Always a huge favourite in the race calendar, the Milngavie Trail Race took place on Sunday 2nd June. A busy recent race schedule saw the Harriers contingent reduced to only myself, Craig and Claire (plus honorary Harriers Finn and Claire’s sister Megan!), the promise of post-race beer and cakes enticing us along!
This is a roughly 8.5 mile race, taking in Mugdock Park and the West Highland Way trail with some seriously tough climbs and tricky descents. Most of the elevation comes in the first couple of miles, so I opted to take it easy until we reached the summit through Mugdock. Craig had a slightly different approach than me, going off with the lead pack and hoping that his skills on the hills would give him the advantage over the road race whippets! My tactic of slogging it up the hard bits and relying on picking up strongly seemed to work and I was able to pass plenty of runners on the sections the course levelled out. The hot temperatures of the last few days meant the course was mostly dry with only a couple of muddy sections.
Once out and heading towards Craigallien Reservoir, I settled into a nice pace and was really enjoying my run. My average pace was quicker than the last time I ran the race (2022) so I knew, with the ‘hard bit’ over and barring disaster, I was on for an improved time. Rejoining the West Highland Way path, there are a few challenging technical sections to overcome and I came closed to tumbling a few times, but managed to get back onto the path for Milngavie, pick off another few runners going into the park, and finish in just over the hour. Craig was waiting for me after a storming run, narrowly missing out on the top 10 but scooping first MV50! Claire was not far behind us with a big sprint finish and a smile on her face. A great race and topped off with the legendary cake buffet in the Scout hall after which we all enjoyed. Huge thanks to the local Scout group for putting the event on and their enthusiastic marshalling. We will be back!
245 finishers
11th – Craig Perrie – 00:58:22 (1st V50)
19th – Scott Coulter – 01:00:39
125th – Claire Glancy – 01:16:39
