Report from Grant. A good turnout of 5 Bellas made the trip up to Menstrie for one of the last remaining Hill races of the year. Myself, Steve, David and Barry were joined by Stuart who had been given the morning off nappy changing duties for a wee blast in the Ochils. The race starts with a fairly steep but runnable climb into Menstrie glen before dropping back down for a couple of burn crossings to get the feet nicely cold before a surprisingly brutal slog up Dumyat. There is no time to admire the view as you turn and descend back the way you came on a steep tussocky descent which at least offers a nice soft landing if/when you faceplant. You cross back into the glen along a narrow footbridge which we had been pre warned would be slippy. Despite this warning I took a hefty fall on the bridge nearly sliding into the river. As I pulled myself up the runner behind me shouted “are you alright maaa……” followed by a thump as he fell in the exact same place. Take home lesson: x-talons and wet wood not a good combination. The rest of the race followed a narrow muddy path which I ran down doing my best Bambi impression. Then a sprint finish back down to the village green. Unfortunately you cross a road coming on to the green and in my efforts to chase down the Westie in front of me I didn’t notice a car pulling out in front of me until the last minute. With all the adrenaline pumping I briefly considered doing a commando roll over the bonnet before remembering I am not Daniel Craig and instead went for the safer option of the emergency stop. Definetely the 1st time I have nearly been ran over by a Jag in a hill race. I resumed a half hearted sprint to the line mainly happy to still have my legs intact. Stuart and Barry followed not far behind, with Stuart coming out on top in a sprint to the line. David was next in about 72mins, closely followed by Steve who took about 5 mins off his previous years time. A fine post race spread of tea and biscuits was provided, and if there was a team prize for post race biscuit consumption I’m pretty sure team Bella would have taken it. Results
Daily archives: November 6, 2012
Report from Craig. Saturday 3rd November saw 200 runners line up at the new start line for the Glen Ogle ultra marathon. Starting and finishing just outside Strathyre it follows a hilly but amazingly scenic out and back 33 mile route. I did this race in 2011 and know the course well so I went up with a race plan this year, hoping if I stuck to this that I could improve on my 3rd place last year. The start line for the course had moved this year as the route was a bit short in 2011. The newly added mile at the start of the course was straight uphill so when the race started I set off at a very slow pace and eased my way up the hill. As we reached mile 1 I moved into the lead and just continued to run at my own pace over the next 2 miles which were very steep uphills. Miles 4-6 have some good descents, my plan before the race was to take advantage of these and as the course zig-zagged down the hill I looked back up and couldnt even see the runner in second at the top of the hill! Miles 7-12 take you up over the Glen Ogle viaduct. There are a few very steep climbs early on but its mostly just gradually uphill. Despite a fast start my legs felt strong so I kept going at what felt like an easy pace but in reality I was hitting sub 6:30 miles so I knew I would be opening a good lead over the rest of the field. I was caught in a small blizzard during this part of the race, there was already some snow on the hills and path which made the course even more scenic but thanfully it didnt last too long. I passed checkpoint 2 and ran into the 8/9 mile forest loop. The start of this loop is very much downhill so again, I put the foot down and put in some quick miles. Unfortunately the last sections in the forest feature some long, steep uphill sections. I stuck to my plan and decided to run very slowly up these, even walking at a couple of sections. Unlike most races, walking is quite common in ultras to save energy in your legs. It also gives you a chance to refuel so at mile 18 I took my first energy get. I cruised through the rest of the forest section and stopped for a cup of water at the checkpoint before heading back down the Glen. I had made the decision not to carry anything other than 2 energy gels on me and only left a drop bag with a bottle of Red Bull, another gel and 5 jaffa cakes at the last checkpoint at mile 26. As I approached an undulating section at mile 24 I began to feel hungry and my energy levels were dropping. I made steady progressed and reached […]