Carnethy 5 Hill Race

Jo Needham joined the record field of 523 to complete the 2012 Carnethy 5 hill race, the following is her account of the event....  

 

As the gun went off at the start of the race it resembled something out of Braveheart, a stampede of runners dressed in a variety of attire ranging from kilts, the shortest of shorts to full body cover. It was quite a spectacle to see the crowd quickly disperse up Scald Law looking from afar like coloured ants. The start of the race took you through a bog which immediately covered you in mud up to your calves, then you had to twist and turn through single track paths until the first ascent up Scald Law. I thought I had mastered the first hill, only to discover that it was only a "warm-up" for the first out of 5 hills which were to be climbed throughout the race. Once over Scald Law and South Black Hill, the next two summits, East Kip and West Kip seemed like little mounds.

 

The terrain was very mixed, one moment you were running through pockets of thick mud, then you were running through icy moss covered grass which was extremely slippery. My tactics before the race were to treat it like my previous outing on Tinto, power walk up the hill and run on the flat and the downhill sections. However, this did not work since as the ground was completely churned up and muddy it was difficult to stay upright! After the downhill section at the Howe, the real work began, the ascent of Carnethy. This seemed vertical and with a false summit in sight, very difficult to keep going. I reached the summit, circled around the cairn and began the final descent. This I was really looking forward to, however, it was not how I imagined! You had to "run" through thick heather, with no real path to follow. I had the song lyrics, "And the wild mountain thyme, Grows around the blooming heather, Will ye go, Lassie go?" in my head as I was bounding down the hill. I approached the bottom with the finish line in sight, one more dip in the bog until I reached the finish line with a huge smile on my face.

 

Yes, it was tough and yes, I would do it all over again. Who's with me for 2013?

 

Joanne Needham