Tinto

Think – torrential rain….. gale force winds….. appallingly poor visibility.

… no, that was on the way home!!

Considering we’re near to the middle of November, the conditions were pretty good, albeit a tad blustery at times.

Charlie and I were the only Tortoises who made the trip and we positioned ourselves towards the rear of the field of 240 runners. Whilst such a position indicates our humility, it also indicates our stupidity… it took about 15 seconds to cross the start line and the first few hundred yards were at a snail’s pace (hmmm, maybe suitable for a tortoise).

For those of you who don’t know Tinto, it’s situated about 2 miles west of the village of Symington, not THE Symington we all know and love, but the Symington on the way to Biggar (South Lanarkshire). The race has always been very popular due to it being short, sharp and coming at the end of the season. Everyone feels good because they know there’s a month and a half of relative inaction before the 2008 season starts with the challenging Greenmantle Dash!

The journey to the top of Tinto was for me, pretty easy. However, my legs weren’t of the same mind and at the top, Charlie was a long way ahead. My pace at the best of time is always well behind Charlie so I wasn’t too bothered.

Whilst my uphill trek could and should have been a bit quicker, the downhill was much better. It’s a fantastic feeling, passing other runners at pace. Who cares about passing folk uphill when you’re only doing two miles an hour. The downhill sections in hill races provide ample opportunity to pass at over fifteen!!! I did as I always like to do, I counted as I passed and had improved my position by 13 at the finish. I caught up with Charlie with about 500 yards to go and had time to knock off another two before the line.

The bad news was time. Just over 47 minutes is not a good time for Tinto and I was a tad disappointed. However, Charlie liked his first hill race and if he just learned to descend a bit quicker, he’d be miles ahead of me (maybe I shouldn’t encourage him too much). Och well, the main thing is that it was a thoroughly enjoyable outing with a good bowl of soup at the end. All for £3 – can’t complain.