Wednesday was that time of year again, the Maddy Moss Hill Race. If ever there is a midweek race to make you appreciate the joy (and pain) of hill racing, it’s this one. The organisers describe the route better than I, so I shall use their words:
“Possibly the best, and generally the longest time-wise, of the mid-week Bog and Burn races. The race starts up a near vertical grass slope adorned with gorse bushes, before breaking onto a runnable path and a short rocky descent to a burn crossing. The ascent up the nose of The Law is largely hands on knees, with only short sections of shuffle running. The route then opens out across the grassy tops of Ben Cleuch and Andrew Gannel Hill, before dropping into a narrow trod high above Gannel Burn where overtaking is virtually impossible. The final section of downhill is frighteningly fast and tricky before the near vertical plummet to the finish.”
Almost perfect conditions ensued, and we were blissfully (almost) free of aggressive midges. There was a Carnethy contingent of 5, and we all had good runs, with Steven sneaking under the hour*
*Neil was running under his midweek alias ‘Barnett’. Shh, don’t tell Seona he was out racing on Wednesday…
Male and Female winners were Graham Gristwood and Edel Mooney, both of Ochils. Performance of the night, though, must go to Brian Marshall, who was consolidating his hard man reputation with another fast run in bare feet. Rumour has it that he’s going to run Ben Nevis wearing a cilice.
Full results here: http://www.ochilhillrunners.org.uk/resultsDetails.aspx?id=1538
Mike Lynch