Moffat Festival of Running 2016

I stumbled across this race on the excellent Scottish Running Guide directory (where I find most of my races!). Looking for something in July that would fit my schedule.

This one was advertised as a 15km 'hill' race as part of the annual gala celebrations in Moffat. I found a video on YouTube that displayed the course - it did look good fun:

With a 7.15pm start on a Tuesday evening, I could leave work at the end of the day and drive down the M74 in time. All looked good.

The day arrived and after an uneventful drive, arrived at Moffat one hour before the race start. I parked the car on the way into the town centre just before the kids' race passed by. I walked into the town centre to register and pick up my number before returning to the car to change out of my work clothes.

At 7pm I headed back towards The Ram, a famous statue in the high street that marked the start location. There was a noisy atmosphere with a lot of chatting and nervous laughter from other competitors. I soon noticed there was a good number of running vests around, more than other races this year. Many were club vests. "Aye Aye" I thought, a bit of a serious feel to this race...

At the start

There was a 5-4-3-2-1 countdown by a woman with a loudspeaker before a gala attendant blew a hooter for the start and off we went. As per usual, a cracking pace to begin up the high street north.

Soon enough we left the Edinburgh Road and onto the single track road towards Ericstane. The first mile clicked past - 6min35 - whoah too fast. But the field spread out and I found myself in a group of four; three men, one wearing Vibram Five Finger shoes slapping his way up the road. One woman keeping silent but with a graceful running style.

I tried hard to keep the pace, but gradually over the first 6km slipped back until I was alone in my reverie as we left the tarmac. The race itself is in three parts: from the entry central page: "the first 3.75 miles undulates with a subtle but gradual rise of 350 feet.  This is followed by the most challenging part of the route, just under one mile of steep track rising 550 feet.  Care should be taken here with the track being stony and uneven in places.  On reaching the top, there is a spectacular 4.6 mile downhill descent back into Moffat town centre on the A701."

The hill at Ericstane was definitely the crux of the route with everyone reduced to walking some sections. With the early evening sun low in the sky, we actually ascended into the light. I ran when I could, but could not sustain a pace much faster than walking. Eventually I could see the A701 ahead and salvation from the ascent.

Onto the tarmac again and DOWN!!! All the way back to Moffat. Athletes were all spaced widely which made for a pleasant run, but once again I suffered cramps in my right side which caused me to slow the pace.

A crowd surrounded the finish line which I crossed in 1hr 9mins. 58/218.