Annual race up and down Scotlands most Southerly Munro, not to be missed. Starts and finishes beside the Rowardennan Hotel with only 7 miles and 3192' of ascent and descent in between. Saturday was warm and you could see the clouds boiling off the summit as you left Gartocharn on the drive up to the race. Rowardennan is very busy with the junior races beforehand and car park chaos ensues but still managed to get one of the last spaces, registered then relaxed in the sun looking towards Tarbet & the Arrochar Alps beyond.
Race briefing....be kind to the hill walkers, race marshalls and keep to the route, and we were off. The breeze at the start disappeared and I was soon drenched from head to toe with sweat, nothing to do with the wedding I was at yesterday of course. Kept a steady pace on without going into oxygen debt and arrived at the top in 74 mins, a few minutes slower than usual.
Stopped at the top for a drink of water then gloves on for the descent. Steady along the summit ridge and jogged off the summit cone before picking up the pace, although still taking it slower than usual on any of the steep rocky sections. Gradually picked off a few runners in front without pushing too hard but legs still feel dead on the flat sections towards the bottom.
36 minute descent to finish in just under 1 hour 50 mins, 10 mins slower than last year. After the obligatory dook in the loch back to the Rowardennan Hotel for soup, roll and a pint in the sun.
No comments:
Post a Comment