The 2024 route sets off from Garries Park under neutralised conditions for a few hundred metres before the flag drops.

The profile of the opening 29km is a daunting one, as we’re straight uphill the moment we cross the start line. It’s easy enough on tarmac, but after 500m the gradient ramps up and you turn left onto gravel to climb Fuffock Hill.

The gravel is firm and even getting the power down is easy enough all the way to the peak 6.9km in. At 281 metres this is the race’s highest point and with no plateau you’re descending immediately.

Descending through trees there are a few short sharp digs to keep the heart rate up. Soon you'll join Laurieston Road where a beautifully smooth, fast 5km tarmac section awaits.

At 21.3km you're off road again descending on more excellent, predictable gravel. We say descending, there’s a daunting looking one kilometre kicker with a maximum of around 8% which will take the wind out of your sails, but generally this is a joyously fast section.
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There’s a right hander at the bottom and you’ll along the former Portpatrick Railway line with Loch Skerrow on your left. A short narrow trail drops you from the Railway down underneath the Stroan Loch viaduct past the first Feed Zone. From there a couple of steep ascents lead you to Slaughter Hill.

This is hard, no doubt, and most will need to manage their effort. It levels out in the middle but the chunky gravel won’t help, and the descent is technical too, especially with a tight right hander at the bottom.

Nothing could look more Scottish than the Raiders Road section which runs parallel to the River Dee.

After an 80m tarmac section you turn south passing the second Feed Zone and retracing your wheel tracks along the opposite river bank. Don’t be fooled, you might be over half way and have certainly reached the furthest point, but it’s not all over.

There’s no flat here, every short descent precedes another short sharp ascent until, long after you’ve left the river behind, you start a series of sapping drags. Keep your spirits up and focus, the gravel is more challenging than earlier and the word relentless begins to creep into your consciousness.

At the top of one of those long drags you’ll find the day’s final feed station, and beyond that perhaps the best view of the day, the gravel trail high above Loch Grannoch.

Now’s the time to start thinking about your end game. Are you hoping to hang onto your group, or drop them? Are you winning or surviving?

Still on rough gravel you’re on a plateau now, though with a series of short undulations you might not notice, then, with 82.6km under your wheels you’ll find the day’s most taxing descent.

Over four kilometres you’ll lose 150m on chunky, loose gravel. Watch out for some big stones which could send you somewhere you don’t want to be. Once on the flat you’ll take a right at the 1km to go mark, cross a narrow bridge, before a sweeping left hander brings the Big Water of Fleet Viaduct into view and sets you up for the 500m long finish straight.