June 21, 2010 - Bellahouston Road Runners

The Seven Hills of Edinburgh took place yesterday, described as: “a few hundred hardy individuals taking part in one of the most unusual running events in the country, The Seven Hills of Edinburgh — a combination of road-running, cross-country, hill-running, and urban orienteering… 14 miles in length and with 2200 feet of ascent/descent.” Brendan Moriarty and Jane Simpson took part, and sent in this cracking report: Yesterdays big race was not the Mens Health 10K but actually the “7 Hills of Edinburgh”. The race starts at Calton Hill and takes in Castle Hill, Costorphine Hill, Craiglockhart Hill, Blackford Hill, Braid Hill and Arthurs seat before returning to Calton hill to finish. There is no set course which means that you constantly see people running in all directions. Its a mental start, ploughing through throngs of tourists that were sightseeing early on the Sunday morning before taking to the streets for the first few miles as you make your way up to the castle swarming all over the royal mile like a plague. You clip your number at the bottom of the castle esplanade with the orienteering clip and and then from there it gets a bit more sane… well all apart from scrambling up near vertical hills, sliding down near vertical hills, jumping walls, jumping hedges on round abouts, scaling walls, wading through burns, jumping walls/ fences, ploughing through nettles and gorse, dodging traffic, getting covered in mud and ( if you are Jane Simpson) doing an impromptu forward roll down a hill in to the gorse and nearly whacking a fellow runner as you pretend to be a plane on a downhill“triple salco and somersault combination”. In total you do about 14 miles and about 2,200 ft of climbing. There is plenty of water juice and food stops along the way, which were great on such a hot day.. At the finish there is a feed to rival even the Bella 5K. A cracking race that is thoroughly recommended, not just for the cake.. Results below: Jane was 4th Lady home. 65 Brendan Moriarty 02:11:01 Bellahouston RR 66 Jane Simpson 02:11:03 F Bellahouston RR Well done both of you. Excellent performance, and great report!

Racing