Devil's Burdens 2 - When Kenny (and Billy) Came Marching Home!

Relieved!

One year on and Calderglen Harriers returned to Falkland to complete some unfinished business. Our main challenge was to get two teams to the finish of the Devil's Burden's Hill Relay, a course covering 31km over the Lomonds of Fife, starting and finishing in the village of Falkland. Each team comprised 6 runners split into 2 solo legs and 2 paired legs for the 2 "navigational" stages.  This is a popular event with over 100 teams competing this year. To ease the parking congestion at the changeovers the race is split into two groups starting one hour apart. We had teams in both start groups; the team with form, having finished the event the year before was in the early start (9:30) and with a few personnel changes from last year was hoping to prove once again that you don't need the club's fastest runners in your team to be first.

It almost goes without saying that being January in Scotland, the weather was atrocious when Karen Allen lined up for the first leg. This is essentially a trail race from the grounds of Falkland House, climbing onto a higher level forest road before dropping down through a muddy potato field to the changeover in Strathmiglo. We had not covered this stage in the recce the weekend before and this was Karen's first sight of the leg. An initial rush of blood saw her heading off with the leaders before she decided that it would be more sensible to hang back a bit with the pack to ensure she did not become separated and go off course. Karen was delighted with her run, finishing in 35:09 and is already talking about working on her strength (presumably to take an even tougher leg next year!).  The strong, well established pairing of Frances Maxwell and Geo Ferguson were on stage 2, a pure, navigational hill race over the peaks of West Lomond, Bishop Hill and finally White Craig before dropping very steeply to the changeover at Kinnesswood. Frances did this leg last year but, apart from the previous week's recce, this was Geo's first time under race conditions. Given Geo's vast experience of hill walking, there were to be no concerns over the navigation aspects, particularly as the weather and hence visibilty improved towards the end of the stage. This leg was into a 20mph headwind and it is therefore especially impressive that Frances and Geo were 5 minutes faster than last year (Frances and Andy Henderson did this leg in 2013), finishing in 1:40:57. Chas Steven has managed to string a substantial amount of training together for the first time in many years and this really showed with a strong solo run on leg 3 involving the almost vertical 750 foot ascent back up White Craig followed by a mixture of farm tracks and roads over a gentle descent to Holl Reservoir. Chas finished the stage in 39:25, almost 6 minutes faster than last year. Despite an injury scare through the week (all part of the psychological warfare), George Stewart was able to return to his second home (Fife) and renew his final leg partnership with Joanne McEvoy for this final navigational leg. From Holl reservoir a steady climb along a forest track is followed by a gentle descent onto a brief section of road before a very rough moorland crossing to the ascent of East Lomond and the final, steep descent to the finish in Falkland. Joanne is in good form just now but a succession of calf injuries have left George somewhat short of endurance. Amazingly, George and Joanne were only 5 seconds down on last year, finishing in 52:05 which brought the team home in 78th position, 5 positions better than last year. Well done to The Team on a great performance, confirming their pre-race favourite status.

David on the way up Bishop Hill, West Lomond in the background

On paper, the Vets A team should be faster but this only added to the pressure distributed through the team after last year's DNF. The pressure had been building for a year since partners in crime Kenny and Billy became current holders of the Calderglen Navigational Faux Pas title (normally a lifetime honour) and had endured a constant stream of reminders from all and sundry. However over the past 2 weeks the jokes had dried up as A team selection loomed and the reality that someone else may put themselves in contention to take the title from Kenny and Billy. Even the un-injurable Jim Holmes became injured before he was actually told that he was selected to pair up on the Fife Triangle leg 2 with me a week before the race! The complete team would be Andy Henderson on leg 1, David Herbertson and Alan Derrick on leg 2, Eddie Reid on leg 3 and Kenny Leinster and Billy Buchanan on leg 4.

Andy was a late substitute for Jim and was happy to be given the first leg. Andy completed the leg in torrential, freezing rain in a swift 33:00. On leg 2 David Herbertson was feeling the physical pressure having completed a 20 hour journey back from a work trip to South Africa the day before and the psychological damage of being complemented on his physique in his hotel gym by a pink lycra clad German (male) a few days before. I was feeling the pressure of having to navigate as David had not done the recce the week before and the rumour that Kenny was offering David £100 to get me lost! As David and I set off on leg 2 the rain was torrential and soon turned to hail stones. Within a half mile I was already cold despite a reasonable pace on the forest road. David was not surprisingly struggling with his breathing from the off and as soon as we hit the first serious ascent up West Lomond his calves seized up, making it impossible to run on the steep sections. However, we carried on steadily and assisted by a very direct route which had been worked out the week before on the recce, we made good progress in the improving weather and visibility, finishing in 1:32:20. As it was compulsory to carry a mobile phone this year, it made perfect sense to give Eddie warning of our arrival by sending him a text message about 20 minutes before we arrived at the changeover and so it was that Eddie was well prepared when we arrived. Eddie could not start until both David and I had finished, so despite a spectacular, out-of-control final descent by David, Eddie had to wait for my more cautious arrival before he could set off on the unenviable ascent. With not much time to drive to the next changeover, we only just got to Holl Reservoir before Eddie arrived in a time of 29:25.

Eddie at the end of Stage 3

And so Kenny and Billy were released hopefully on their way to East Lomond and Falkland. We had nothing to worry about. Billy was apparently running so strongly that he put Kenny into oxygen debt such that he has no recollection of stamping the checkpoint card at the top of East Lomond. However this must have been a figment of their imagination as we are glad to report that they crossed the finish line in a fantastic 45:07 and were given an official finishing position of 45th.

Well done to the  vets team too for absorbing the pressure and all running well. A big thanks to Kenny for bringing this event to our attention; it must surely establish itself as a regular event on the club calendar.
Alan
(Full official results here).
SVHC Road Relay report will follow tomorrow!