lairig ghru hill race

After I wimped out of my planned 300K cycle for Sat(195 miles on a wee saddle-stupid idea really)I was wondering whether or not to give the LG another go after I plodded round it 2 years ago just scraping under 4 and a half hours. After John Duffy of the SHITs said he and sometime-Westie Marc McColl were going up on Sun morning I decided that a wee 55 mile cycle round the Trossachs on Sat followed by the LG sounded a more rounded and appealing weekend. Sun morning didn’t start well as my alarm failed to go off at 6am and it was pure luck that I actually wakened not knowing the time and was propelled out my bed at a rate of knots after seeing that it was 6.25 and I was due at John’s in Cumbernauld for 7! I made it there on time which was more than can be said for Marc, who managed to arrive late after going down at least one slip road the wrong way. We made it to Braemar where it was a lovely morning. At the start Don Naylor of HBT sprinted off, maintaining his form to the end in a new record of 3h 7m to win by 21min. I started off slightly slower and kept it that way to the end. It is an incredibly runnable race, not suiting the likes of me who would have fared better with a few Munros thrown in for good measure. As it was, the total climb over the @28 miles was 690 metres.The views were stunning, when you could manage to peel your eyes off the rocky path during the middle of the race that runs up the main Larig Ghru, and quite a few paid the price in terms of bloodied and bruised limbs. The weather was fab, and the first and last hour or so are lovely paths/tarmac, the boulder field at the top horrible and the decent into Rothiemurchus forest is great if you have the legs to enjoy it, which I didn’t. I managed to sneak a PB by 5 min, going through at least a few good and not so good patches, losing my water bottle and not having enough gel bars to fuel me.Marc was 10 sec the wrong side of 4 hours, proving that not wearing a watch is not always a good idea, is it Marc? Lucy Colquhoun of Carnethy also set a new women’s record in 3h 33m. We all finished in glorious sunshine and enjoyed the free soup and sarnies, washed down by a few welcome beers. The bus then took us back to the cars at Braemar to round off a great day over one of the classic routes in Scotland. How about a recreation of the (in)famous Westies Lairig Ghru debacle of a few years ago? This time minus the blizzards and plus some sensible clothing?? A race/run that all hill-lovers should try at least once.