Bennachie Ultra

                                              

The hardest thing about training for an ultra in 2020? Well, I would say it was the uncertainty of whether the race was actually going to go ahead in the first place. When you first send off that entry form there’s always the possibility of something stopping you getting to that start line such as work or family commitments or illness and injury but a global pandemic? Well, that’s a new one. It was only the Wednesday before the Bennachie Ultra was due to take place that the First Minister confirmed that the travel restrictions would be less severe for Aberdeen this time round and we would still be allowed to travel more than 5 miles from home and running events, following Scottish Athletics rules, would still go ahead. And this is me speaking as a runner, it must have been incredibly difficult for the race organiser to know that all their hard work could be wasted so close to the event.

It would be fair to say training had been patchy at best in the lead up to the race. I got really pretty fit over lockdown proper in the spring – not much else to do really was there? The weather was great and there was the novelty of all sorts of virtual running challenges ranging from Scottish athletics mile time trials to hunting trig points to running the ascent of Everest in your back garden. I have to admit trig point hunting and megalith hunting were particular favourite lock down challenges of mine and the North East of Scotland seems to be particularly spoilt for archaeological remains. It was also great to explore tracks and paths around the city and find new ones that I had never run on before despite living in Aberdeen for 10 years.

At the start of the summer travel restrictions were lifted and hill running was back on the cards for folk like myself who had been restricted to the city. On the day on which the restrictions were lifted I got up early in celebration before work and drove out to the last hill that I had run up before lockdown in March and slowly trotted up and down that hill making the most of my time on it breathing in the fresh air, relishing the silence and the feeling of the light summer rain on my face. I was so relieved that that trips to the mountains were back on.

Unfortunately, though it seemed that the rest of the population of the UK had the same idea now they were allowed to travel again. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m all for encouraging people to get outside and enjoy the mountains but what I wasn’t prepared for was the filth and the litter that they would leave, it was soul destroying to see. I came back from runs with bags of rubbish in my car and disposable BBQs that people had left and I prayed that lockdown was lifted quickly so that this lot would go back to their beach holidays in Torremolinos (lucky Torremolinos) and to wherever they usually went at weekends. The camper van brigade seemed to be the worst, quite happy to empty their tanks of human waste at the road side in rural Scotland rather than pay for chemical disposal elsewhere. It really defied belief.

Then, in the summer, disaster struck. An oil worker who, instead of self-isolating as he should have been, went on a pub crawl around Aberdeen and some local establishments were less than rigorous in exercising their crowd control particularly when players from the local football club were present and these two events on the same weekend caused an outbreak of COVID in the city. Aberdeen was placed firmly in lockdown and firmly on the COVID naughty step. I had suddenly realised how precarious my freedom was and how dependent it was on other people’s behaviour which is a very sobering thought given the number of idiots going about. Motivation definitely dipped as did training.

Wave 2 heading for the start line

Then lockdown was lifted again but there was little time left before the race and so I managed a 17-18 mile run on 3 consecutive weekends over the race route and that was my training for the race wrapped up for better or worse. I figured I would give the race a shot as I had nothing to lose.

The start of the race was tightly controlled, you could only arrive at the start line within a designated time slot and pick up your number in the start zone before lining up in a small socially distanced group. The race itself was held in a handicap format to assist with social distancing. Over cautiously perhaps I opted for an early start time and was set of in “wave 2” with my little group. The Tunnel Ultra finisher and Spine legend Alan Cormack was the race sweeper and I was a bit disconcerted to find that he had started in the same wave as me. I think I spent the first 13 miles looking over my shoulder to make sure I wasn’t being “swept” but the only people coming past were faster runners who had set off in the waves behind me. We all seemed to settle into a steady trot for the first part of the race which followed wide land rover tracks through the forest in the early morning mist before climbing up onto open hillside with the hills stretching out before us and the green rolling fields in the distance. Next, we dropped down from the hill on to the quiet Lords Throat Road for a 2 or 3 mile stretch which seemed to pass quickly enough before reaching the checkpoint at Millstone.

The Bennachie Ultra is a bit of a cruel race in that all of the climbing is in the second half of the race and sure enough, on leaving the Millstone checkpoint it was time for the climb to the summit of Millstone hill. A light rain had been on and off all morning but now the wind seemed to increase so that was the jacket firmly on for the rest of the run. I seemed to be passing people in my wave on the way up the hills but getting passed on the way down and by now there was a steady flow of people who had started in the waves behind me now coming past and likewise, I was passing those who had started in the waves ahead of me.

The dreaded “Zig Zags” had often been mentioned in race Facebook chat in the weeks preceding the race and it was definitely wise to have left something in the tank for this series of trail switchbacks climbing up through the forest out on to the open hillside. On a chilly autumn day the hill was a lot busier with spectators than I was expecting. In true continental style one of my fellow club members was encouraging runners and ringing a cowbell which could be heard over the whole hillside and another popped up like a white rabbit at numerous places along the route. By now the really fast people were coming fast and I had to skip aside off the path to let race winner, Commonwealth Games marathon bronze medallist Robbie Simpson, by. The downside of the handicap format was having to jump off the path to get out of the faster runner’s way when jumping was the one action my legs were not coping with after mile 25. I started to gradually slow down on the muddy hillside tracks, that lack of miles and lack of long runs was definitely showing.

The final summit was the ancient hill fort of Mither Tap where we skirted under the rocky outcrop and I managed to blag some jelly babies from a nice lady there before tackling the final descent. You would think the descent would be the fun part but my quads by now were most definitely feeling ever so slightly battered but I did my best to pick up the pace. I think I had put my estimated time for the run as 7hrs on the entry form and midway round I was wondering if sub 6 was possible but as the sub 6 hours target slipped away I still thought I should chase sub 6.30. It was not to be and I finished in 6.31. I’ll take it.

The race organisers did an amazing job putting this race on in what are probably some of the most trying times imaginable and there was a good spread of food at the end and an excellent goody bag as well and let’s face it, that’s what really matters. Sadly, though there could be no prize giving and no socialising after the race and so most people just headed home after a fantastic race on the hills and, most importantly, for those few hours it was possible to forget all about COVID and lockdowns.

But what if the race hadn’t happened and was cancelled at the last minute? I think if nothing else then 2020 has shown that a complete change in mindset and flexibility towards running is required.

I have entered a couple of events in 2021 and already one has been cancelled and so I think the tactic I am going to employ is picking a long distance route which can be my substitute “race” should the planned event be cancelled, it seems prudent at the moment to have two targets to aim for so that motivation can be maintained. I guess that’s why FKTs are all the rage these days amongst distance runners and so at the moment lockdown evenings are being spent poring over maps with a glass of wine in hand picking interesting routes which will be my alternative objectives if my races are cancelled. We are lucky to have this option.

Morven. Lockdown lifting Part 2.

 

It seems I was a little premature in writing this blog with the link below

 https://louise-runningaway.blogspot.com/2020/07/lockdown-thistooshallpass.html

No sooner were we free to run on the hills then we were in lockdown again. The first lockdown, when the rest of the country was in lockdown, was ok. Bearable. Novel, even. It wasn’t nearly as bad as I had feared but this second lockdown, well its fair to say I really did lose my shit over it. Fire bombing Pittodrie seemed to have the makings of a good evening entertainment and as for the Soul Bar, well who drinks in that over priced wine bar dive anyway? Hopefully, the behaviour of establishments such as Soul Bar will be remembered when people chose their post lockdown drinking establishments. And I now hate football.

I suppose matters are not helped by the weird and seemingly contradictory advice – Face masks didn’t work between March and July and now all of a sudden they do work, stay 2m apart and wear a facemask in ASDA, stay 1m apart and don’t wear a facemask in pubs. I can only assume that this virus is a lot smarter than me if it can work it all out. Of course, there was always the question of whether the shut down in Aberdeen was “politically motivated” given other areas of the country with outbreaks of the virus seem to have been treated more leniently. At times I was angry enough to believe that but when I was asked who I believe between the Scottish government and Aberdeen council I kind of thought the question was phrased in the wrong way. When you are talking about councillors and politicians the question is not which one you trust the most, its which one you distrust the least. Who knows what the truth is. It usually lies somewhere in between.

Anyway the second lifting of lockdown meant hill running was finally back on the menu and groups of up to 15 were allowed to meet to run so Gillian organised a Cosmic’s Saturday run up and down Morven, a hill big enough to feel like a proper mountain – or at least it did to my mountain climbing training deprived legs. 

We did the hill race route in reverse which saved my legs from the worst excesses of the steep climb all of the way up and meant a new perspective on the hill and new views to take in, after all I have run up Morven more times in the dark than in daylight courtesy of Steve Helmore’s annual solstice run. I was slightly alarmed by the number of people in the car park in full body cover as the weather seemed quite mild. Obviously they all did the sensible thing and checked the weather forecast before coming out but as I was already a bit late in arriving I was fairly sure the group would not have been impressed if I’d started faffing around looking for leggings - so shorts it was, but I did throw a second thicker waterproof in my bag as an afterthought. I was very glad that I did as we climbed up on to the ridge there was a very strong chilly wind and it felt pretty autumnal leading me to wonder what happened to summer – oh yeah, we were in lockdown and missed it.

We all reached the summit appearing out of the mist one by one with Andy appearing from a random bizarre direction and I took a run over to the trig point to get a photo - yes I’m still Trig point hunting and posting truly terrible Trig point selfies. 

As we sheltered from the biting wind I pulled on the second waterproof jacket that I had brought with me and Steve dug out the summit book from its hidey hole under the rocks for us all to sign. Claire had thought that he had been talking about a “sonnet book” at the top of the mountain and happily within the plastic tub containing the summit book there was a little piece of paper with Byron’s poem on it which mentions Morven, Bryon having spent time in the area as a youngster so Claire got her sonnet without Steve having to break into Shakespeare or similar. Byron’s other mountain poem “Lochnagar” is perhaps better known set to music as one of the songs performed by the Corries.

After a few minutes sheltering from the wind and making the most of being on the summit we then had the big “which way down” discussion (by which time my teeth were chattering a bit) and ended with us all taking the direct route straight down the hill with only one voice of dissent which was Ian who fancied a longer outing, I am not sure I would have managed it in my post lockdown state of  lack of fitness and besides, my legs were frozen and not working that well. As we descended out of the grey clag the views stretched out in front of us for miles – we could even see Graeme’s house.

It was such a good feeling being out running with the club again, just for those brief couple of hours it felt as though nothing else mattered, Covid was not forefront of your mind. Its not just the physical freedom but the mental freedom too. I think my comment of FREEDOM in the summit book pretty much summed it up.

Lockdown Fun Part 1 - March Stone Hunting

 

A march stone. In case you have seen one and not known what it is.

As we were not allowed to venture too far from home under lockdown I started looking for some homegrown fun which doubled up as a Cosmic Hillbashers lockdown challenge. This included hunting down those tricky little march stones and some hard to find megaliths (thanks to Ewen for that suggestion). Once lockdown was lifted and we could travel further away march stones and megaliths were abandoned in favour of forays further afield however, due to Aberdeen being on the COVID naughty step and lockdown re-imposed once more, I’m beginning once again to see the attraction of hunting march stones. 

March stone set into the road outside Pittodrie. (The less said about the muppets in this place the better!) 

Fortunately, I did not exhaust my supply of march stones last time around by any stretch of the imagination so there are still plenty to be found.

Alpha Stone marks the start of the boundary line

Omega stone marks the end of the boundary line

The march stones - here's the history bit....

The ancient boundary to the city of Aberdeen was marked by a series of boundary stones also known as march stones with the term “march” originating from a 16^th century name for a boundary. Early boundary markers were most likely significant features such as trees and rivers and boulders or cairns but from 1525 onwards they began to become more standardised with some of them taking the form of “saucer stones”  and in some cases cairns were erected to mark the line of the marches but these cairns have not survived.

There are two sets of boundary stones, the inner boundary stones that mark the boundary of the Royal Burgh of Aberdeen as it was in Medieval times and the outer stones which mark what were called the Freedom Lands. After 1790 stones engraved with letters and numbers took the place of saucer stones and this style of march stone remains today.

The stones are engraved with the letters ABD for Aberdeen with the inner march stones also engraved with CR meaning city royalty. Contrary to popular opinion they are not marked with “COVID capital of Scotland – abandon hope all ye who enter”.

In recognition of the assistance he had received in establishing independence, in 1319 Robert The Bruce granted the city of Aberdeen custodianship over the Royal Forest of the Stocket which were hunting lands and the city then purchased three more areas which came to be called the Freedom Lands and these were Rubislaw, Cuives or Woodside and Gilcomstoun. The area of Hilton was also purchased but this did not form part of the Freedom Lands. In 1551 the city asked Mary Queen of Scots for the rights to rent land which became the estates of Countesswells, Foresterhill, Hazlehead and Kingswells.

A 1929 Map of the March Stones and Freedom lands of Aberdeen (ref https://aberdeenmarchstones.co.uk/)

The tradition of riding the Marches was basically the practice of riding the boundary lines to ensure that they were being maintained and observed and that no landowner was trying a sneaky little land grab. The riding was followed by a bit of a feast and a celebration, a tradition that still happens in the towns of the borders today.

Anyway I started out on my mission to collect these march stones but, like collecting megaliths, consumption dykes and trig points (more about these to follow) this is a work in progress however I’ve marked off a few city ones. A few other Cosmic hillbashers started on lockdown missions of their own to tick off march stones and the end product of this challenge were some truly dreadful "march stone selfies" for the Cosmics facebook page.

 

Worst selfie ever?

I think doing the whole march stone boundary route in a day would be quite a good expedition and achievable. It wouldn’t be that far in distance but it may not be that simple as some of these stones are quite well hidden and you need to know where to look. It might actually be one for winter time for when the plants and undergrowth have died back a bit as some are quite well hidden and maybe some route recces of the trickier sections in advance would pay off.

Probably passed by lots of times but not noticed by most

I had some help... *sigh*

Here's the link to the map and location of the stones if anyone is looking for something to do and wants to go March stone hunting. After all, God knows how much longer we are going to be in lockdown.

https://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2019-04/Boundary%20Stones%20Trail.pdf

#lockdown #thistooshallpass

Strangely March 19th seems like a long time ago now. So much has happened in that time and yet so little. Back then looking at the harrowing reports from Italy and Spain which were flooding BBC news in March it seemed on that dark cold spring night as I sat in the car park for Clachnaben that hill running was to be banned, at that point it felt like forevermore. How long was this pandemic going to last? How many were to succumb to it? Isn’t this basically the flu by another name? So many questions and unknowns. In Spain you were not allowed to leave the house for anything except to buy food and medical reasons, exercise was forbidden. Lockdown meant lockdown. In France you could go out but no more than 2k from your front door. Running in groups had now been forbidden in the UK for fear of transmission of the virus. It seemed as though it was only a matter of time before running in its entirety was going to be banned especially as groups like jogscotland were still meeting up against all official advice.

The car park at the foot of the hill was understandably empty, the hill was completely devoid of people. I felt confused and angry. It seemed hard to understand banning hill running when there was zero chance of transmitting the virus to anyone. Surely if you couldn’t be suffering from a deadly virus and still be running up a hill, after all if it was like the flu then hill running was the last thing you would be doing. This was of course before the 2 week incubation period was really known about and the seemingly large numbers of asymptomatic carriers who could also transmit it. But at that point it all made no sense to me. Maybe in reality though it’s my state of mind that should be questioned. My concerns were not whether I would keep my job in the face of the inevitable economic uncertainty of a global pandemic nor whether I would succumb to a deadly illness. No, my concern was whether I could go running.

“Further announcements” ie: the announcement of lockdown were to come from Downing street on the Monday night. Another strange decision amongst so many throughout this whole crisis. Monday was the day after Mother’s Day. Why not lockdown before Mother’s Day? Surely it was obvious what was going to happen on this commercially hi-jacked day so far removed from its original religious roots and yes, Mother’s Day was originally a religious festival before you ask.

A little lesson in religious history – Mother’s Day or, to give it the correct title Mothering Sunday, had nothing to do with visiting your mother – it was the 4^th Sunday of Lent when it was traditional for people to return to visit the mother church which was the main church or cathedral in the region or county. It did not involve spa weekends or Pandora bracelets. The current incarnation is an American invention dating from 1908 and American Mother’s Day is in May, not during Lent. And from what I could see during my run around Hazlehead Park on the Sunday, the hills no longer an option, it was clearly happening – big multigenerational family groups all out and about having picnics against all government advice. How many lives would have been saved if lockdown had come in 2 days earlier let alone 2 weeks earlier? Not being a huge fan of these based-in-religion-now-hijacked-by-commercialism type of events it was certainly a little anger provoking. Actually I think I’ve just answered my own question there. The decisions made by government  thus far appear to have all been based on the economy rather than reducing the death rate.

I ran slowly up and down the hill relishing the silence and the cold and the dying light of day giving way to a starry night. At the foot of the hill I stood slightly forlornly and watched the stars above the silhouette of Clachnaben wondering when I would be back.

It was an important lesson in impermanence I suppose, nothing is forever and its possible in a very short space of time for everything to be taken from you in ways you could never have anticipated. But then likewise again everything changes quickly and the dark cloud started to pass after a few weeks as predicted by the scientists. The gradual easing of lockdown started in June and by the 3^rd July we were allowed to venture further afield than the regulation 5 miles. How I envied anyone living in Aboyne or similar locations who could just run or cycle to the mountains throughout it all. Aberdeen is fine for running but there are just too many people, everywhere was often so busy during the remarkable spell of good weather this spring. I longed to run somewhere where there were no people.

July 3^rd was a Friday. The 5 mile travel limit was finally lifted so I decided that the appropriate thing to do would be to visit the same hill as my final hill run before lockdown, Clachnaben. As it was a work day this meant a pre-work start on a wet cold summer morning and I wasn’t the only one who had that idea as I could see the silhouette of a runner on shoulder of the hill up in front of me. I was at the summit before 7am and a cold rain shower was blowing through as I looked out at the mists skimming the hillside with a sense of relief. Freedom at last. Away from the city, away from people. Proper self isolation. I’m not sure what I expected to see though. It was not as though the hills would have suddenly changed in the space of 4 months, they were always going to be there waiting. The bracken was longer and the grass and trees lush and green compared to that almost winter night I was last there but no, nothing had changed. At one point a mountain hare bounced past me and I’m not sure who was the most startled, him or me.

After getting a bit chilled from standing around on the summit I dragged myself away and jogged back to the car to find the other runner had not returned yet, he was really making use of the lifting of the travel restriction (or didn’t have to go to work) and I procrastinated about going home and having to start work even to the extent of standing in the rain and drinking coffee. Running up mountains at 6am in the morning probably isn’t normal for most people but this was at least a step back towards my normality.

The Devils Burdens relay

Race Organiser Frank and Fifie Wifies Jocelyn and Eliza

My attendance at the Devils Burdens relay over recent years has been at best patchy for a few reasons but mostly because I found the number of people there off putting and the car parking situation always turned it into quite a stressful day, the race really was a victim of its own success as hundreds of people (and that’s not an exaggeration) descended on some tiny Fife villages. The crowds in the hall at the end were just not fun and, when taking into account the poor driving and inconsiderate parking of some competitors, I am actually surprised that the race has been tolerated locally for so long. Like many of us who have been running for a long time I have a tendency to bemoan the loss of the carefree days when this was a fringe sport, there were far fewer participants and when the Devils burdens was set up as a fun event by Adrian Davis, a fun day out in the Lomond hills and something to break up the long winter months when the hill racing calendar is a bit empty. Maybe too because we weren’t forced to think about it for what seems to be months in advance of the race, it all seemed a bit more relaxed back then. Anyway, the factors above made me really quite grumpy about it all.

Fife AC also recognised that the situation wasn’t sustainable and so a new format has been devised very much based on the format that the FRAs use (That’s the British Hill and Fell Running Relays nowadays but forever to be known as the FRAs by hill runners of a certain age). Rather than having different change over points around the Lomond Hills there is an event centre and all of the leg changeovers take place there. 

As with everything else here were pros and cons – the pros being that its probably the first time that I, and a lot of other people, have seen the winners finish as usually I am still out on the hill somewhere. It made the whole event a lot more exciting as you could see the race developing and how close it was at the front. A leader board would be a good addition too so that you can see in real time how the race develops although that would be a complicated thing to administer. Overall, the race had a real atmosphere. It also cut down on the car chaos and the need for marshals at these changeover points, a total win-win.

The downside was that maybe the courses didn’t travel as far over the hills as would be hoped, none of the courses went as far as the reservoirs, or the Bishop hill, or even the Devils Burdens, which was a shame and there was at least one complaint (from an “old school” hill runner) that the course didn’t take in the more “interesting” terrain to be found there. Unfortunately to include these areas would make the stage quite long from the starting point in Falkland and there were some teams that were out rather a long time as it was. Maybe there’s an option for a “short course” for slow teams and a “long course” for fast teams  - although I imagine Frank and Bill would happily shoot me for suggesting this. Overall though I think the “pros” outweighed the “cons” although the question remains - can it be called the Devils Burdens Relay when it no longer goes anywhere near the Devils Burdens...?

The last leg where checkpoints could be found in any order was inspired and I think it could be made even more challenging if the checkpoint locations were kept secret and the competitors only handed their maps after their stage has started. Being on that stage, it would have certainly given me the opportunity to screw things up completely for my team.

But to the race. The inevitable email arrived in about July rounding up willing volunteers for teams. Well ok, it was probably November or something but it still feels unfeasibly early and luckily I was suffering from some lurgy that I’d brought back from the desert with me, camel flu or something. I say luckily because in recent years another factor making me less than enthusiastic about participating in the Devils Burdens is that I’ve always gone down with some flu bug or lurgy over Xmas and new year so this time I figured that a) it was November and I would have recovered by January and b) if I’d got the flu now even I wouldn’t be unlucky enough to get it again the following month. Would I? I didn’t and so made it to the start line. I was in the V40 team called “Satans sisters” although I’d misread the name and spent the first couple of hours of the day wondering if we had to wear santa hats. Might have been a good thing as it was a pretty cold windy day but fortunately not snowy or icing or raining.

My day did not start particularly well when Heather, on first leg, handed over in first place. Not first place V40s but first place ladies. We were in the lead and the pressure was on. I didn’t envy Rhona and Karen setting off with some very high calibre teams right up their tailpipes including Fife AC’s ladies team, former winners HBT and the ever strong Carnethy featuring hill running legend Angela Mudge. 

Fife AC senior ladies were the race winners

Karen and Hilary not disguised as Sith Lords

Having not run around the lower slopes of these hills in a few years other than in the trail race I had travelled down to Fife the previous weekend and dragged Simon on a wee recce run, I had a good idea where the checkpoints were but I really needed to put my mind at rest. Simon had to be bribed with cake. But even now the day of the race I was still not convinced id found the optimum route and Frank kindly put even more doubt in my mind by telling me that I should do the tower checkpoint and the farm checkpoint in the other order so, having plenty of time until the final leg, I decided that another wee recce was in order. It was a good move as sure enough I found a much better route up to the tower than I had the previous weekend. I jogged back to the event field feeling happier. 

Simon and I doing a course recce the week before

Simon with his cake bribe

The bit I’m never keen on in relays is waiting for the runner before you to appear especially when you have no idea how long they are going to be. You don’t want to be stripped off ready to run too early especially when you are standing in a field in the middle of January but likewise you don’t want to have to face the wrath of your fellow team mates who have just bust a gut in their leg and have crossed the line only to find you tucking into a cup of tea and a biscuit still fully clothed. It’s a fine balance. I kept warm by jogging up and down and then went and got my kit checked and gave a fairly blunt reply to some daft runner who was boasting about having the wrong map and no compass (fecking eejit). Then it was time to go. 

By now I had no idea where we were in the women’s field let alone the V40s so I figured all I could do was run as hard as possible. I got to the tower via my newly discovered route that morning, slithered down the muddy path, got back on to the main track and picked off the next three checkpoints easily enough although at the bend in the track I did a “double take” at two checkpoints lying quite closely together, took at guess at which was mine and carried on, as always my pin point accuracy at orienteering coming into its own…. At one point I spotted Sarah Dunn which made me pick up the pace as I knew Deeside ladies had a very strong V40s women’s team and for the most part I was on good wide forest tracks which are conducive to fast running. As I headed back to Falkland I passed Tom Ross who gave me no end of abuse so I stuck my fingers up at him in that well known internationally recognised hand gesture and carried on. The next thing I saw were two Sith lords from Star Wars coming up the track cheering me on. It later transpired that it was Hilary and Karen cunningly disguished in dry robes and I’m so glad they told me this otherwise I’d still be thinking that I was really out of it and hallucinating mid race. Finally the path turned a sharp corner before dropping down to the farm where I was met head on by a crowd of runners who had been started in the mass start for leg 4 and from there it was the long run for home.

Perfect for an orienteering race stage

Finishing

I got back to the field without losing any other places other than to one Shettleston runner but she didn’t look like she was a V40 she was in a mixed team anyway. On crossing the line I wobbled a bit, it was a long time since breakfast, so after Rhona gave me some sweets I was a bit less wobbly. 

Back at the hall Jenn, who was doing the prize giving, announced that it was the first time Fife AC ladies had won the Devils Burdens relay which gave me a chuckle. These young things! She was probably still in infant school when I was in the winning seniors team which I believe was in 2005. 

Fifie Wifies 2003

Fifie (auld) wifies 2020

Fife ladies “cleaned up” winning every age category which was a good end to a very good day.

Link to results below

 https://www.fifeac.org/events/fife-ac-events/devils-burdens/1347-devil-s-burdens-2020.html