Cupar 5 Mile Road Race, 12th March 2016

When you're desperate to race, there are few limits as to where you will travel to satisfy the desire. With the Inter Counties Cross Country ruled out for this year, I looked closer to home. I'm not a fan of Parkruns and, while I did run the Balloch to Clydebank Half Marathon many years ago, the prospect of the 13.1 miles distance and a 9am race start on a Sunday (yikes) did not appeal. Saturday had the Cupar 5 Mile Road Race with a 3pm start. This meant I could have a lie in and a fry up for breakfast and still have plenty time to get there. Much more up my street. I'd been to Cupar once, back in 2006, so decided a return to the Kingdom of Fife was the preferred option. A 140 odd miles round trip is a long one to race 5 miles but when the desire is there, it's definitely there.

After setting off at 12 noon, crossing the Forth Road and some never ending greenery in Fife and Perth and Kinross, my Dad and I pulled up at Cupar's YMCA on Bonnygate around 1 hour 45 minutes later. In a haze of optimism, I'd entered the race in advance so had a quick task of collecting my number then finding the race start on a country road half a mile away. The route is an easy to follow 2.5 miles out then the same back. I jogged the first 1.5 miles, making a mental note to burst for home when I came to "Mary's Farm" close to the finish. So the sign said it was called anyway. I recall from a previous visit that a horse escaped and joined in the latter stages of the race. I spotted a horse out grazing. Whether it happened to be the same one I cannot confirm.

I wasn't the only Cambuslang Harrier present with a freshly back from Kenya Alistair Campbell plus Frank McGowan joining me. We were though the only runners from a club outside the east of Scotland. I also renewed acquaintances with an old uni friend Rory Scott who lined up for the host club. The pre-race briefing could be summed up by stay to the left, turn at the cone, beware stray animals.

From the off, I tried to ease my way in and, to my surprise, soon found myself in front. I wasn't for turning the chance down so strode out, enjoying dictating the pace. That said, I wasn't too disheartened when Dougie Selman (Corstorphine) and Bryan Mackie (Edinburgh) joined me to form a leading group of 3. We exchanged positions up to the turning point. I felt relaxed and (relatively) comfortable as we reached halfway and the turn. I allowed Dougie and Bryan to negotiate the cone before me but soon rejoined them.

On the way out, we had encountered a steep descent. There were no mile markers but I guessed the climb would be around the 3 mile mark. As we negotiated it, I attempted to inject some pace in an effort to pull away. I also worked hard off the top of the hill. I succeeded in splitting the group with Bryan dropping a few yards behind. Dougie however recovered quicker from the climb and slowly opened a gap. He also upped the tempo because I could feel myself suddenly working harder. I kept working to both hold position and possibly close down the leader.

The return journey felt very long with Mary's Farm seeming to never come. Finally there it was.

Unimpeded by horses or any other creatures, I kept it going to the finish to take 2nd place, expecting a time of around 26 minutes. My watch however showed 24:49, 5 seconds outside my best time for 5 miles and streets ahead of my Cupar time in 2006. Definitely one of those runs which was a lot faster than it felt. Superb! Dougie won the race in 24:37, Bryan took 3rd in 24:57, Alistair was 5th in 26:13 and Frank claimed 8th and leading over 40 in 27:17. Last but not least, Rory finished 16th in 28:35.

Apparently by leaving before the post race spread last time, I had missed the best part of the day. Never one to pass up anything free, I had a warm down jog through the town then reported back to the YMCA for tea, home baking and some socialising before heading in a westerly direction again to get home before dark.

This race is one of many hosted by Fife AC in a part of the country which seems to be a hot bed of running few of us in the west appreciate. The race results are here where you can also find a list of Fife AC organised races. See you at one sometime.