Apart from the first three editions of this race, which were held in the cold of late December, the most recent 13 years have been on the last Wednesday of June. This being the case, once again for 2023 the weather lucked out and runners were treated to pretty much perfect conditions, with enough of a breeze on the upper slopes of the 638 metre Law to keep from overheating, and excellent visibility and ground conditions. There was no mercy though, as ever, from the relentless gradient.

The bulk of the field once again comprised Westerlands and Ochils members with a good scattering from other clubs present. Thankfully there were no injuries to report other than a slightly scraped arm and face from an enthusiastic descender. 

In the race itself Alistair Thornton (Ochil HR), the 2022 winner, was relegated to second place by a flying Sam Alexander (Westerlands), who led the way from early on. Third place, over 4 minutes back was George Phillips, also from Westerlands.

Sam Alexander
Alistair Thornton
George Phillips

For the women, Lizzie Knox (Carnethy), also a 2022 winner, was similarly in second place this year to Ella Foreman (Westerlands) who was about 90 seconds ahead. Hazel Dean (Ochil HR) had a fantastic run to take third place overall considering she is an F60, showing a whole host of younger female and male runners how to do it. 

Ella Foreman
Lizzie Knox
Hazel Dean

The other headline category winners this year were Ben Hukins (PH Racing Club) for M40, Justin Carter (Cambuslang) for M50, Micky Anderson (Westerlands) for M60, and Murdo Macleod (Westerlands) for M70.

V40 winners Ben Hukins
PH’s Hukins also secured 4th place overall

The corresponding ladies winners were Gaby MacBeth (Westerlands) for F40, Susan Lindsay (Ochil HR) for F50s, and Christine Myerscough (Kinross RR) for F60. 

Thanks to all runners for coming along, and to Scott Love, Andy Jannetta, and Malcolm Hammond (all PH Racing Club) for their invaluable assistance on the night.

Lots of photos and videos were taken by various folk, including Barbara MacLeod (Westerlands), Andy Jannetta and Gordon Donnachie, whose photos have been used in this report. Hopefully you spot yourself looking good. 

Full results can be found here.