Half-Ben

On Sunday I gate-crashed a little Lochaber hill race, otherwise known as the Half-Nevis. Out of the 53 entrants 34 wore Lochaber colours with a good mix of abilities. I wonder how Lochaber can draw so many members (over 120) from such a small community and make them turn out to races. Anyway, forecast was near perfect: 18C and clouds. However on the day it was warmer with a good bit of sun peeking through. Nowhere near as bad as Wasdale, though. Tried to start slowly and relaxed on the road and then to make up places on the climb. It worked to a degree. One chap sprinted off at the start and quickly left the others in the dust. But later on during the climb he was quickly put down to earth again. On the climb I overtook a few and was overtaken by a couple. Much harder that I had hoped. I was desperately missing the spring in my step I felt on Wednesday evening. My descent worked out much better than in previous visits to the Ben. However, on entrance to the tarmac all went to pieces again. Surprisingly I managed to finish 15th in 1:09:27 followed by a welcome bath in the warmish river. Alan Smith of Deeside came first in 0:58:10, despite a torn calf-muscle. Despite the pain of the race this was a perfect example of what hill running is all about. You turn up, pay your fee and run off. On my descent I picked a wrong shortcut and promptly fell into a thorny bush over a ditch and got stuck. The runner behind me stopped and offered a hand to pull me out. I really was stuck there in some awkward position. Friendly banter, tea, coffee and biscuits to finish things off.

What else could you do with your Sunday afternoon???

PS: Full results on SHR site.

Yours,

SG

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