Bog & Burn - part 1 ...

"Ah, the summer time is coming, and the tree's are sweetly blooming , and the wild mountain thyme, all around the blooming heather"
Bog and Burn,the new Rock 'n Roll

The Bog & Burn race series comprises of a number (10 this year) of midweek evening hill races. To qualify for a place in the overall series you must run a minimum of 4. Usually the Polaroid 10k races dominate midweek activities, but for a wee change I thought it would be good to do something new …

Kinnoull Hill Race (4miles 800ft – CS)
Having persuaded the fair Moira that a Wednesday evening in Perth would be fun, we headed north on the A9 in torrential rain – not a good start. As contingency, her Mum & Dad were driving over from Newport to keep her company. Registration done I headed up to the start. I began to get concerned over my choice of shoes – I was in Inov8 Mudroc fell shoes and the majority of folks (mostly wearing Perth Road Runners vests – surely the locals knew the route ?!?!?) were in either trail or road shoes. A good crowd of about 100 runners lined up in the ongoing rain. The start was fast … very fast. The pace was maintained by some as we headed up the first steep hill. The route is on trails but due to the amount of water these were fairly muddy – I was glad of the extra grip. As the field spread out a small group of us seemed to have one of those “overtake on the ascent then get overtaken on the descent” – I can only assume that those who were strong on the up and down … were well ahead. The last steep descent down towards the finish was fun – I even managed to raise a laugh from fellow runners when I stopped briefly to give the Moira a wee kiss (which freaked my sister who was on the mobile to her at the time).

Kilpatricks Hill Race (6 miles 1400ft ascent – BM)
Another wet Wednesday evening – thankfully the rain was off by the time registration opened (although it was replace by midges). With the added incentive of a nightshift following the race I was keen to start. The course looked good – nice mix of fairly steep ascent / track / grassy ridge with some wet bog type stuff thrown in. With the short road section over and heading up the open hill side the pace slowed and it was hands on knees quickstep with short sections of running where possible. Topping out onto the Braes the angle eased and it was possible to start properly again. Confidence in the inov8 shoes continued to grow on the first descent down to the Humphrey track. Sometime during the section between Loch Humphrey & the Greenside reservoir a wee sparring contest began between myself and another runner. This continued as we climbed up the Slacks and past the trig point – the other guy was a far better descender than me and the gap continued to open until we were on the last road section where I appeared to be closing … a little. In the end we both overtook one other runner but I couldn’t catch him. Upon finishing we thanked each other for the sport on the hill. He also showed me the reason for his slowing on the road …a loose lace !



Heading up the road ... to the hill !

Turned out that Helen Palmer (the lass who came down to the 2004 KIMM with Big Lee and myself) was also running. It was a pleasant surprise to find she was also only two places in front !

A week off the hill races with 70 wild miles to look forward to …