Highland Fling

The start line (I'm on the far right)

Highland Fling 

Sometimes things just don’t go according to plan. What should have been a good competitive run turned into a doggedness & determination in order to get to the finish.

Woke up Saturday morning with some tightness in my left calf; first signs of things weren’t as they were meant to be. But figured do some Ibuprofen, go start and if it flares up like it did a month ago, call it a day.

So the usual registration and pre race sorting and we were off away at 8am. Forecast was spot on dry, sunny with a cooling easterly so a nice day planned. I could tell the pace was going to be fast and I purposely didn’t get drawn into keeping up with the front runners. Getting to Drymen on schedule I was feeling comfortable with the effort, re-stocked and off to the woods and Conic hill. Drifted slightly off the back with the guys I’d run in with, through the woods, but brought it back again with a good climb & descent of Conic hill.

Coming into Balamaha

Balmaha was bustling with supporters and day trippers so it was nice to grab my stash and head off to the relative quiet of the lakeside. This section up to Rowadennan is far from flat as appears initially on the map as it’s peppered with small climbs and descents weaving in and out of the trees. I was still feeling good with the pace, though with a bit of stomach discomfort. This materialised as diarrhoea about halfway along forcing me into making a couple of emergency pit stops and despite this felt OK arriving at Rowadennan. Plus I wasn’t far off the front guys and still around the time I was hoping for.

A quick break for food and drink and I set off for Inversnaid. I didn’t get far though before I was struggling with stomach cramps; this eventually leading to me being sick. Sitting by track I really felt wasted and briefly contemplated turning round and quitting as I realised now my hopes for a good time were dashed as well as feeling rough. I didn’t and figured I could at least walk to the next control to see if things improved at all. Slowly I came round and by the bag drop at Inversnaid had perked up, though all I was managing on was water and the odd bit of isotonic gel.

With renewed enthusiasm I set off along the next section of trail at a good rate, catching many of the earlier starters and some of the guys who’d been around me earlier on just before I headed down to Beinn Glas. This section and Conic hill are the only sections which are more like fell running, where if your comfortable with the rough underfoot conditions you can gain time.

The end.

Something to eat and drink from Lisa at Beinn Glas Farm and I set off again hoping to keep the momentum going but by now I was starting to suffer from a lack of strength in the legs and even the inclines I had to walk some of the way. Then after about 30 mins I was sick again this time heaving until it hurt. Passing runners offered help and sympathy but I sat a forlorn figure.

Knowing how close I was to the end relatively speaking, helped me get up and continue plodding on. The final hills were toil and knowing I had to do the loop around St. Fillan’s a wee bit demoralising. Still I managed to keep shuffling to get there in 9hr 12mins and 25th overall. Disappointed yes, but philosophical enough to know sometimes it goes like that and the positives to take away are that the first half I was reasonably competitive and showed character to keep going.



Assume the recovery position!





Knoydart foray

Plans for the Easter weekend were into Knoydart to meet frineds at Inverie. Arriving at Strathan in 20C and sunshine the walk over to Kinbreak was done at a leisurely pace and with nearly dry feet. I shared the place with a couple of lads from the Northhants who were up for a week’s walking. Hopes of the weather holding for the morrow were dashed in the middle of the night with the familiar sounds of buffeting wind and rain rattling the corrugated roof. I delayed my start an hour but knowing I had a longish day ahead was up and off by 8am.

Using the track up Glen Kingie I was soon onto the saddle. With cloud down to 600m I decided to omit Sgurr Mor and it was a case of head down and crack on over the ridge to Sourlies taking in the other hills on route. A convenient fence / wall acts as a navigational handrail and a testament to the work of years gone by. Descending off Sgurr na Ciche I sought out an Argo track I’d seen on previous visits following down to the wee lochans at the watershed of Glen Dessary, though longer, it completed another piece of the jigsaw.



The ever popular Sourlies



Rickety suspension bridge over River Carnach



At last I was out of the wind as I took the track down to the sea & Sourlies bothy. Plans for a warm brew were scuppered as I’d donated my matches at Kinbreak and surprisingly there were none here. 

So shouldering the pack again I set off trotting across the salt flats for the climb up to Mam Meadail & the steep pull back up into the cloud & eventual summit of Meall Bhuide. Whilst sitting here I was debating my options, I got chatting to some guys back packing through who renewed my enthusiasm to make the most of the height gained. The ridge across to Luinne Bhienn was busy with folk and afforded partial views into the high corries. Unfortunately the summit like all those before it was swathed in cloud. Dropping off into the Mam Barrisdale I decided not to do Ladhar Bhienn as I wanted to be at Inverie at a reasonable time to meet the Caddie’s (the whole point of running there).

Finally the weather started to improve and I got to take off my waterproofs for the last 30 minutes run into the village. The weather stayed dry and after a few brews and nibbles down at the shore side camp we headed off to the pub for a meal and a few well earnt pints though we gave the ceilidh a miss. There’d been no sign of Pete who was back packing his way over the Knoydart munro’s on route to Glen Finnan so he was either slower than anticipated or on s different line.

The Caddie's lurvin it up

Sunday turned out to be more cloud & showery weather. The plan being to walk with the Caddie’s to the Mam Meadail where our paths would split. They were to ascend Meall Bhuide & I to run back to the car via Sourlies & Glen Dessary. 

Starbuck's eat your heart out





Catching up with a heavily laden Pete



After a short stop to make a quick “brew to go” in the bothy I came across Pete. He told me of his slower than anticipated progress the previous day with him ending up having to wild camp whilst still high.



We shared an hour or so walking out together catching up as the weather gradually improved to reveal the tops and a hint of sun. This made for a pleasant finish to the day as I finally left Pete to run the last miles out, calling at A’Chuil bothy to check its condition.



So that's what it should look like!





Highlander MM

Highlander Mountain Marathon – 16/17 April

An e-mail came round our running club a few ago from Konrad looking for a partner for this years Highlander based up at Ullapool. I’d always fancied doing the event so signed up on the dotted line. We’d entered score, as this class stretches the brain as well as the legs and gives for a varied day out. 7hrs Day 1 & 5hrs Day 2 to collect as many check points as possible.

On gathering at the registration in the morning we were informed that we were getting a bus ride round to the Little Loch Broom area and that we could get off at one of two stops. The idea being to give everyone in the category a chance to pick a route they felt would be manageable. You got 3 minutes to look at the map and then decide. We opted for the furthest stop which gave a natural anti clockwise sweep of the course.

The weather on Day1 was pretty kind in the end, dry with a persistent westerly breeze, the only cloud around was on the very tops of the hills & that eventually blew / burnt away by late morning. Roughness underfoot wasn’t as bad as I’d thought given the area and we made pretty good time along the western side of the course. What did make life harder was the saturated top surface which made it a lot harder to get traction and at times keep upright.

I planned in my mind to be at a CP by half way into our time and we were slightly up on this as we headed into a long section skirting to the south of An Teallach arriving at Shenavall bothy with around 2½hrs to go with not many options left. It meant we could back off on the pace we’d been going and conserve some energy for the next day. We got a bit of a surprise then to say the least to find there was a 1.5Km road from the last compulsory CP to the finish. Both of us having omitted to read the last sentence on the description sheet assuming we’d have the usual 200m follow the tapes finish. We still managed to finish with several minutes to spare and claim current leader on our print out. It was then a matter of waiting to see who else came in and what their haul was. As it turned out we stayed in the lead but only by 5pts, which in score class terms is nothing.

The Highlander MM has a slight twist in that you get both food & entertainment at overnight camp. You still have to carry all the normal gear but how nice is it that you’re handed a plate of food prepared by someone else and you can get a beer or pop to wash it down with. Later on for those with energy to burn there is the traditional ceilidh. For once I refrained!

With only a slim lead overnight I knew it had to be another day of full on racing and somewhere along the route going for that “extra” control to make the difference. Looking at the map overnight gave some idea of the route in mind if everything was in play. Weather was similar to Saturday clear with a slight breeze so although navigation was easier it still required care as the CP’s were at more intricate locations. With pretty much a mass start at 7 – 7:30am it didn’t take long to mark up and work out our route. Off we went climbing up the hill side to hit the easterly cluster. Allowing a maximum of 1hr here we set off to the west to do a horseshoe sweep of the course picking up CP’s at a regular rate. The highlight of today’s route was the climb to Beinn Ghobhlach which gave commanding the 360 views of area. Up here I made the decision to go for the outlying CP but it proved to be a good call as the rest of the CP’s on the run in fell nicely without too much height gain / loss on the way back in. With a final charge down the track we came in with just under 10mins in hand.

The organiser’s had then laid on some more fun for us, in the form of a rib ride across the bay to Ullapool from Altnaharrie. Whilst waiting on the prier in the sun we got chatting with the guys in 2^nd. Turns out they’d taken a different course to us again, but had also come home late. So we beat them on the day by 10pts and overall to win the class by 15pts. Not a lot after 12hrs racing but enough for it to count.

So a good trip North and a really enjoyable event. The organisers really made a big effort to put something special on for the competitors and though it might seem a long way (to those in the south) I think it’s the potential to build a good following for elite and non – serious competition.   

Calderdale Hike

Having finally got around to it I set up this blog so friends, family & voyeurs can see what I’m up to. So here goes my first blog.

A trip down to Yorkshire at the weekend to enjoy the fabulous weather & pick up Lisa who was returning from holiday with my Ma & Pa. Saturday saw me entered in the Calderdale Hike a 37m race starting & finishing in Sowerby near Halifax. The route changes every two or three years so this was a new course to me, though when I checked the map I recalled a lot of the area having lived not too far away. It would also be a good test to see where I was in terms of fitness and relative speed not having done any racing for a while.

By start time at 9am it was already pretty warm with a blue sky day in store. As its part of the Runfurther Ultra series there was a good turn out and several faces I recognised. From the off it was clear Martin Beale was up for it blasting out the blocks, though we didn’t take the short cut by the church. No matter as by the bottom of the hill we’d caught the leaders up and we’re forming a small group that stared to pull out some time on the rest of the field as we hit the first climb of the day. The run over Wadsworth Moor saw us all taking different lines, me clearly coming off worse missing the quick route to the road crossing popping out behind them all.

Over the next few CP’s to Holme Chapel I played leap frog with Simon Bourne and his “shadow(s)”. I resisted the temptation to sit on his shoulder as well. Probably not the most conducive to either a fast time or energy efficient way but at least in the end I know I made my own way round the course. But clearly there are some good short cuts and an optimum line to be taken. I was quite impresses that I’d been able to go round the route with about 98% navigation from memory.

It was getting pretty hot by now especially when you dropped away from the tops and after climbing up to Thieveley Pike I started to get a few niggles of cramp in my calf. So opted to back off slightly and try and hydrate some more rather than lock them up big time. This allowed the Bourne bunch to slowly creep away as we headed over to Foulclough Road. That and a bit of dithering over route choice through someone’s garden down to the canal to Bottomley put them out of sight. Still I was enjoying the day and the surroundings as it’s not so often I get to come to this neck of the woods anymore.

The run over to Stoodley Pike went well where I met the Caddie’s who’d come out to cheer me on, I was a little in front of my anticipated time so was pleased with how I was going and finally starting to think about the end. Another long decent into Crag Vale and climb out passing locals enjoying a beer & BBQ in the cracking weather made me envious and only served to gee me up to want to get finished so I could sit and relax in the sun. The final drag into Sowerby was a bit tiresome as it involved about 2.5m of tarmac and probably is a shame another CP to make an off road variant ending couldn’t have been created. But still coming in at 5:50 I was under my targeted 6hrs and came away knowing potentially it could have been a bit quicker if everything had got smoothly.