Scottish Hill Racing

[bruce s]

Wow, this was rough, but probably pretty much what you'd expect for this part of the world.
An excellently marked path and what has probably been a relatively dry spell still didn't make the route any easier.
The tough drag from the start up Fell of Eschoncan brought back memories of the Devils Beeftub last weekend but it eased off quicker and soon the path undulated along the side of Bennan and beside the shelter of the wall up to Benyellary. As we topped out round the summit the mist closed in and the running improved and a nice runnable stretch followed across the Neive of the spit (great names down there - were the cartographers on a bender or were the locals taking the p).
The run up the Merrick was helped by a tail wind, which I never really felt until I turned into the teeth of it and onto the flying descent down the rig of the gloon. I was slightly surprised to be passed here by a couple of clubmates - Adam Anderson wasn't a shock as the rough descent suited him, but Stewart was. I think he is still as mystified as me how he took the wrong way off the summit.
Spent the slog along the coo-churned path up Buchan hill trying to catch Adam and just managed to get in front before the drop back off, where I caught David Raich just before Adam got in front again as we reached the road and the sting in the tail back up the tarmac (oh that was nasty)

Good tough race and no surprise that Brian won again but rumoured alternative route up the forestry road from the visitor straight to the top and back might not get too many objectors

[tom-woo-ha]

great race, think a few went wrong. i was following dave cummings and,i think ray ward up the long slog to merrick. when we got into the mist i lost sight of them and realised that i wasnt on a marked area so made my way back to the wall where i picked up the flags again. once round the summit and out of the cloud i could see dave with his map in hand and no ray ward! i think it was matt bell who must have lost the flags because he passed me twice. and i thaught stewart was on a warm down when he came in. plenty of flags out there though, tripped over a couple.
colin donnelly still having a shoe crisis, had to dig out some old leather rebocks hes had since the 80s " its not about the shoes" he says.

[Deeko]

My first time down in Galloway and very scenic it is too. The names of all the hills, ridges etc really are as if they've come out of a Catherine Cookson novel (not that I've read one!). OK, maybe except for "Murder Hole"!

Anyway, to the race. What a tough start it was straight upwards towards Fell of Eschoncan. I managed to skip up the edge of the rough track and gain a few places but it was hard going - very boggy and rough underfoot. Over the crest and down to the col before the climb up Bennan was more of the same gloop - in fact this was to continue all the way up Benyellary with lots of episodes of mid-calf depth sinkings! I was happily tussling with a few runners by now and this was to continue all the way to the end. A fellow Carnethy (Brian Howie?) I had passed earlier got by me and so did Tom Bowie of Fife AC on the very runnable ascent up the Neive of the Spit and to the top of The Merrick. It was very misty by now so I was extremely thankful for all the flags around - it was pretty easy to see how you could go off course.

Around the trig point and it was suddenly noticable how windy it was. This made the start of the descent quite hard but I managed to get a bit of rhythym going and soon gained my places back. There was a Lochaber runner a bit further in front but there was no catching him down the Rig of the Gloon. It was quite a hairy descent in bits with a section of bumsliding thrown in for good measure. Down at the col it was really boggy with lots of grassy tussocks to fall over and yes one did get me! The climb up to the Rig of Loch Enoch was initially very wet but this gave way to even more mud and bog (I think there's a common theme here!). I had been forewarned by Stewie W that the "path" over to Buchan Hill was a bit of a misnomer so wasn't surprised by how hard going it was. Tom B got back past me with a shout of "you'll get me on the descent" as I waned - the bog was finally winning. After what seemed an eternity of minor bumps and hollows it was past the final cairn and down quite a treacherous descent back to the track. I think I nearly broke my leg at one point when it disappeared into a hole but got it away with it as I was travelling sideways at the time. Further down the hill it was a lot more runnable but the place was strewn with coo dung - so I've named it for future cartographers (see title!). Some kind chap opened a gate for me and I got down to the trail just behind Tom B and the Lochaber chap. A final head down spurt got me past them up the killer final hill (how steep was that?!) and I managed to finish without vomiting in 1:52:52. I managed 40th place so I'm quite chuffed with that as I've gotten my first SHR championship points!

Great race and very well organised by Girvan AAC! I can't believe how well marked the course was - just as well too or we'd have had half the finishers! I was fair puggled afterwards and fell asleep on the sofa only to wake up at 3am. Mind you, at least I wasn't as mad as Bruce who headed off to bag the Marilyn of Craiglee straight after the race!