The second part of the Man(or) Mouse weekend series took place over the windswept Pentland Hills on Sunday. A record field of 189 took part including 20 of us who had run in the rain at Manor Water the previous day. Sadly the dry conditions in the sky did not apply to the going underfoot making for a very energy sapping slog around the 16 summits which defines this course. The wind was predominantly in our faces on the outward stretch but was more of a help on the way home. Excellently marshalled this is one race where due to the amount of sugar based products on offer at various checkpoints you run the very real risk of putting on weight during the race.
Four NFRs made the trip up to Auld Reekie. Pride of place went to Dave Wiseman taking 21st place in just over 3 hours and only finishing around 20 minutes after the winner. He was followed in by Paul Appleby, myself and John Tollitt. Runners from Teviotdale and Norham were also in evidence. A special mention must go to Bill Gauld of Carnethy (he of FRA magazine front cover fame) who covered the course in just under 5 and a half hours at the very sprightly age of 78. I just hope he trains on a regular diet of beer.
Talking of which my reward for completing both races was a bottle of beer - fair return for 26 miles running through slowly setting concrete taking in 8,000 feet of ascent. Thankfully a few other equally muddy souls contrived to have a higher aggregate time than myself ensuring that I escaped the "mouse" prize but in the overall standings ended up being more mouse than man. No surprise there then !
John Telfer
