As we queue to get on the bus that would take us to an unknown destination for our start, the hills were shrouded in fog, and a gentle drizzle is being blown along by a gusty wind. After 15 minutes weaving through Comrie and through narrow lanes, the first surprise is that we have a mile to walk up a steep hill before we even start! We slog up the hill, and are soon in the huddle of people making last minute adjustments to kit before our time is called. We make our way forward for our allotted 0956 start time, and as the hooter goes off we are given a map each and we are away. This is the first time we have seen where we are going, or where we are spending the night. The map is covered in small circles, marking controls, each with a number of points. The high scoring controls are, of course, a long way away and on the tops of steep hills! We jog a little way from the start and settle down to plan a route. The terrain is very hilly, and we make guesses as to how far we can cover, and then make a quick decision as to our first few controls. We’ll make a further decision when we know how we are getting on.
Then we are away, off round the side of the hill in front of us, and then slogging 150 metres up the slope to find a tiny orange marker (20cm square) on the shore of a loch, which marks our first control. Pete inserts the electronic tag attached to his wrist and a bleep tells us that our visit and time have been recorded. That took us 35 minutes, and was about 1.5 km. Then next control is a bit closer, and the terrain is not as steep, though it is boggy, making running hard. Then a long downhill to the next one and an easy 3 km along a wet but solid track, allowing us some easy running, before another 100 metres of steep climbing to our fourth. Visibility has been fine so far, but as we climb to find the next control, the hill fog closes in around us and navigation becomes harder and needs more concentration. After a minor error we close in on the fifth control, at the bottom of a steep slope by a loch, and the wind is driving cold rain at us through the fog. We stop for a quick break and a high enegry snack, and then are off again, contouring across a steep slope above the shoreline, and then carefully picking our way across the mountaintop, using every detail and contour on the map to make sure we don’t get lost in the fog.
Control number six tagged, and we have a decision to make. We are nearly three hours into our six, and have bagged a decent number of points, but it is too early to turn for the overnight camp. So we opt for a long route out to the west to pick up a couple of controls, before returning to the Day 1 finish. We set off through peat bogs and over a small ridge, and start a long downhill leg. It is wet, following one stream, and crossing many others, but it is good to be moving faster again, and the exercise banished some of the cold that had crept into us on the exposed windy ridges. Once we tag this control, we have another decision. There is a 20 point control temptingly close, but some 160m above us - a tough climb at this time of day, after nearly 4 hours on the hill. If we go and bag it, will we have time to make it back within out allotted 6 hours? We decide to go for it (with hindsight, a mistake!) and climb a steep valley to a track, which takes us further up the hill before we set off again across the bog and heather. In the swirling fog my navigation fails me here, probably partly because I am tired and cold, and we waste precious time looking for the control. We finally find it tucked in a small re-entrant, but as we start down the steep slope back into the valley, we are both suffering from the exertion, and Pete’s legs are hurting in various places. We run short distances on the path, but are reduced to walking as soon as it turns uphill.
The 3 km slog up to the top of the ridge is very hard. It hails on us for a while, before reverting to rain, driven along by the brisk wind. We are both quiet, head down and I’m aware that I need to concentrate. The ground underfoot is interminable bog and heather. My thighs burn and ache, and I just don’t have the energy to move faster. We both think we were holding the other one back, and moods drift downwards as we realised we aren’t going to make it to the finish on time, and will suffer penalty points, wiping out all the effort we had just expended. We finally crest the ridge, relieved to have finished the worst of the climb, and resigned to a points penalty. Following others in, we drag our weary bodies onto a track, too tired to run and make up time.
We get in 18 minutes late, losing 36 points. But we’d made it. We search out a flattish spot in the camping area, amongst the 400 or so tents of the overnight camp, get the tent up and crawl in, replacing wet clothes with dry ones. We hadn’t realised how cold we were; I had lost all feeling in my fingers and Pete was shivering. We spend the next hour doing nothing, snuggled in sleeping bags with down jackets on, just waiting to warm up, listening to the rain hammering on the tent. There is no rush. It is 1700, and our Day 2 start isn’t until 0921 the next morning. Add in the clocks going back and we have 15 hours in the tent.
Once we are warm, I get the stove out and brew up two mugs of pasta. This warms us up, and the tent (yes - contrary to all normal safety advice, we are cooking inside a small tent!). The rain has stopped for a while, and we venture out, to the loo and down to the river to get water. Supper is a rehydrated “just-add-hot-water-to-the-bag” meal. And then a wee dram of whisky, as befits a Scottish Highlands race, and finally to sleep. Lots of sleep!
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Sunday starts with a dream that there are bagpipes playing, until I realise there really are bagpipes playing! A piper rouses us in traditional Scottish style at 0600 (which is fine for those with an 0700 start, but less welcome for those of us with another three hours until we run. We doze until 0800, amongst the sound of others getting up and getting ready, and a hooter every two minutes announcing the departure of the next set of runners. By 0900 we are breakfasted (instant porridge, premixed with milk and sugar), packed and ready to go for our second day on the hills.
0921. Across the start line, with a new map in our hands. Whichever way we start it’s a river crossing and a steep climb, and a long way to the finish line! We select a couple of close controls on the hill above us, wade across the river and start climbing. Despite all the rest we are both still very weary, but plug our way up some 200 m of muddy heathery mountain, knowing that once we get to the top of this one we can follow a (relatively!) flat and downhill route home. We find that control hidden in a small valley, climb a little to reach the next one and then turn towards the finish line, still some 4 hours and 17 km away.
By this stage most people are moving in the same general direction, and route-finding becomes easier as we follow groups of teams converging on controls and then heading off down the valley. After a couple of convenient controls we opt for the simple route down the road for the last few miles, focusing on getting back on time rather than picking up more points.
The road is hard work, as we can’t afford to hang around, but Pete’s knees aren’t up to running far on the hard flat surface. We need to keep the speed up and are worried about getting more penalty points. After an hour’s walk down the road, being overtaken by other runners, we get close enough to know it is going to be tight. But something kicks in (energy bars? feeling of nearing the end? camaraderie as we join lots of other teams? who knows?) and as we descend the final few miles we summon the energy to run down the forest tracks. It feels good as we tag the final controls in the forest and finally jog up to the finish line, with 8 minutes to spare.
We’ve done it. Across the line. Last blib of the electronic blibber to record our time. Hot soup is very welcome as we mill with hundreds of others in the same state, smiles and aching legs all round. We walk back to the coaches to return us to Cultybraggan. Back at base we have a bowl of pasta, get changed out of wet gear and climb into the car for the long trip home.
How did we get on?
We were 157th out of 216 in our event, with 184 points. It would have been 220 points if we hadn’t had the Day 1 penalties, which would have put us 135th, but we are happy with the achievement. We did slightly better overall than last year, in an undoubtedly harder and more challenging event.
We covered 14 miles on the first day (plus 0.8 mile walk in to the start) and 12.2 miles on the second, which conveniently adds up to 26.2 miles - a proper Mountain Marathon!
Our average speed was 2.5 mph, which shows what the terrain was like!
It's now a few days later, and we find ourselves remarkably free of aches and pains and ready to go again.
The countdown on my desktop has already been reset for next year. 356 days to go.....
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