2017 saw 5 MRRs enter this event. Neil Purdie, Robert Bruce, Alan Swadel, Sally Bruce and Karen Norvell, all of us were using it as a long run as part of our training for the Fling, apart from Neil, who was using it for the G2E. Karen, Sally and myself travelled through on the Friday and Neil and Alan were coming along in the morning.
When Karen, Sally and myself got onto the train carriage, it turned out Sally knew everybody on the train, so as we got to our seats, Sally didn’t sit down until the train had got to Keith as she worked her way through the carriage talking to everyone (welcome to Sallyrail). We all got settled in the Hotel and went off for some shopping (I had to trail around the shops with 3 women shopping, I was ecstatic) We finished off the evening with a carb loading dinner.
The morning dawned and we made our way down to Duthie Park in a dreich day and it continued to be dreich, despite me wearing my “magic, keep rain away hat”. We met up with Neil and Alan and also Shirley, a Forres Harrier, who had been training with us. The event was it’s usual friendly place with everyone speaking and renewing old and making new acquaintances. Soon enough, it was time to line up and go.
Off we set and it rained for the first 2 hours, before it decided to settle down. The D33 is a relatively straight forward Ultra to run, it is an out and back, starting in Duthie Park, you run 16.5 miles along the Deeside way, turn around and come back, finishing where you started, the paths are good to run on, with only the odd place with mud, although there were puddles due to the rain, everyone who ran did well, despite a couple of us having been ill, everyone managed to finish this excellent event and should be proud of what they achieved. The times are as follows.
Neil Purdie: 4hr 14min 20sec
Robert Bruce: 5hr 10min 54sec
Alan Swadel: 5hr 11min 54sec
Sally Bruce: 5hr 47min 20sec
Karen Norvell: 6hr 4min 57sec
For anyone who is considering an Ultra this is an excellent one to start with and the unique medal is excellent.
Report by: Robert Bruce