Glen Affric Duathlon 2015

Fi said: “This was the first running of the race in 6 years, more or less the original course. Very simple registration, amidst beautiful scenery & none of the weather forecast for the weekend. The 7.5 mile hill run complete with river crossing was a toughie with the mountain rescue assisting with the fast flowing river crossing. There were lots of walk breaks before the river crossing & substantially less after, as it was more runnable & downhill. the girl I was running with missed her footing at one point & completed a full forward roll due to her gymnastic training as a child. incredibly well executed…

Then onto the bike for 5 miles of tarmac & much more forest trails which were meant to undulate but just seemed to go up,up,up… the downs were downright scary with loads of gravel spread about the place so I was slightly cautious on these. At my end of the race I was quite surprised just how many people were walking their bike uphill. I thought that might be harder to walk as it was quite steep so I engaged granny gear & just kept grinding away at it. I passed loads of people who seemed impressed that it was possible to cycle, [benefits of living in Leith & cycling uphill daily!!], eventually the ups headed down & we popped back out on to the lovely smooth & primarily downhill end of section, then back out to complete a lovely & really undulating this time 2.5 mile run. As I headed out I realised that I had covered 42k [marathon distance] in Phil’s previous London time of 3:33, but considering I had done most of my distance on the bike I put that thought to one side & concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other. This bit was lovely & along the shoreline before a ‘sprint finish’ where I dibbed for the final time & was handed my time sheet. The prize giving was called a wee while after & I finished my can of coke & wandered over. Pretty soon they announced female senior vet 2nd place & when I saw who was getting that prize, I thought I could be in with a chance & true enough, my name was called for 1st senior f vet. so, the moral of the story is keep on keeping on & enter races where everyone else is younger than you & eventually you’ll get a prize. An excellent race put on by a brilliant team. try it for fun next year!”