Morrone Hill Race, Saturday 3 Sep 11

Flt Lt Carl Thompson and Cpl Dan Lewis both from RAF Brize Norton ventured deep into the heart of the Cairngorms on Saturday 3 Sep 11 to visit the Braemar Gathering to take part in the Morrone Mountain Race. This 3.5 mile race makes up one of the various Highland Games at the gathering and takes in just over 1,000ft of ascent. The race route is essentially “anyway up and anyway down”. The 195 year old event even gets a visit from the main players of the royal family each year as they apparently have a lovely little holiday cottage just down the road in Balmoral. Before the race leaves the sports ground you get to do a lap of the egg shaped running track. My plan of running on the inside lane didn’t really pay off as there was a quite a bit of tussling for position with everyone’s adrenalin getting the better of them as they sprinted round as fast as they could(faster than me ) for the benefit of the crowd.

Once out of the ground, the race follows the path almost to the summit of Morrone which looms ominously behind the stands. Spectators with binoculars are able to watch the entire race from their seats. During the previous afternoon, we carried out a 2 hour recce stumbling around on the stony tracks, through the forest, bogs and heather. Dan and I tried numerous routes and “short cuts” through the forest, up small crags and through the heather to the summit and back to the arena. On the way up I stuck to my guns though, having now learned from experience that, on the way up at least, the stony path is far more sympathetic to my running/slow plodding technique. It seemed like I’d only just set off before the summit flare was let off signalling to the spectators below that someone had reached half way. I held my own for the ascent with the more senior (really old) runners, I was however a consistent distance well behind Dan Lewis. His previous Junior Welsh fell running experience clearly not forgotten. I eventually collected my primitive “get to the top tag” at the five cairns turning point (an elastic band with a bit of paper stapled to it) and aimed straight off through the heather, heading directly for the arena far beneath. It was good to see some of my cross-country experience starting to pay off as I made up a few places bouncing down through the heather. A navigational error (the one where you just follow the person in front instead of following the route you double-double checked less than a day before) meant I ended up trudging through a strength sapping bog and a rocky scramble before reaching the sports ground again. Dan Lewis also experienced some difficulties as the Welsh man turned an ankle in the Scottish Heather and bog, the pain subsiding some minutes later still allowing him to make his way down well in front of me.

On return to the arena the legs and lungs felt exhausted but this feeling evaporated when entering the track for a final lap of the track. Every one of the several thousand spectators cheers you on as you run past them – a great feeling. I think I managed to sprint the entire lap as a result of the boost this gave me. I managed to cross the line in26^th place in 34 min 26 sec. Dan Lewis was relaxing at this point as he finished in 12^th place in 31 min 15 sec.

The next couple of minutes were pretty surreal, as I sat on the grass in the sun trying to catch my breath. The crowd were still cheering, there was a troop of highland dancers strutting their stuff on a stage next to me. I guess it is the closest I will get to feeling like a professional athlete. The other events during the day were excellent to watch after the race, especially tossing the caber and the Scottish Pipe Band as they marched past the Queen playing the bag pipes. This actually brought a lump to my throat and I’m just a Sassenach!

If have raced for over 30 years this race will certainly be one of the highlights to remember when I eventually hang up my spikes and cross-country studs. I really recommend more RAF runners to give it a go!