The 2nd pandemicap had another great turnout – over 80 racing the course and quite a few others enjoying the route for a social run, and many recces too. I can’t deny I enjoyed seeing various interesting deviations on Strava from recce runs, and these were particularly evident on Whinny Hill. This handicap was a first Carnethy event for Phil Hall (welcome!), and Dyfan Dwyfor decided to gift himself this run as a 36th birthday present.
Someone described the route as having SM tendencies, another as being “unrelentingly brutal”. I guess the sharp uphill start and long-and-gradually-steeping final section (“that finish is the stuff of nightmares”) could be seen as a bit S. As for the M bit, isn’t that synonymous with hill-running? There’s an interesting genre of pain-gratitude:
“Struggled from step one then finally blew up on Whinny – great route, very enjoyable”.
“That hurt, but great route, thank you!”
“There’s only one word that can summarise that route….steep! Thanks Ken 😊”
Returning to Whinny Hill, which looks so pleasant and grassy, but as I found out during lockdown, it’s a hill that keeps on giving with its maze of paths:
“Punishing. 2nd attempt resulted in profound breakdown of mind and body on Whinny Hill.”
“Messed up descending Whinny Hill”
“Whinny is my own personal Bermuda triangle.”
I’m keen that we take up Lee Murphy’s suggestion that Carnethy established some kind of cairn or making on the top of Whinny Hill (well, at least one of the tops….).
Haggis Knowe, a little but reasonably obvious bump, caused its own issues:
“Haggis Knowe in particular felt like a cruel practical joke”
“somehow completely missed haggis knowe despite recceing route!”
Al McGowan provided some interesting history connected to the route and lovely use of language:
“Thanks for putting together the route. Another shocking selfie, in which I try to replace the summit of Arthur’s Seat with my bonce. A good exploration of the back ways. I’ve not been down into the old quarry with the blocks on the south side of Crow Hill since about 1995, when we were collecting stone from it for the paths at the very summit of Arthur’s Seat,
… I was pretty puckled by the time I was going up Salisbury Crags to the Cat’s Nick! Hence the state of my phizog in that selfie;)”
I haven’t worked out yet what Cat’s Nick refers to (? answers on a postcard) but during lockdown exercise I did come across an old fellow who pointed out fossilized beaches on Salisbury Crags.
Many folk said that it introduced you to new paths in an area you thought you knew well. That was one of the aims of this route and also for the following Pandemicaps from Swanston, Silverburn and Bonaly.
Awards for multiple attempts – as far as I know – go to Nicola Duncan (4) and Britton Smith (3-and-a-half). And also Andy Lamont who probably did more than that in sorting out the handicap times.
And there’s been a sharp improvement in selfie skills since round 1. Generally, open gaping mouths replaced with excellent forced smiles and a few great scenic photos thrown in too. A few highlights are Ryan Forgie’s bizarrely-angled photo, Nigel Shekleton telling it as it is, David Harrington’s hat, and Eoin’s photo where you can just tell that he was doing this at full race pace. As for variations, there’s Mark’s topless selfie (bring on winter, please!) and Jonny Muir’s selfless selfie. A few people (e.g., Dessie and Nigel) have managed to shift the hills around. I can’t pick a winner from this lot (any thoughts, let me know) but I think we can up the selfie-ante by having some Pandemicap Selfie Prizes at the end of the season.
Next, in fact already ongoing, are the Socially Distanced Summits of Swanston.
A massive thanks again to Andy Lamont for doing the timings and stats.
Kenneth Fordyce