Ian Goudie

I ran this race for the first time last year and enjoyed the experience so much that I returned this year. In fact four of the five Bellas that ran it last year returned, the exception being Alan Brown who has since emigrated to Australia. A further four runners from the parkrun and a healthy contingency from Kirkintilloch Olympians made Crieff a familiar place.

I had taken the caravan up on Saturday, after participating in my 18th parkrun of the year and booked into Braidhaugh Caravan Park. The weather had been great all day and evening on Saturday but it rained all night. The morning brought intermittent showers, some extremely heavy. But as I lined up with the 246 other runners at 11am for the start of the Famous Grouse 10k Race the rain abated. I got the chance to chat with Perth Road Runners Bob Brown and Peter Ritchie who had also raced in Arran last week and with Angela Park that I had met at the race last year.

The cool conditions were such a refreshing change as I’ve had to endure record high temperatures when running over the last few weeks. However the race was far from easy, starting in the Perthshire town's Dallerie Park the course heads out over the River Earn and up Turretbank Road before climbing up through the woods. I had started slowly last year and had to race hard in the later stages to catch my nemesis Norman Boyle with about 50m to go. This year I started nearer to the front but within a few minutes I could see Marie McChord and Norman opening up a gap on me. With conditions underfoot being heavy, the first three kilometres uphill sapped the strength from many racers who struggled to keep running, including Kirkintilloch’s Susan Addison and further up her club mate Anne Marie McCaffrey who had both resorted to walking. As I reached the top of the 350m Laggan Hill, my running pace wasn’t much quicker than walking and as I started the downhill section Anne Marie overtook me and sprinted away. I decided to try and stay as close to her as possible but she also overtook the two guys in front of me. The level and downhill sections were not much easier as the heavy rain had made the paths muddy and I had to negotiate my way through the woods avoiding the many pitfalls provided by the narrow path, slippery stones, puddles and hanging tree branches before a sharp left took me back briefly onto terra firma. One of the guys in front of me took advantage of the water station but I decided to run on and grab the chance to overtake him. However as I made my way along the country path, he caught up with me and reclaimed his position. I made my way along the old railway line and as I reached Lady Mary's Walk, I could see that Anne Marie was running strongly and about three places in front of me. Ahead of here there was a large group of runners, including Norman Boyle. Here the path widened and I once again overtook the guy in front of me but this time I pressed on to endure that he wouldn’t be able to tag onto me. I had to watch my footing as I crossed a wet wooden bridge, before making my way up the last hill of the course and back towards Turretbank Road. Once again I could see Anne Marie and the others, with just less than one kilometer to go, I pushed in a little bit more as I ran down to my right and back over the River Earn Bridge. I could see the supporters and marshals directing runners through a narrow gate back into Dallerie Park. However the race was far from over with half a kilometre of heavy going grass to cross before the Finish Line. I dug deep into my energy reserves and closed the gap between us and with less than 200m to the end I caught up with her and sprinted to the end beating her by six seconds as I finished in a time of 48:45. I turned immediately to thank her for pulling me around the course and to congratulate her for having such a great race.

We then collected our well deserved goody bags, containing a miniature of Famous Grouse whisky and a matching baseball cap.  I shared mutual congratulations with Norman, who had got his revenge for last year by beaten me by 33 seconds, with Marie, Bob, Peter, John, Andy, Maddie, Susan, Angela, Veronika, Roslyn , Katy and others as we were rewarded with an excellent spread of home baking, sandwiches, teas, coffees and soft drinks.

Results

Murray Strain of Hunters Bog Trotters(HBT) won the race in a time of 34:59; last year's winner and course record holder Robert Gilroy of Ronhill Cambuslang Harriers was second in 36:42, with Tony Jackson of Perth Road Runners taking third place in 37:18.

Women's Race

Lothian's Edel Mooney won the Women's Race in a time of 38:39, followed by HBT's Megan Mowbray earning second place in 41:50 and Garscube's Alison Winship in third place with a time of 42:15.

Unattached Pat Harker closed the race in a time of 1:17:25

I introduced myself to the two winners and got a couple of quotes from them for the Scottish Running Guide.

John, Roslyn, Katy, Veronika and I then headed back to Braidhaugh Caravan Park, where after a hot power shower and a change into dry clothes we made our way uphill to the town centre for some more food and drinks. The heavy showers returned as we enjoyed our lunch, how envious the drivers looked as I enjoyed my red wine

Full Race Results

One small complaint was the lack of safety pins at registration, with some competitors being advised to remember their race number and shout it out as they crossed the finish line. Although the Race Director did promise that there would be a public execution of the person responsible for safety pins after the race!