John, Paul and Lewis -
photo: Wendy Appleby
21 miles 6,000 feet
Lewis Grundy and Paul Appleby followed up on excellent runs
at Arrochar in June to finish in 17th and 31st places showing
an obvious penchant for rocky Scottish mountains. I managed
to convert my DNF at Arrochar into a 51st position out of 69
and also kept my body intact this time.
Conditions were nigh on perfect, warm enough with a bit of
cloud and breeze and with no problems with visibility the race
posed little in the way of navigational challenges. Starting
from the ski centre at Glenshee the race takes in nine Munros
and had the added benefit of starting at 2,000 feet. Apart
from the first long, gradual climb to the first unpronounceable
Munro most of the ascents are in the 300 - 600 feet range meaning
that there are plenty of opportunities to keep running if you
are able to.
The going underneath from the first to the sixth Munro also
varied enormously from good walkers paths, through grassy trods,
bog, marsh, heather and boulder field, something for everyone.
There then followed the horrors of one near vertical climb
of 1,300 feet after the one and only road crossing, 14 miles
into the race. It is a slog that makes Borrowdale's Gable and
Dale Head ascents feel like a hop, skip and a jump. One's reward
for this is a run along the service roads used by the ski operator
specialising in very stony going underfoot. Although not overly
steep there is a 2.5 mile run out to the eighth Munro and then
a run back before bearing off for the final Munro.
This has the added attraction of meeting runners who have already
bagged the Munro in yonder distance and are only 3 miles from
home whilst lesser mortals such as myself still had nearer
to 6 miles of fun left. Back over horrendously spiky ski paths
up to the final Munro the coup de grace is a hideously steep
descent between the ski lift pylons and all the various wires
and other such detritus left lying around to trip up the tired
and despondent fellrunner.
Another Scottish epic with last year's inaugural record being
beaten in a time of just over 3 hours and 20 minutes.
Results and pictures on the SHR website
John Telfer
