Last week Margaret took the low road to Loch Lomond, well this week Fletcher and I took the high road, we were at the loch before Margaret, but that is because we drove to Rowardennan for the start of the race at 1pm. I will thank Fletcher for the lift at this point, and the advice about the Ben Nevis Race in the car.
As the race is AM, fully body cover is required to carried or worn, it was quite hot at the start so I opted for shorts and vest carrying the required kit in my bum bag, Fletcher opted for shorts and Tee shirt.
The race starts at the hotel car park and very briefly goes along the road to the main car park then off up the tourist path to the hill. The route mostly follows the path through some woods and over some rocky sections, then there is a climb to the fence, at this point you are off the path on the heather. Once on the shoulder of the hill the climb is not that steep and you can run this. I managed to make up a good bit of time on this section. The summit cone was in the clouds and again you are off the path to climb up to summit ridge. The top ridge is a bit tricky, as it is rocky, slippy, there are hill walkers and the runners at the front are now flying down towards you out of the mist. I made it to the top in 59 minutes, Fletcher reckoned 57 minutes would give me sub 1:30 for the race, so I had some work to do.
I threw caution to the wind and belted back down, having a good tussle with Dan Watson and Keith Blackhall all the way down, I was leading out of the 3,as we got to the rocky section just before the bridge over the burn, where I lost my footing and had a fall. Unlike other recent races the landing was not soft, solid granite slab, and I made a bit of a mess of my shoulder and knee, broke my glasses as well. Hence I followed Keith back to the finish. I only just managed to get back before the lighting, thunder and heavy rain started, which Fletcher had to contend with.
Once back at the hotel, Loch Lomond Mountain rescue cleaned up my shoulder, thanks to them for supporting the race.
The race was won by Paul Faulkner, Carnethy in a time of 1:13:43. First female was Sarah McCormack, Moorfoot, in 1:23:39.
I finished 44th in 1:32:03 and Fletcher was 121st in 2:12:14.
Final thank you to Don Reid, Westerlands and all the marshals for organising the race, I really enjoyed it.
