Cairn William Hill Race 16/09/06
We've been intending to do this race for years as it starts about half a mile down the road from where my mum lives in Monymusk in Aberdeenshire, and whenever we visit my mum we go for a run up Pitfichie and Cairn William.
The race started at - what Peter considers - the civilised time of 3pm. A small collection ( 51 in the senior race ) of friendly runners gathered outside Monymusk Village Hall and with a minimum of preamble we were off.
The first mile is on road and I set off at a ridiculous 6min40s/mile pace. After 2 minutes or so I settled back into something more sustainable. The next mile and a half was up on track, then through woods, then up onto heathery hillside to the top of Pitfichie - the lesser of the two peaks. There was a drop down through long heather and then a mountain bike track with frequent switchbacks to the top of Cairn
William at about 4 miles. It was downhill all the way from there but by no means easy. The first section was through deep heather reminiscent of the descent from Carnethy in the Carnethy 5. Russian roulette for ankles. The next section was through mossy woodland with logs to jump and trees to swerve round. Then back onto forestry commission track until it rejoins the road for the last mile.
I kept up a constant pressure on myself, trying to ensure a lady in a purple shirt who had been hot on my heels stayed behind me. In retrospect I think this must have been Elaine Stewart of Cosmic Hillbashers, but still not sure.
At the beginning I had cursed my luck as I'm only a month and a half off vet status (hill runners make it harder!), but I realised soon afterwards that being a vet would have been no advantage and although I was 5th lady I was 1st senior lady as I was roundly beaten by two FVs and two Female Supervets. Vets predominated in the male category also so that Peter was 15th male and 9th male vet.
I got a jar of honey made by Pitfichie bees for my efforts. (I'm very proud of it - the sweet taste of success - ho ho.)
Peter and I both agreed we found the course hard but also highly entertaining and fun. This has been my most fun off-road race to date.
Two junior races were also run concurrent with the senior race and it was impressive to see some very good juniors sweep past on their way up Pitfichie. There were more prize winners with the surname Armitage than mere chance could account for and I suspect there are a new superbreed of hill runners from Monymusk being raised exclusively on honey from Pitfichie bees. I hope it works for me ...Report Mary Hunter
Photos and digital manipulation Margaret Hunter, (+ Peter Buchanan)Full results and report from organiser here
