This Whangie Whizz race organised by the Westerlands cross country athletic club took place on the 30th of April and was graced with glorious sunshine for the travelling proud Mary’s!
Prior to the Whangie race over the weekend members of the club had been racing over the weekend. Derek and Sam at London Marathon, Cat at Blackpool Marathon and Masha at the Devil of the Highlands ultra! Also congratulations to Linsey and Gwen who completed the Kilt walk! Huge congrats to all of them on their fantastic achievements!
Claire had discussed the Whangie Whizz at a recent Harriers training session and I signed up only to realise I’d already entered in one of my sing up nights of running fervour! Dillon who has been a fantastic new addition to Maryhill Harriers had decided he wanted a taste of the ‘big’ time and joined too!
‘The Whangers’ as we were called by our Maryhill Harriers team mate Chris were encouraged by previous team members experiences at the Whangie race and were ready for the adventure!
The Whangie name I learned is thought to have come from the old Scot’s for a slice: a ‘whang’, as in a whang a’ cheese. And so it became the whang between the rocks; The Whangie, but this was to be no picnic!
Highlights began on the road trip as the three amigos listened to some high intensity music therapy geeing is up through leafy suburbs and on to The Whangie in the Kilpatrick hills!
Arriving at the Eden Mill car park we found no toilets available, but that was not a problem in the woods! A caterpillar wished us well on our journey towards the start, we truly were in the big country now!
There was a positive and friendly atmosphere from start to finish. After registration we decided to have the mandatory group photo pestering another runner to take this while he was trying to put his bib on but he kindly obliged.
The scene was relaxed before the race and a few runners soaked up the rays as the temperature had reached taps off levels! I thought we might be in Spain for second but seeing all the Tunnocks caramel logs in a bucket before the race I remembered this is home! After a quick warm up and a briefing from the friendly race director, we were off!!
Lots of rocky terrain made me quickly realise wearing Adidas pro 3s was a poor choice but no going back now, buy the ticket take the ride! Expecting to reach the Whangie car park as I hadn’t fully looked at the race map I was a bit taken aback when everyone hung a right running across grass and into into the unknown! Unknown is what it is, accept that and it’s all plain sailing I thought as John Lennon had once said!
Trying to keep pace behind another runner through the grass the sun was shining down and the morale among the runners was high! Then the climb! Single file now as we were pushing on to the trig! At times we were walking and then running again. I thought of those immortal words sung by Miley Cyrus, ‘ain’t about how fast I get there, ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side, it’s the climb!’
Another runner seemed to know where he was going so staying close by and taking some walking breaks where necessary we reached the top! With a total of 300 meters elevation and brilliant sunny views across the bonnie banks to the left of the trig point! I thought great all downhill from here, but no after going down we went back up again!
This time through the Whangie rocks which reach up to ten metres, it felt like we had been transported to another dimension! Onwards to the top once again with great support from the Marshalls and back to the trig point. By now the sunglasses had came off wanting to take it all in!
The mud was up to the ankles at times but thankfully generally not swamp material until the end. The runner I’d been tracking slowed with around a km left thinking I’d overtake him on the downhill and inviting me to do so but I decided not to be fool hardy and rightly so as when I didn’t he then raced downhill faster than a billy goat!
I had been told the race was 5.8km but when my watch reached 6km I began to wonder if I had misunderstood and there was to be another ascent buy thankfully not as my oxygen was running low. The last part of the race was downhill into swampy dangerous terrain. Braveheart country!
A few other runners who had finished congregated to watch and cheer the runners on down the fun mud slide! A final 200m push to the finish and crossing the line on a beautiful sunny night was fantastic, with all the other runners cheering on. Bananas, water and that caramel log awaited. After finishing I went to the mud slide to cheer the runners on. Dillon was close behind me and looked in great shape crossing the finish. Closely followed by Claire who was flying down the hill and on to the finish!
This was the first hill race for the three amigos and we all thoroughly enjoyed the experience. We all agreed it had been a fantastic run and would be back again next year! Westies put on a great race and the tropical weather had made it a very good start to our hill running adventures!
Back to the car the tunes were more mellow as we had our runners high and discussion swiftly turned to what would be had for dinner! But there was to be no whang a’ cheese, instead Dillon and I opted for a takeaway and Claire told us she fittingly had an ice cream.
A great run, great fun and Maryhill Harriers will be back!
Thanks to all at Westies for organising and marshalling this fantastic adventure race!
