Carnethy 5 Hill Race

There was a great turnout of 24 Westies for the classic gem of a race that is the Carnethy 5 Hill Race. The weather was kind to us and more akin to a spring day than mid-February. Almost 500 runners took part and they were led home by Rob Jebb in 47m 59s with Angela Mudge 1st female in 56m 09s. Border Westie Damon was first yellow W home making the top 20. As for me, in my 18th race I ran my slowest yet, but felt just as hard as all the rest. The usual sprint across the marsh had me gasping for breath, but the queue at the gap in the wall at least gave a welcome rest before the heathery trudge up to Scald Law. Fighting the urge to try and get past people by coming off the trod and into the heather I contented myself by the thought that it would do no harm to have a steady 1st climb and then see if there was scope later in the race for pushing the pace a bit. There were plenty of Westies vest around me at this point, with Tom, Graham, Val and Rob all close by. Off Scald Law and round to the Kips I managed to start picking off a few bodies and just nicked ahead of Val at the turn on West Kip. The descent off here wasn’t too slippy and I picked off a few on the descent before settling into a steady pace along to the Howe, hoping to conserve some energy for the long climb up to Carnethy. I had spied Rob, Garry and Shona not too far ahead and wondered if I might be able to haul them in. Shedding my thermal for the Westies vest I took some energy drink down me before settling into a steady rhythm. The slog up proved as hard as ever but I managed to pass Garry half way up and by the top was not too far behind Rob. In the horrible deep heather I managed to sneak past him and had Shona just ahead. I got just behind her at the bottom but flagged a bit across the marsh and had resigned myself to taking a beating, when a few yards before the line on the slight uphill Shona flagged ever so slightly and I decided to ungraciously sprint past her on the line – sorry Shona! A great race and an equally great day out. Well done to all the Westies who finished.

Westies finishers –

19- 55:02 Damon Rodwell Westerlands CCC

22 – 55:49 Manuel Gorman Westerlands CCC

24 -56:04 Nigel Scott Westerlands CCC

26 -56:26 Chris Upson Westerlands CCC

111 – 64:18 Steffen Gorgas Westerlands CCC

140 -66:47 John Donnelly Westerlands CCC

141 -66:48 Shona Robertson Westerlands CCC

149 -67:04 Rob McQuater Westerlands CCC

165 -68:01 Murdo Macleod Westerlands CCC

169 -68:09 Val Houston Westerlands CCC

170 -68:10 Graham Kelly Westerlands CCC

176 -68:38 Gary Tompsett Westerlands CCC

189 -69:17 Tom Bertulis Westerlands CCC

194 -69:25 Hamilton Semple Westerlands CCC

208 -70:32 Brian Brennan Westerlands CCC

258 -73:40 Keith Adams Westerlands CCC

274 -74:50 Jane Robertson Westerlands CCC

330 -79:19 Katherine Kirk Westerlands CCC

335 -79:41 Jason Kaushal Westerlands CCC

342 -79:52 Elspeth Scott Westerlands CCC

409 -87:07 Pauline McAdam Westerlands CCC

444 -93:33 Drew Turnbull Westerlands CCC

451 -94:24 Patricia Mclaughlin Westerlands CCC

474 -109:27 Graham Benny Westerlands CCC

Results here