One of the best little races in Scotland. If its not on your bucket list it should be .
The Black Rock 5 race is an event people in East and Central Scotland look forward to every year.
Like many events, with the pandemic, it has had an enforced hiatus since 2019.
It made a very welcome return recently on May 27th and it is fair to say it was worth the wait.
So what is that compels almost a 1000 runners to swell the population of around 3,000 of the little Fife village, for a few hours.
A Little History
I guess every village.town and city has their “go to” running route. This could be the park, the local riverbank or hill. In Kinghorn’s case, it seems to be the run out over the beach at low tide to the Black Rock. Almost covered and surrounded by water at high tide, but well visible and possible to run around at low tide. All it then needs is a driving force, in the shape of a certain John McKay and his team, to turn it into an event to be celebrated and embraced by the local community each year.
The race was first held in 1987 as a local village affair with a magnificent 66 finishers. Word soon spread and runners from the nearby ”Big Cities” of Edinburgh, Dundee, even Glasgow were pencilling it in their diaries as a must do race.
The event grew and grew and pre pandemic most years the 1200 allocated places were soon snapped up in one of the online entry system “Entry Central’s” annual hot ticket events. The event generally selling out within hours of its launch.
What makes it so special?
It’s different and it’s always on a Friday so there is a definite “heading into the weekend” feel about it .
The course at approximately 4.3 miles (7 km) is challenging enough as a good honest race for the local club runners and regular recreational runners but short and achievable enough for absolute beginners in the local community to set as a goal to get fit for each year with the lengthening evenings.
It has to be said the variation in the course and the surprise each year of what exactly awaits you at the rock gives a wonderful sense of nervous anticipation.
The Course
From the start, under the east coast railway arches, you have the fun of running en masse the km or so from the start, down to the beach with all the excitement of little children rushing down to the seaside.
Then you have the few metres hard going in the soft sand above the natural tide line before you get onto the wide expanse of Pettycur Bay and the mile or so across the sand to the famous Black Rock. Not any old sand by the way but “pitted with ripples left by the recent outgoing tide” kind of sand!
This, of course, makes for challenging going and life affirming decisions of whether to run full foot plant and have the aded resistance of sinking into the sand with each step. The alternative is going all out, up on your toes, fore foot running to achieve less resistance from the sand but increased work for the calfs and achilles!! Or at least that is how it starts out. Like an eyeballs out 400metres form usually fades for many as the race progresses!
The leaders have the added responsibility of aiming for the shortest line across the sand. For as human nature dictates everyone else will follow!! “Head for the middle arch of the Forth Rail Bridge” is the advice race director John McKay gives. As a local Kinghorn man, who has run out and around the rock many times, he should know.
Then you reach the rock!
You hear the familiar sound before you see that a lone piper has walked out to greet you with a “swirl of the pipes”. Across the beach you have of course, been running through the inevitable shallow pools, hollowed out by outgoing tide. However before you know it, you are running in ever deepening water around the rock. How deep varies each year.
How is race date decided?
One unique feature of the event is that tide times always dictate the date of the race.
Local rumour has it, once the event tidy up has concluded each year, John’s wife doesn’t allow him to open the race file until the following January the First .
The annual tide times are then studied to give a date when the tide is low enough to allow runners to safely get around the rock, but not so low that there isn’t a good level water to splash through! That for many is the absolute high point of the race. Each year is different, but ankle deep water is guaranteed, half way up your calves is common and some years up to your knees.
Unverifiable stories from veterans of the event, not unlike those stories of the huge fish that got away, recall the year they swear they were waist deep in water going round the rock.
Like an ice bath
As all experienced beach paddlers know, on entering the sea you get a short sharp shock with the difference of temperature that seeps into your bones by the time you have covered the short 200 metre stretch. “A natural invigorating ice bath” is one of the diplomatic descriptions one hears .
Once round the rock it’s “plot a course” as the Starship Enterprise crew would say, back across the still, very wet rippled sand to the village. Experienced runners have an eye ahead for spotting the firmer or softer going. You may have to make the all important mid race decision of deciding to deviate slightly, in the hope of finding firmer ground and gaining a few seconds. The alternative is just keep fixed on the absolute shortest route to the slip way back up from the beach, to the safe haven of tarmac for the final uphill kilometre back to the finish .
The sting in the tail at the finish
After the steady climb up from the beach, you make the rewarding right turn downhill past the station back to the where you started from. First timers who have not fully gone over the course, to their great dismay, on reaching the bottom of the hill realise that is not the actual finish. That lies almost 400metres away at the top of a pesky sharp incline. If you have left something in the tank, that results in a charge upwards to the finish. or a huge fade and the ignominy of several runners surging past you up that final hill if you have timed it wrong.
However you finish, you have the pleasure of receiving your hard earned bottle of beer or water and a banana, whichever goes down best after a race. The inevitable post race sharing of experiences of how hard or easy your race was follows, as 1000 runners spread out and mingle around the streets of the village.
Hungry ones make a bee line for the local chippy to get ahead and avoid the long queue that quickly develops.
Prize giving along with further refreshment at the Harbour View follows to round off a great event.
Fastest times
The 2022 event was won by Jamie Donald of Dundee Hawkhill in 22:55 with first lady Kirstin Maxwell from Corstorphine 28:38
Although, very much an all inclusive community event welcoming all standards, for the stat geeks, the course records are quite useful being held by Ian Harkness for the men in 22:03 and Morag Millar for the women in 25:25.
Rumour has it that the year Harkness ran the mens record, the vagaries of the tidal currents meant that the beach was almost ripple free and firm, compared with other years making the going easier!
Scotland and GB international Jamie Crowe came within an agonising 2 seconds when running 22:05 in 2019.
The community spirit
While first and foremost Race supremo John McKay aims to put on a great and safe race each year, the success of the “not for profit event” means several thousand pounds are given to worthy local causes each year. All of these are detailed at the race web site along with much other event info and history http://www.blackrock5.org
Follow the race on their social channels to ensure you know the date of next year’s race when it is announced.
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