I came across Louise's report on her 2017 race attempt to run the Scurry to the Sea. It sounded like an interesting race, similar to the iconic 7Hills in that there was no formal route, just a couple of checkpoints to pass through. It was up to the runner to choose their route. The EntryCentral site descibed an approximate route, but my knowledge of the areas it passed through was scant. Time for some research!
Looking at the 2017 results, I could see that Jonny Muir had come 2nd. Coincidentally, I was in the middle of reading Jonny Muir's book, so felt sure he would be on Strava somewhere. As suspected, I found him and his 2017 race route. I then traced his route onto a 1:25000 map.
I entered the race, slightly surprised at the £25 fee, when the 7 hills race was only £7!. I assumed the higher fee was due to the provision of a bus, but I was hopeful of something special.
On 14th July, with my printed map, I went for a wee recce by parking up at Caiystane and trotting down the backpath towards Braidburn Valley park, spotting an opportunity for a wee shortcut on the way. I then drove to Blackford Glen Road and took the bike across Inch Park, through Craigmillar, past Peffermill to the Brunstane path. All fairly straightforward, apart from the Inch Park which I had to cycle round a bit until I found a direct line.
Sunday 15th July arrived and I drove to Fisherrow at Musselburgh, parking close to the harbour. Lots of other eager looking runners in vests. The weather was quite mild, but overcast, the forecast saying the sun would be out later. I registered and collected my number to pin on. Then we were ushered onto two double-decker buses waiting in the street. For some reason unknown to me, we headed east out towards Tranent first, before joining the A1 and heading back west onto the Bypass and up to the ski car park at Hillend. Anyway, we arrived in good time for the 09:30 start. There was a great rush to visit the centre's toilet facilities.
After some warm up laps of the car park, we were called to the race start up the side track where Peter Ness (DSMC FP) balanced on a fencepost to give us the final instructions and a countdown start. Knowing the path ahead was steep, the start was never going to be a sprint and was actually quite controlled. The field spread out very quickly and after only a couple of hundred metres I was on in single file. The summit of Allermuir came fast, a quick glance at my watch and I could see I had a PB already. The fast descent was a real knee & thigh burner but offset by the numerous calls of encouragement from the runners still ascending.
Past Swanston and now the sun was out as we slogged up the incline over the bypass and into the city limits. Then a fast trot down towards Braidburn, my earlier shortcut recce gaining me two places as we entered the park. These of course were lost as we exited the park and the two runners slowly disappeared into the distance as we ran through the Hermitage. I stopped to eat a gel here, and slowed my pace in the shade.
At Blackford Glen road I was overtaken by two females, one of which I had earlier overtaken at Swanston. I vowed to keep them in sight and managed to do so until we were at Brunstane. At the Peffermill checkpoint, I grabbed some water and jelly babies. There was a runner sitting down on the ground near the table; he looked exhausted!
On the Brunstane Burn path, I got the map out at one point, just to check I was on the right line and how far I had to go. I hadn't seen any runners for ages. Eventually the path popped out onto the old A1, which I crossed and was directed by a marshall onto the beach for the final 200m scurry to the finish line. In the distance at the finish I could just about see one of the females running to a stop. The sand was deep and soft so I kept near the water line for some more compacted sand, curving up towards the finish at the last minute. Oh it was hard going after 12miles!
I smiled for the camera and grabbed some home baking and water before being handed my bright orange 'goody bag' which contained a flapjack & a Mars bar.
All in all, it was an interesting race but not worth £25. The post-race results were not posted anywhere obvious online for weeks. I even emailed the organiser Peter Ness but got no response to my query. Again, for £25, that is not a good return. Looking at the Strava Fly-Bys, I could see a faster line which avoided the Hermitage. If I was to enter again, I'd be looking at that route.
01:38:32 15/113
