,

Beinn Dubh, Dubh, Dubh, Push Pineapple Shake the Tree

Beinn Dubh, I hardly recognised you in such dry conditions! In fact, it was so dry that if someone like Finlay Wild turned up the record was in serious danger… oh wait that’s exactly what happened.

I wasn’t in the mood for a race but can’t refuse an offer for a trip up Beinn Dubh. I tried to find an excuse to do something useful other than race: marshal, flag the route, etc. but Damien was all too prepared and before I knew it I was pinning a number my blue made-of-exactly-the-same-stuff-as-plastic-bags “shorts”.

After a count-through of all the racers, we were suddenly off to a subtle start that saw most people still engaged in pre-race banter as the start of the field pegged it. It’s all uphill on Beinn Dubh and my usual sporadic running style saw me pass and get passed by a good bunch of Westies – great turnout. I had diverted a percentage of racing energy to cheering on Westies as we passed each other on the hill, to the plethora of Westie marshals, and to Ruth who-to relax before running the London marathon was doing a bit of “light” sweeping. I nearly flattened Jill Stephen as she popped up out of nowhere when I jumped down the little dip about 3/4 the way up – in retrospect if I wasn’t so quick to dodge we might have had a Westies Women 1,2 so I now have mixed feelings. The weather was perfect, lovely for most of the hill with a zero visibility mild gale at the top – very refreshing. Some Westies were faster than me: well done. Some were slower than me: well done. One was the exact same time as me: well done.

In terms of results, Westies won loads of prizes: Alex was 2nd FOpen, Elizabeth was 3rd FOpen, Niall was 3rd MOpen, Audrey was 2nd M40, Gordon and David were 1st M60 and 2nd M60. If we keep this up, they won’t have us back. Westies definitely gave the best cheer at prize-giving. Best of all, the Westies Women made up exactly half of the total field which is amazing!!!

Thanks Damien et al. for organising a splendid race as usual. As for the post’s title… you’re welcome James.

 

1 reply

Leave a Reply

Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.