Whilst many Haries are taking a break, grinding it out on them summer jobs or living that chill life, or the unlucky few revising again for resits (me 😢). There have been some Haries jetting off to perform elsewhere, cuz apparently there are better running locations in the world other than Edinburgh…?!? Shocked? Me too, however, I’m unshocked by how well they have done in their races although it was only Darko repping that glorious Haries Vest #loyal

To start the with Jacob Adkin, our former Kit Secretary continued his great running form for Team Salomon as he competed at Neirivue-Moleson, Switzerland where he locked out the top 3 with fellow Scottish hill runners Robbie Simspon[1] & Andrew Douglas [2], claiming his first podium position post-university retirement (he graduated yesterday, congrats Jacob). He then also went on to do the Salomon Vertical Kilometre where he established a fantastic lead to finish first in 34:46, which I belive has beat Killian Jorent’s course record? Although I couldn’t find out myself… Amazing result from Jacob and nous félicitons Jacob pour cet énorme exploit et lui souhaitons bonne chance pour l’avenir! Allez Pablo !!!

Next  Race in Chamonix was the Mont Blanc Marathon, where Darko Perovic (the man, the myth, the legend) had a great time racing alongside with his brother after what seemed a bit of a dare to do this unforgiving course. Finished and I can say that he is alive and well and back home after enjoying the Allurz Coast after his race. I asked Darko if I could get a race report from him personally and he gave me a big long report, so I’ll leave you to read that at the bottom of this report if you want to know how Darko got on!

Word on the street is that Will Peppercorn now needs to find a new career as Jacob was helping film the live stream of the marathon on Sunday. With some people on the stream calling Jacob and the rest of the crew “machines” and “heroes”. Getting them sick camera angles, however, none of the shots were of Darko! C’mon Jacob! What’s that about?!

Finally but by at all no means least in sunny Macedonia where the European Hill Running Championships were taking place. Anna Macfadyen racing not in Haries colors but instead a GB vest (Haries vest is still better) crossed the finish line to take an incredible 2nd position!! This adds to Anna’s increasing amount of medals for this year already, even helping to get the GB team for a team Silver medal! We are sure that her performances will only improve with the future looking very good for Anna and our ever improving [haries] female team! 

How Anna put it to me the day after the race – I wasn’t expecting to medal at all before or during the race but about halfway down the hill on the way back I realised I was catching up and managed to get into silver just before the end which was a big surprise, I thought I’d be really slow on the downhill and I can hardly walk today though but it’s worth it!

I will now leave you with Darko’s piece and hope everyone enjoys’s this great weather we’ve got!

So a summary!

An incredible running weekend in the Alps. Chamonix was all about running for a week. It was so nice seeing Jacob after a while. I was very happy finding out that he will compete in a vertical kilometer race, and my brother Boris and me decided to climb somewhere around 600 meters altitude above the starting line to wait for Jacob and cheer for him.

The course was very steep and rocky, and many runners running up this insane hill were struggling badly. After a while, a bit below us, we suddenly noticed a guy easily running up the zig zag brutal course. Although I couldn’t yet recognize the face, I knew that must have been Jacob. Soon he flew next to us, and we gave our best to cheer this crazy mountain beast. It’s nice seeing your Haries running buddy again, especially when he is rocking a race like Pablo did.

As the race was a time trial start (one runner starting at a time), we were not sure who the winner would be but we had a good feeling after seeing his performance. By the time we slowly got back down to Chamonix, Jacob was already up on the stage receiving the winner’s prize! Fantastic effort man! Super proud of you!

Regarding our race, we started at 7 am, and the first 10km were very good and not particularly tough. Tiny and medium hills, the sun was still not up, a lot of people cheering, especially cool and authentic was cheering by the cowbells. After the 10th kilometer, the sun already started making the race harder, but by 18th kilometer, we already had two really good refreshments points and still felt very fresh and good.

And then the insane part starts. First massive hill awaited, measuring more than 1000 meters of height difference. A lot of power hiking awaited, but as much as we struggled, as much as the spectacular views rewarded us back.

After finally reaching the first peak, we thought that downhill would be easier and that we could do some proper speedy running on our way down. Unfortunately, the terrain was very narrow, rocky and particularly technical, which made going down equally difficult as going up. By that time sun was already burning us, reaching its daily maximum of 30 degrees. Combination of such a hot day with this big effort made us drink 9 liters of water each during the race.

Overall, the race didn’t have enough refreshment points (only 6 on the entire course). Luckily here and there we found water sources and even a waterfall that literally saved us.

As the race was continuing, it did get tougher and tougher, and we were getting only more exhausted, but the views became only more spectacular, which made us forget about the pain and carry on.

In the last bits, we even had the crazy experience of running on snow on 1st of July. That was quite cool!

Eventually, we arrived at the finish line after long 8 hours and 40 minutes (moving time was 7h 17 mins – thus we were resting for 1h and 23 mins, quite long rest, but vital)!

The relief and joy of crossing the finish line of such a tough race were incomparable to any other race finish.

Receiving the finishers medal at the peak overlooking Mont Blanc and seeing paragliders flying around gave the special touch to this beautiful race.

My warmest recommendation to all the Haries to do this or one of the other races in Chamonix. Don’t worry, you can choose between 10km, 23km 42km, and if you’re really crazy 90km. Cheers!