Muckle Toon New Years Day Whisky Run

This event has been held Annually on New Years Day for the last 23 years.
Runners (and Walkers) are mainly from Langholm (the muckle toon) and near by towns but have been known to travel further to run the 8.5 mile course through beautiful countryside.

Last years event attracted 62 walkers and runners and the fastest time winner of the bottle of whisky was in 57 minutes, 27 seconds. The course record is 46 minutes, 49 seconds.

This years results: Only one runner got inside the hour, the winner in 58 mins 30 secs. second equal did it in 1 hr 5 mins. Fourth (and first female) finished in 1 hr 8 mins. In total 46 runners and walkers took part.

MY Story
Woke up feeling good. A quick look out the window I saw a covering of snow. Even the 30 minute drive on snowy roads didn’t put me off, I was looking forward to this. Once at Langholm I found the starting area and was quite surprised to see other runners, even if it was only 5. A few more arrived and we wished each other a happy new year. The others asked who I was and was I from Langholm. Obviously wondering who this fit looking guy was :rolleyes:. I asked how does this work, and the answer came, “you time yourself”. The aim is to finish for 11 am, some walkers had already set off.

A group of women were raring to go and I set off with them, recognizing a few talented faces. I soon realized they weren’t going fast enough so I picked up the pace. However I slowed when I realized I didn’t know where I was going and there were no marshals, mile markers etc. A girl shouted to me to keep going so I took off like a hare .

I passed two walkers then at a fork in the road I took the wrong road and run for another 1.5 miles before realizing my error so turned back adding at least 3 miles to my morning. I ended up running off road unsure if I was on route, so decided to give up and run back home the way I’d came. Fortunately I met another runner who assured me we were on the right path and he had started late. So we ran together as I memorized the route for next new year 2011. Also we both slipped painfully as did most going by the slip tracks.

At the finish no-one was waiting as it was half past 11. I thanked my good friend (who’s watch stopped at 1:18, mines said 1:54) and drove home bruised but happy.

Note about the above picture:
The photo was taken at Gretna to give some idea of conditions, actually snow was much thicker at Langholm on the first January.

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