Devils Foot Half Marathon, Melrose
Report by Jackie Scott
I travelled back to my home town of Melrose in the Scottish Borders for the Trail Outlaws Devils Foot Half Marathon. The route from Lauder to Melrose was along the undulating Southern Upland Way towards Gattonside in warm conditions. I then followed the beautiful River Tweed towards the Melrose Chain Bridge where I crossed the river and continued on to the small village of Newstead with the looming Eildon Hills beyond.
The climb from Newstead was tough with the recent rain making that section of the hill very muddy. Family awaited with moral support which was an added bonus and much appreciated as fatigue was setting in. As an added bit of fun, the paths up the Eildon itself were blocked with boulders for restoring the paths, so I had to climb over rock and heather.
Loosing all enthusiasm I decided to walk, but found myself completely exhausted and unable to continue. Deciding not to worry about my finish time and just getting round the route I stopped and rested half way up whilst watching others do the same.
I and the rest of the runners reached the summit whilst encouraging each other and glad to have persevered with gaining 1000ft in 0.5 mile. All that was left was a mile run downhill into Melrose to the finish line with waiting family in a time of 3 hours 15 minutes.