posted by Ellie Homewood on Sat 14 Aug 2010 | comments are open

Category 14th August

Caerketton hill race →

Caerketton hill race is the last in the Bog and Burn series, and was my first Bog and Burn outing of 2010. It's a super-short race which simply runs steeply up alongside the Hillend Ski slope along tracks, through the foilage to the summit cairn of Caerketton and back down the same way. The route is steep and short and is a bit of an eyeballs-out experience. Reeling from a bizarre and random interaction in the petrol station near the ski slope where the race starts, which involved a rebuttal of my alleged Germanic decendency with some plummy English chappie, and with several races in the legs from last week, I wasn't firing on all cylinders, and quickly found myself dropping backwards in the field as the race kicked off. After crossing the stile, I managed to hold position to the top, safely pinned in the trod by the limbs of those in front. With eyes watering from the buffeting wind, identifying runners wasn't easy, but first Westie spotted on his return journey was Adam Gatens, well up in the field, followed by Graham, Murdo and Brian, peripheral vision was used to note Elsie and Pete, and I heard the snap of Chris's camera shutter down at the stile. Having nipped past Eilis (HBT) who whoopped my ass in the Tour of Clydeside races the week before, I allowed gravity to take control on the final grassy slope down to the finish line and finished about scrillionth woman after all (most of) the Bogging girls. Thanks to Barbara and Don for the shouts.

Posted by Ellie Homewood on Sat 14 Aug 2010 | comments are open

Category Bog & Burn

Tom na Bat Hill Race →

17th July 2010

Some photos from the Tom na Bat hill race at Tomintoul, courtesy of Barbara MacLeod.

Posted by Westies Admin on Tue 10 Aug 2010 | 1 comment

Category Hill Race

Glenshee 9 →

Ouf!

A smattering of 9 yellow vests were amongst those gathered on the start line at Glenshee ski centre on Sunday morning for the long and demanding Glenshee 9 hill race. The car had scraped the underside of a low lying cloud base on the drive into the glen prompting a certain amount of map referencing driven by anxiety of a navigational disaster in these featureless hills. Although the first climb along the ugly scarred ski area was in the mist, the cloud burnt off fairly quickly, allowing the usual sheep mentality to route finding for the rest of the afternoon.

I was surprised at feeling quite content over the first half of the race which covers 6 Munros to the east of the road, covering a wild, barren terrain of tussocks and peat hags. I took a slightly daft route off Carn a Turic, heading straight for the road crossing in my sight, taking me (and some others) over a boulder field and down a marshy, slippery burn. No matter, I popped out on the path just behind those I'd been with at the summit. Lifting a fresh bottle of juice, I began the traipse up Carn Aosda, suddenly aware that the five races of the week were taking their toll as a breakdown in communication ensued between my leg muscles and my brain's commands. I was grateful to Alayne Finlay for taking the lead at this point through the deep and springy heather and fell in behind her step. Making a decision to 'potter' the remaining 2 summits, Alayne and I jogged along together, and I resisted the urge to visit the extra outlier that I'd summited in last year's race. On the return leg from the 8th top, I encountered Chris, who had climbed to the ridge above the ski centre to take photos. With his encouragement, I was able to dig in to overtake the two runners I'd been following and who strangely decided to walk very slowly up to the last checkpoint. I managed the very steep and messy descent over rough ground without pranging either ankle and finished more or less intact and delighted at completing my second hill race of the year. Congratulations to Brian B, Manny, Elsie B, Steffen and JD who also completed the race and commiserations to those who gubbed out in various different ways.

Posted by Ellie Homewood on Mon 9 Aug 2010 | 2 comments

Category Hill Race