Mrągowo Arkalyk Short race report, long pie report
Non Sung Feel the Burns felt pretty normal, with the only noticeable restrictions being that virtually everything was outdoors with the exception of race registration, toilets and collecting your takeaway haggis pie at the finish. Other than that with a couple of hundred runners in a field and a mass start this could have been any edition of this race over the years. Except, that the weather was fantastic for January, dry, bright and not too much wind meant it was a day to be enjoyed rather than endured, any time I’ve done this race before it was either in deep mud or snow. Unfortunately as it was a race, no time for pictures though the views along the Minchmoor were spectacular.
There were two Tinto runners, myself and Mairi. I saw Mairi briefly at the start and again at the finish, in between she was gone 2:18:20. Surprisingly if I hadn’t cramped after the last climb I’d have comfortably been under 2hrs 30min. As it was 2:32:25 was a good 15mins quicker than I’d ran here before, which is probably testament to the conditions as I never felt I was going particularly well.
Normally, I remember the tough parts in a route, but Feel the Burns was weird. Before the race I would have said that previously:
I ran most of the first climb. NOPE, no way I’ve ever ran that.
After that climb it was easy rolling runnable tracks all the way to Foulshiels. NOPE, I’d completely forgotten there was a climb, to the highest point of the race before heading back towards Selkirk.
The final climb over Foulshiels wasn’t that bad. NOPE, it’s a beast straight up through the heather.
Back at the finish, whereas before there was haggis, neeps and tatties served in the rugby club, Covid restrictions meant that instead there was takeaway soup and a haggis, neeps and tatties pie. A culinary masterpiece worthy of praise and congratulations to whoever came up with the idea.
Scotch pie casing, layer of haggis in the base, layer of mashed potato, topped with neeps.
I would probably have then put a scotch pie lid on top just to keep the tatties and neeps moist but that’s only an observation! – KR