Sunday 2 August 2009

Creag Dhubh Race, Newtonmore

1st August 2009

Photos

Strangely this was my 1st ever running at the Newtonmore Highland Games Creag Dhubh hill race. The drive up was pretty exhausting since I followed the back roads via Crieff to avoid the tailbacks at Bankfoot, which wasn't perhaps the best detour. So we arrived pretty shattered about 30 minutes before the race was due to start. It took a while to find where to register, and we were duped by paying entry to the games and entry to the hill race.

So I was feeling pretty dizzy from fatigue on the startline, and not looking forward to the steeplechase obstacle course of fences and barriers to tackle before reaching the hill. I was pretty much off the pace from the start, but stayed ahead of Manny and Alan Smith until partway up the main climb, before Manny really took off. I plodded up the hill behind Alan to the summit, but Alan tore away from me on the rough heathery descent.

Alan was quickly out of sight, so instead I latched onto Paul Maclean to show me the way off. Lower down Stuart Malcolm of Cairngorm Runners went past. I had almost given up when an insanely enthusiastic shout of support from Elke Schmidt got me going again and I chased to Stuart and Paul, and had the most uncomfortable sprint in the final 200 metres on the games field to finish just ahead of Paul in a time of around 33:50.

7 comments:

John Kynaston said...

Hi Chris

I saw a glimpse of you on the Adventure Show tonight running in the Three Islands Race.

Well done on today's race

John K

Stuart Malcolm said...

Hello Chris, nice to be overtaken by you on Saturday!
Hope the journey back was better than the one up.
Ive just posted my race report here.

Chris said...

Thanks John - I'll perhaps see you at the Kilbarchan 5-miler tonight!

Chris said...

Hi Stuart - thanks for the Wolf Howl blog link, and well done on your massive PB at Creag Dhubh. You must have been flying off that hill! Perhaps see you at Glenshee 9 next weekend?

Stuart Malcolm said...

wont make glenshee 9 next weekend - I'm off on a boys drinking, err.. mountain biking weekend!
Looks like a great run though. Maybe next year.
My next race will be the Ben. Not done it before, so looking forward to it, in a strange kind of way!

Debs M-C said...

I saw you on TV last night too. Don't suppose you can blend in wearing a yellow vest :-) Don't think the Peaks will ever be on my list of must-do races. Or anything that involves open water really.

Chris said...

Hi Debbie. You might also have spotted our dark blue trimaran getting slammed by waves at the Mull of Kintyre. The conditions were so severe we binned the race, and motored to shelter at Campbeltown.
It's hard to describe just how unpleasant it was on that boat!