Anyway, something in the region of 500 turned up to Traquair House in Innerleithen in the Scottish Borders to have a go at the 5k, with 1000 (including me) lining up in the 10k. The idea is to indulge a little fancy dress and tweediness, but in honour of the #lecitron design concept for this year's Sucata Split (donate here...) I was resplendent in head-to-waist luminous yellow.
Having watched the 5k folks return in states of various dishevelment (winning time just under the hour), the 5.30 kick-off for the main event approached, as did @aigwilson in #lecitron, his wife Maria and (with literally seconds to spare) "Fluffy" Lockhart to add to the band of supporters that, at this point, numbered 1. Mrs Thomas and 2. Matthew.
The race began in front of Traquair House and after an initial hurdle of straw bales, settles into a first k on roads before the first pond is reached. From this point, it's uphill on forest tracks and the local mountain biking routes - with occasional diversions up into the trees and back out again to keep you from getting too comfortable. With obstacles and potential waits to come, this is the chance to run, pass a few folk and find a comfortable position / pace. Climbing up through the trees we hit a set of diagonal beams around trees followed by a brief crawl through a tunnel; then a marshall pointing out that "Well done you've reached the high point", pregnant pause, "of this bit". We're at about 420m, with the start at 150, so we've climbed about 900 feet. All of which we're about to lose. Quickly.
Downhill, initially on dodgy forest floor and then on good mountain bike tracks. Picking up some speed and places, but with some nutters belting past. Back into the woods (pausing only to throw some moves at the mini-rave) and down a very steep slope with occasional planks across the route to go over / under, before a near-vertical final plunge to the road - with a net at the bottom to stop you. Onto the road, past the supporters who've helpfully travelled out in #lecitron, and chap next to me says "That's the easy bit finished". Gulp.
Looping round the banks of the Tweed and splashing through Leithen Water we make our way into Innerteithen itself and then drop into Leithen Water for the River Saunter. 200m through freezing cold water, which is just enough to transition from "uncomfortable" to "painful", before a walk / jog up to the Fort to allow the muscles a bit of time to warm up.
Now onto the technically most difficult section - traverse across grassy slopes before a rising ascent on loose, broken scree. A snake of competitors, face-to-ass, winds up this section in single file, apart from a few eejits bent on overtaking and sending rocks onto those below. Energy conserved, we finally top-out and shuffle across the tree bridges, having ascended back up to 370m, followed by a lunatic plunge down the "Freefall" a straight fast grassy slope, now under headtorch as dusk has well and truly fallen and the lights of the town below make a stunning vista.
Looping back into the woods for more steep, loose descent, with one section so steep it's done in reverse with rope, we're back to Leithen water and along tracks of varying muddiness until we burst unexpectedly into the village. A long, smooth section on road is welcome by this point, especially as it's totally dark, and someone helpfully shouts "only 10 minutes to go". A brief glance at the watch is all the inspiration needed to push on a bit. The final obstacle is the Sump, a muddy waist-deep tunnel under the road, and we're now on the final run to the end. The spirits leap when the House is spotted and even a final dastardly stream can't get rid of the "done it" feeling.
Into the finishing section and they've put an uphill tunnel followed by a crawl under nets in the last 200m, just to make sure you really get the idea, but that's the line crossed. The watch shows a respectable time of 1:56:32 for 266th out of 833 finishers. That was never the objective though - turn up, have a laugh and get through it.
Complaints: marshalling was a little short in numbers and I suspect, for those completing the course later, the route-finding would have been pretty tricky - even crossing the bridge into the town spectators were having to point out the route.
Having said that, a great and exhilarating day out. Seeing the stream of head-torches descending the Freefall when we were driving away at 8.15 was cool, but equally made me realise what a struggle it would be for those still on the hill at this point. Thanks to Andrew, Maria and David for coming along to support. Same time next year everyone?
