The Ben Sheann Hill Race Wednesday 11th June 2014

What better way to spend an hour than a trip up Ben Sheann on a beautiful summers evening in June. You can do a full days work, drive to Strathyre, see some mates, run up Ben Sheann and down again, pick up your prize, sup a well deserved ale or vino, and head home. And ... it's still light, so if these light summers evenings are keeping you awake, this is the perfect antedote.

Registration is from 18:00 at the Inn and Bistro Strathyre till 19:15, then a wander up to the starting line a short walk away. The klaxon, starting pistol or whatever we're using this year will signal the start of the race at 19:30.

Entry forms will be available at Registration, or you can save some hassle by downloading from here and filling it in before you get to Registration. Great value at £4 for over 18s, and £1 for under 18s. Over 90s can go free.

The Stuc a' Chroin 5000 Hill Race Sat 3rd May 2014

Weather conditions were pretty good in our 26th year - an improvement on last year wouldn't have been difficult and those of you that ran it last year were very appreciative of that! We welcome you back and are glad that you weren't put off. What you also found was our tightening up of procedures and you were all patient and happy to comply and many of you were appreciative of the move.

We also welcome a lot of new faces and this contributed to a good turnout of 163 runners.

Results

Sun 4th May - interim full results & placings

The results are in, and the winner for the second time in 3 years was Prasad Prasad (Squadra Porcini) with a time of 2:13:03 Dan Gay was 2nd (Hunters Bog Trotters) on 2:20:11 and Paul Faulkner (Carnethy) on 2:20:11 was 3rd and 1st Male Vet 40+

For the females, and bringing in the second half of the Prasad double act was Elke Prasad (Squadra Porcini) 2:45:28, 2nd was Diane Baume 2:47:56 (Lochaber) and Morag McClelland (Hunters Bog Trotters) 2:49:31

Thanks to all runners for running the race and for your patience, compliance, great sporting behaviour and goodwill.

Thanks to the marshals for marking the course, carrying up the water, the treats for the runners, and your words of encouragement. You might not hear it up the mountain always, but down at base we receive many appreciative comments as to how much you do help.

For those marshalling or involved in field setup at base, involved with registration, 'stop & search' activities, time-keeping and recording, first aid, the Therapy Room for the massages, the soup fetchers and distributers, those putting up and taking down marquees, photographers and all other contributers, thanks and great job done, and the field nearly clear in record time.

Thanks to Glen Ample Estate for letting us run the race over their land, and the forestry commission for the same, and for all our other supporters who help in whatever way they can.

Many thanks to the Inn and staff for their support throughout the year, looking after us and hosting all the events ...

... and of course we're so appreciative of all our sponsors who help to make this a successful, organised and generous race.

The Stuc a' Chroin 5000 Hill Race

2013 saw the Stuc a' Chroin 5000 race in its 25th year and in commemoration of what is now a popular race in the calendar, last year it was the 2013 scottishathletics Senior Championship event and one of two of the Scottish Hill Runners Championship (Long) series.

The race is run annually on the Saturday before May Day Bank Holiday Monday. This year, it falls on May the 3rd. Called the Stuc a' Chroin 5000 because of its approximate total climb (in feet!), the race is 22k long and the course record is 1:59:22 for the males, and 2:22:47 for the females. Organised under British Athletic Rules and classed as a Category A Long Hill race, in its 21st Anniversary, it was a British Championship event with over 300 runners.

Usually blessed with good weather, its timing at the beginning of May does mean that there may be a variety of conditions - consult the forecast before your journey ... and don't forget the midge repellant as well as your mandatory equipment. There will be an up-to-date forecast of local conditions right up to the start on this web site in the Stop Press section opposite.

You can register in the Inn at Strathyre Hotel at the South end of the village from 10:30am - 12:30pm, admission fee is £7. The race is well marked all the way to the top; (note that there are no maps available); stewards and water stations are aplenty and well supported by the local community. Renowned for its plentiful supply of water all along its 22k (courtesy of our new sponsors, ASDA and Bookers), jelly babies and chocolate, rumours that some runners actually put on weight during the race are to be treated with caution! Even though our new sponsors, Lomond Distilleries, are giving a bottle of spirits to the top 3 runners in each category, they drew the line at dispensing whisky at the water stops!

Some of the runners comments from the last couple of years

".. privilege of enjoying a well-supported hill race in stunning scenery and immaculate weather ... Many thanks to the organisers of this epic hill run which was well-organised and well-supported. We will definitely be back next year."

"Brilliant views and perfect weather conditions for this (my favourite) hill race."

"Stuc is a great race and is really well supported, I think I managed to eat about a full bag of Jelly Babies and half a bag of Fruit Pastilles dished out by the numerous marshalls."

"Thanks for a great race , the marshalling and organisation was first class as usual and along with the weather made it a great day !"

"despite the torture of running this course again it's still one of my favourite events on the hill race calendar."

"the best organised and marshaled race I've been to" (we did check, they had been on more than one)

Note that this year (2014), the prizegiving will take place on the field. In case of inclement weather we are setting up an extra Marquee

There is theThe Village Shop where some sandwiches and groceries can be bought. The Broch cafe and the Inn both serve good food.

One word of warning though - traffic through this popular tourist area, and especially Callander (A84 Stirling - Strathyre ) can be very busy on Bank Holidays so please allow an extra 30 - 60 minutes to pass through. Other routes to Strathyre are available.

The race starts at 1300 hrs. Click here to open the 2014 Registration Form in MS Word format. Click here to open the 2014 Registration Form in PDF format

We look forward to seeing you this year.