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| The Lomonds of Fife....on a clear day (photo stolen shamelessly from wikipedia) |
Aaaah…choices, choices…don’t you just love ’em? First choice
of the day was whether to climb over the fence or to climb through the wire.
The wrong choice was made and Mairead, my running buddy for this leg of the
race, had to untangle me from wire as I couldn’t extract my less than agile
body from it. Next choice of the day was whether to follow the fence line and then
head directly uphill to the gully where the checkpoint was hidden or whether to
contour gradually up the hill. Despite my dislike of contouring we followed the
crocodile of runners up the hill and the two runners that I had spotted out of
the corner of my eye following the fence line were behind us at the first
checkpoint, unfortunately meaning that the contouring route was probably quicker
and therefore I should select this route again. Damn.
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| East Lomond |
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| The start |
After the first checkpoint it is straight up to the summit
of West Lomond. No choices here. The cold wind at the summit felt especially
raw since we were soaked from an earlier rain and hail shower but on the plus
side the wind kept the mist at bay so the views were good although I am not
entirely convinced that Mairead appreciated me pointing out the landmarks of
Fife. After posing briefly for a photo for a very cold looking Pete Bracegirdle
we got to the summit…at exactly the same time as a group of walkers who decided
to park their backsides down on the concrete base of the trig point as we
desperately hunted around them for the checkpoint flag. Helpful. After looking
under a few rocks we concluded it wasn’t there and it really wasn’t a day for
hanging about so off we went. Colin Wilson and his partner reached the summit
at the same time as us and they immediately disappeared down into the valley. I
had lost sight of Louise Burt and Susan Harley which was a bit disappointing as
I figured that as Fifers they would have spent the last 6 weekends recceing the
route and would know the best way. I was completely bemused as to where they
had gone….had Fife AC finally built a secret tunnel enabling them to sneak
between the peaks unobserved? As it transpired Susan had simply removed the
bright yellow waterproof that she had been wearing early in the race and I was
looking for someone wearing a bright yellow top. Sneaky. (Well it fooled me)
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| Mairead |
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| There's always one... |
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| Louise B |
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| Susan (sneakily hiding her yellow jacket!) |
I decided to head slightly further over to the left (I
expect I should be using navigation terminology such as “South south west” and “Bearing”
but anyone who did that leg will know what I mean) than Colin had and make a
line for the path on the basis that there was less descent and therefore less
ascent to be faced when coming back out of the valley but mainly because
running on the path means less heather bashing. We followed the path through
the gate and as it climbed gradually, eventually leading us to another wall and fence
that needed to be scaled. This time it was Mairead’s turn to get tangled up
in it. I know SHR offer hill navigation courses etc but I think maybe there’s a
need for fence climbing classes…
The previous year Phyllis and I had taken a more of a direct
route to the Bishop hill which was quite boggy, slow going and unpleasant so
this year I chose the path and again out of the corner of my eye I saw another
team opt for the direct route. Last year it was so claggy it was impossible to
work out which teams were ahead or behind so this was going to be an
interesting experiment. We reached the summit of Bishop Hill before they did so
I suspect the path is marginally quicker and it is certainly more runnable. After the Bishop Hill there are 2
more checkpoints, no more route choices and a near vertical descent to the
finish. Ok that’s an exaggeration but it sure feels like it and yet again my
pathetic downhill running (in)ability was plain for all the spectators to
witness as I slipped and stumbled towards the finish however I was mightily
surprised to find someone worse than me at going down hill – HBT’s very own Gash!
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| Leg 2 - Course profile |
Yet again captain Eilidh had given me leg 2 to do. I think
her reasoning is something along the lines of because I used to live in Fife I therefore
I know my way round all of its hills without getting lost. Fortunately I think I
have managed to maintain this illusion for another year and on another positive
note Mairead was still speaking to me at the end despite suffering my dubious
navigation skills and dismal chat.
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| Leg 2 map |
I managed to scrounge a lift back from the finish to pick up my car in Strathmiglo
before heading to Falkland where I knew I would be faced with the last, and
probably most difficult, choice of the day – what type of soup to have! Yet
again Fife Ac excelled in providing a mass of food and drink to hundreds of
hungry runners, not to mention a superbly well organised race. Yet again.
Last year the HBT women’s teams were named the “Brown
Bombshells” and "Brown Babes" but for some reason this year we were the “HBT
parasites” the “Desperados” and the “Rejects”. I’d like to say "Parasites" has a
certain ring to it but…. Anyway the “HBT Parasites" finished 8th team
out of the 28 womens' teams to finish and
the HBT A team (God knows what they were called on the day) finished
first. Thanks to the other “Parasites”
Sinead (nice bit of punch card minding....),
Miranda (Great to see you, albeit briefly) and Sandra and Phyllis. Also a big
thanks to “Ronnie” of Forfar road runners who kindly took our bags to the
finish of our leg so we wouldn’t have to stand around in soaking wet gear after
running, that was much appreciated.
* The fantastic action photos from West Lomond were all taken by Pete Bracegirdle and many more can be found on the Fife Athletic club website
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