The 4th edition of this race held in honour of Duncan MacFarlane featured myself, Andrew Stevenson and Heather Stevenson from the harriers. Harrier Sam Allwood was also present on marshalling duties along with his famous cow bell.
This is a 7.5 km trail race that starts from Mugdock visitor centre. A short downhill start is followed by 2 clockwise loops around Mugdock Loch. Of course this meant an uphill finish after the 2 loops back to the visitor centre.
Conditions were good and an extra hour in bed due to the clocks going back also helped. I started off ok and found myself within a hundred yards of Andrew for the first lap of the loop. Andrew looked comfortable. Sam was stationed about a mile in and we could hear the sound of his cow bell well in advance. It was good to see a familiar face encouraging us along.
Near the end of the loop the course takes on a familiar appearance as it also forms part of the Milngavie Trail race. The section at the top of the hill that goes past the WWII anti-aircraft batteries where you also have great views of north Glasgow. Two piles of gravel at a gate gave the race a steeplechase section.
As I approached the hill at the start of the second lap the gap between me and Andrew had reduce by half. Shortly after the hill I overtook Andrew and we both headed towards Sam again. Sam gave the cow bell a rest briefly to catch a great picture of Heather in full flow. We moved on to the gravel hurdles were Andrew was booed by a marshall for running round them instead of jumping. With 2 laps complete we then headed uphill towards the welcome sight of finish line.
I finished in 14th place in a time of 34:54. Andrew finished just behind in 17th place in 35:45. Heather finished in 33rd place in 38:04. The race was won by Andrew Anderson of Cambuslang Harriers in 28:40. First female was Edel Mooney of Ochil Hill Runners in 32:03.
This was my second race organised by Acorn Trails in as many months after the Sandhead 10 miler. Like Sandhead this was a very good course and very well organised. I will be back next year.