Notorious Night Series - The Mighty Deerstalker
Mighty Deerstalker 2009
Ross Hendry / 26.03.2009
It's March already and that means time again for me to take to the paths, bogs, rivers and woods of Innerleithen to run the Mighty Deerstalker. Detail Events' 5 and 10 kilometre (ish) event is now in its third year and we all know that good things come in threes and that the third time is both a charm and lucky. So did these ideals hold up for a run in the woods? Having run the previous races would I be able to improve my time now that I was familiar with the route?Arriving at the event village at magnificent Traquair House was an immediate improvement over last year's mud infestation. A spell of dry weather ensured that we weren't going to be sliding around on our feet (and wheels) quite so much this year. I was late to the proceedings so there was little space left to pitch my tent but we all cosied up together to create a cat's cradle of guy ropes in places.
The 500+ 5km racers were away before I got there and were being welcomed back from their adventures by an energetic announcer who welcomed many of the racers by name thanks to the wonders of tag technology. The new IPICO chips from FinishLine Chip Timing Systems have one definite improvement over the more traditional Sport Ident in that there's no need for punching at checkpoints. Clearly this leaves room for "creative route planning" but with an event like the Deerstalker, which is likely to see large crowds arriving at a checkpoint at once, it improves the flow.
As more of the 5km racers crossed the finish, they were quizzed to ensure that they'd had a good time and to see if they'd be returning next year. While all seemed answered in the positive for the first question I suspect a few of the participants may enjoy a more leisurely Saturday next year. Time is a great healer though and once the aches and pains subside I'm sure thoughts will inevitably turn to bettering times and even stepping up to the longer event.
The dry terrain definitely made an improvement to the runner's times as Martin Gore made it back to the finish in 49:49, beating last year's winner by 6 minutes.See All Event Posts
