Hill race challenge for Caithness trio
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THREE young runners from Caithness took to the Ochil Hills near Stirling recently during the annual Menstrie Hill Race.
It attracts the best of Scottish hill runners as it acts as the selection race for the home countries junior and senior international which takes place in Melmerby, near Penrith, this weekend.
Local twins Emma and Oonagh Dunnett, running for Edinburgh Athletic Club, who between them have enjoyed six international appearances for Scotland in hill running events, were well used to the challenges but, for Sarah MacKinnon, it was a new venture.
The race at Menstrie was over a 4k uphill-only course with a 410m ascent which tested all of the competitors, experienced and otherwise.
Emma and Oonagh ran strongly to first and second places respectively, gaining automatic selection for the international and their fifth and sixth international hill running vests.
Sarah gained a sixth place in the race which was an excellent finish in a tough introduction to the exhilarating challenges of hill running.
Sarah wasn’t aware of exactly what she had undertaken and although the experience of hill racing, which is not for the faint-hearted, might not be an experience she wishes to repeat, the outing as a North Highland Harrier member is definitely one she will be doing again.
NHH continues to go from strength to strength as it hit the 100-member mark for the first time in its three-year history and Sarah made history as she was the 100th person to join the club.
NHH grew out of the success of the annual Castle of Mey 10k and the realisation that there is a vast number of senior runners with a shared passion for the sport at all levels.
The Caithness-based club organises training sessions during the week, 52 weeks of the year.
It also provides many events for members and non-members alike with one of those, the winter trail series, about to start again with a succession of trail runs ranging in distance from four to 14 miles.
Details will be available shortly on the NHH website at www.northhighlandharriers.co.uk and on the club’s Facebook page.
