Philiphaugh Race

Following a very tiring day out cycling with 6 friends in Glen Trool I headed over to Selkirk last Sunday to give the new-ish Philiphaugh race a try. Pete and Elsie showed up which meant 3 westies were taking part in the race on what was a pretty perfect day for a run ……albeit the hills were still very wet from the previous weeks drenching. The race is really well marshalled and has several water stops but is just a bit too fast for an old codger like myself …….every ascent is runnable or should be and the descents are mild also so its a real runners route and is very suitable for road runners trying a hill race for the first time ……I was knackered from the day before and only the fear of Pete and Elsie catching me kept me going …….I was hoping that there would be some nasty descents near the end but as I hit the forest track the marshall told me to stay on it and the finish was 3/4 of a mile away. My heart sank but I did my best on the unrelenting stony surface however after running for about 5 minutes I met Ronnie Gallagher jogging up the track on his warmdown who told me to keep on going as there was only 2/3 of a mile to go ……..aaaaaaagh!, surely some mistake but he was right ……I eventually managed to totter over the line with Pete less than a minute behind then Elsie another couple of minutes back. Medal, mars bar, bottle of water and fruit were all gratefully accepted then after a good shower in the rugby club facilities headed off back home. Good atmosphere at the race and definitely suitable for speedsters but needs a bit more path rather than track and some steeper ups/downs to make it more of a hill race.