Bruce's Crown & Heart of Granite -  2026 Report - 11th April 2026

A successful weekend of racing with the Bruce's Crown and Heart of Granite races. Once again there were a few last minute panics the week before with the trackers "stuck" in Glasgow and various administration tasks still to0 be done but by Friday afternoon the admin was all done, the tents were up, a second lot of trackers were on their way via Penrith to us and the forecast had decided it was going to be fairly dry during the event, but rain like chuff on Friday and Saturday nights. So I spent a night listening to the wind and rain, while thinking of everyone camping at Caldons, hoping that the big tents survived.

Saturday morning the rain stopped and runners arrived to register for the races. We have an early start for the HoG which works well and a lot of runners seemed to be opting for that. 32 runners registered for the HoG in total and all the teams registered for the BC - a total of 14 runners spread over 4 teams and 2 Solo runners due to drop outs and team reorganisations. The HoG Early start were set off at 9am followed by a staggered start of the BC Teams, the last BC team setting off at 9.30am. The main HoG start was 10am.

Heading up onto Lamarchan there was a cold layer of snow and the ground was water logged because of all the rain. Curleywee looked stunning covered in snow and there were views right across to Merrick. I always think that this is a special feature of these races that you can see right to the furthest point where you're heading as Merrick stands out in the horizon. It was also possible to follow the line of the BC up Darrou and onto the Rhinns of Kells. So although it was a bit windy the views made up for it.

The winner of the Heart of Granite, Harry Pulman did an incredibly fast time of 3.28 hours. Harry was followed in by Cynog Williams in 03.54 hours and third man was Gregor Davidson in 4.34 hours. First Lady was Sarah Crawford in 5.27 hours followed by Michelle Hetherington in 5.38 hours and  Sarah Dunn in 5.57 hours. Results and Tracking on https://live.opentracking.co.uk/hog0426/

On the Bruce's Crown the Bogdashians (Lisa Watson, Despina Berdini and Joe Farnell) made good progress during the day opening up a lead on the other teams with Tussocks Galore (Emma Stuart and Nicky Spinks) maintaining second place, behind all the way along the Rhinns of Kells. Along the forest track to CP12 the Bogdashians opened up a gap however route choice up Shiel Hill brought Tussocks Galore within sight again. Across to Shallock on the Minnock Tussocks Galore caught up and then overtook the leaders. As it was getting dark Emma and Nicky pushed on, benefitting from daylight on the long descent to Bruce's Stone to finish in a time of 11.21 hours. All the teams were faster this year than previously with the Solo winner Alasdair Meldrum finishing just over an hour ahead of Alastair Shawcross. Congratulations to the Solo runners as it's a long hard race on your own, especially when it gets tough going. Results and Tracking on https://live.opentracking.co.uk/bcr2026/

I've collated all the photos that I've been sent and put them up here. If anyone has anymore please do send them across or give me a link to your reports and I will add them to the website. Heart of Granite and Bruce's Crown photos

Thank you to all the runners that entered and ran to make this a successful event once again.

Thank you to Forestry Land and Scotland for permission, Crafty Brewery for the bottles of gin, Inov8 for vouchers and Owens Butchers for bread rolls and bacon/sausages. And from a massive thanks to Galloway Mountain Rescue for making this all happen with me.

Nicky Spinks (Race Organiser)

Full results on the SHR results tab