Ship Inn Shell Bay Sandy Slither 7/7/06
For those of you who recently ran the Black Rock '5' the name of this race may ring a bell. The entry form for this event was left beside your belongings in the changing areas. I didn't realise at the time that the finish line for this race was 2 miles from the Kilconquhar Castle Estate where I was staying for a weeks holiday with my wife and baby girl. Once I realised this I decided to pack my Porty vest in my case.
The race was on the Friday night with a 7.30pm start. We had been at the Ship Inn, where the race finished, for lunch on the Friday afternoon. We were sitting in the beer garden as it was a lovely day. However come 7pm when I arrived at Lower Largo, where the race started, the rain started to fall; only a light drizzle at this point though.
There was a map of the route stuck up on the wall of the toilets at the car park where the race started from. It showed that 2 out of the first 2.5 miles was on the beach, followed by running through a burn, then through the Shell Bay Caravan Park, a number of small climbs to the top of the 'cliffs' then the last mile along the beach at Elie to the finish line at the Ship Inn.
A number of runners were standing about talking about the route and pointing into the distance saying just head for the gap in the trees, this is where you cross the burn and come off the beach. Well I did not have my contacts in and am as blind as a bat without my glasses so didn't have a clue where I was heading. Then I remembered something my wife had said to me earlier in the week when we were talking about the race and I was saying how I didn't know the route. Her response was 'You don't need to worry about getting lost, it's not as if you'll be at the front'.
We lined up for the start and after a few words from the starter off we went, well sort of. His start of 'Get Ready - Slither' resulted in looks of confusion from most of the runners before realising that was his way of saying go. Off we went along about a half mile of road to a closed gate where we all had to go to the side and through in single file. At this point I was still with the front group of about 15 runners, much to my surprise. This was short lived as we headed down the 100 yards or so onto the beach and the field started to stretch out in front of me. I settled with a group of about 4 runners as we headed over the soft sand down to the waters edge for the harder sand. I had the feeling the guys in this group had all done the race before as they all started taking different routes across the beach. Either staying by the waters edge, even if this meant running over the rocks or avoiding the rocks keeping to a higher line on not so compact sand. I found myself joining one group and then the other as each others routes would meet at different points.
Up over the soft sand, through the burn and through the infamous gap in the trees, off the beach at last. The group of 4 had become a 3 as one of the guys started to pull away. We headed along the side of the caravan site with a few bewildered holiday makers wondering what was going on. There was a painted 3 miles on the road, just under half way.
As we got to the far end of the site there were a handful of spectators giving encouragement, my wife and dad being 2 of them. The parents had come up for the last couple of days of the holiday. This gave me a bit of a lift and as we headed up the first climb, I headed to the front of our group of 3. This didn't last though as I didn't realise there was about another 4 climbs to come and both runners overtook me on about the 3rd climb. Graham I need to work on those hills. I looked behind and there was quite a big gap back to the next runner. I took heart from this and just tried to hang onto the guys in front.
As we headed back down off the 'cliff' it was quite steep in parts and dangerous as there were stone steps which were quite slippy as the rain had started to fall a lot heavier. All of a sudden, to my surprise, I heard someone thundering down the path behind me. I was wondering where this guy had come from as he flew past me running down the side of the steps on the grass. Good idea I thought and proceeded to follow him.
As we got to the bottom of the 'cliff' I had fallen about 20 metres behind the lead of our now group of 4 again. I was determined not to fall further behind and knew that I could catch the guy who had just stormed passed me coming down the steps. As we headed along the side of the golf course I managed not to let the gap grow but the others in the group had caught up with the leader 20 metres in front. It was then onto the beach at Elie for the last mile to the Ship Inn. I started to pick up the pace as I could hear someone behind me and was determined not to let anyone else pass. In fact I was determined to catch these guys in front as I felt quite comfortable. A half mile from home I went past 2 of the group and thought I could catch the other from our initial group and another runner who had obviously began to struggle and fell back into our group. However as I got to within 4-5 metres we hit soft sand about 50 yards from the finish and just couldn't make up those few metres.
A thoroughly enjoyable race which I plan on making a return to next year. How I don't know as it is not the easiest place to get to, but I will find a way. I had planned to stay for the presentation but the weather had continued to get worse and it was to take place in the beer garden where I had earlier that day enjoyed lunch in better weather. My wife and dad thought I came in around 15th but weren't sure as by the time they had got there from the caravan site the winner had already finished. An HBTer, I heard someone say had won the BR5 a couple of weeks earlier. As for my time I don't know as I forgot to stop my watch at the end. I will need to wait on the results being released.
Report by Scott Hutchison
Photos by Cheryl HutchisonResults here. Scott was a very respectable 17th in 42.14 for the 6.1 mile course. The race was dominated (and organised) by Fife AC with 12 in the top 16. HBTer Ray Ward won in 35.43.
