BEATING WILLIE
Gordon Cameron
 
I saw on the website that the Hunters Bog Trot was on Saturday,
21 April, so as I had not done it before, I thought I would give it a go. I had
no idea how long it was or what was involved but I suspected I would end up running
over Arthur’s Seat at one point. Since FMD, I had been doing a fair bit
of running around Holyrood Park with Dice so I was quite familiar with the terrain.
The weather was fine as I got to the Dunsappie Loch start with only 10 minutes
to spare to find a number of fellow Carnethy members all ready to run. Willie
was just back from two weeks over- indulgence ski-ing in Val Thorens so I realised
I might give him a run for his money. From the loch, we headed up past the Hunter’s
Bog and then up to the highest point of Salisbury Crags, around the rim, back
down to the start (which I thought might have been the end!) then along to the
Radical Road, down towards the Bog again and back up the steep slope to the Crags’ top,
and on to the finish at the loch. On the first climb up to the Crags, JBF noisily
overtook me and, despite trying to catch him, he pulled away and was uncatchable.
I saw Willie behind me but knew from the Carnethy 5 that he would finish strongly
and he was right on my tail as we wound up the Radical Road - one of his lunchtime
training haunts. On the second ascent up the steep slopes to the rim of the Crags,
I could sense Willie’s determination to pass me but it was Keith Burns
who slipped by and, although I managed to leapfrog him a couple of times, he
eventually pulled ahead on the downhill. In a Carnethy five reversal, I was unable
to catch him. Non-running club members were out supporting and gave me the impetus
to keep going and I gradually pulled away from Willie to finish 42nd in 33.55
about some 50 seconds ahead of him. He can blame it on over-indulgence or lack
of fitness or maybe he is just going downhill!
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