Scottish Long Classic Series 2022 report by Diana Challands

Here's Diana's report of her excellent second place (1st FV) in the very challenging 'Long Classics' hill series! Fab stuff

The Scottish Long Classic Series – for anyone considering these for next year! 

I didn’t even know the Scottish Long Classic Series existed as a ‘thing’ until Colin pointed it out to me after I had completed my third in August and was surprised to see my name quite high up. I’ve done a few of them in the past but never more than a couple a year so this year as I’d trained quite hard for the Ochils 2000s I thought I might as well do a fourth to be in with a chance (4 is the minimum) and then ended up doing 5, running one of my favourites, the Pentland skyline, last week.

I just thought I’d write a bit about them to encourage anyone who is considering running one or some of them. And now in retrospect and its over for the year, I can tell you they’re all great!

So the races in question are:

Stuc a’Chroin                     April       22km     1500m climb

Jura                                      May       28km     2370m climb

Trotternish Ridge             June       28km     2000m climb

Ben Rinnes                         July        22km     1500m climb

Ochils 2000s                      Aug        32.7km  1650m climb

Two Breweries                  Sept       29km     1500m climb

Pentland Skyline               Oct         26km     1890m climb

I did Stuc, Jura, Ochils, Two Brews and Pentland skyline. I’m clearly quite masochistic and love the really steep technical ones and am less happy when I actually have to run - so I loved Jura – first time I’d ever done it – and was probably most pleased with that race in terms of how I did. I went with no preconceptions and generally prefer when running not to look at my watch at all but just go for it and hope for the best. Not to say I’m not competitive, I’m definitely driven by overtaking / being overtaken and love a sprint finish!

I think if you’re into hillwalking, scrambling, climbing then any of these races are doable but if you’re coming from a running background then probably best not start with Jura! 

Jura (Image taken by Douglas – Full course trails)

In terms of navigation the Pentland skyline is probably the most straight forward and somehow doesn’t feel as brutal as the Two Brews. Though the Two Brews has some longish trail and road sections so some people really make up time on those bits (not me!) plus Colin and Alan and many others are the perfect recce guides making it a good local one to start with if you’re unsure about navigating.

 

Always plenty of friendly faces on the Two Breweries

If the weather is good, the ridge up to Stuc is amazing, though very rocky (Alan had a nasty fall this year). As it’s the shortest of the races and an out and back it doesn’t feel too epic in terms of length of time out on the hills – but it’s certainly steep!

I’d never done the Ochils before and it’s a great journey route where you really get the sense of travelling through the hills (from one end to the other quite literally), though the finish is definitely worth recceing (which I hadn’t, as the woods at the end are not marked and very confusing!)

Ochils

One thing they all have in common is bog. Fortunately not everywhere but it is pretty unavoidable in sections of all the races. Though snow is also possible on Stuc! (this photo wasn’t taken this year but I did do it a few years ago in the snow). 

(BBC image)

But the other thing they all have in common is the fantastic atmosphere and amazing baking / soup / snacks at the end (Two Brews again features highly here!)

I love the fact that these races really attract all ages and that the young’uns are by no means always the fastest. It’s the long game here – experience and stamina are really key and I’ve been beaten by enough V50s to know!

And of course there are some very inspiring athletes there (though you tend not to see them during the race but you really appreciate how amazing their times are at the end!).

In terms of training I’ve had bad leg cramps on long hill races before and definitely think building up longer training runs this year helped with that. Also just time out in the hills if you can fit it in. And finally though I didn’t make many of the Moorfoot sessions myself, getting to Gillian and Colins’ hill rep sessions is definitely going to help!

If anyone wants to know more about any of these races please do give me a shout and maybe see you out there next year

 Pentland skyline