Having given her Dad Billy a Christmas gift of an entry to the half marathon Dawn contrived to be unable to take part herself! Dawn's husband Matt did run however and took sixth place in 1.39.21 while Billy was 314th from a field of 667 in 2.28.25. Before anyone starts questioning the slow times I should mention that this is probably the most severe race terrain I have ever come across. Most days of the year it is a mountain bike course and there is no part of the route that comes even close to being flat, constant ups and downs being the order of the day.
With the half being run on the Saturday Billy sent Jim a message that night saying that if he had had to do a second loop (our race the following day was to consist of two loops of the half marathon course) he would have asked to be put down there and then as it would probably have killed him anyway.
Billy and Matt got the best of the weekend weather although it was still amazingly warm once the fog had cleared for us the following day and was especially appreciated when Ruth reminded us of the snow she'd had to contend with in 2018.
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| At least two of us were smiling before the start |
The race very quickly became a survival slog for me and even Jim confided later that he found the latter half of the race a real struggle. If you want some hilly pre-spring marathon training then this event is the one for you.
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| The sting in the tail was this nasty uphill finish |
I finally came back in 6.26.13 and 150th place from 165 finishers.
Ruth ran the first loop only, as she had predicted before the start, but I can't find her anywhere in the results so can't report her time (she doesn't actually know herself, not that times matter much on a course of such severity)
The winners were Alexander Beaton of Highland Hill Runners in 3.24.58 and Nicola Duncan of Portobello in 3.41.18 while Mark Wheeler of Hamilton Harriers (aka Kai's dad) was an impressive 30th in 4.18.30
Photo credits go to Susan Murchie and Sandra Hunter
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