Injuries and other reasons meant a reduced contingent headed through to Palacerigg country park for the harrers 2026 trail race championship.
Kenny, Ben and I contested the open championship and Margaret, Yulia and Linda fought it out for the ladies championship.
A handy mini bus took us from Greenfaulds train station up to the park.
Numbers collected and a short warm up before we lined up. We then took off to the sound of bagpipes.
The first half of the 10kish course was gravelly path and very runnable. The race is advertised as undulating, but was reasonably flat for the first 4km.
Just before the half way mark there is a steep downhill followed by a sharp left turn. An uphill section follows soon after. This was tougher than it should have been due to recent injury and lack of running. It was mainly my arms that were fatigued so I decided to stop and have a drink at the water station. This helped and I set off on the second half. The second half was a bit muddier, but not too bad. The road shoes held up.
Around 9km the path becomes grassy and uneven. As usual I managed to roll my left ankle. Just a slight twist this time, but made the last km a bit tougher. Once off the grass there is a gravel path section for a few hundred metres and the welcome sound of the pipes.
I managed to finish in 44:29 to take the trail race title and a surprise m50 1st place.
Ben who had been a bit under the weather came in soon after in 48:53.
Kenny was next in 54:53.
Linda took the ladies title in 58:35 and heads to Loch Lomond with hopes of a merit league title.
Yulia 1:02:01 and Margaret 1:05:50 completed the harriers finishers.
An interesting race and will likely be back next year.
