The 31st Annual Dumyat Hill Race

*dramatic music* Dum...Dum...Dummmmm-yat

Last night, rather than have a quiet evening down at the local pub quiz, I was gripped by the strange compulsion to expose myself to pure unadulterated torture instead - I took part in The 31st Annual Dumyat Hill Race.

According the Stirling Uni Athletics Club, this is "the challenge of all challenges". The course is five miles long and has 1250' of ascent.

This race was created by a member of the Psychology Department who was propping up the Gannochy Pavilion bar, and thought to set an impossible challenge. A £1 bet was placed that no member of the University could, without mechanical assistance, do the return trip from the Gannochy to Dumyat in less than an hour. On Graduation Day 1971 the £1 bet was lost by 3 minutes. The race has been held annually ever since. Last year 191 runners took part. The current records are 33:07 minutes for men (2000, J Brooks), and 36:52 minutes for females (2000, A Mudge). The event is integrated into the Scottish Hill Running Calendar and it attracts professional runners, and running teams from across the country as well as a number of students and staff.

Apparently, "you can’t call yourself a real athlete until you have completed this race".



But it looks all pretty and harmless all the way there in the distance...

I entered the race just because I thought it would be "a laugh". And also because I think its good to give yourself personal challenges. This was to be especially challenging considering I am definitely more of a sprinter than a cross country runner. And I hadn't run anything like this distance for about 2 years. Certainly not up hill. And stupidly I had been out on the beer the night before. Oops. Perhaps not looking such a fun idea anymore. I actually thought there would be alot of students signing up for it for fun, but when I turned up to register, I was horrifed to see nothing but professional runners!! Deffinitely not looking such a fun idea anymore... My mate, Dom, was also running, but that was no comfort as he does this run 2 or 3 times a week! *gulps*

But I am a stubborn little thing, and had already got my running number on my chest, so couldn't back out now.



Before the race - smell the fear!



On your marks....

But guess who beat the original challenge and completed it in under an hour!! ..Just! I managed a time of 59 minutes!! And although I was far from being first, I was far from being last! I even managed a sprint finish. WOOOOOOOO!!!



After the race - smell the satisfaction!!

It has to be one of the most satisfying feelings in the world. The sheer horror that was the uphill slog is completely negated by the thrill of hurtling downhill again at great speeds. Brilliant!

I will be intrigued to see what time I get when I get in better shape. Dom finished in an impressive 42 minutes - so I'm totally psyched now to get into some training to see if I can't try and beat him, or at least get below 50 minutes next year. Bloody minded competition - my new raison d'etre.