Two Breweries Hill Race

24th September 2011

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This was my 10th Two Breweries in a row. For once I decided to start a bit more slowly, and slotted in well behind the block of front runners for the opening jog down the road.  I then backed right off on the first climb, and started walking thereby letting lots more runners past, including Kate Jenkins and David Fulton of HBT.

Once we got onto the more runnable track through the heather, I managed to start running again and passed David and Kate, and then started to close down John Binnie, Jonny Knox and Iain Whiteside towards Birkscairn. I followed these guys on the descent to Glen Sax, and caught Gregor Heron on the climb towards Hundleshope. The traverse across to Stob Law was seriously muddy and gloopy this year. I saw Dick Wall just as I reached the better track up Stob Law, and passed Greig Glendinning just before the summit.

On the descent to Glenrath I was passed by Jonny Knox and John Binnie, but I caught and passed them again on the climb up Whitelaw. Once in the firebreak, Peter Buchanan and Michael McGovern were not that far ahead, but despite making a reasonable effort I couldn't quite close them down.

On the descent from Dead Wive's Grave, I had John Binnie right on my heels, but he only passed after the drinks station at Stobo. I was slightly taken by surprise at the speed that John hammered up the track, but I was happy enough to follow at a distance. Once across the dam, I could see John and Michael crossing the gate/stile simultaneously. At the track I chose not to follow, but to take a different route. I couldn't tell if my route was gaining any advantage, but when I reached the summit of Trahenna I was level with Charles Hutchinson, so I figured I must have leap-frogged John, Peter and Michael without them knowing.

I followed Charles off Trahenna until he suddenly stopped to tie his laces, at which point I passed and dived down the Greenmantle descent off the nose of the hill. This brought me quickly to the Ratchill checkpoint, and I couldn't see any other runners around. I hit the road at 3:14:50, and could see a Carnethy vest way down the road in the distance. I wasn't sure who it was, but tried to close the gap, and got within 11 seconds of Adrian Davis as I crossed the line in 3:20:33 for 18th place, and relieved to have survived after feeling so rubbish at the start.

Two Breweries Route

Being followed by John Binnie at Stobo