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