After an almost dead flat June Handicap, the July event takes a decided uphill turn - enough even to get Francie back into competition. Dave H has been desperate to revisit Geallaig Hill (last visited in 2005) to see if anyone can beat his record of 19:17
To try to minimise waiting time I set Kathy off early and then mis-compensate when calculating everyone else's start time. So Evelyn and Francie then start late - Dave gets his statistician's hat on and gets everyone else off on time. It's all a bit of a muddle on the hill and Kathy (nearly) reaches the top first only she's never been up this hill, its thick mist and she doesn't know where the top is. Francie, out of competion for the last couple of years, gets a good handicap and charges uphill and past the confused Kathy to claim first place.
By now, Kathy is cold and starts the descent. The others reach the top pretty much together. Dave, enthused by no-one having taken his record, plays his trump card - let's halve our respective uphill times and race back down again. Oh well, if we must.
Half the uphill time turns out to be a pretty good estimate. Owen blasts down past Derek and then Evelyn -Dave gives it a good shot but just fails to catch Owen. Evelyn and Derek are just a few seconds behind (pretty chuffed). Francie has taken a more moderate approach to downhill, unlike Dan who takes the adventurous approach, trips and takes some skin off knees and buttocks (can you say buttocks on the internet?). Still he arrives happy.
Francie is the official winner on the night with Dan fastest in 19:25.
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15/09/07
Bit wet... and cold... and windy.
27/4/07 Drove to cairn on old military road - up landrover track to the summit and then back by Braenaloin.
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