Allermuir Gallop

Went over to this wee race with Jonathan, Lisa and Trevor…….thanks again Jonathan for the transportation. Thought it was a new race but discovered that it had been run several times in last few years but never advertised before. Not sure how many started but around 40 or so, mainly HBT with several Carnethys and Corstorphine and ourselves and Gordon Pryde as the visitors. Ian Campbell of HBT organises this race, entry by donation and all the money goes to a deserving charity, this year to assist in the building of a school in Cambodia that Ian’s son is assisting with……well done. It was a beautiful night in Swanston a conservation village not far from Caerketton though thankfully cooler than the previous night at Dumyat where I had been well cooked. It was good to see Paul and Phyllis O’Brien who’ve both been injured/I’ll over the last few months. Off we went and immediately my body signalled it was unhappy……more like ‘are you mad ya old git….last night was enough…..find a pub, get a pint, age gracefully etc etc”. Kept going though wasn’t pretty but the route helped……absolutely beautiful winding paths which became better and better as we climbed……takes a while before you see the summit and long before that Murray Strain came past on his descent on the way to a new record of under 20 minutes followed not far behind by Alastair Anthony ( a proud new dad of 11 days…..and Eilidh and baby Duncan were at the race and both were looking good). Kept going …..overtaken by Trevor and Jonathan before at last reached the summit of Allermuir then managed to overtake 2 HBT ladies on the descent to finish just above the village. Absolutely fantastic wee race and the prize giving took place a few minutes later with Ian dishing out seemingly endless prizes to just about everybody……..if you get the chance do this race…..thanks to Ian and all his helpers for a great night.