Chris Brotherston has just sent in his race report from the 2011 Ben Nevis Hill Race: It seemed like a big ask with all that ascent using only two blistered feet, the rain plummeting from the heavens and the gallus mountain clothed in dank mist. This was it……the Ben Nevis Hill race, the thing you hear about as a kid and think to yourself “wow, these guys must be superhuman”. And then as you stand at the start line you see the super human athletes such as Finlay Wild (no relation to the humble Oscar or his long suffering wife) and Angela Mudge (whose dog is even faster than you) or Stuart Mathieson (just being pseudo sycophantic there Stuart). But they are in the minority the rest of us are human; some carrying injuries while others carry hangovers and overhanging bellies. But, that’s hill racing with its motley assortment of craggies on the crags, sloppers on the slopes…..and the illiterate alliteraters…. Anyway, back to the hill race……….and in a hill race everything is about feet….how many feet of ascent and descent…how are your feet…..what are you wearing on your feet……did you keep your feet (no I gave mine away to a passing tourist who got in the way on the bloody zig zags!)…wow what a feat (!). Anyway back to the hill race….it starts as most race do and then finishes. In between there are a hell of a lot of feet (4370 feet of ascent, 1000 runners feet and 500 incredible feats). To some it is running up and down in an incredible 1 ½ hours, to others it is completing it in just under four hours, while all those in between have their own personal goals. An experience it was; an achievement it was; an emotional experience it certainly was; a joyous pleasure…..well I think I will leave that feat to the imagination……. Wouldn’t change it for the world though…. More details, results and… FEATures (boom *tisch*) about this famous hill race at http://www.bennevisrace.co.uk/
hill running
After last year’s gale force winds, the weather gods were slightly kinder to the 95 runners at the Bella Ben Venue Hill Race today, with a torrential downpour on the start line and only 30mph winds on the ridge to contend with.But the weather did not stop some fast racing, with the lead changing hands many times between the top group before Matt Sullivan (Shettleston) & Peter Devenport (Bellahouston) used local knowledge for a good line on the final downhill on the open hillside from the ridge into Gleann Riabhach, and managed to pull away from the others. Matt held off Peter to win in a time of 1 hour 10 mins for the 8 mile course, but if Peter had not been forced to stop and tie a shoe lace in the run-in, the finish could have been even tighter. Finishing close behind this pair were the Shettleston duo, Tom Owens and Jethro Lennox.In the ladies competition, Jacqui Higginbottom (Carnethy) used her speed (& long legs) on the steep trail section to overcome Shona Robertson of Westies, while Ellie Homewood, also of Westies finished in third.In a tightly fought male vet race, the eventual winner was Bruce Smith (Carnethy) from Will Manners (Strathearn) and Alan Gilkison (Westerlands). In the ladies vet competition Fabienne Thompson of Carnegie held off the Carnethy pair, Joanne Anderson & Joan Wilson.The teams prizes were split to the east & west of the country, with Shettleston winning the men’s (Matt Sullivan, Tom Owens, Jethro Lennox) and Carnethy winning the ladies (Jacqui Higginbottom, Fiona McKinnon & Joanne Anderson).Being a new race, not everyone took the optimum route today, and I’m sure everyone knows of places where they can shave off a few seconds in the big race next year, but spare a thought for the runner who took a very non-optimum route, and ended up at Kinlochard, resulting in a 12 mile taxi ride back to the finish!Ben Venue is one of the SHR championship races in 2011, so with this being the first race over the full course, we are keen to learn from your experience, so please send any comments or suggestions for improvement to benvenue@bellahoustonroadrunners.co.ukThe race doubles as a fundraiser for the Lomond Mountain Rescue Team, so many thanks to all the runners, marshalls & helpers who helped raise £500 for team funds.Hope to see you all next year! Results available as either a PDF (link) or Excel (link)
Chris Brotherston sent in this report of the recent Lowe Alpine Mountain Marathon (12/13 June): For those of you who don’t know about the LAMM, it is a 2 day mountain marathon done in pairs with an overnight wild campsite. It is meant to be a challenge of hill fitness, orienteering and mountain self-sufficiency. This was my second time competing with my partner Robin Orr and it was my main motivation for joining Bella…….when I found out last year that I couldn’t run or navigate and was self-insufficient. One of the key elements is keeping your (carry) weight down and I knew I was in for a shock my first time round when Robin told me that I ‘shouldn’t’ bring boxer shorts as they were too heavy (!) and that I needed to drastically reduce my hill food (disaster for me!). This year I was better prepared with my underwear sorted, a post-it-note sized karrimat to sleep on, the foil removed from my painkillers and just enough food to continue to keep my B.M.I on the wrong side of normal. As usual with the LAMM the start location was kept a secret until two days beforehand to stop Bella type ‘reccies’…..and this year it was kindly close to Glasgow in Glen Fyne. We competed in the ‘C’ class which I had convinced myself stands for competent rather than c**p. We set off really early the first day covering the 25km/1700m of ascent in 5h 45min and were placed well enough at 19th from about 160. We would have done better but the heat took its toll on the umpteenth hill. Afterwards it was a surreal experience at mid-camp sitting with a crowd of glum England fans huddled round a car radio 1400 foot up a mountainside listening to England sadly draw with USA. Second day dawned with a sensory overload (the smell of latrines and the shrill piping of a lone bag piper). Thanks to my (partner’s) navigational skills we started well and picked up some places and were well placed until the final hill check point. I knew immediately we had a problem when Robin cursed past me muttering ’we’re on the wrong f*****g’ hill’ (Translated this actually meant – you need to improve on your navigation Chris because you had the task of marking the check points on the map and you couldn’t even get that simple navigational task right) Anyway we eventually finished 12th which was up from 30th last year – something which I can certainly attribute to the Bella sessions. Unfortunately I still need to work on my navigation, so if anyone sees me running round Bellahouston park in the middle of the night carrying a map and compass and wearing just a headtorch and my ‘sorted’ underwear, rest assured I am just trying to find the right f*****g’ hill’ If you fancy the LAMM, check out the website http://www.lamm.co.uk, I would recommend it!
Photos from the 2009 Ben Venue Hill Race are starting to appear. Check back for further pictures, or post a comment with links! Pictures in the forest of all runners from Alasdair McLeod: http://www.flickr.com/photos/43183046@N05/sets/72157622514811606/ Above the forest by Ian Nimmo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/scottishhillrunners/sets/72157622387565595/ And from the finish by Chris Upson: http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisupson/sets/72157622392072319/ The weather looks lovely!
Results for the Bellahouston Road Runners first ever hill race, the Ben Venue Challenge, are now available. Click here for the results (PDF). Please report any result corrections to Andy Birnie via benvenue@bellahoustonroadrunners.co.uk. Feel free to send any comments or suggestions via e-mail, or in the comment section below. Drop us a note too if you have any pictures from the event. The gusting 80mph wind forced a course change, but nothing could dampen the friendly atmosphere or the competitive racing for Bellahouston Road Runners’ inaugural Ben Venue race. The race had a bit of everything – fast forest paths, muddy bogs, open hillside & a quick taste of the gales at the cairn but more importantly there were lots of smiling faces and plenty of homebaking at the finish! Matt Williamson (Bellahouston Road Runners) was eventual winner of the 6 mile race (1800 feet of ascent) in a time of 51 mins 17secs, having led for most of the way. He held off newcomer Peter Devenport (Unattached) and Matthew Sullivan (Shettleston Harriers) during the fast descent through Gleann Riabhach. In the girl’s race, Fiona Maxwell (Shettleston Harriers) had a slightly greater winning margin, winning in 59 mins 22 secs from Ellie Homewood (Westerlands) and Lyndsey Munro (Bellahouston Road Runners). The boys from the east coast cleared up the vet prizes with Carnethy boys taking the vet40 prizes in order of Adrian Davis, Bruce Smith & Steve Fallon. Gordon Pryde (Lomond) collected the V50 prize while Keith Burns (Carnethy) was 1st in the competitive group of V60s. The ladies vet prizes were better spread around Scotland, with Jo Schreiber (Lochaber), Joanne Anderson (Carnethy) & Caroline Strain (Wee County Runners) collecting the V40 prizes and Helen MacPherson (Westerlands) taking the V50 prize. Both team prizes went to the home club with counting runners Matt Williamson, Mark Johnston & Marcos Sans Gomez for the guys and Lyndsey Munro, Pauline Wright & Katie Padgham for the girls. Many thanks to the 83 runners who ignored the weather forecast and turned up today, and helped raise over £400 for the Lomond Mountain Rescue Team. This was Bella’s first hill race, so we’d love to hear your suggestions for how to improve things for next year. And there will be a next year, since we want to run the full advertised course, because we are so confident you will just love it! Please email any comments to benvenue@bellahoustonroadrunners.co.uk