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Path of Condie Race Report by Izzie Burnett

Saturday dawned wet and dreich. I briefly considered staying in bed but my get-up-and-go was awake enough to deal with stuff, and soon enough I was heading up to Milnathort, glad that I’d not given in, and looking forward to what I knew would be a challenging race. Having done it 7 years ago, I remembered that it was quite a hilly race. What I didn’t remember was exactly how hilly it was…sometimes it helps to have a poor memory!

Kinross RR were their usual cheery selves and once back in my car to attach race number etc, the rain went from a slight drizzle to something a bit more punchy! The usual dilemma of what to wear at this point left me favouring more layers than I would normally have for a race but let’s try a wee warm-up and see what it’s like… After 10 mins out in the pouring rain, I stuck with what effectively was 3 layers plus a carry-vest and after a further short run with Lesley Reynolds, 130 something runners lined up for the start. The rain stopped, the hooter went and true to the nature of the whole race, the first few hundred metres were at an angle I became very familiar with in the following two hours! I noticed how many folk were wearing vests only and 10 minutes into the race feeling comfortably warm, I thought I would regret so many layers once well into the race. But no, after 20 or 30 mins on the route, the heavens opened and it remained pretty wet for most of the race with cool winds in the more exposed spots.

I’m not great at remembering the details of the ups and downs etc of the route… let it just be said that it felt like 90% uphill and 10% downhill (even though we started and finished at much the same point.) Two days on, my quads and hips are still complaining hugely, in the way they do after a marathon. The 13.1 mile circuit headed vaguely northwest to start with, heading up to high moors and despite being wet and misty, the scenery was still lovely with open outlooks much of the time, and some cracking beech trees at one point in glorious autumn technicolour. I was accompanied most of the time by the clip-clop of a horse and rider who appeared do be doing the full half-marathon route… She must have passed me 4 or 5 times (usually on hills!) and I too passed her an equal number of times. It sometimes became a guessing game of ‘Is that a heavy-footed runner approaching from behind, or is it the 4-legged beast taunting me again?!’

About two miles from the end there was definitely some downhill sections to stretch my legs out on, and it was a proper reward for having tackled so many hills on the way. I was really happy to finish in under two hours, (15 mins slower than last time but 7 years older – I’ll take that. Lesley came in seconds after me and we headed into the hall for something to eat and drink. KRR put on a great collection of food: home-made soups to choose from, tea/coffee, rolls and plenty of sweet and chocolatey things. The rain had stopped so the prizegiving was outside, in the sun. Fife AC cleared up most of the prizes with Ben Kinninmonth taking 1st male place in 1:18:18 and Laura Gibson 1st female in 1:24:49 – great times for such a challenging route. If anyone wants a wee challenge next year, enjoys a small, friendly race and likes a great spread afterwards, then this one might be for you!