Wideford Hill Race

Travelled up to Orkney on Wednesday with Trevor Shaw from Killin to knock off another new race for me in Kirkwall. Beautiful day which made the driving easy and then we took the Catamaran ferry as pedestrians from Gill’s Bay to st Margarets Hope and the bus on to Kirkwall. The race was free to enter at Kirkwall Town Hall and eventually around 20 or so set off at 7pm from in front of St Magnus Cathedral …….what can I say …….2.5 kms of road and narrow tarmac path followed by a kilometre across a couple of big fields all gently rising then the last 500 feet or so of climb through rough tussocks of grass and heather to the top then round the OS post and back the way you came …….another race suitable for the road runners which is my way of saying it didn’t go well time wise…….great race at the front with a young lad opening up a big lead over 2 really experienced Orkney runners, Norman McLennan and Graham Harkus who then caught and passed him on the downhill to finish in that order. I kept on going and finished next behind Trevor who was around 10th although the gap between us was probably 2 minutes or so. Great reception as you came up to the finish outside the Town Hall with a good crowd gathered to cheer you in and then after everybody had finished they read out everybody’s name and dished out certificates proving you’d competed. The weather was great with almost no wind and loads of sunshine, the locals were very friendly, and the Peedie Hostel we stayed in before heading back next day was excellent also.