Billy on the 2nd leg - photo courtesy of Scottish Hill Runners

I took a squad of five other runners up to Fife on the east coast of Scotland at the weekend for the Devils Burden Relay race.

The race consists of 31km, split into four legs over the Lomond hills. The 1st & 3rd run in pairs and 2nd & 4th are single legs. Along the way there are eleven check points spread across the various legs so some degree of navigation is required. We set off the two 17 year-olds on the 1st leg, young Rory Anderson & Reece Taylor (both City of Edinburgh runners - Rory won the 2007 Thropton Show Race). I ran the 2nd leg in NFR colours, then Keith Murray & Kenny Short (Teviotdale Harriers) on the 3rd leg. Our secret weapon on the 4th leg was Craig Grieve (also of Teviotdale), who picked up 5 places on his leg to bring us home in the top ten to the finish in Falkland Square. We completed the course in 2hrs 49min finishing in 9th place out of 115 teams under the team name of the Teri Trailblazers (for those who are interested where the name comes from, if you are born within the boundaries of my home town of Hawick you are known as a Teri).

Results and pictures can be found on the Scottish Hill Runners' website. A good race, very well organized by Fife AC. The only thing you have to do is take your own car to all the change-overs, one to bear in mind for next year if any NFRs fancy a weekend in Scotland.

Billy Fraser