Earlston Black Hill

Travelled down with Jonathan Weir for this race. A long way to come for what is more of a trail than a hill race but nice route and very well organised and supported. Although still not fully fit I actually enjoyed the run although the enjoyment level went up and down dramatically during the race. Pauline McAdam was also running and I hadn’t seen her for a long time. The race starts and finishes in the town centre with a big crowd cheering you off. The route is a tad contrived for the first mile or so wandering round some back alleys and through school grounds before leaving the town on a back road. Most of the runners were Gala or Lauderdale with a few  Carnethy and HBT runners also. I set off steadily and was doing ok, holding my place as we climbed through fields and farm tracks towards the hill proper. Just before we got to the main climb Davie Duncan passed me and I tried to hang on. However he and Jonathan pulled away from me and by the time we were up and down the hill there was a gap of well over a minute between myself and the group I was trailing while I had 5 or 6 guys right behind me. luckily the trail was a bit slippy and some of my chasers had ordinary running shoes and started to fall back. amazingly none of them passed me and this perked me up for the long run-in. Despite finishing a ‘calendar’ behind Davie and Jonathan I enjoyed the night which finished back in the town in front of a large cheering crowd where you picked up your goodie bag to add to the free Tshirt they’d already handed out. Dont know who won, Pauline was a few minutes behind me and running well. Long way home but a nice wee race