Goatfell Race
20th May 2012

Ok no jokes about goat fell and so did I, but it was a scraped, battered and bruised collection of runners that finished the race. Probably half left bits of themselves on the course, and 2 people needed stitches. Fine and warm at the start & finish, and cold with a little mist on the summit. The race was being filmed for the Adventure Show, with interviews including Konrad & Jasmin, so look out for the programme later in the year. Winner was Es Tresidder in 1:20:27, Konrad 9th and 1st Carnethy male in 1:28:59 and Jasmin 14th and 1st lady in 1:35:14, followed very closely by Bruce Smith then Jill Mykura 2nd lady. Carnethy won the team prize (with John Hammond; 2nd Carnethy male in 11th place) and yours truly 1st MV60, owing to the absence of various nemeses. After eating about a ton of cake kindly laid on by the race organisers, Konrad, Jasmin and I returned to walk up Goatfell, not out of masochism but to put out checkpoints for the Islands Peaks Race which started on Friday. The views from the top, now that there was time to savour them, were absolutely outstanding; the crenellated granite ridges and crests of the Arran mountains and views across to the isles and as far as the coast of Ireland. Then I fell over once again and reskinned both knees. More photos Results Digby

Good turn out of Carnethy runners for this years Goatfell race. Grim weather on Friday cleared to leave perfect hill running conditions for the race start. Dark Peak runner Es Tresidder won the race in a time of 1:20:27. First Carnethy home was Konrad in 9th. Jasmin was first female in 14th overall. I passed Konrad on the ascent when he seemed to be suffering with a calf problem. No doubt he would normally had beaten me to the top however he quickly passed me on the descent. Both Harry and Matt had warned me about the dangers of the Goatfell descent so I was particularly slow on the open hillside. I cleared the mountain rescue post in good form and started to speed up through the forest section but took a big fall at speed. Once I picked myself up and felt my head I realised that I was not in good shape as my hand was covered in blood from my head.  The famous Carnethy buff was quickly re assigned to be used as a make shift bandage! To those without, I would thoroughly advise adding one to your kit. I started running to get to some help but felt okay and sensing a good time was still possible I pushed on to the end and finished in 1:32:16 for 11th place. I was rather pleased to not actuallydrop any places after my tumble! The adventure show gave me a quick interview before a quick visit to the hospital for my head to be stapled and wounds patched up. Digby won MV60 prize and Konrad, myself, and Jasmin took the team prize for Carnethy. Unfortunately I missed the prize giving whilst at the hospital! Many thanks to the St. Andrews ambulance guys for the first aid and to Paul from the organising team for not only running me to the hospital but also collecting me so I could catch the ferry home. John Hammond