Newtyle Hill Race

Results

Earlier tonight took part in the Newtyle Hill race at Loch of the Lowes near Dunkeld organised by Adrian Davis. This race has only been going for a couple of years and this was the 3rd running although they reversed the direction the race was run this year which was slightly confusing. I thought there was a possibility of me being the only Westie running but four of us actually turned out for the race. Myself, Brian Bonnyman of 3rd-at-Clachnaben-last-weekend fame, a far-from-home Pete Baxter, and, much rarer than a sighting of Lord Lucan or Shergar, the recently retired one time running machine Matt Ogston also. The race is pretty fast with good trails, the main hill comes near the beginning, then a smaller hill on good dry paths through the woods, a short sharp descent and undulating road and tracks back. The race started and the first 700m or so was on a level track and immediately the gaps began to grow, I thought I was running OK but realised it must be too fast when Alan Smith came past me only after 300m or so …calmed down a bit when we turned onto the first and main climb and managed to run all the way to the turning point on the ridge and then hurtled back down the same track to the foot of the second climb where I still managed to keep in a running action. By this time the race was well strung out and as most of it is in woodland you could only see people within a 100m or so and as I was still ahead of the bunch I usually "compete" with it was all to play for. Had a good descent and then got in with a little group, three of us, who kept each other going up a steep little climb on road and then tracks through the golf course and on to the finishing line. Mark Harris of Fife won the race ( in 29:18 or so ) with Jamie Stevenson second and our very own Brian Bonnyman getting another 3rd place and 1st V40…..1st lady was Joan Wilson of Carnethy in 39:11…. 1st M50 was Alan Smith, 1st F50 was Tilly Smith, and 1st M60 was Herbie McLean. The remaining Westies did the club proud by not only finishing the race but being verbally abusive to each other and to every other club and runner they managed to speak to …..I think the finishing order was myself, then Matt, then Pete and my time was around 37 minutes but we’ll find out those details later……it was great to see so many Westies at this wee race which is somewhere between a hill race and a trail race. If you get there early you can go watch the ospreys from the bird hide a 100m from the car park. I can heartily recommend this race to one and all …..including some very nice cakes / biscuits / drinks / sweets at the end.