Early Saturday morning I went for a fast Vogrie Park Run as it was their 3rd birthday and joined the 150 others in the park. There were five dogs in the top ten with Amber just defeating Heidi despite a poo stop! About 20 dogs completed it including Ketchup a doppelganger for Amber. At the time we suspected it might have been the last Park Run for the foreseeable future and so that has turned out to be.
With Six Nations Wales -v- Scotland having been called off I took the opportunity of a lift with Mike, Graham and Lee to go to Chapelgill.
We arrived in dry, cool, windy conditions and found there were four cars already there with less than an hour to go until the start at 3pm. After a few more cars arrived, the race organiser, DW turned up and we registered at the boot of his car. This meant adding your name/age/club to a blank sheet of paper and collecting a number. No pins, no entry fee!
Then up to the start – one organiser, 19 runners and a walking wife. After being told to run up to the cairn and back we were off. We were also told that if you wanted a time then to take it on your own watch! That is what hill racing is all about in its purest form!
As steep as ever we walked at various paces to the summit and then dashed back down to the non-finish line where numbers were recorded. No prizes so we headed home via the café pub in Broughton not realising that this was likely to be the last hill race in Scotland until further notice. By a quirk of fate one runner took the results and they were posted that day onto Scottish Hill Racing. By the way 2019 results are still not available but DW was spotted chasing down the field after a bit of paper which turned out to be a petrol receipt!
Gordon