Ochils 2000 Hill Race

SAT 28 AUG 2010
18 miles 5,000 feet

Another long race and yet another near-identical time to the previous attempt - so I’m getting older but at least not any slower, or something like that. This was my second go at this new-ish long race in the Ochils and a fine race it is. The fact of it being an A-B means you need to get to Stirling Uni pretty early to get bussed over to Glendevon for the 12.00 start. However, that gives plenty of time for pre-race socialising, as opposed to the usual frantic registering and warm-up routines. And you get a nice wee bus ride along the foothills of the Ochils thrown in too.

We were politely dumped at the forest start a good 45 minutes before kick-off, but this was fine as the weather was fair and the midges non-existent. The only reason for any sort of warm-up prior to such a long race was the very important matter of getting one’s bowels and bladders emptied pre-race, and the woods were dotted with runners lightening their loads.

At the off we all meandered up in usual unhurried long race style, or in my case, my only type of early race pace, slow and steady. The forest track spread everyone out well before we hit the ridge up to Innerdownie, Whitewisp and Tarmangie. I settled down to a plod, watching my usual rivals disappear ahead, possibly never to reappear again, who knows at that stage. I just tried to run my own little race with myself for the first few hours before seeing if my body could manage to push on or hang on at the end.

This (my only) tactic worked quite well as I enjoyed some steady running and climbing for the first few hours out past Ben Cleuch and on to the twin peaks of Buck and Ever. On the trudge through the bog/swamp/tussocks over to Blairdenon I passed Brian Brennan, and closed in on Susannah MacMillan and Louise Burt, who had been a good few minutes ahead of me earlier. There is much talk of secret fast lines through this morass, but I tend to just aim straight over and take what mess I find myself in. In this case I followed the two ladies hoping they would find any waist deep bog before I would. It seemed to work OK.

The three of us summitted Blairdenon together, then I led them off straight down the fence line, ignoring the alternative longer, but possibly quicker, contour. A few falls later into ditches that were masquerading as runnable trods, I found the line down onto the tracks near the dam at Jerah, passing new Westies signing David Dickson. An energy jel, some jelly babies and some juice gave me the energy to push on up to Dumyat in the warming weather, eye-ing up Davy Duncan who was not too far ahead, and trying to stay ahead of Susannah had started to close right up behind me.

Gaining the top of Dumyat in 3 hrs 20 mins, was a welcome relief with the old familiar mid-week race route descent ahead. I tried to get my creaky knees and heavy legs to descend as fast as they could, and managed down in 21 minutes, making up a few places knowingly – and a few more unknowingly as Steffen Gorgas, Stuart Barrie and many others had veered off route on the descent, easily losing at least 5 mins. I placed 40th of 84 with my 3h 41m 15s.

It was the usual pleasant relief to flop down on the grass besides heaps of fellow Westies as our bodies started to realise what we had put them through in pursuit of our “hobby” or whatever. Some nice refreshments and prizes followed, as well as the usual post-mortems and general chit-chat. Thanks to Ochil Hillrunners and all their helpers for the race.

Ken Laidlaw 105 Mile Cycle

SUNDAY 2 AUGUST
105 miles; approx 10 (or maybe even 11!) thousand feet ascent

The weather for my 2nd time in Hawick couldn’t have been more different than last year, but my time was almost exactly the same! Figure that one out? I had gorgeous sunny weather all the way round for my 7 hrs 6 mins of hilly Borders cycling, compared to last year’s drenching, which made the whole thing far more pleasant.

A field of over 200 runners rolled out of Hawick Rugby Club, concentration being at a premium to avoid clashing with the masses of lycra clad cyclists for the first mile or so as the closely packed peloton rolled out of town on to the quiet country roads. After a few miles the pace quickened and after the first couple of gradual, testing climbs, groups formed to press on down to Newcastleton. Cycling in a bunch certainly eased the effort as we had a fair headwind to contend with, and the odd short spell at the front soon made me realise the effort required to take one’s turn.

After two hours I had a short break at the first stop at Newcastleton for some cake and a roll. The next section over to Lanhgolm was on an exposed hilly moor road, and was a bit of a drag, though the expansive views were great. The various groups had split up here, but on the long cycle up to Eskdalemuir, a few small groups formed and this helped me maintain concentration and effort. I started to flag a bit a few miles from the next stop at Ettrick Village Hall, though fortunately the last 3 or 4 miles to this 66 mile check were downhill through the many forests in this area, and the Buddhist Monastery.

After a decent 10 mins stop here, I reluctantly dragged my weary limbs back on my bike and headed off, though a long snooze in the warm sun would have been far more preferable at that point. After the first long drag of a hill up and over Berrybush to the Gordon Arms pub, hopped on the tail of a small peloton and it dragged me on nicely to an earlier group who had left me. One wee hill though and I had to ease off, before the next proper hill, The Swire, forced the granny to be engaged again for a slow grind, the last of the jelly babies being gulped down here.

A fast but windy descent followed down to Kirkhope and Ettrickbridge, lovely little villages outside Hawick. Yet another hill followed up Woll Rig and down to Ashkirk, where 4 cyclists caught me up en route to the last climb of Leap Linns, another long moorland drag. I stuck with them and even managed to pull away from them on the climb. A Falkirk cyclist stuck with me and passed me just after the top, giving me a target to chase for the last 7 miles, which were all downhill.

Fortunately, we both seemed evenly matched and together we took turns at finding some energy to push the pace, which was great fun as we sped along the quiet B711 feeling for all the world like Contador and Schleck battling it out on the Tour de France, well sort of. It sure felt exhilarating and fun though as we pressed on the finish in just over 7 hours, almost exactly the same time for both of us as last year as it turned out! A great tour of lovely Borders scenery, fab weather, lots of pretend cycle-racing and a decent end-result all left me with a big smile on my face, and a bottle of Bitter & Twisted in the sunshine after was the icing on the cake.

Lomonds of Fife Hill Race

SUN 15 AUGUST 2010
17.5km 1000 metres

Cycling 80 miles round the Trossachs the day before was maybe not the best preparation for this tough wee race, but what the heck, that’s what weekends are for. The day dawned bright and blue, and by 1pm was pretty warm too. After having helped Gordon Pryde out at registration we both quickly changed into racing gear, applied suncream and rushed up to the start field, assured that they couldn’t actually start without the organiser. A good few Westies were milling around, no one really bothering about much of a warm-up, with at least 2 hours of hot, hard hillrunning ahead.

I took it dead easy at the off, as most of the runners hared off up the initial gentle slopes, plodding along with Davy Duncan and trying just to ease into the race. I quite enjoyed the steep climb up to West Lomond, only to immediately turn at the cairn and zip off downhill back the same way. The descending contour along to the forest wasn’t too bad, as I tried to hang on to Davy D, with runners taking all manner of routes here. The forest roads were a bit of a trudge though, as they actually required non-gravity aided effort, and I settled into a slow steady energy-conserving plod.

Places had settled down at this point as I tried to stay ahead of a posse of Fife A.C. ladies up past the monument and the grassy trails to the water station at Craigmead. Fellow Westie Dave Rogers had found the heat a bit much and was sitting the race out in the shade, before getting a lift back. The lead runners were already returning from faraway East Lomond and this allowed for lots of greetings as we passed each other.

I maintained a good steady pace to the summit of East Lomond, the great weather allowing for a fantastic view all the way to West Lomond, which was where we had to head for next. A brisk trot downhill led to the track back to the water station again, and then on to the ancient hill fort and the heathery trudge to the main track. I had gained a few more places by now, though the gaps were growing all around. At the foot of the steep wee climb up to West Lomond for the second and final time I passed another fellow Westies JD No.2 who was cramping up and slowing down.

I was at the top in about 2hrs 10mins, and after the infamous bum sliding descent down the precipitous green gully, finished in 2hrs 16mins. I was pretty pleased with this, as it was only a few seconds down on last year’s dire run, but at least this time I actually felt OK during the race, it being Saturday’s cycle to “blame” this time, as opposed to old age, slow legs or anything like that, of course. All in all, a grand day out amongst lovely scenery and lots of friends and topped off with a pint in the pub. Excellent.

Previous times -
2006 2h 00m 06s
2007 2h 01m 08s
2008 2h 01m 05s
2009 2h 15m 40s
2010 2h 16m 00s

Glenshee 9 Munros Hill Race

SUNDAY 8 AUGUST 2010
33km 1800 metres

My third running of this new brute of a long race, and pretty much the same time as last year, which was pleasing. As Ellie says, the clag lifted early on making navigation easy, but unfortunately not making the 9 Munros any easier. Starting off at over 2000 does help though. After a steady run to the first one, Steffen passed me on the short grassy climb to the second, and stayed a minute or two in front all the way till the road crossing at the two-thirds mark.

We were all pretty well strung out on the grassy plateau, allowing me to set my own steady pace and try and conserve energy for the final 3 Munros over on the west side of the road. I passed Brian Brennan at Munro number 6, managed to find a nice route avoiding the horrible boulders and headed off in pursuit of Steffen and others not far ahead. The road crossing was reached in exactly 3 hours, like last year, and Steffen and I headed off together.

This brutal 400 meter climb is a shock to the system after the nice run down to the road, and really deflates you mentally and physically as you haul yourself inch by inch upwards for half an hour. Reaching the top together with Steffen, we saw clearly the horror that lay ahead - the very distant Munro No. 8. I shuffled off slightly in front but it wasn't long till the next short climb that Steffen easily passed me as my legs really started to feel weary. Gels and jelly babies helped a bit as I tried to stay with him, as we greeted the returning runners who were heading for the last Munro.

After what seemed like an age I reached No. 8 a few minutes behind Steffen, and found some running in my legs for the gradual descent. I caught up at the foot of the final climb, managing to drag my legs up ahead of him, and maintained a short lead down the snow-free ski piste to the finish. Oh, the pleasure of finishing a long hard race, but oh dear the pain also! I finished in 4hrs 46mins, 58th of 91, only a few seconds down on last year's time.

Soup, tea and cakes were laid on and went down well, before Don chauffered me home where I crashed out on the couch, truly done in and well sunburnt also. Well done all you Westie finishers and commiserations to the drop-outs.

Westies Narnain Boulder Handicap Race

WED 4 AUGUST 2010
Nine Westies made the effort to get to scenic Arrochar for the bash up and down to the Narnain Boulders, up by The Cobbler. We were all rewarded with a lovely evening, and the midges weren’t too bad either. I was personally rewarded with an insulting handicap, despite my protestations of old age/tiredness/weary leg syndrome and even some begging on my knees. I proceeded to live up to this handicap by trundling in last; having ran so slowly that the others had even started to head up track to look for me. Despite my leaden legs I enjoyed the stunning views all around, including Loch Long and Ben Lomond. The best view of all, though - apart from Don’s impressive array of cuts, scrapes and bruises – was the pint of Loch Fyne Avalanche Ale and plate of fish and chips in the Village Inn afterwards. John Quinn had obviously paid off the handicapper handsomely, and came home in first place, getting the new Narnain Trophy, courtesy of sponsors Asda. He was so overawed by this impressive display of plasticware, that he declined the beer and food in favour of rushing home to show his wife his new trophy. Or maybe he was just rushing Don off to A&E at Hairmyres Hospital.

Dollar Hill Race

SAT 31 JULY 2010
14KM 960 metres

The lean mean racing machine that is the revamped and recently retired Brian Brennan, was bemoaning the lack of fellow Westies racers early on Sat, but one by one a few of us crawled out of the woodwork to race this British and Scottish Champs race round the Ochils, though we were all Vets!!!, where are the youngsters??. Yours truly had an averagely good race, I think, just managing to stay ahead of slimline BB, but behind Murdo and my eternal racing rival Davy Duncan of Ochils HR. Manny led us home, followed by Steffen while Pauline and Pat were the sole Westies women.

The numbers were swelled by the ranks of super fit English, Welsh and Irish runners, and this led to congestion in the narrow footpaths of Dollar Glen. We fanned out plenty by the time we hit the steep trudge up to Saddle Hill and Whitewisp Hill. It was a real effort to haul my legs up here step by slow step, but heh, it was the same for everyone I suppose. Once on the ridge the running was easier and I started to chase down a few runners in front. With the larger numbers this year there were always runners around, making for good competition, both from in front and behind. From Tarmangie Hill there was a great runnable descent to the deer fence, and a bit more effort was required for the slightly uphill traverse over to the foot of Andrew Gannell Hill.

At this point I couldn’t quite remember if we headed over to Ben Cleuch or not, so it was a relief to see runners rounding at the top and heading in the direction of Maddy Moss. I bashed down this great descent feeling great as we all do on a downhill, passing a few only to have to the reality of tired legs reappear for the slog back up to the last top of Kings Seat.

Davy Duncan was right beside me at this point, and I tried to shake him off by putting in a burst on the first part of the descent, but the old man just bided his time and raced away from me as my quads started to protest at the bashing they were getting.

A Carnethy also passed me just before the return to the Glen, as did Anita Hamilton of Cosmics, but I tracked her down to the road, where she seemed to tire. I got away from her and managed to catch one other to finish 150th out of 252 in 1hr 43m 54s. The winners' times were 72m 48s (M) and 84m 01s (F). A great spread of cakes and goodies were laid on by organisers Ochil Hillrunners.