A nice wee race to finish off this years summer holidays, 11 miles and 3400' of ascent. The race starts near the Bunnet Stane with a climb up West Lomond, run along to East Lomond via the Monument then back via the Fort to West Lomond for the bumslide and run in to the finish, unusual for a hill race a water station is included.
The first climb is about 20 minutes or so - for me - about turn and run half way back down before traversing to the right gradually descending via a series of narrow tracks to pick up an undulating forrest road for a mile or two towards East Lomond.
The exit from the forrest road is well marked with tape and takes you up a narrow path through the forrest to the Monument checkpoint, follow the marked path on through the forrest and onto the track which runs between the two Lomond Hills.
The route to East Lomond is all runnable apart from the short sharp climb at the end. At the Trig Point about turn and run back towards West Lomond, a short detour is marked to take you to the next checkpoint, Maiden Castle, a big grassy mound. From the Castle a short run across pathless moorland back to the track to West Lomond, runnable except for the last short climb to the top.
From the top a short run to the top of the descent gully where I managed to overtake 3 people lying on my back, some run down this but sliding is faster.
Finished in just over 2 hours 20, my slowest of three attempts at this race, but not by much as they have all been within 40 seconds. After the race its back to Strathmiglo village hall for tea and some food.
A good intro to medium hill races, rolling hills with no big climbs or technical parts, the twists and turns are well marked with tape so you can't really get lost.
Left the Vale in rain and low cloud but by race time sun and blue skies, a strong wind the only problem on the way back from East to West Lomond. Pictures here give you some idea of the terrain, if you want to see the bumslide before you try search for Lomonds of Fife on YouTube, a few Swedish runners had spotted this and flew over to join in the fun.
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