This morning saw the first of the winter series of trail races from Tri-Trail – the Foxlake 14km event in East Lothian.
The venue for registration, the start and finish was Foxlake Adventures, Scotland’s first wake boarding park at Hedderwick Hill Stables. After the preliminaries we were off and given the temperature had dipped overnight, the initial section was covered with a layer of frost which made for tricky areas on rutted farm fields. A few groups had settled into positions by this point, including our own Nigel Sheckleton who was already establishing himself towards the head of the field. Within a mile or so, Prasad Prasad had already opened up a significant lead, which he was never to lose. I was further back but making my way through the field and the Hokas were holding up well, despite being on their last legs (a bit like me in fact).
For those familiar with that part of the world, it’s a lovely area for trail running, with a bit of everything underfoot: beach, forest tracks, wooden boardwalks, tarmac, muddy fields and a bit of water. Here’s Eric the Fox showing the terrain on a vimeo from last year: http://vimeo.com/63523935
It was a great morning out and well organised. Prasad Prasad won comfortably in 48:30 and his other half Elke was first lady in 55:28. Nigel Sheckleton was first Carnethy home in 54:33 for 6th position, I sneaked under the hour in 59:52 for 17th and Simon Johnston was 1:02:49.
Garmin upload of the route here: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/428970198
Results are here: http://www.webscorer.com/race?raceid=17242
More pictures from Bob Marshall here: https://picasaweb.google.com/113562417702657933373/TriTrailRaceFoxLake120114
Mike Lynch