4 Hillbillies, Alison, Kenny, Paul & Neil, turned out on Wednesday evening to take part in another of the SHR Bog & Burn series. The Turnhouse race is a short sharp hill race with a good finish.
It is a good race for next year if anyone fancies a short fast hill race on fairly easy terain.
Race Profile
Thanks to our temporary photographer Colin R for the photos below.
Results
36 Kenny MacDonald v40 00:33:18
48 Paul Hutton m 00:37:17
50 Alison West fv50 00:37:29
55 Neil Campbell v40 00:38:27
Five Hillbillies made the treck up to Mull for the Mull Monsterette, Part of the SHR championships. It was a great day that was well organised considering the logistics needed to get so many runners registered, onto the hill and back safely. The weather was clear and very windy on the tops. A great race to practice your climbing as it just went up and up.
Position Time Name Category
22 02:06:25 Tommy Lawrence m
28 02:08:37 Sandy Bennet mv40
65 02:39:53 Andrew Sim m
82 02:56:55 Neil Campbell mv40
83 02:57:56 Alison West f50
On Saturday Andrew and Neil headed off to Arrochar for the SHR Long Classics series race, The Arrochar Alps.
This is a great race that takes in 4 Munros and if you are not ascending you are descending.
We were treated to a “selection” of weather and being able to navigate was essential as there were a few parts of the course where there were no marked routes and you could hardly see your hand in front of your face.
Seven Hillbillies made the trek down to Dumfries and Galloway for the Durisdeer Hill race. Tommy L , Steve K, Kenny M, Andy S, Alison W, Neil C and Sandy B.
Gregor was shouting, “What took you so long!”
We were rewarded by great weather and a well organised race, new course records with a great feed at the end. Perhaps a theme emerging here. Thanks to Adam Anderson of Carnethy the race organiser for a great race and loads of cakes.
Race Profile (click for larger image)
The registration and cake eating were both in an old church and the latter sitting amongst the headstones of the graveyard. Quite symbolic.
There was a record race entry of 300. Normally it is a much smaller field.
After Jura last weekend I was not to sure about this race and only made up my mind to run it on Friday. I headed up the A9 on Friday night and got there just as the sun was going down.
Saturday morning looked a bit misty and as the morning went on it burnt off to leave a really sunny day. Two weekends with great weather. People will think I’ve been away on my holidays with the tan I’m building up.
Here is the race profile from my Garmin so you can see what it looks like. (click on the thumbnail to see full size)
I really enjoyed the race which has some tough climbing and equally tough descending. It might not be as long as some races but I can certainly feel it in my legs today.
Best of all they laid on a massive spread of food at the end, worth travelling up just for that.
Thanks to Ross & Highland Hill Runners for putting on a well organised race.
I would certainly recommended it for next year. Let’s see if we can get a few more Hillbillies up there.
Andy, Richie and I set off for Jura on Friday morning to arrive at the ferry just as they were closing the bow doors. We managed to talk them into allowing us to push our bikes up the gang plank. First hurdle over.
Once we got to Islay we transferred onto the small ferry for Jura. On getting to Jura the next challenge was cycling the 8 miles along to Craighouse with panniers and a rucksack into a head wind. Job done, we got our tents set up on the football field in front of the Jura Hotel.
Next morning after the compulsory kit checks we were off. It was a fantastic day with great visability and perfect running conditions if only a bit hot but who is complaining. I took quite a few photos on the way round to give you a sense of what the race is like when you are out there.
Here is the race profile.
After all the Hillbillies were in and Richie had won his sub 4 hour glass we decided we needed to replace some of the carbohydrates we had lost during the race. One more night under canvas and we made our way back via the ferries with a few snoozes on the way.
Thanks to all the organisers and the marshals out on the course for putting on a great race and also the locals for putting up with us.
For the record the Hillbillies times were:
24 Richie Cunningham S 3.58.01
161 Neil Campbell V40 6.12.16
173 Andrew Sim S 6.48.10
I’m going back again next year. Who else fancies it?
52 Sandy Bennett MV40 00:43:18
58 Nick Weir M 00:43:47
74 Judith Taylor F 00:45:14
104 Robbie Mackenzie MV40 00:47:03
149 Andrew Sim M 00:51:22
156 Tommie Lawlor MV50 00:51:46
166 Garry Taylor MV40 00:52:06
180 Alison West FV50 00:53:51
221 Neil Campbell MV40 00:59:33
Andy (spot the new shoes), Tiger, Paul and Neil ran from Scotlandwell the leg 3 route as far as the Well checkpoint. Paul went on to Strathmiglo and Andy, Tiger and Neil ran back to Scotlandwell.
Stats: 8.03 miles 2:16 hrs 2395 ft elevation
Neil, Paul, Andy (check out the laces) and Tiger
At the well
I had the camera on video at the top of West Lomond so here is a wee video of the day.
