The Breweries ...

The Two Breweries Hill Race is one of my favourite events.

Starting at Traquair House / Brewery the route covers "roughly" 18 miles and 4,800ft of climbing over to the finish at Broughton Brewery. Back in the day when the choice of beer in Scotland was “Heavy or Lager”, Broughton were years ahead of the current craft brewery industry offering high quality ale ...something that is close to ma heart !

Peter getting the Race ready !

With Katie having a big bag of ultra-marathon experience I was confident an “A” long category was well within her capability but we agreed to run together since the route choice and navigation can be challenging at times. We also had Momma Hall her usual cheerleading role!

Race started and the usual mad dash up the lawn and onto the tarmac. I assured Katie there was plenty time for heroics later and we kept a sensible pace as we climbed over Grieston Hill, Orchard Rig and Birkscairn Hill. Glad to be through the first cut off, we started down the track heading north before I jumped off to the left to start the awkward descent. It was about this time a minor domestic broke out with Katie – turns out ultra-runner types are more used to being told exactly where the route goes ! After a short “discussion” bliss returned and we were soon down in Glensax.

Clearly I was too happy and Katie was soon chatting to a lass called Angie who seemed to have a lot in common in terms of suffering. We were also joined by fellow Westies Steph and Lizzy on the climb up to Hudleshope Heights.

Thankfully we caught the line across the traverse to the low point on the ridge between Broom Hill and Stob Law and another potential domestic was avoided …jist !

By now our little band of runner had grown to number five with fellow Westies Steph and Lizzie joining us. A very social ascent of Stob Law and we were on the gorgeous run down to the road and crucial cut off at Glenrath Farm. As we approached (a little outside time) I looked up at ma pal Sharon who was marshalling – she was offering hugs, water and food in equal quantity so we didn't ask any questions about being timed out and quickly kept moving. 

Round the corner things slowed a bit …to a walk and we started the climb up towards Whitelaw Hill. Lizzy was now a fair bit ahead and doing well. I was asked about the next section and commented about the steepness of the climb up through the fire break. With the first super short climb up onto the track over either Katie or Angie noted it wasn’t too bad and I didn’t have the heart or confidence to tell them it was still to come. When it did the language deteriorated to that more commonly heard around ports by sailor types …which cheered me up a lot !

Top of the fire break and more shouts and hugs from Westies who were marshalling and we continued along the route briefly discussing drunken tattoos and enjoying a wee tot of rum. Fair play to the girls, the descent down to the road was at a fair pace. Just approaching the bridge and the road section to Stobo I noticed something in the water – thankfully, stopped in time to see it was an otter ! The girls did the “oooh and aaah” thing …and once the otter caught on to the fact it was being watched promptly disappeared. A tremendous moment of timing for sure !

If the wheels were going to come off, it was up through Stobo. Steph seemed to have a second wind and it was back to the wee trio approaching the mighty Trahenna. I opted for the fabled line which makes the approach easy and whilst not sure if it did, it felt easier than the direct line across from the path.

By now, the girls attention had been pretty much to curse me and blame me for every tussock and the steepness of the slope. I tried some motivational shouts but they just swore back. Thankfully the Moffat MRT who were providing safety coverage had more luck and the summit appeared on the horizon - “ONLY” a wee run down to the village and the finish line. Based on the descent pace at Whitelaw, I thought it good to push on and enjoy a strong finish. At the bottom of Trahenna I turned round expecting the girls to be right behind me …but there weren’t. No beard was going to dictate pretty much anything, I sighed and finally accepted it.

That said, we crossed the line not only smiling but hand in hand …a braw day out. Post race recovery was at the ceilidh where beers and chat were enjoyed as well as some spinning around the floor. 

#brawtimes fir reals

The Breweries will always be a special race to me and over that last beer, it was good to remember all the wonderful folks I’ve shared that with over the years …

Congrats to all who ran and special shout out to Katie and Angie for company, laughs and creating a whole new race experience. Wonder how they’ll do at Tinto !

Trahenna from the bottom