I’ve been slow to get this one written up….. The 4th pandemicap was the toughest so far in ‘hillness’. Nobody complained that it was too runnable. Mark’s course got lots of praise. I thought it was brilliant although I only managed a non-competitive walk/jog. Always good to be sent around new paths. Andy Spenceley called it a ‘real tough hill running course’ and is feeling spoiled by the routes so far. Someone said ‘chapeau to the route setter’. A couple of stalward-types called it ‘proper hill running’. I’ll return to ‘improper’ hill-running later. The winding path up to the Carnethy/Turnhouse col was popular although someone managed to fall off the rickety style near the start while avoiding a family using it as a temporary tapas bar (how does the handicapper manage to build all this into his calculations?). Anyway, down to the bridge you went for a selfie. Andy Spenceley enjoyed some selfie drama, putting his foot through a broken plank causing himself and phone to go flying. Next up was that climb, apparently one of the longest in the Pentlands. Someone called it a ’15-minute climb’. Ha-ha, I think that depends….. It was also called ‘grim’ and ‘brutal’. The vocabulary of climbs. I’d call it a slog. Anyway, with the climb behind, the worst of it was over and it was a chance to enjoy the Carnethy 5 climb in reverse and confuse sheep used to seeing people coming the other way. A little bit more climbing up to the Carnethy/Scald Hill col and then a great run down to the finish which some people seemed to get very excited about: ‘lovely long smooth downhill’, ‘sexy downhill section’. I’ve noted that nobody has yet described a climb as ‘sexy’. We’ll see.
Some runners were surprised by grouse but new member Phil Hall lost the lottery and had the decidedly improper and unsexy hill-experience of meeting ‘a half-naked man’: ‘largely through fear of this topless man, I made my way up Carnethy faster than normal’. How was Phil to know that he was destined to have the same scary experience as a Turnhouse cow and encounter local celebrity (aka the club president and course designer) rampaging through the hills. Thankfully, Phil didn’t hand out a bashing but reacted instead by taking a photo (see below). This incident didn’t make it into every local paper and become a talking point of Edinburgh (so the scoop is here!).
There’s another great set of selfies below. Enjoy it while it lasts – we’re going to retire the selfies at the end of this Pandemicap series. My vote this time goes for The Chandlers. What is going through Sandra’s mind? Answers on a postcard. Digby’s put in some effort for his under-the-bridge photo, Anthony Hemmings has a large tongue, Phil Hall successfully managed to avoid taking a photo of the president’s naked parts, and there’s a lot of breathless relief in the pictures on top of Carnethy.
I’ll get the report out much quicker for the Bonallez-oopicap which still has a week to run as I write this. Only about 20 people have their times up so far so hopefully there’ll be plenty of runners out in the days ahead. And there’s also a feast of courses over the next two weeks with the Alternative Carnethy 5 and also the final pandemicap which returns to Holyrood and is run around the classic Arthur’s Seat club handicap route. So that’s lots of possible socially-distanced hill-running with a good chance to seeing other Carnethies out and about.