One of Rob Burrow’s famous quotes is “I don’t have a bucket list because I’ve had such a wonderful life.”
Another is “I was quite often told I was too small to play rugby, but I always liked the adversity and to prove people wrong.”
Inspired by Rob, on the morning of the Strathearn Marathon, Fiona Cushnaghan put aside the thought of pulling out, got out of bed, packed her bag and headed off to Crieff to compete in her 26th Marathon.
The Strathearn Marathon, held in beautiful Perthshire, is one of the stand-out events in the Scottish running calendar in one of the best areas in Scotland for running. The race is organised by Strathearn Harriers.
The race is well established as the friendliest Scottish marathon.
The route follows predominantly quiet B roads in Strathearn, starting and finishing at the Cultybraggan Camp just outside Comrie, with about 1500 feet of ascent.
After a lap of the camp, runners go initially south west up Glen Artney before a turn back to the east and then south on the B827 towards Braco. This stretch of the route gets up to a height of nearly 800ft. Just after the 10 mile mark, the route joins the A822 north for a short stretch before carrying on along the route of the old Roman road, and then joining quiet back roads into the southern edges of Crieff. At the 18.5 mile mark, the route turns west along the South Crieff Road to Comrie, before returning to Cultybraggan.
Fiona had already run the race six years ago in 4 hours and 54 minutes and described it as the toughest marathon she had ever run.
In hot, humid conditions this year, Fiona managed “5 hours and 7 pesky seconds!”
Bearing in mind this was her second marathon in 9 weeks, it was an excellent performance.
In her previous marathon, which was part of Running Development Scotland’s 105 Track Series, Fiona finished in second place.
The Series consisted of a 10k, a half marathon and a full marathon!
So with 26 marathons now in the bag, do we have any takers on answering Fiona’s famous catch phrase “Will it be the last?” …
See Rob Burrow’s book “Too Many Reasons to Live”.
Results for the Strathearn Marathon can be viewed here.
Results for the Track Series marathon can be viewed here.
