Race the (Highland) train

Race the Train is so popular it sells out in minutes. But as I couldn't get in last year, and I had volunteered to marshal, I got a guaranteed spot. That was great! I could now try this iconic race myself. By the way; "Highland" distinguishes this race from a similar race further south.

I'm not sure if it is so popular because the steam train brings you to the start, or because it is downhill practically all the way. It only goes down 50m in total, but you notice. It makes the course very fast. And I don't accept a time on a downhill race as a personal best, but it's still nice run faster than you normally do. 

I arrived in good time and parked by the castle. One of the first people I know I saw there was Llio, the lady I had overtaken in Rhostryfan to take the bronze medal, but who had beat me many times since, in Llanrug and Bethel and Felinheli and Pentir. She is very strong on the short distance. And she had, like me, been running on the track the night before. She had said she was reassured by my presence because that meant she wasn't the only person doing both things in close succession. She had also said she was going to take it easy. That lasted about three seconds. She was flying around the track!

I also saw Richie, who was back from an injury. Sort of. He said he would just calmly jog the route. I wasn't sure if I should believe him.

We went to get our race numbers, and then we had to wait for the train to arrive. That is, except those who chose to jog to the start. A fair number of people do that. It's a good warming up! But I wanted the full experience. How often do you get the opportunity of being brought to the start line by a steam train?

When the train arrived I sat down in an open carriage near the front. That was a mistake. The engine is spewing out all sorts of dirt, and I didn't really mind getting it in my hair and on my skin, but I did mind getting it in my eyes. Wearing sunglasses wasn't good enough. But it was still nice to be dragged through the lovely landscape by this historic train. 

The train bringing us to the start

When we got to Dinas station it was only 12 minutes to the start time. I did a rudimentary warmup. Then we lined up.

Everyone I had been talking to her told me that you need to leg it at the start. The terrain by the station is spacious, but with a little loop you make your way to the other side of the track, and then squeeze onto the bicycle path. There is a bollard there. It is narrow! If you're not somewhere near the front, you will end up in the queue there. It is a bit like the Pentir race I suppose. There are bottle necks there too, and you want to be near the front so there aren't too many people already in there when you get to them. 

When we started, there was indeed a bit of jostle. I found it scary! When people are shoving me from the side I am scared I will sprain a knee. It is so easy to do with my knees. But I took the advice to heart and started faster than I normally would have. Maybe it worked; when I reached the bicycle path there was no queue. 

By then the field stabilised a bit. A bloke in black and a lady in blue came storming passed, but otherwise people had more or less found their place in the pack. Any overtaking will now would be slow. I knew I was going fast, which is tricky so early on, but I decided to try to stick with it. 

I had seen that both my friend Louise, and Richie, were in front of me. I knew I was right not being quite convinced when the latter said he would take it easy! But I wondered if I could still make my way slowly to the front. 5 km is not much, but still enough for some manoeuvering.

Before I got anywhere near either of them I overtook the lady in the blue top. She had gone too fast in the beginning! And I slowly closed in on Louise. When she heard me behind her she said “ah, there you are”. I told her she could still beat me. She didn't think she could. But she was surely giving it a good go. When I overtook she came with me.

The race photographer didn't capture me, so here instead is a picture of Kevin, one of the Track Tuesday trainers, and the race organiser himself

Slowly but steadily we both overtook Richie. I hope he didn't aggravate his injury too much! Ideally, not at all, of course.

When the path had one of its little uphill bits, Louise overtook me. But she couldn't maintain it. I caught up with her again. And then overtook her again. We only had some 250 m to go. 

I tried to squeeze out some acceleration. I was tired, but I still managed. And then I thought there was a lady in black in front of me that was still within reach. I had a go at overtaking her, and I managed! And I could see I had just about managed to come in within 20 minutes. That is fast! This must have been the influence of the slope. I had been hoping for a time of 21 minutes! 

I gave Louise a hug, and then we cheered on other runners coming in. And we found friends who had finished before us. People seemed to generally be happy with how it had gone. Soon I (and supposedly everybody else) got a text message with the official results. I had come in at 19:59! Quite a time. And I had my expected category win, in the implausible F45-54 category. And thanks to my last minute overtaking of Louise and the other lady, I had come in as sixth woman! I was proud of that. WCR runner Huw had come 4th. After 3 Meirionnydd men. 

Not a very good picture of the train finally coming i 

After a while, the presentation happened. In spite of them giving prizes to the top three in every category, they managed to do with quite quickly. Prizes for Louise, Emma, Ian, and Arwel. And loads of other people. And there was even an M85+ category! Won by a 89-year old who had done it in 33:38. Impressive. 

Louise and her daughter and me (I had by then put my shorts back on, as they have pockets)

Then it was time to go home. I couldn't resist taking a picture of the castle against the evening sky. I couldn't resist last year either! It is quite an enticing view. This had been fun! I was hoping I could do it again next year...