Ben Lomond Hill Race

SATURDAY 10 MAY 2008
12KM 970 METRES
90mins 41secs - 48th of 121 runners

Another great Westies race and day out care of Don and his team. The drops of rain at the start came to nothing and we were treated to lovely warm weather. Over a hundred runners hared off down the short road section before we entered the forest for the grinding ascent of this 3195 feet Munro. I snuck in behind Jacques, Rob and Steffen for a while till we left the forest and then ever so slightly upped my pace to pass them, Steffen dropping out feeling ill. My wee groove felt ok so I kept up what I thought was a good pace, towing Lisa Gamble of Fife AC behind me, my lurid tartan shorts obviously not putting her off. I hit the summit in a few seconds over the hour, and then commenced the cracking descent, with Lisa and Val Houston not far behind me. I managed to stay ahead of them down the zig-zags, passing Marshall Dave who was steadfastly refusing to give us a reprise of his award winning open mike performance of The Lady Loves a Tramp. Down on the runnable sections my wee legs were no match for Lisa’s fresh legs and Val’s long legs, as they eased away from me to enjoy their own wee battle, as I tried to not let them get too far away. I managed to stay on my feet through the dodgy sections and was pretty chuffed to finish about a minute quicker than last year, but well down on Val and Ellie who had great runs to finish 1st and 2nd with only seconds separating them. After an icy wash down in Loch Lomond it was out to the sunny beer garden for post-race chilling-out and re-fuelling. A grand day out, thanks Don.

Results
Summit photos
Finish photos