Criffel Hill Race. Scottish HR Champs race 1.
Also known as the national bog running champs (see Murray's log for a more eloquent description -
http://www.attackpoint.org/viewlog.jsp/user_4231/p...)
Tom Martyn and Murray took it out at the front to start with. Murray hit the hill proper first and I tucked in behind him. He was moving very well up the first boggy part, but as it steepened I passed him and just kept up a steady tempo up the hill. Was aware I had a bit of a gap, but didn't really know how much until I hit the summit and turned around. Probably had 30 seconds (?) to Finlay Wild, with Murray just behind him.
I tried to not hold back at all on the way down, but on the steepest part Finlay came past me in a blur of improbable leg movements (mine definitely don't bend like that!). I increased my efforts to stay in touch, which seemed to mostly result in me falling face first into the mud several times.
I had a feeling that if I could stay within 10-15 seconds of him before we hit the 'flat', that I might still have a small chance, and so it proved. He was maybe 50-75m ahead when we hit the forest roads, and it was clear pretty quickly that I was moving quicker than him at this point. I got up level with him about 750m before the finish, and managed to hold a slightly higher tempo down the last road section to beat him by about 7 seconds.
I don't think I have ever run such a muddy, boggy race, and it was certainly the most competitive hill race I have run in Scotland. Good day for the orienteers with Murray 3rd, Spongey 5th and Doug top 10. Unusually I was very happy that there was a road section, as I am pretty sure Finlay would have beaten me otherwise!