Tinto Hill race report, the final race of the hill championship.

This Saturday, 12 November, was the final race of the ADAC hill running championship for 2011 - the Tinto hill race. The event was fully subscribed even before a plug in the Scotsman Newspaper; a total of 269 runners made the start line. The run is relatively short at just 7km and 460m of climb; ideal for somebody who wants to try their first hill race. The weather on the morning of the event was heavy rain but by the time we assembled at the bottom of the hill before the start the sun was shining brightly.

It was here that I bumped into an old friend from ADAC, Dan Watson, who had made the trip down from Glen Coe with two other local Glen Coe runners. After a quick chat it was time to make our way to the start. I was a bit apprehensive as I had been out of running for 3 weeks due to injury so elected to start from the back of the pack and see how thing went. With the hooter sounding we made a start, it took a few seconds to cross the start line. Starting from the back, I ran at my own pace and was conscious of my injury niggling but it seemed much better that it had a week earlier; my trip to the Physio on the preceding Wednesday seemed to have been money well spent. On the climb I picked up paces as I went. It was rocky under foot with regular mud holes that required leaping over to keep the feet dry or just plugging though as best you could. As the race continued the injury was niggling but I was passing other runners and it wasn’t too bad, so I kept to that pace. About ¾ of the way up the hill the leaders of the race had met us on their descent; I had been expecting this for a while and was quite happy to be so far up the hill before they passed us on the way down.

At the top we rounded the big stone Cairn. It was here I passed another familiar face to us ADAC runners, Shirley Singh. Now for the descent. No problems with the injury now, coming downhill uses different muscles. I elected for a fast descent, 9/10th not a kamikaze out of control downhill, I didn’t want to take a fall and end up with more injuries. This was a steady comeback run for me. I am a better descender than climber, I think it is because to descend well you need to leave your brain at home and go for it without fear; it is easy for me to leave my brain at home. Subsequently I picked up a lot of places on the downhill. Towards the finish I caught up with another familiar face, Alan Spence from Lockerbie. As we approached the finish I said ‘do you want to run in together instead of battling it out to the finish?’ which we did, crossing the line together.

At the finish there were a number of grazed knees of runners that had taken a tumble; Dan was included in the runners that had suffered a fall. There was biscuits and water at the finish and I met Johnny Minto here after his race. Johnny had an excellent run and had smashed 6 minutes off last year’s time. Myself, Russ and Johnny found a small burn to wash off in and cool our legs off in as we walked back to the cars. At the cars Jean Robson suggested that we visit the café at the bottom of the hill for a well-earned cake and a cup of tea, so me and Russ went with Jean and John for a bit of recovery food, just to see the rain start again.

The event was won in convincing style by Prasad Prasad in 30:51 ahead by 2 minutes over the second place runner. First woman was Charlotte Morgan in 38:51. Best placed Local runner from Dumfries R.C. was Marcus Scotney in 35:08.
Of the ADAC runners, Rory Longmore ran an excellent 39:40 to be first ADAC runner home and second in the Vet’s over 50 class followed by me and Alan Spence in 43:35. Russ completed the run in 46:24, followed by John in 49:35 and Johnny Minto was not far behind in 50:19 with Jean coming home in 59:54.

A great event that I did enjoy.

ATB

Kev

Time for a well earned rest Kev.
Well done and a great read.

José

Well done to the ADAC contingent at the Tinto Hill race.
Good read Kev, put some of our hacks to shame!
Rest up now for a few weeks/months no need to participate in winter league fixtures.
Andrew K

andrew wrote:Well done to the ADAC contingent at the Tinto Hill race.
Good read Kev, put some of our hacks to shame!
Rest up now for a few weeks/months no need to participate in winter league fixtures.
Andrew K

Andy use the write up for the rag if you wish, looking at your great time for Moffat I recon you should try more off road running it could suit you. I am resting for a few days, legs are sore, just not used to running, amazing how quick your muscles forget.

Don't worry, too many other hobbies to give the winter league a good crack, although I will make all the one's I can, Go Snow cats Go, all we need now is some snow.

ATB

Kev