WRC Club Members 100 Best/Favourite Races/Runs – 9: Scottish Isles

Thanks to Rob for this classic race!  Now can anyone else keep the series going?

My Favourite Race

I really found it hard to think about this during lockdown. I run a lot of races and enjoy almost all of them. Like everyone else all my races have been cancelled or postponed. Along with a few running buddies I have actually run some “isolation races” that we devised by just naming a few local points of interest and seeing how fast we could race (individually, on Strava) between them. Which is an enjoyable challenge but I noticed that I could get nowhere near the pace that I would enjoy in a real head to head race. I miss the excitement, sport and camaraderie of getting round that loop or over that hill faster than the other guy and team.

There are so many great races. Macclesfield Half, Wilmslow Half, Bollington Nostalgia, Dunham Massey 5k, London Marathon, Coniston Trail, Grisedale Horseshoe, Round the Runway …

I could have easily chosen Bramhall parkrun (thank you Paul).

But if could have saved one race from my calendar this year it would have been the Scottish Islands Peaks Race. This is cheating perhaps as it involves a whole weekend of racing.

A 5 mile opener in Oban is started by a lone piper at 12 noon on Friday. Ahead of us is a fell running epic across 60 miles of the highest mountains of the islands of Mull, Jura and Arran. And racing a sailing boat between the islands. The teams consist of 2 runners and 3 sailors and it quickly becomes a relay: if we’re not running then we’re sailing but we’re always racing.

Having sailed to Mull the sailors cast off the runners in an inflatable dingy. While the sailors anchor, eat and recover, the running pair face the mountains. We run across Mull along the shores of Loch Ba and start the long climb up the glen towards A’Chioch. A genuinely scary scree traverse gets us to the final pyramid of Ben More. From the top you can see right across to Jura, Skye and the other Hebridean Islands. Or more likely nothing at all depending on the weather and time of day. Either way it is a long, long run back to the harbour where you hope that your team will be awake, ready to greet you with a large meal. But this is a relay so as soon as the runners are below deck, the sailors are hauling the sails and racing out to sea. A racing boat is tipped at a 20-30 degree angle and every tack threatens to throw you and your dinner across the cabin. It’s exhilarating but not ideal recovery after a 23 miler. You have to eat, you have to sleep.

Jura is the next island and the 16 mile run takes us over the three “Paps of Jura”, enticingly shaped mountains from a distance but close up, under your feet, they are immense piles of rock and scree. You can’t approach Jura without trepidation: it is just so wild and remote; you’re going to wait a long time to be rescued. I’ve run over the Paps in golden evening light and enjoyed clambering breathlessly upwards before hurtling down the scree. I’ve also set off in the dark and rain with the navigational challenge of even finding the mountains at all. Eventually you are back on the boat thinking that you have survived Jura and nothing can kill you now. Although the sailors quickly cause you to reassess as they tackle the notoriously rough Mull of Kintyre. The tides around the islands have a massive effect on the currents which at times are running against faster than the boat can sail. A sailor compared it to a fell race where the shape of the mountains change even while you’re running.

Eventually we reach Lamlash on the Isle of Arran for the long run out to the summit of Goat Fell. The navigation is straightforward but it’s another 20 miles on wobbly sea legs. The beautiful coastline and Broddick Castle go past in a blur and then the long haul up Goat Fell. Racing back down the mountain you know that it is almost in the bag but the rocky path could still catch you out. Back on the boat you set sail for Troon on the mainland.

One final paddle into the marina and a run along the pontoon completes the race. Hopefully it is still Sunday but then again it might be Monday.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1000408243

https://www.strava.com/activities/1000409458

https://www.strava.com/activities/1000410173

 

Obviously it is difficult to take part in the SIPR as for a start you need to know somebody with a boat who wants to play this type of game. For a race much closer to home that still has the feeling of a long almost epic run over the hills I recommend the Goyt Valley Challenge held in October.

https://www.strava.com/activities/2803466353