BALERNO RIGG RACE
My race started in Corstorphine, when I heard the shouts of Russell… “ Yeah… we’re going racing!” Thankfully Sally didn’t take that as her cue to F1 style it to Balerno, getting us there safely and even managing to bagsy a spot in the rugby club car park!
It’s definitely the best start to race I’ve ever had. Hosted by Harmeny AC and Balerno Children’s Gala Society at Currie RFC, it was a great atmosphere, especially seeing lots of people there in fancy dress. We had no worries of freezing our bits off outside as there was the lovely warm rugby club to register at, with loos, and the chance to glimpse the post race buffet- incentive enough to make it to the start line! It was another scheduled Club Champs race, so well attended with 21 of us running.
After the essential warm up, albeit a bit short and tokenistic- about 100 m and a few dynamic exercises (sorry coaches!)- it was time to pee again race.
The starting gun goes off (or maybe that was just the sonic boom from Alan in his new trainers) and we all start running…
… uphill… the bit I haven’t mentioned yet… once out of Malleny Garden, the race starts uphill, then continues uphill, proceeding to get steeper until about the 3k mark. Quite frankly, it was a bit of a beast but my early mantra “don’t kill your race in the first 3k” definitely helped me get to that point!
Thankfully, there was lots of support from the marshals and the local community. The race is held annually as part of Balerno Gala week festivities, so there were lots of families cheering us up that hill including some of Ally’s colleagues and children from Harmeny School There was also a Piper (amazing!) and Kathryn also swears there was a sheep in a jacket… er okay Kathryn!
Once turning right onto the Rigg Road, it definitely settled and I had a sense of “I’ve made it”, conveniently ignoring the 6.5km to go. This was a chance to recover a little and enjoy some amazing views of the Pentlands on our left. Not long on that road at the 2 mile mark were some more lovely marshals at a water station, which I was grateful for until I managed to inhale the water- clearly I need to work on my technique! After about 2km on the more gently ascending Rigg Road it was time to turn right and back towards Balerno along a tree-lined road, which was really pretty. After a final uphill there was lots of downhill sections and this was the bit I enjoyed the most. It was shaded, cool and, crucially, over half way.
As we came back into Balerno there were more people cheering us on the home straight, perfect timing for a morale boost into Malleny Garden and the finish line 🏁.
Everyone put in a great effort but particular congratulations go to Clare, who came 1st FV40 and 3rd overall female and who won some amazing shark and avocado socks. The rest of us were more than delighted with our medals: a red, spectacularly glitzy metallic number worthy of Mr T. It was a perfect way to end a race that was started by
the Gala King and Queen 👑.