Saturday saw Jenni Coelho and Claire Reilly taking part in their last ultra marathon of the year down at Glen Ogle in the Trossachs.This was the third time that I had run GO33 and the second time for Claire. It was the fifth year of the race, which started off as a wee end of season run for some like minded dafties and has grown this year to an entry of 500 which sold out rather swiftly when entries opened back in July.
The route now starts in Killin, running right through the village, then heads up a fairly hefty hill through a forest before you are spat out, past a burger van and across the A82 to the first checkpoint at six miles. Then it’s downhill for the next few miles on the cycle path on the old railway line and viaduct which you may have seen if you’ve ever been on that road. A wiggly steep path leads you down to Lochearnhead and Checkpoint 2, then after a while you rejoin a quiet and rather undulating B road, passing Roy Roy’s grave, through Balquidder and into Strathyre over the Shoogly Bridge. Here at 18 miles is Checkpoint 3, and then the unforgettable sight of one of the marshalls sporting 
full high vis and a lollipop stick, stopping the traffic on the A82 to let you over the road. There is an added hazard here of The Broch cafe, which has proper toilets (always nice on an ultra) and a rather splendid selection of cakes. And, very cosy.After the road crossing there is a very steep trail leading up eventually to a forest path which winds around to bring you down at Kingshouse, where you pass underneath the A82 this time, before rejoining the cycle path, passing what is now Checkpoint 4, and heading back up the viaduct. Checkpoint 5 is the same as Checkpoint 1, but a different shorter route down through the forest and back into Killin, through the village, and a lovely lap of the park, which was much appreciated by all the runners (not) to the finish line.
So, race morning dawned a bit overcast, but dry, which was a definite improvement on the forecast earlier in the week. We had registered on Friday evening, so it was just a case of handing in the drop bags for the checkpoints (basically goodie bags of various food and drink items that you will probably not eat, but nice to have just in case …) last visit to the toilets and listen to the race brief. Then there was the countdown to the start and off we went. It was quite an impressive sight, 340 runners snaking through the little village in the early morning light. I found that with the start line being further away from the big hill, it meant that I was much better warmed up by the time I got there, so found myself powering up the hill and feeling much stronger than last year. A few familiar faces were around amongst all the “newbies”, so a good bit of catching up was had in the first few miles. I arrived into the first checkpoint feeling great, managed to get in and out in three minutes, so no fannying around for me this year 🙂
The weather was starting to turn at this point, and the light rain was becoming heavier and more persistent, so the jacket had to go on. The views were still fairly spectacular, very atmospheric with the Scotch mist hanging around. I was enjoying quite a bit of banter with the other runners, there was a small group of us running at around the same pace. Checkpoint 2 came and went, again, limited faffing, the rain was getting quite heavy now. I enjoyed a cheese croissant as I left this checkpoint. Yum.
At around this time, the leaders were coming back the other way, looking as if they were out for a stroll in the park, how they make it look so easy is beyond me. And how lucky are they, running at that speed, they get back to warmth and beer and cakes so much quicker than me!
The next part, being on a very up and down road with big splooshy puddles was quite hard going. However, I had someone in my sights who had overtaken me whilst I was partaking of my snackette, and started to reel her in. Unfortunately, just as I was about to “take her”, my ITB (which had niggled a few weeks back), finally gave up trying to support my excess weight and protested loudly. I was fairly halted in my tracks, and realised that my race was over. I popped a couple of paracetamol and hobbled the next three and a half miles into Checkpoint 3 at Strathyre. On the plus side, at least I was able to take refuge from the weather in the aforementioned Broch Cafe whilst awaiting a lift back to Killin. Disappointing yes, however, realistically, having done zero running over the summer with accompanying wine and eating unsuitable items, not a surprise!
Meanwhile, I hear you ask, what about Claire? Well, Speedy Reilly struck again. She had an absolute stormer of a run, taking over half an hour off her time from last year, despite the course being slightly longer. So finishing her ultra year off on a high.
We both made it to the after race ceilidh, although neither of us danced, me as I had my gammy leg, and Claire because, well, no valid excuse really … An excellent ceilidh band, and over the weekend a four figure sum was raised for Cancer Research UK, just from sales of tea and cakes after the race, and a raffle and competition during the ceilidh.
What now? A bit of R&R, then winter training to ready ourselves for a 2016 full of new challenges. Bring it on ….
Report by: Jenni Coelho