Results | Photos | More Photos
A new entry on the Scottish Hill Racing calendar, and the first hill race ever organised by Bellahouston Road Runners.
Extremely strong winds caused something of a headache for the organisers, and after a delayed start it was conceded that it would be impossible to run the full route since the marshalls couldn't stand up on the summit ridge in the 70mph gusts.
A shortened route was therefore used which followed an out and back course to a cairn at the 575m col west of Ben Venue.
Due to the lower shorter course I quickly stripped down to a vest before the race started. The initial section followed hard surface forest tracks up until the exit of the forest, then from that point on the course was a complete quagmire.
I plugged away trying to keep up with Bruce Smith and Dougal Ross on this steep muddy, boggy section up to the cairn. Once around the cairn, Bruce's superior descending skills meant he was quickly out of sight. Steven Fallon also soon passed me on the rough stuff, and vanished into the distance as I reached the forest again, but Dougal wasn't so far ahead and I thought I could probably catch him.
I battered down the track slowly reeling in Dougal until a slight hesitation at a track junction allowed me to pass. I then pressed on getting glimpses of Steven Fallon, and very nearly closed him down on the final section of road.
Matt Williamson won the race, although strangely Prasad ran the course as well but without a race number, and stopped just before the finish.
There was good turnout of Westies with Dave Rogers having an amazing run to finish 15th. I don't know what sort of training he's been doing lately. Ellie did well to finish 2nd lady despite running with a heavy cold. Helen MacPherson won the female V50 category, and Hamilton put in his usual steady performance.
No comments:
Post a Comment