glen clova 2007

A small posse of hardy Westies – Simon, JD, Graham, Manny and myself took part in this classic Long for some triple counting points – SHR, British and Manny’s summer league. Catriona was the wummins team. A pleasant day, cool and a little overcast at first, brightening up later with good visibility. The climbing starts straight away on good steady paths to Green Hill, so good that the front runners were soon tanking away on the wrong path briefly. This pattern repeated itself with runners on different lines all over high plateau, plugging through the peat hags and moorland to the next three checkpoints. The broad tops and shallow features make it well worth running on the compass to shave a little distance. The runnable fun ended for me on the rough tussocky descent to the Braedownie road crossing and then the long stiff haul up into Corrie Farchal. Way below Manny was starting to reel me in with his power walking strength having taken the first half easy after a four week lay-off. A shuffling grind on the top of Dreish was rewarded by a tailwind back the bealach. One last pull and a fast open ridge before a desperate descent stumbling though rough long grass and rushes. The pressure was on to keep pushing, spurred on by a closing Manny and fact that I was actually catching Matt Bell. Out of the rough, telling myself not to throw way my advantage, I promptly tripped on the stony track but held on the finish – a great race. At the front, Tom Owens won by 9 seconds from Rob Jebb while Jill Mykura took Janet McIvor by 16 seconds.