Run of the Mill hill race from Alva. Good route - fast and furious out to Tillicoultry, then a brutally steep climb out of the glen. Long gradual grassy climb up to the tops, then standard Ochil top bagging across to Ben Ever. Then a tres rapid descent back into Alva.
That was the theory. In practice, the cloud was down to about 350-400m above sea level, and the wind was the strongest I have ever encountered in the hills before! Great tailwind blowing us up the spur towards King's Seat, but then after turning left it was a whole new ball game. Visibility down to about 10m, and a cross wind that meant putting as much effort into running left as to running straight. Was hard to stay on the path, and pretty hard to see where the path was going! Running off Ben Cleuch was tricky as the wind was pushing back with almost as much force as gravity. Felt very sorry for the marshals - wind chill factor must have been immense.
My race was good - tired legs before after yesterday, and the pace along the flat section was pretty high! I hung on to the leaders assuming they would drop off once we got into the hills. One did, but the other was right there behind me all the way to Andrew Gannels. I dropped him across to Ben Cleuch (he wasn't wearing hat/gloves/jacket like I was, and then got disoriented, a bit lost and fell over too! ended up quite a way behind), then was on my own to the finish.
Results
http://www.scottishhillracing.co.uk/RaceResults.as...