Ben Lomond

The race was won by Stuart Whitlie V40 of Carnethy in a time of 68.14. Stuart knew he had to build a good lead before the summit, over the other favorite in the race, fast descending Brian Marshall of HELP. Brian never managed to pull much back on Stuart and finished in a time of 69.49. Third was the marvelously named Geraint Florida-James of Carnethy. Ronnie was 2nd V40 in 4th place.

The ladies record was broken by Angela Priestley who finished in 15th place overall with a time of 79.28. First lady Vet was Sonia Armitage of Cosmic (87.13). Carnethy won the team prize narrowly beating Westies (i wish i had ran as i think Westies might have sneaked it!). The mountain rescue did an excellent job as usual in keeping the people at the start / finish informed of the runners progress on the hill and fortunately that was all they had to do. The first aid ambulance proved at the end of the day to be a worth while expense with approx 6 runners being treated for various abrasions twists and strains, but I think i will need to increase the cost of entry next year to £5 to cover the cost. A conversation with Pete Bland led to the possibility of the event being considered as a British counter next year if the numbers could be increased on a one off basis. I said I would write to the NTS but was’nt hopeful. The other problem would be parking. Does anybody know how much parking there is on the road to, and at the youth hostel.

I would like to say a big thanks to everybody who helped on the day, including my wife Elma and kids, Muffy for doing results, Des Gilmore for time keeping and the other people on the finish line and all the marshals stuck on the hill on a fairly cold day. The race just would not happen with you guys! I would like to say a special thanks to Graham Benny. Most of the runners in the race probably don’t ever see or notice Graham. He is off up the hill marking the route and co-ordinating marshals before the entrants arrive, and most have gone home before Graham gets off the hill as he is never back in time for the prize giving! A genuine unsung hero. Graham, thanks for a job well done.

WESTIES RESULTS:

4 72:12 Ronnie Gallagher v

16 80:48 Chris Fuller

28 84:24 Gordon Robinson

30 85:20 John Donnelly

41 90:04 Steffen Gorgas

42 90:11 Keith Adams

65 99:22 Lilian Wanless

68 100:30 Tony Ritchie

79 105.32 Susan Jane Ross

80 105.43 Helen Macpherson

81 106:20 Ana Talbot

84 106:42 Drew Turnbull

See you all at Dumyat for more Bog’n’burn points!!.

cheers.