Run The Blades - The Night One

Four harriers made the short journey up to Whitelee Windfarm on Friday night for the inaugural Run The Blades - The Night One. Other than Graham none of us were sure quite how the race would go as, like most folk, we'd never raced at night on trail before. Ruth and I have taken part in races that started at one in the morning but those were at ultra pace, this would be very different.
Sadly Ruth decided after travelling there directly from work that she just wasn't up for it and didn't even collect her number. None of our attempts at persuasion would budge her which strongly suggests a correct decision, shame though. She did however meet an old school friend whom she hadn't seen for some fifteen years!
What a beautiful night it was as can be seen from these pictures

I started out trying, stupidly, to hang on to a friend of mine who runs a great deal faster than me but soon was forced to give up that notion and had to settle into a steadier, more sustainable, pace - a good decision as she eventually finished first FV50! My early burst had taken me past George and within striking distance of Graham to whom I managed to hang on to for quite a while.
The route, for those of you who have run the eight mile Loch Goin circuit, was that minus a chunk to the south of the reservoir, by-passed by cutting directly across the dam. When we ran across that section the water, on a cool, dry and calm evening which was perfect for running, appeared to be flat calm and looked beautiful in the moonlight. Sadly no-one could fully enjoy the beauty of the evening for long as vigilance was the order of the day, constantly watching out for the puddled potholes along the rough and ready trail.

Shortly after rejoining the loch circuit we encountered the first uphill of the run whereupon my exertions of last week caught up with me and I was forced to start walking. It was here that Ruth's school pal came past me, having been about two metres behind me for around 1.5k, patting me on the shoulder and saying 'thanks for the great pacing'. From the top of that hill until the finish I was hanging on and indeed walked twice more up Heartbreak Hill (Blackwood Hill really) and Brown Hill nearer the finish. George said afterwards he could see me walking at one point but couldn't quite close the gap enough to catch me.
I came home in 52.26 with George only 33 seconds behind to discover a certain Graham Walker(!) Ramage was the first harrier home in a fine 49.53. I was chuffed to discover later I was third MV60, a category which was won by my pal Ross from Hamilton Harriers.

There were 230 starters and 229 finishers, Graham was 46th, I finished 60th (in my 110th 10k race) and George was 66th.
Here is a link to a video taken of the race ( by a Terry McGeary) and if you look very closely you'll see me almost at the finish at 4 minutes 51 seconds and George at 4.54 although he's wearing his trail race tee shirt which doesn't exactly stand out in the dark... YouTube video
The male race winner was young Kieran Cooper in 34.27 with his dad Richard coming home in third place in 38.08 and first MV40 while the female race winner was Janine Dickie from Bellahouston Harriers in 45.11.
All in all a superbly organised and marshalled race as we've come to expect from Breaking Strain Events and one which I, for one, would very much like to do again.