The
Pentland Skyline race is a tough 27km race in the beautiful Pentland hills just
outside Edinburgh. It starts at the Hillend ski centre and follows a clockwise
loop, taking in all the summits, and amassing 1890m ascent before finally
returning to the start point.
We often
walked in the Pentlands when we lived near Edinburgh many years ago, but that
was before I discovered the joys of fell running. The race has, however, been
on my radar since Silke started studying at Heriot-Watt university three years
ago. With both Silke and Emeline now studying in Edinburgh the time seemed
right for a weekend combining a visit to the girls with a good run in the hills.
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| The start |
The weather
on the day was clear and visibility perfect so no problems anticipated with
navigation. Waiting at the start there was a chilly breeze so I decided that
long sleeves were the order of the day. Then came the race briefing and a
reminder of the 2:15 cut-off at the Drove road drinks station at roughly half
way. Soon we were off, and on our way up the first hills – Caerketton and
Allermuir. To start with it was mostly single file on narrow paths before broadening
out onto good grassy tracks. The sun came out and the sky cleared, giving
stunning views of the whole range, although it looked a long way over all those
hills!
We came
over Castlelaw hill, and skirted the firing range. The red flags were flying
and the crack of gunfire could be heard, so clearly, they were busy playing
soldiers. It was getting very warm by this time and very pleased to reached the
first drinks station and have some water. From here it was back up on to the
ridge and then good running over Turnhouse Hill, Carnethy Hill, Scald Law,
South Black Hill, East Kip and West Kip before reaching the next drinks station
at Drove Road in just under 2 hours.
The race
description warns of much tougher terrain on the second half and sure enough
from the top of Hare Hill, the route is marked here at request of the landowner
and descends through tussocky heather rather than taking the faster, eroded
path. Then a short steep descent through slippery wet grass and bracken where
most runners (myself included) ended on their bum at least once. The race
continued with some rough, boggy terrain over Black Hill and a steep climb up
Bell’s Hill. From Bell’s Hill it was then Harbour Hill and Capelaw Hill before
reaching Allermuir Hill again and then retracing the initial part of the route
back to the start.
I was
starting to tire towards the end, and I was looking forward to reaching the finish.
As we got closer I became aware of a runner gaining on me so I did what I could
to increase my pace. Finally, there was sprint for the line where I was finally
caught. It turned out there had been two runners battling with each other, so
it seemed I had been incidental to their private contest.
I crossed
after 3 hours 51 minutes, and was pleased to see Silke and Emeline cheering me
in. Having finished I suddenly felt extremely nauseous. Whether it was the
sprint for the line, or accepting too many jelly babies from spectators on the
way round, or a combination of the two, I will never know but I certainly hope
I don’t make a habit of it. Nevertheless, a good day out – a good hard run, in
perfect weather. I finished 138th of 226 finishers, 17th of 38 in my category.
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| Relief at the finish |
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| Feeling sick! |
Photo credits: Carnethy H.R.C, Scottish Hill Racing, TripAdvisor & Silke
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