Having not had much in the way of luck this summer for plans I had regarding Tranters/Ramsay rounding I was looking to salvage something from the fitness and stamina I had built up in my training. Inspired by Gary and Grant from Ochil hill runners who recently ran all of the bog and burn races within 24 hours, I thought it would be nice to do a round of Carnethy organised races. Glamaig was out due to the travel distance involved (As was Mike’s new costal relay race for the running distance!) so that left the 8 races located south of the Forth.
These races gave a nice challenging but manageable set of stats – 76.9km and 4798m of ascent by my watches reckoning. The driving I did ended up being 151 miles from the first race to last so that took a fair bit of energy also. Given my job I’m fairly used to long hours driving but must admit that took a fair bit out of me and I wouldn’t have minded an automatic car once my clutch leg started cramping!
I ended up taking 9:45:18 for the actual running but almost 15 hours in total given the driving and logistics involved.
Caerketton doonhill – 06:51
Took the downhill at a fairly safe pace – didn’t want to get injured within the first 10 minutes! It seemed a great idea starting with the downhill but in planning I hadn’t really thought through the fact I would need to climb to the start anyway – a nice wee extra 300m or so of climbing!
Caerketton hill race – 23:08
Fairly uneventful. Spotted a couple of figures lined up at the start of the Skyline route (I had started 10 minutes later than the email I had sent round) so got a wee shift on to collect some food and water from the car and race up to the start before they left without me.
Pentland Skyline – 3:15:05
Figures I had seen were Alex McVey and John Ryan who ran with me until the Turnhouse/Carnethy col. Was nice to have some company and take my mind off running to a certain pace. Not sure if I had perhaps just managed to prepare my self well for the mental aspect of a long day out but the Skyline certainly felt quite short compared with normal and with no signs of cramping I was feeling quite pleased.
Carnethy 5 – 1:22:02
After the short drive to the C5 start I tried to make my way to the usual race start – big mistake! The field takes on quite a different look mid summer and after fairly ripping my legs apart on thistles I decided upon the return to just run the normal walkers path and time until the road to make up for the slightly easier terrain. It was a fairly similar story on the Scald Law climb. The C5 certainly isn’t my favourite race route but in summer it gets even worse. Fairly slow time in the end but just happy to be done.
Traprain Law – 1:03:22
I actually expected Traprain to be the easiest of the 8 but couldn’t have been more wrong. I think because it came straight after the first longer drive of the day the legs had a chance to seize up and as the start it flat and fast the effect is even worse. I also bonked a bit on the climb so thought I would have a nice sickly gel washed down with water…the gel was opened and consumed before I realised that I had left my water bottle in the car. A swarm of flies on the summit followed by an encounter with a rather shouty dog made this a run to forget. On the plus side the sun had come out, however unable to reward myself with a half way pint in the rather tempting looking pub I had to settle for a magnum ice-cream. Certainly no option for such luxuries on a Ramsay’s round!
Manor Water – 1:56:41
This was an unexpected highlight for me. The route looked fairly long on the map (it felt it on the ground too) and came after another long drive so I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it too much. Having not raced this before it came as a very nice surprise to find just the sort of terrain I like – long but gradual climbing with nothing too sharp to injure yourself on in case of a fall on the descent. I seemed to get lost in a time black hole on the way down and took almost as long for the descent as ascent and then the rain started quite heavy but I was still feeling quite happy upon return to the car.
Devil’s Beeftub – 43:36
This was the polar opposite to Manor Water, both route and how I ended up feeling about it. Another route I hadn’t raced before but I had realised only the night before that the start was down at the bottom of the ‘tub’ rather than the main road as I had previously thought. The rain was lashing down and I was actually feeling quite cold from my wet clothes from the last run. I took one look at the descent down to the start line and threw my ethics straight out the window! My race would start and finish at the monument i.e. ending with an uphill. I really didn’t enjoy this one with a horrible descent through waist high bracken on the far side, a barbed wire crossing on cramping legs and an ascent that the word steep really doesn’t do justice to….the first climb must be completely horrible even on fresh legs during the race?
Tinto – 54:33
Despite having ran almost on or under my planned times all day I had taken much longer with the driving and changing of clothes/eating etc… so by the time I got to Tinto it was 8.40pm, this may have been slightly extended due to the fact that when got to Abington I was on auto pilot and took the road for Edinburgh rather than Glasgow. A wee extra detour up to Biggar saw me starting the run with about an hour or so to go before dusk and more importantly running under 10 hours for the 8 races. I’m not sure if it was the fresh clothes and shoes, the Highland Park Orkney fudge that my Orcadian friend have given me or just a sheer desperation to be finished and get home for a beer but I certainly found a second wind on the climb up Tinto. The descent was slightly treacherous with the amount of rain that had fallen and the fading light but I made it down unscathed and just in time to get changed in the last of the light, followed by the drag home to Edinburgh.
Many thanks to Alex and John for the company on the Skyline. It’s maybe not the perfect round given the start which involved 3 consecutive ascents of Caerketton or indeed the amount of driving involved but nonetheless still a nice enjoyable and challenging day out running some fantastic hills.
John Hammond