Dumyat Dash

Race start and finish, in Menstrie Park, with Dumyat behind.

83 runners set off, misty start but we soon broke into the sun as we climbed about half way up Myreton Hill on the mostly runnable zig zag farm track, I jog walk. The gradient eases as we contour round over the first two Inchna Burns. A sharp left turn and we plunge down steep grassy hillside to cross the 3rd Inchna Burn, slippy bridge or cold stream, I opt for the stream. A few yards further and we cross the Menstrie Burn, this bridge is even worse but I manage to rock hop across using the bridge as a hand rail. A climb up the rear of Dumyat folllows, apart from the first and last parts pretty much runnable, I jog walk, the leaders passing on their way back encourage a bit of effort. Reach the top of Dumyat in 51 minutes, round the cairn and back down to cross over Menstrie and 3rd Inchna burns before running down the glen on a narrow track beside the Menstrie Burn. Re-join the farm track just above the zig zags for a downhill run to the finish in just over 77 minutes. The mist had ceared by the time we finished. The race offers much for a small race, trail, hill and cross country running, very friendly, low key with tea n cakes after £5 entry and you get a £5 Sweatshop voucher.  I'll try this one again, 5 1/2 miles and 1800' of ascent, a bit of an effort should get me closer to 70 minutes as long as I make better use of some of the short cuts on the zig zags.