Ben Ledi & Lochearnhead

The weather was kind for the rescheduled Ben Ledi race and there was a high quality field with Prasad Prasad and Alastair Anthony not to mention our own fast young chaps. Much much farther down the field there was significant Westies geriatric competition. Before the race Prasad told people he had only been walking in the hills recently as it hurt to run…..fair to say don’t think anybody believed him….with good reason. Apparently he reached the top almost 2 minutes ahead of AA and won in a time just under 52 mins, Alistair was 2nd and not sure how close Gregor and Rob were but surely in the top ten. Way back down the field I soon lost sight of Hamilton then George then Murdo and the gaps lengthened and lengthened…..and Stephen, Gordon and Peter were behind me somewhere …..hard to believe. There were another 5 or 6 Westies running as well. Over the summit …..madcap descent…..and amazingly by the forest track I could see Murdo Hamilton and George plus Phil Forte only 200m or so ahead. Even better I knew there was a rough section through the woods still to come…..game on….and I managed to get past the guys and hang on to the finish. Only Westies prize winners were Murdo and Hamilton for 2nd and 3rd over60s.

Lochearnhead Highland Games – Hubris, a group of 7 or 8 decided we would do this race as well as it wasn’t far away and there was a reasonable time between the races. Definitely too much for my ageing body……as we were leaving the games field I realised to my horror that I was in last position and going backwards….a truly horrible climb was then endured……I had a good though painful descent and wasn’t last….though I was very jealous of the reception given to the 13/14 year old French scout who was …….other scouts joined him in the last few yards and when he crossed the line to great cheers he was lifted and thrown in the air by the whole pack……Sacre Bleu! Well done les Francais…..a stylish end to the race. For myself…..never again though the doctors say I may be able to walk again….given time.