Meall ant Suidhe – Sat12th July

Sorry to displace the curry report with something as trivial as a championship race report but here goes antway.

Being crocked (still or again, whatever way you want to look at it) gave me the opportunity to spectate at what promised to be a great show of hill running and I wasn’t disappointed.

The event started with the Sports Relief fun mile and stramash of small weans, parents and hillrunners set off out & back on the Meall ant Suidhe track, unfortunately only to get caught in a driech shower. The Gorman tribe sent forth it’s two young warriors to the fray and both returned triumpht around the park; Duncan beaming at completing his second race and Manuel jnr bright red and gasping for air on his racing debut!!

A great wee plod for the smaller kids and some of the “mature” hill running types had to try very hard NOT to win it!!

The Meall ant Suidhe race was split starts for Wummin and Men with the lassies off first in a smaller than expected field with surprisingly few (only 2) Lochaber girls, but relieved to see 3 Westies Wummin bounding off round the park with Elsie is fighting mood!

Not to be out done, young Duncan decided he wanted to accompany me up the hill to watch the mens race, and we set off on the heels of the ladies with me struggling to keep up.

As we hit the hill proper and got the first section of steep climb in the 1st 3 ladies (all Scots) came galloping past followed by the pack including the Westies girls in various modes of bum slides, slipping, sliding and general mayhem/terror. Val was was hot on the heels of Elsie, but should have put in an extra big bum slide a bit sooner to close the gap which ended up 30 seconds at the line giving Elsie 20 points and slowly closing the gap on Pat at the top.

The wee man continued to flay me going up the hill (proud as a prince in his brand new Westies vest!!) and the summit was reached just as the mens race started and giving summit marshals John Maitland snr, Keith Burns, and Nick MacDonald a bit of a shock. A few minutes rest and a swig of water then we started plummetting down the greasy slope with Duncans racing flats (aka Clarks Cica gutties – with flashing lights!!) giving cause for concern – concern that Lesley might thump me if he got any more head knocks than his already impressive collection!

A trickle of Seniors, led by Robb Jebb, came into sight and made impressive speed up this infamously steep slope. We didn’t have too long to wait before the pack stared to appear in their droves, all grunting, puffing, snotters and slevers everywhere nearly forcing me & Dunc into our water proofs, instead just standing well back! In true sporting spirit Duncan chose a few well placed “boo”s to encourage non-Westies up the hill and was in hero worship mode as Nige became first W to pass.(I told him not to get too excited as NIge was unlikely to turn up for the next Champ race!)Trevor/Chris/Murdo/Steffan/Don all passed close together with Chris looking like death and the horrors of the descent still to come.

The leaders (now Simon Bailey in front of Jebb) went past like there was plenty of health insurance in place to cover any serious fall. ie. almost in freefall.

Duncan very quickly caught on this technique and proceeded to throw himself downhill in suicidal fashion leaving me juggling with my employers expensive digital camera and having to make desperate lunging grabs for his arm to prevent his certain death and a thick ear to me from the wife.

Situation saved once more, I enjoyed watching the stampede down the slithery slopes by the hordes getting a few good shots in the process. Least photogenic was Chris who appeared close to passing out and with Don bearing down on him was in for a hard time just getting finished. Trevor, Murdo and Steffan all thundered past with wide eyes and gritted teeth – all trying hard for those extra points.

Donald,Pete & Drew brought up the rear, but still bagging points in the process – more than I could manage!!

With the field now thinning out, Duncan broke into a final headlong kamikazi leap off the hill and I held onto him for dear life taking several spectacular falls in the process, before finally letting him sprint round the park to the finish line in 1:58:30, beating home the last senior man!

Well done to all those who put in the effort with generally good alround performances in very tricky conditions.

Photos & League update shortly but I’m off for a curry now…