Devilla — what a brilliant name for a forest! The Cruella bit came later.
Margaret P. and myself made our way on Sun to Tulliallan Police Academy- ok, sorry, Police College– which is just across the Kincardine Bridge.
The Devilla Forest 15 is a 15km trail race which takes place every February. It starts and finishes within the grounds of the Scottish Police College at Tulliallan, Kincardine and follows a relatively flat circular loop of Devilla Forest, taking in a mix of fire-roads, paths and single track. The route skirts 3 lochs and goes through a variety of sheltered woodland. Ground conditions vary from boggy to hard packed” is the concise yet accurate Carnegie Harriers race description. “Every Feb” a clear statement of intent for a first event.
Conditions were great for running for Feb- cool, breezy, but dry, & largely sheltered trail. After a delayed start, the 354 finishers set off (400 entrants) with a 5k event to follow 5 minutes later. Much recent forestry work meant many branches & loose stones on the trail, many early stumbles before the pack thinned. I had fond memories of getting lost while running in this forest many years ago while staying there on a course, so was keen to re-visit; Margaret just likes a tough challenge.
After early running chat, Margaret danced on ahead while I coughed & spluttered on the first serious uphill (“relatively flat” my archie! relative to what–Ben Nevis?) Brilliantly marked & marshalled trail, fluorescent pink sprayed direction ground arrows, & highlighted hazards; eg a narrow downhill stretch where a cluster of sharply sawn-off sapling shoots stuck through the mud & were spray-highlighted– to have tripped on one would have been like falling hard on a bed of jaggy nails.
Just after this point, a couple of parked motorbikers offered a lift– “yes please” wasn’t taken up–then they proceeded to try & drive through the running field!
Winner was Steven Lawley, unatt., in 54.56, closely followed by Graeme Campbell of Carnegie in 54.59. Jillian Gordon of Kinross was first lady, in 1h 01m 05.
Margaret enjoyed a good solid run to finish in 1h 26m 37s, in 273rd overall position, while I finished in 1h 33m 22s, in 321st (Ted Rogers position– oh forget it, you’re all too young to understand.) Happy with yet another comeback event.
Now for the Cruella bit; Everything had gone so well till I managed to lock us out of my car- won’t bore with the details, but I reckon a freak occurence. Thank you Margaret for your moral support & above all your patience! while we waited for Green flag garage to open it up– after me naively thinking that a police college would be good at break-ins!
An event to be well recommended, if you like trail running– an accessible distance, interesting varied terrain, & traffic-free!
I’ll be back (definitely maybe.)
