We had two nutters, I mean ultra runners taking part in this gruelling race from Tyndrum to Fort William. Chris Hever (who we all know & love) & Fletcher Murdock (a lifetime member).
Our day started an an ungodly hour & we travelled in two cars to Tyndrum, where we had breakfast, Stevie ate the eqivelent to a small pig & Chris got the jitters. Some of us met Fletcher for the first time, a very nice if not mad (has apparently run dozens of these races!) man. He gave us great advice & spot on directions for us to support Chris at as many points as possible.
The race started & Stevie drove myself & Chris Stockdale to the 1st stop. Chris was in charge of the map, Chris’s times & he was a fantastic navigator, (just don’t ask him to open a tin)
We didn’t have long to wait at the 1st stop, which was just as well as the midgies were having a feast on us. Our next stop was a few miles up the road, it was still very early in the morning but already the heat was apparent, this was the only point we saw both Chris & Fletcher together.
The next stop was a very pleasant experience for the non runners & we were lucky enough to see the leaders at this point, this was the longest wait, Chris was on his todd for the longest stretch 10 miles. We went a few miles up the road & saw him again prior to the devil’s staircase, the next stop was Kinlochleven,where us three managed to get a cuppa in a local pub, 11.10am & we were in a pub (you can take the folk oot a Maryhill!!)
Again Chris came in a head of schedule & had a proper pitt stop, just as he left fletcher came in & passed the time of day with us. It has to be said none of the guy’s lost their sense of humour & were in great spirits sharing a laugh & joke with us. the next stop involved a helluva car ride, if it hadn’t been for stevie’s careful driving I could easily have lost the contents of my stomach! After a breif stop, Stevie accompanied Chris on the last leg & Chris & I headed to the finish.
The race was won by John Kennedy (an ex maryhill harrier) in an astonishing 6hrs & 31mins (who let him go??) Chris finished in a fantastic 10 hrs & 24 mins, Fletcher came in a brilliant 10hrs & 45mins. Below is Chris’s report.
Was picked up at 3.30 am By Stevie, Isobel and Chris, we got to Tyndrum for 5am registered heard the briefing where I was told to my delight that as it was going to be a scorching hot day (which it was) we could waive the rule of carrying waterproofs we were also allowed if not competing for a prize a ‘Companion’ runner from halfway, so Stevie decided to join me for the last 6 miles.
Started out comfortably deliberately holding back just jogging along, three miles into the first section my camel hump burst and a stream of sticky liquid ran down the back of my legs compounded by the fact my phone was in there and got ruined not a great start, but I ran on to Bridge of Orchid 6.75 miles (1hr 7 mins) and reported the damage, luckily Stevie had brought a crate of 500ml btls of water which we slipped into the rucksack and was on my way.
Next stop Inverornan Hotel (10 miles) after a steep ascent and descent topped up my water for the stretch across Rannoch moor wont see them again for 10 miles, really enjoyed this stretch just got into myself and bobbed along weather was fine not too hot at this time 8ish. Arrived at Kingshouse hotel (19.75miles) in 3hrs 40mins having come thru Glencoe checkpoint dead on schedule of 3.30, Isobel suggested I take on something substantial at this point so I had a tin of rice pudding and 500ml of water and agreed to meet them 3miles along the road just before the Devils staircase, quick stop more water then off up the staircase was very steep and tiring but was at the top in half an hour not nearly as bad as I thought, but the temp was getting up which made it worse. Down the other side marvellous just let my momentum take me the 3/4 miles, though it was very rocky terrain it was an easy stretch and very welcome I had my mp3 player on at this point and was getting lost in myself again feeling great.
Arrived in Kinlochleven full of beans in 6hrs 20 mins, 10 mins ahead of schedule (27.25miles) at this point I was informed I was ahead of 5 others, quite happy with that at this point I thought, and Stevie informed me that several others were only just ahead of me. Had a 15 minute break taking on a sandwich rice pudding gel and some sweets and was off again just as two others were arriving for their stop.
The climb out of Kinlochleven was said to be harder than the Devil’s staircase and I wasn’t disappointed but comforted myself with the thought that the staircase was not as bad as I thought it would be and once atop the hill I would get a pleasant run down. Reached the top in about 40 mins and started running down onto a rocky path once again ,the rice pudding kicked in just as the Rolling Stones kicked in on my mp3 player and I was off ,second wind, I caught sight of a guy in the distance and decided to home in, passed him in about 10 mins he was struggling which somehow gave me an added boost said Hi then continued on, another three guys running together caught my eye about quarter of a mile further on, I thought three for the price of one! what a boost so I ran on and quickly caught and passed them as they were shuffling along, looked like two were struggling and one was hanging back. In the meantime the two guys who had come into Kinlochleven as I was leaving got within a few hundred metres of me which spurred me on to get the head down and keep moving, not wanting to give away my scalps that easy I was now ahead of eight people at the 33 mile mark.
I arrived at the next meeting point at Lundavra(36.25miles) in 8.5 hrs bang on time and had a 15 minute break ,feeling good and thinking I had just an easy 10km downhill into Fort William accompanied by Stevie, left just as the two guys were arriving again, no sign of the others .
But the break took away my momentum, and the original part of this section was quite hilly, not what I was expecting, the sun also had got up it was now 2.30 and there was not a cloud in the sky. Stevie kept talking to me he was also pushing me to run when I just didn’t have it in me, I preferred to just wait for ‘the wave ‘ to arrive and go with it till it petered out then wait for another wave to carry me along but I think it got me thru a few miles a lot quicker, but we made reasonable progress and overtook another runner who seemed to be hobbling, but by this time the heat was killing me and nothing could give me a boost it was just about survival with 3.5 miles to go we were still going up and it was peeving me off I hadn’t planned for this, I stopped to get my breath and Mr hobbler came back and overtook me shortly followed by the two guys, so Stevie got into race mode pushing me along to catch them, we hit the big down hill section that I had been waiting for 2.5 miles straight down into Fort William, got a new lease of life and started running again, overtook Mr Hobbler and set my sights on the two guys ,two minutes later Mr Hobbler ran by me like he was being chased by a bear I must have inspired something in him ,he then ran on and took the two guys who were about 300/400 metres ahead of me by this time I was spent, but the wee race got me thru 4 miles in a reasonable time, came out the forest and ran onto the main road thinking I had about a mile to go, there were people on the pavement so I kept going didn’t want them to see me stopping, I turned a corner and to my surprise was the finishing line with loads of people applauding it was great and uplifting and was great that I had exceeded my best expectation by 5 mins.
