Today was my first fell race, although I've raced on mountains before during triathlons (big ones like Helvellyn and Ben Nevis). The
Carnethy 5 is the largest mass participation hill race in Scotland, with over 500 entries. It sold out in 24 hours this year.
I drove down with Mike and Will from
the club in plenty of time, milled around the school in Penicuik where the event HQ was and talked with a few people I knew. The start is about 2-3 miles away and there are buses to take the runners there from the school. We decided to run up there as a warmup but it took us a bit longer than we expected.
The Pentlands have been covered in snow all week but there's been a thaw the last couple of days, so the snow had gone from a lot of the hills and the snow that was left was soft and a bit slushy. Running on it wasn't too difficult though, particularly with my
nice new runners.
There's a mad dash at the start but I didn't play along and let a stream of runners past - I've not got the speed to keep up. The first climb up Scald Law is a bit slow because of the number of competitors jostling for position. It does help you from going too hard though.
I felt quite strong going up the hills but running down was pretty tricky since I don't trust my dodgy right ankle. Still, I quite enjoyed it, despite being more out of breath going down than up, which doesn't seem right. I even resorted to sledging on my backside on occasion rather than trying to keep upright, which was fun.
The last climb up Carnethy was the longest of the race. The closing section to the summit was hidden from view for most of the ascent but it was fun going up because of a bunch of supporters cheering for their mate. I loved the guy who shouted to his friend "screw the nut, Kenny". I'm using that one again.
The final descent was very hard - my quads didn't seem to want to support my weight but it wasn't too long before I hit the run in through the bog to the finish.
Finishing time was a touch over 73 minutes, probably about halfway down the field. Can't complain with that.
Update: 191st out of 500, 73:16.
