Ben Gullipen Hill Race

2 Georges headed to Callander on Saturday 14th March for the inaugural Ben Gullipen Hill Race.  That is Geo Ferguson and George Stewart.   The distance was 13.5K, up and down a well trodden Land Rover track.   The route takes in part of the Friday evening run on the TTC weekend.   The weather was dry but cold and the word from the organisers at the race briefing was that it was advisable to wear long sleeves as it would be a lot colder at the summit.   At 11.00am the runners headed up the hill out of Collihan Car Park for a 7.5k climb up to the mast on the top of Ben Gullipen.  Both Georges were together on the uphill and after 15 minutes Geo pulled away and passed a few competitors on the way up to reach the summit in 40 minutes.  On the initial downhill he passed George who seemed to be putting in a good effort to reach the summit.  Geo found himself in a race with 2 other competitors but eventually pulled away from them on the downhill and then overtook one other runner.  At this point still feeling strong Geo set his sights on chasing down the next runner  however he didn’t manage to catch him and came in a couple of seconds behind.    A strong finish saw Geo cross the line in a time of 1hr 8 on his watch although the official time is 1 hr 10.  George finished in a time of 1hr 18.  It was good to see George out racing again even although he was not in a Harriers’ vest.  The event which was hosted by Skidaddle was very well organised with a goody bag for every finisher and medals for the first 3 male and female and also age group categories.  The tea, coffee and biscuits at the end were a really nice touch.  This was a small very friendly run I wish I could have taken part in but I was the official photographer for the day.  Will put this one in my diary for next year.....

Frances