Monday 4 May 2009

Moorfoots at Stuc a' Chroin 5000

Pic - James in action..


Johnny Hall's report from the SHR Stuc a' Chroin 5000 (which was also the British Championships...)

James, Rachel, Russell and I (Johnny) travelled up on Saturday for the Stuc a' Chroin hill race, which was part of the Scottish and British Championships this year.
The weather was decent - sunny, windy and occasionally wet. This was my first long distance hill race, and after my recent illness, I wasn't sure how I'd go. Russell and James were keen to improve on their last attempt at this race, I just wanted to have a solid run.
The ground was a boggy and wet in places which made the going tough. I definitely pushed it too hard early in the race as I wanted to be placed further up the field by the time of the big, steep climb up Ben Each (heather clambering). I was running well until about an hour and a half in but I jarred my dodgy ankle once too many times and then my legs just went before the last climb to the turn point. I tried to dig in but I was passed by a lot of people - still I kept moving and managed to come in in 3:12.
James had a solid run in 2:33 for 51st place (a time that would have put him in the top 10 last year, showing the quality of the field) and Russell was 110th in a time of 2:51 (similar to last year when he was 27th!).
Rachel had a solid run around 5 minutes slower than last time (3:51), which was good considering the slow going in the boggy wet ground.

Provisional results here...

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