In reply to alastairmac:
1: How much food and fluid to carry ?
2: Do the organisers provide food / fluid stations or do you need to arrange your own caches?
3: if so, any thoughts on the best spots to be met by friends with food and fluid?
4: Is the trail pretty obvious or is navigation going to be an issue?
Go off fairly hard, not stupidly but let the early miles count. Certainly 1 min - 90 seconds for me, probably 1 min off marathon pace, maybe even a tad less. 6:30-6:45 along the pipe line. Its a much tougher second half with some long drags so your feet do take a battering. If its wet go with trail shoes with grip. If dry I'd go with road shoes.
1. 500 mils in fluid. Food, its short and fairly quick, so just standard flapjackm rice pud, sweets, gels, but mainly bananas. Then coke and lucozade.
2. used to be nothing, I think just water but not ran since 09
3. Thats all set, read the breifings, it changes slightly year to year but every 7-10 miles or so. But you do have a long stretch at the back of the loch.
4. fairly, you can get lost but its hard to, any junction is posted, but especially through mugdock you can, and people do, go wrong but so many know it now that it should not be an issue