West District Championships

As it’s been a while since Scott Martin provided a long and detailed, some would say boring (not me), race report I thought I would try my hand at filling the void with my West Districts experience.

While many Kilmarnock Harriers were participating, very successfully, in the West District Athletic Championships at the AAA on Saturday 12 May, after dropping my daughter off at Tollcross for a swim meet I made the shortish journey to Rowardennan on the banks of a very sunny Loch Lomond for my maiden attempt at the Ben Lomond Hill Race, incorporating the West District Hill Championships.

The race is 12km in length with 970 metre of climb with some hill running websites ‘advertising’ the race as having a high casualty rate due to the descent down stony/rocky paths and the collision hazards created by the sheer number of walkers on the hill.

Being the only Harrier entered I was well on my way to my primary goal of being 1^st Harrier home, with finishing being the only requisite to attaining this honour. Though I wasn’t confident of achieving this outcome after listening to the descriptions of how horrific the descent was by members of North Ayrshire Athletics Club, Aerodynamics and Ayr Seaforth. If they were trying to put the fear of god into me they succeeded.

During a warm up on the lower slopes of the climb we were able to take in some of the Junior races. The juniors completed a lap course on the lower slopes taking in climb on the main tourist paths before descending down a less worn wet & muddy path. The race is part of the Scottish Junior Hill Running series with under 15s completing a 2.6km route with 160 metres of climbing & under 17s and under 20s completing a 4.3km route with 240 metres of climbing. The under 17s and under 20s race also doubled as the trial for the Scotland Team for the International Youth Cup in Lanzada, Italy on 16 June. With further opportunities to represent a UK Team at the uphill only European Championships in Macedonia in July, and the Up and Down World Championships in Andorra during September hill running is something our younger endurance runners and their coaches should consider??

Enough of a plug for hill running and onto the main race. Lining up on the start line among the 200 competitors was Commonwealth Games Marathon Bronze Medallist, Robbie Simpson. After checks for the mandatory kit you must carry were completed we were off. The first mile went well and I could still see Robbie at the head of the field, so either I was going well or I had gone off too quickly. However I soon realised it was the later as I soon lost sight of Robbie and lost a couple of places in what were now sweltering conditions. However the course then ventured off the tourist path and up a long steep grassy climb suiting me and allowing me to claw back the places I’d lost and more. The race then returned to the tourist path and provided a clear view of the remaining, imposing climb. Despite the hill being busy with hill walkers this proved beneficial as the support and encouragement we received was tremendous.

Just as the tourist path started to kick up towards the final climb we were sent off the path up an even steeper grassy climb to the summit and on cue race leader, Robbie Simpson, shot past in a blur on his descent. On the final climb I managed to pull away from those near me and gratefully accepted a drink of water from the marshal at the top as I was now overheating as the sun felt as if it was within touching distance of the top.

Onto the descent, the serious side of the race, where races are won or lost, men are men and I’m a bit of a fairy to honest! The descent followed the same course as the ascent so no need to worry about getting lost, and overall my descent went reasonably well for my first race of the season with just a few places conceded, though this may have been due to inhaling some of the artificial stimulant some people were smoking near the summit helping me float down the hill effortlessly! Though despite the effects of unwitting inhalation of artificial stimulant I was able to avoid colliding with any tourists and even managed to hurdle a dreaded extendable dog lead! Though it was only attached to a miniature Yorkie, so more of a step than a hurdle!

After finishing I was able to cool my sunburned limbs in Loch Lomond and return to earth before heading back to Tollcross to collect my daughter. Although, unlike many other Harriers on the same weekend, I didn’t medal in the West District Championships, not even in the more mature male category, however I was first Harrier and although the results aren’t confirmed I’m confident I was also first Ayrshire Athlete home and beat my target time of 90 minutes by nearly 3 minutes. After running the race for the first time, the descent wasn’t anywhere as horrific as my fellow Ayrshire athletes described pre-race and it’s a race that I would recommend other Harriers give a go.

 

Colin Glencorse