What some of the Heaven and Hell runners have said.
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I ran the 'Heaven and Hell' half-marathon for the first time tiday. I just wanted to say thank you for a lovely day (apart for the hill at mile 8) and fantastic organisation. Everyone was very friendly and thanks to all the encouraging marshalls along the way that kept me going. I'll be back!

Megan Dale

John Kynaston

Barry Paterson

I hope to be there again next year.

thanks again,

Davie Searil

Did the Perth Roadrunners "Heaven and Hell" half marathon. I suspect the clue was in the name..but I've never really been one for cryptic crosswords and the likes.

The race started about five minutes walk from Scone Airport and a large group of runners made their way to the start along the busy A94 in beautiful (albeit cold) early April sunshine. That was perhaps the last little bit of heaven we saw for a while - because most of the rest was pure hell...

Started off near the front with Ian and we started at quite a good pace. Indeed I noted at the 2 mile marker that we had just clocked a 5:59 mile and stated "Oh, oh. That's a bit too quick". Ian responded by telling me that I should banish negative thoughts from my head (it was therefore on the tip of my tongue to tell him, "OK I'm positive that we're too quick" - but I didn't).

Anyway between about 4 miles and six the route went in the "upwards" direction. But nothing that I couldn't manage. Then at six it went very steeply into the downwards... alarmingly so.

While I'm getting better at descending I'm still not as good as I should be and at this point Ian and a couple of other guys started pulling away... "sod it, let them I thought". I hadn't done a half in a while and I really just wanted to run my own race.

at the eight mile point we passed a couple of marshalls standing ringing cowbells. They were wearing little devil's horns and were standing by a sign that said "welcome to hell"...

"Hell" it must be said looked very much like a scaled down version of a Tour De France Alpine pass, but for runners rather than cyclists. Two miles and over 800 feet of climbing up a small narrow road with hairpin bends. Some people later told me that the scenery was really something. I wouldn't know, all I saw was the road in front of me and the steady drip, drip, drip of sweat falling from the peak of my cap. I just gritted my teeth, cursed the gods, and plodded on. The worst of trying to look round was seeing further down the road that some runners were gaining on you, while those in front didn't seem to be getting any closer (in reality, they weren't and they were, in that order).

When we got to the summit there were another couple of marshals with hallows on and a sign that read "hallelujah". Praise the lord indeed.

A fast three miles back to the end saw me in a bunch of other runners. A bloke from Aberdeen, a runner from "Steel City" (Sheffield I assume) and a bloke who was Polish and insisted on having his photo taken with us all at the end.

There was one cruel twist in the race. As you came into the end you could see for about half a mile in front that there was a crowd of people (you assumed it was the finish). It wasn't. You then had to go through this wee crowd, turn a sharp right and then the end was about another hundred metres from there.

After the run itself Perth lay on what must be the best spread of cakes and sandwiches I've ever seen at the end of a race. I especially enjoyed the little cakes that were individually decorated with little devils and angels!

Just before the prize giving Mr Rowland got called over by one of the organisers. It was clear he'd won something and I assumed it was a vets prize. My protestations to the organisers that "he's only 32!!" fell on deaf ears.. He was third overall.

Then came the best surprise of the day (for me). Second vet! I think I was about seventh or eighth overall, but my time of 1:25:44 was enough to get me second veterans prize...

A nice bottle of wine.. That went straight to Anne.

So a good weekend for the club. Andrew first in the Boundary race, me second at Heaven and Hell and Ian winning third overall in the same race. So, a sort of first, second, third. Sort of.

I would heartily recommend this race to anyone.
POSTED BY STUART AT 4/05/2009 08:17:00 PM

I'd heard loads of frightening stories about this race before I signed up but it was my only chance to fit a half into my marathon training so I decided to give it a go. I had a really good 18 miler last Sat so I decided to do my best and not to worry about getting a good time today, just to treat it as a chance to get another 13 training miles under my belt.

Registration was at Perth airport (yes Perth Airport ) and I arrived at 10:15 to pick up my number for the 11 o'clock start. Registration was well organised and there was a room to change in. Everyone was really friendly and lots of people chatted to me, mainly telling me how hard the course was We had to walk to the start which 10 mins away and it was quite windy so did get a bit chilly before the start.

It wasn't a big race, maybe 150 entrants so the field spread out quite quickly. We were running along narrow roads lined by gorse with cows and horses in the fields. I tried to keep things steady for the first half and tried to keep to 9 minute miles. The first 4 miles were hard work, I don't really know why, they were a mixture of gentle climbs, flat and downhill. I started to feel really good between miles 4 and 6 though and passed the 7 mile mark at just over an hour. Then it all went downhill.....literaly.

The next mile and a half was down a really quite steep hill, I have never run so far down hill before and it began to really hurt, I could feel my legs beginning to get shaky. Up to this point the Marshals had all been wearing halos, when I got the bottom there was a sign saying 'welcome to hell' and the marshals had horns not halos!!

The next 2 and half miles were solidly up hill, steep in places, sometimes not too steep but all very much up. It was horrendous. I'm ok at hills but after a mile or so I was really struggling. I ended up walking a good bit of it but so did a lot of other runners The organisers had put supportive signs on the fence posts at the side of the road which was a nice touch. When we finally crested the hill there was an amazing view of fields and mountains in the distance but by this point I was in too much pain to appreciate it.

My back was really aching by the time I got to the top of the hill and every stride jarred it worse. I knew that my time was going to be appalling but I was determined to at least keep going. The last 3 miles were mainly downhill or flat with only one more small hill which felt like Everest The last mile was so hard. I felt as though my legs were numb and I desperately wanted to sit down on the verge and cry, I managed to keep going and finished in 2:05, 7 minutes over my PB. I was really disappointed with my time but I know I am fitter than when I set my PB, the course just didn't suit me.

We got a cool Heaven and Hell bag with some food it in it. No medal though and the bag didn't have the year on it. We then had to walk half a mile back to the airport, it was really windy and very cold but when we got there there was a great tea set out for us. Loads of sandwiches and really nice homebaking.

This run has lovely views (oh and I forgot to mention the llamas on the way round!!), great marshalling and a fantastic tea but it is not PB friendly. Right now I don't feel like I'll do it again but who knows how I'll feel by next year. It is only £12 which is a lot cheaper than Edinburgh.