Ben Rinnes Hill Race

So the sun has been melting the tarmac for what feels like weeks and it’s been the hottest summer since 1976 – 39 years ago… (cough cough ahem 😉) so I was looking forward to lazing on the grass watching the heavy events while sipping a beer at the Dufftown Highland Games in a post Ben Rinnes race glow. So what happened? It rained of course. Don’t you just love the unpredictable Scottish weather?

Happily the thunder storms of the previous evenings stayed away as I’m not totally sure I really fancy dodging the bolts of lightning while running up a hill but in the organiser’s own words conditions were a little bit “spicy” on the summit. Even at the start a few people were looking a bit chilled and I wore a T-shirt under my vest but soon warmed up as at the level of the games park it was still pretty warm really despite the rain. 

It was a large squad of 71 runners who set off for this Scottish Championship “counter race” the first race in the Long race category. SHR Championship races are a great place to catch up with folk that you haven’t seen in a long while and these races always seem to attract the same crowd. They have a lovely informal feel to them, particularly when run in conjunction with a Highland Games and seem to realise that there are still runners out there who are happy to just turn up and run and get a cup of juice at the end, no medals, no fuss etc. Long may it continue. I suspect it will as hill runners are a different species anyway. I was surprised and delighted in equal measure to meet up with Ewen Patterson who I had last seen on a Himalayan adventure 2 years ago and, who as far as I knew up until that point, was living in France.

Of the Fife AC team to take part we had enough finishers for a ladies team although two got timed out at the road crossing on the way back, however they seemed philosophical about it and professed to have had a good, and testing, time out on the hill anyway. Team captain Jocelyn was a no-show having fallen and broken her ribs whilst chasing a chicken. Or something. As for the men’s team, well, that was Ian. What has happened to Fife AC’s male hill runners these days? Their attendance at races is just woeful.

The course took us round a lap of the games park grass track and then along the little farm tracks and over the golf course before starting to climb the wide heather covered expanse of Little Conval. All of this race is on tracks of one sort or another through the knee deep heather. We reached the summit soon enough before the descending and then climbing again, this time to the summit of Meikle Conval. By now I had lost my Fife AC team mate Hilary as she had left me for dead so I concentrated on staying with the two Carnethy runners assuming that Carnethy ladies would be competition in the team event. The nasty rainy sleety stuff had come on as I descended Meikle Conval so by the time I was climbing up Ben Rinnes itself I was getting properly chilled in the wind and driving rain. I pulled on a waterproof which only seemed to have the effect of increasing my surface area which was not a positive outcome in the face of the strong wind and I nearly lost my footing a couple of times, particularly on the way down the hill. With hindsight maybe wearing a t-shirt under my vest wasn’t that smart as once the t-shirt was wet and cold it stayed wet and cold and clung to my skin whereas skin on its own just dries off.

Climbing Little Conval (c Digby Maas)

Grey rain clouds (c Digby Maas

Climbing into the mist (c Digby Maas)

Race leaders descending Ben Rinnes (c Digby Maas)

The summit appears out of the mist (c Digby Maas)

If there was anybody having a more testing time of it than the runners then it was the race marshalls. The summit marshalls were sheltering behind the large boulders on the summits and popped up every so often to guide an in coming runner around the top of the mountain and point them in the right direction down before promptly ducking for cover again.

The rocky summit of Ben Rinnes (c Digby Maas)

Chilly looking summit Marshalls (c Digby Maas)

As this is an “out and back” route you can see just who is ahead of you and exactly how far ahead they are. This, of course, can be somewhat depressing. Equally though you can see the unfortunate souls behind you as they are tackling the very long climb that you are descending. On the flip side though you know which runners behind you are also far better descenders than you (in my case most of them) and it’s at this point you realise that you really do have to get your finger out.

Me (in the distance) in pursuit of the Carnethy runner (c Digby Maas)

 I trotted back down the track trying unsuccessfully to work out who was ahead of me and who was behind me as many were now cunningly disguised by waterproof clothing with hoods but I found that the two Carnethy girls had got ahead of me on the descent and one was now out of sight having disappeared into the grey murk. I made it back down to the road crossing within the cut off time, well at least I assumed so as I was allowed to continue, and I started to climb Meikle Conval again. I could see one of the Carnethy runners up ahead and I steadily gained on her throughout the rest of the climbing and descending so by the time we reached the games park she was just a matter of metres ahead of me. Then I did that terrible thing, I passed her on the games park track. In front of everybody. Was that a mean thing to do? It was a race after all and the SHR team Championships were at stake. As Debbie Martin Consani once said “It’s a race, not a coffee morning”!

I was just glad that she was either too knackered or just couldn’t be arsed with a sprint finish.

Happy race finishers enjoying the sunshine

Anyway I finished and hung around chatting and watching other runners finishing. Some of the runners were coming in just as the pipe bands started marching in the opposite direction around the track. Happily no runners were impaled on bagpipes during the resulting melee. By now the rain had gone off and it was turning into a warm sunny afternoon so the games field was quickly filling with spectators. For me though no Highland games race would be complete with out a burger and chips from one of the stalls in the park and many other runners seemed to be refuelling in exactly the same manner.

Marching band

Runner dodging marching band!

Dufftown Highland games