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The Scottish Hill Runner
The Scottish Hill Runner is a magazine which had modest beginnings but has become a very good, professional publication. It originated in 1987 (?) and is still going strong. We have the first four years reproduced here in full and then we will have the covers displayed to show the progression over the years and finally we will have some of the newest issues reproduced in full. If you are interested in the content of any not shown in full, let us know and we will come to some arrangement. The first three were full size A4 pages and from January 1988, the magazine folded the sheet in half, stapled it in the middle and had twice the number of pages per issue as well as making it neater and easier to store
Issue Number 1 Issue number 2 Issue Number 3
The Scottish Hill Runner: Jan 1988 June 88 Oct 88 Feb 1989 May 89 August 89 December 89
Covers Only: Aug 1990 – 93 1994 – 1998 1999 – 2001 .2002 – 2008
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The Hill Runner’s Year
There are races all year round for hill runners. When we hear or think of running in the hills what springs to mind are athletes running on green, grassy hills in spring and summer but hills are run in winter too – look at Denis on Carnethy in the snow – and even in spring and summer Scottish weather can produce rain, hail and showers. Even in summer the sun can be so hot that it burns the skin and dehydration is a serious problem. That’s not all the time but these are all eminently possible whenever the race takes place. And if you’re prone to sea sickness, don’t tackle the Island Peaks Race. The skills required to be a successful or even competent hill runner are many. How does a hill runner’s year look? Does it aim for a single peak race, or does it look for a plateau of races through the summer? Do the runners specialise in short, medium or long distance races? Some do but if they want to head for the Championships, then all three types of race have to be tackled. Of course it is always, for even experienced hill racers to lose the trail at some point, and some races require that the runners carry a map and/or compass. This means knowing how to use them as well as carry them. The best way to find out what it is like is to ask a hill runner. With that in mind we asked Denis Bell what the hill runner’s year looked like, and how he went about preparing for it. This what he told us.
There was a serious learning process in my first few years. First year was a lucky start to my career due to my marathon strength and training routines. I also luckily love ‘The Hills’ and slopes up (especially) and down did not phase me. I needed the Race Calendar and that was simply the be-all/ end-all. Of course the huge challenges were family and work pressures and didn’t dare think of illness or injury.
As soon as Calendar was received, I assiduously marked on the Championship races, selection races and internationals. Then I’d ‘back off’ to ensure I had a wee plan to prep myself properly for the 2-3 weeks before each ‘key date = race’. I plugged in classic races whenever I thought they’d help me prepare, or races that I loved and did not want to miss.
Normally for me first race was likely to be Carnethy, mid February (high class, early season classic, very tough ‘medium’ with a huge field and many top class runners [earlier years, from the home nations, in Good numbers!]
My planning focused on the races as Short, Medium or Long.. ‘what could I do to be in best form?’
Shorts are intense and quick. Full blast, needed to have quick legs and good heart lung capacity!
Mediums more about stamina and strategy.. ‘how could I skim an advantage?’ … did I need food or drink?
Longs… big endurance and on the move eat and drink strategy, and possibly mapwork.
So as I planned forward I’d aim to be neither tired nor hurting (muscle shock from descending too hard etc) and nor stale.
I wanted to go at the races confident and fit, and smart… and properly hydrated and carbo-loaded (to me very important at long races). On the critical events I wanted to go in ‘hungry for a race and a good result’!! So I could purposely starve myself of competition to be hungry (but of course I always ‘feared’ being not race-fit! and what my peers were achieving. I rationalised that some could race very regularly and pretty well cope with anything, but I had too many other things to address, and also did get stale, jaded or lost enthusiasm if overloaded. So limited diet and high interest had to be the formula.
My calendar covered about a dozen top level races and another 4,6 or 8 less critical … but part of ‘the plan’…
You’ll note the mid February kick off, but Championship races might not come in until April-May and then tip into a full-on, very tight, week on week calendar….so I had to think how to gap Carnethy to the next ‘key event’ and plan in prep races ( I had to get and keep ‘race fit’).
My training was pretty well week on week as already said, and I balanced speed work, hill reps, sustained endurance and also ‘longs’ … if I got ill (virus, colds) or injured, I had to keep smart, think the wee changes through and get back in the groove, not too soon or too overloaded and end up perpetuating the issues. A key was to never panic, nor compound things by stressing (not easy if big events were looming!) and at times I simply felt, ca’ canny and see what comes..
So review the calendar plan and my ‘form’ almost continuously . I also never dwelt on ‘weaker’ races… if I could pull a wee lesson fine, but always looking forward to the next one (couldn’t undo the last one!). As the year progressed, I had to keep focused on what was still possible and what was looking critical…. I quite often managed to get this focus right, and pretty well knew the strengths and weaknesses of my peers and what they were trying to achieve.
Amongst the stramash, I had usually one, or two, or three key competitors in focus (the year’s results were stacking up and the ‘medals order’ was forming.. it was simply ‘me against them’ in some sense). If there was a clear ‘winner’, then could I squeeze a silver or bronze…? Could I keep form and do well in a selection race for an international chance…? In selection it was very tight… first 2 guaranteed, next 2 (..4 per team) selected by a committee on past form and some discretionary considerations. No chance to slip up.
If selection was achieved this added a dose of ‘compromise’… MUST do best possible and support the team… hoping champs aspirations would not be compromised.
As the year worked forward, intensity and ‘excitement/ pressure’ grew but you couldn’t let this phase you.. step at a time, race at a time… focus focus focus.. stay healthy and strong, try to avoid injury. (at times, training runs were stressful and actually subject to taking on injuries, especially twisted ankles..).
If the international events and champs ‘finalised’ then the pressure was off excepting classic races with peer competitors were also ‘Important’ to me if I had done well or got a vest I was a target for being beaten. I was….
Wind down towards very end of season (Tinto, early November) . then a few weeks off possibly and relax and stay healthy… training runs became far less focused and done as per want and habit.
When’s the next year calendar coming out?
Watch running too lean, tired or stressed and try and get through the Winter strong and healthy.
Happy New Year. Where’s the Race Calendar?”
Any athlete with pretentions to ambition, looks out the race card – the Scottish Marathon club used to issue a small, in your pocket size card with the year’s fistures on it, most clubs did the same. But the fixture lists for the hill runners were much larger, more detailed and put the track and road runners versions to shame. Graham Tiso was the sponsor and for many years the ficture card was an A4 sized four page production that had a front page with some information, then the two inside pages were designed to be spread out on the table and had 13 columns spread before the runner. The one for 1989 is reproduced below – note that races were categorised as A, B or C races, and were also differentiated as Short, Medium or Long, hence the SM or ML or whatever at each race.
The calendar developed over the years and by 1998 it had a glossy cover and ran to 24 pages.
Easy reading it was not! It was however an essential for a sport as technical, as complicated and as potentially dangerous as hill running. Of course reading the above tables at the start of the season was not the only reading and/or studying the hill runners had to do. Most run at least a few races south of the border and so the Fell Runners version had to be taken into the calculations. Their booklet for the same period looked like this –
Smaller in size, it ran to 52 pages of which 26 were race details and information. It meant turning pages forward, and probably back again, or turning back and forth between the same two pages to help decide what race to add to the programme. But it was an add-on to the Scottish version as far as most were concerned. The whole process would probably get the runner a PhD in the 21st century.
How long did it take the athlete to work out the programme? An experienced runner would have a good idea of what the shape of his year would be and approaching the end of the year, in anticipation of the arrival of Tiso’s chart and the others, he’d have been thinking about what changes he’d like to make to last year’s plan. Then it was the same priority as other athletes with championship events being sorted out first, only more complicated because the domestic championship involved races at different distance – Short races were less than 45 minutes but could be as short as 20-25 minutes, mediums were between 45 minutes and an hour and 45 minutes with the longs being over 1 hour 45 minutes although in practice they were rarely less than 2 hours 15 minutes. The next priority for those at the top end was to add in the selection race for the international – for some this would maybe be the first priority. Finally there were the ‘wee’ events that might make useful additions in the gaps between the major objectives. The runner who knew what he was doing after several seasons would find it easier to organise then the newcomer or relatively inexperienced but it was still one of the most important decisions to be taken.
The calendars are above and now the races have to be chosen.
1. There had to be at least six races – 2 short, 2 medium and 2 long.
2. They had to spread so that there was enough recovery time between them.
3. They had to be easily accessible – you will note that the events were spread the length and breadth of Scotland – or somewhere that accommodation was available.
4. And, of course some races had plesant associations from previous years and others were no-nos. Denis’s completed calendar for 1988 is below.
There are nine races marked in red on the left – 3 S, 3 M and 3 L with the dates underlined. That would have been the final decision on what to run. Between the first and second columns in ink all the possible races were marked with ticks for the ‘possibles’ and small circles (wee letter o’s) marking the back-up races. ie races that he enjoyed or races that could be used to keep sharp or to fulfil some other training/racing purpose. Then at the end of the season, actual results were added. Note that, although he did not add the race to the year’s schedule when he made it out in December or January, the World Mountain Running Trial was added.
The work in 1988 was spot on: note the addition at the foot of the page – “World Cup in Keswick, 16/10/88.” You will note from the results extract below that it was a successful year with the attainment of second Scot in that race. The planning had paid off.
Denis Bell’s Pictures: 3
Many more to come, but his time we start with
a Haddington road race 322;
75, don’t know but it wis sair!
Sco Vest 17…Snowdonia 1988, 16th behind Dermot by 15 secs
With his friend, Adrian Bone
Below: two more of Adrian
Above: Adrian and Denis going up Llanberis Pass at about 5 or 6 miles
Below: “Adrian turning to go up the fierce climb at about 20-22 miles, to the old quarry, [equally steep run-off down to the Llanberis side and last couple on miles to finish…]
Having a ‘cuppa’ and sharing of experience.
Come and Try Day at Old Kilpatrick (above and below)
Group includes Denis, Christine Menhennet, Brian Potts and Ian Murphy
Brian Edridge, Christine Menhennet and Ian Murphy
Below: A few Cross-Country events (Kirkcaldy and maybe Falkirk or Borders?)
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On Ben MacDhui.
Haddington ELP Presentation with Yvonne Murray
Receiving his first first .veteran trophy
First Senior
A summer race
Some Thoughts on Hill Running Training
Denis Bell credits Eddie O’Neill with introducing him to the hill running which became the only sport for him. Many years later, Eddie (who now has his own excellent blog on the subject) asked Denis for his thoughts on training for hill running. Denis wrote them out longhand and they are reproduced here in that format for a variety of reasons, but read and inwardly digest the following.
There seems to be an emphasis on the specificity of training in the above and this is also one of the aspects of training for hill running that emerges from these two extracts for the further correspondence
(a) About 8-10 hours….
Possibly 30-40 minutes at lunchtime, and up to about 1-11/2 hours at night (towards the top end if I hadn’t run at lunchtime). Lunchtime session would typically be ‘quick’ or wee hill reps or running routes where there were steps involved (power up quick…. concentration descending them quickly)
I always had a day off every week.
I would always try not to stress myself (tired or frazzled muscles) going into a race. If it was a long race I’d try to load and hydrate as if for a marathon. If no racing for a week or two then get in longer runs…. but always mindful of a taper to try and get in there decently fresh and with good appetite…
On the hills it became better to think hours than distance, to allow for the very varied terrain.. my marathon times were about 75-80 mpw… in the hills it was more like ‘maybe 40mpw’ but about same time 8-10 hours of good commitment. I always trained ‘fast and quicker’ rather than ‘grind out the hours over bigger distances’ (largely to do with my personal approach but also family time constraints).
A key was reading the body mood and form… occasionally I could very quickly recover from anything I’d done (purple patch), but other times I just knew I had to throttle back and not go deep into the bank and leave myself short for racing…. I also would know what type of terrain and would sometimes load up descending practice to get the muscle groups best attuned…. All on the hoof Eddie with no formal structure, but the calendar always drove me to consider what my season would be like and I could foresee it all the 8 months ahead (March[Carnethy] to early November [Tinto]) and always thought about the week or two immediately ahead and specifically what that race would need. My calendar was between 16-24 races a year (champs, selection, internationals, and ‘classics’) so from maybe 32 race weekends you can see I was very selective. I needed to do well in every single one, for points and vests (and even the classics [often with an international ‘feel’]where you knew you were against the best over superb courses, so that was fellow peer ‘kudos’)
(b) There’s a wonderful track up a very good slope just at the bottom end of the Hopes Reservoir.
I used to run it and recall something like 11 minutes up and 5 mins down(full tilt, part of the grind to keep going, then immediately turn and thrash myself down. I was already fit of course. I think I used to do these in 3s…..
I’d say decently gentle slopes to start with, and be careful not to run down too hard and trash the legs. Push up the way and ensure you ‘go over the top’ then turn and relax coming down, as recovery or pushing if you want to get harder descending legs…
2 minutes sustained up enough to get going etc….
But if you are on big hills got to decide ‘sustain a run as much as poss, or do race-walking if a bit too steep (as you feel fit/ strong enough or not)
My local reps route was Fa’side Castle…..
I used to do downs and ups in ‘about 5m 15s’ and take the gap to the 1/2 minute to go again. So virtually no recovery bits…
Started with 3, then following week5, then following 8…. a wee campaign of building; these were again when I was fit, training for Snowdonia Marathon, before I became a hulk runner.
The most rewarding session ever was when I did 12 reps in just under the hour….I amazed myself, no recovery breaks at all, turn-go! …. I Remember at 3 ‘ow’…5 half way to target of 10 (good but really tough)… got to 8 ‘settled’ (I will do this) pushed on to10 well under the hour (wow, going great) thinking I’ll grab another 2 to 12, and did it!!! (tail end focus and probably a bit of Adrenalin rush…).
To roll up after good sessions of 5m10-5m15s then smash it all to do 12 sub 5s was amazing!!!
With full power on Eddie, I could run all the way up Ben Lomond ( standard route) and all the way the Ptarmigan route, excepting about 50-100 metres of the west facing crags (scrambling) . I was training Ben Lomond in less than 1h15m and 1.25 on the Ptarmigan route(fair bit more ascent)….
I needed to, I wanted to.. the fear of my competitors was strong ….
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Index to Hill Running Posts
Hill Running is as much an endurance Sport as are the longer road, track and cross-country disciplines. Indeed there has been a degree of overlap in recent years with established track and country runners like Bobby Quinn and Tommy Murray representing Scotland in the world mountain running championships, and the contribution by Don Ritchie has been noteworthy. Accordingly there are pages on this website dealing with the events, people and other features to do with the hill running scene . To make it easy to access these contributions, this index is to meet that need. Just click on the item and you will be taken there.
PEOPLE
Mel Edwards, Hill Runner Angela Mudge .Don Ritchie . Eddie Campbell . Pete Duffy, Bill Gauld . Phil, Colin, Jack , Penny, Bobby and Tommy . Sonia and Sue . Bobby Shields, Jim Shields, Brian Finlayson .
RACES
Lairig Ghru .The Ramsay Round . Stuc a Chroin Dumgoyne . Ben Nevis Race .
EVENTS, ETC
The Alternative Championships Training for Hill Running Cosmic Hillbashers . Lore of the Scottish Hill Races .
PHOTOGRAPHS
.Denis Bell’s Photographs 1 Denis Bell’s Photographs 2 . Denis Bell’s Photographs 3
John Hepburn’s Photographs 1 John Hepburn’s Photographs 2 John Hepburn’s Photographs 3
Angela Mudge’s Photographs 1 Angela Mudge’s Photographs 2 Angela Mudge’s Photographs 3
Denis Bell’s Pictures: 2
Some more of Denis’s pictures in the red and white of HELP, including some taken at Carnethy in the snow. But we start with Carnethy in the Snow!
Carnethy, 1993: 1st Veteran. Race winner: Neil Wilkinson, 1st Lady: Helen Diamantides
Below: Off West Lomond on the way to Victory!
An Early SHRA Champs: Alan Farningham, Andy Curtis, Robin Morris, Jim Stephenson, Dermot McGonigle and Denis
Below: Ian Davidson and John Wilkinson added Dermot’s Champs?
A Prize at Haddington
Snowdonia International
Scott Matheson on Berwick Law
More on N Berwick Law
Roger Blamire, Matt Ogston, Andy Kitchin?..cupface?,Andy Curtis, …?(just -off pic Alan Farningham and one of his boys)
Below: HELP at Neilson Park:
Roger Blamire, Matt Ogston, Andy Kitchin?..cupface?,Andy Curtis, …?(just -off pic Alan Farningham and one of his boys)
HELP at Neilson Park:
Up on the Campsies probably 10+ years ago (2010), so out of competition for some time but still running..might be on Earl’s Seat or thereabouts…
The Alternative Hill Racing Championship.
The hill running scene was like any other sport organised by a governing body of an internationally recognised sport in that there were championships where the fastest runners were first, second and third, and subsequently there were races within races to find the fastest Junior athletes and then further along the time line there were awards for the older competitors which again had their own championships as well. This was despite the fact that there would have been no championships at all – indeed no races at all – were it not for the vast bulk who ran week in, week out with never a thought of a prizes of any colour. Maybe there would be a handicap or spot prize here and there if the handicapper was kind to you. There was an ever increasing fixture list which just grew and grew. Look at these figures:
1985: 43 races; 1996: 77 races; 1999: 91 races; 2009: 174.
There was also the fact that with international competition and national championships in mind, the elite had to be catered for as well as the majority of athletes involved.
Denis had a look at this and came up with a novel approach to the championship scene. A championship where ‘all who will may enter’ regardless of their ability, standard or past record of success or non-success. He describes the situation thus.
The idea of splitting to 2 calendars was ‘classics’ for the Elite (AND anyone else) but a top level championship… and a general punters Calendar for all the other (less classic) races that are all over the country ( Scotland!) with more ‘local appeal’… of course that could be used for the ‘Alternative Champs’…??!!
So 3 or 4 things…
1. Keep the elites as good as they could be or become…
2. Focus on classics and also rotate to help any erosion concerns
3. Try and attract ‘visiting runners to brilliant events’
4. Allow top level management., and a team to manage a lower key ‘people’s events calendar’
We are lucky to have a fair bit of the correspondence of the first year of this championship and as far as possible the story of that inaugural alternative championship in 1996 will be told using that documentation. Read on …
The above letter dates 18th February, 1996,was distributed by Denis to all fellow hill-runners. The letter and the scheme were self-explanatory. The next steps would be to see if there was a big enough number of participants to make it viable; if there were, to notify the governing body, find someone to do the donkey work of organising and recording the performances – and if it were possible to find a sponsor. The entries came pouring in to Torrance and that answered the first point. Many of the replies contained suggestions such as – “How about downhill only races?” Some from friends and rivals involved scurrilous banter but most complimented him on a great idea. A small selection below.
There are in this life many who see a problem and live with it. Denis is of the school which believes that something can be done by anybody about anything. This Alternative Championship was his attempt to put a different slant as an alternative to give credit to runners who maybe never ever got into any top ten results. I remember sitting at the top of the drop down into Glen Ample in the Stuc a Chroin race where the runners had toiled up from Strathyre and one of the runners from my own club smiled as she passed and said that we supporters were part of the team. She was one of many who raced on the hills all year, who had to train long hours to be fit enough to do long, medium and short hills, pay her way every time and finish with a smile. There are many like that on the hill running scene.
There was a short article in ‘The Scottish Hill Runner’ of June 1996 which read:
“As you all know from the last newsletter I’ve been ‘off the wall’ a bit (what’s new?) and started to promote The Alternative Championship, some want to call it the ‘punter’s championship, and I’m pleased to report that to date 41 of you have responded to my offer…. THANKS. The deadline for entry to my database was 30/4/96, however I’ll still take latecomers for another couple of weeks … say 17/5/96. It looks like the biggest problem will be to get results from the race organisers … any RO’s please , please note, I’d be very grateful if you’d help get results to me.
I hope that you’ll all remember the very generous offer from Scottish Hill Runners that they will use some of your funds to sponsor the prizes, although I also know that the intention is to give all participants some kind of commemoration for the season’s races.
SO – RACE YOUR 20 RACES AND YOU’LL FIGURE IN THE RESULTS … IT’S ALL ABOUT ENDEAVOUR AND SUPPORT TO THE HARD WORK THE RACE ORGANISERS PUT IN FOR US. THEY DESERVE OUR PRESENCE.”
The letter having been sent out, entries received and the deadline extended, it was decided that all runners, regardless of position, were to receive a certificate. Note the comment above about a commemoration being donated by the SHR. Many races at the time awarded a certificate – Ben Nevis, Tom Scott, Mamore Hill, etc – and the appropriate certificate was designed.
For the other two issues noted above, it was clear right from the start that entries were to him and he had also volunteered to produce a spreadsheet with the results and keep it up to date. The scheme was ‘up and running’. All that was required now was the results rom all the races. In the days of typewritten results (handwritten on occasion) these were not always easy to obtain on the day. This meant sending out polite requests bbut Denis was up to the job –
After all that – and the race organisers were all very co-operative – at the end of the season, the spreadsheet was complete and one is reproduced below.
There were some problems in getting complete results sheets and again Denis went into letter writing mode, firing out polite epistles to race organisers and eventually getting the information that he needed to produce the final result. The results shown below indicate a wide range of participants and their categories. It really was a championship for the solid, hard running, week-in/week-out competitors who make the sport what it is.
It had been a success due to Denis’s efforts – as well as to the runners who entered, who paid their money, and supported the initiative.