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| Gaelic for "slow fat bird running" perhaps? |
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| Course map |
I couldn’t help but be slightly suspicious when Iain Finlay handed
me my race number. Whatever could “An Sgioba Sgoinneil” mean? Could it be a
joke at my expense and be Gaelic for “slow runner” or “Fatty coming through”. Hmmm….
Iain assured me though that the loose translation was “Amazing Team”. I decided
to believe him.
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| Leg one runner Iain Finlay |
In the Hebrides the weather Gods rule. Basically anything
can happen so having had some weeks of glorious sunshine on the mainland the weather
Gods decided that enough was enough and we awoke to a grey overcast windy day.
Note the bit about it being windy. Marathon runners, first leg relay runners
and 2nd leg relay runners gathered at Rodel to await the start of
the race where completely randomly I bumped into Caroline who was cycling
through the Hebrides. That actually seems to happen a lot, week by week I don’t
see people who live just round the corner from me and then I bump into them on
random Hebridean Islands. There were a few familiar faces doing the marathon
such as the CAAC crew and ultra runner extraordinaire Jeni Rees Jenkins
obviously using this little marathon race as a warm down from the Lakeland 100
mile race only two or three weeks previously.
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| The CAAC squad |
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| The Stornoway Squad |
Heb 3 legend Jim Bruce set the runners off on the marathon
and the first leg of the relay which took the runners to Leverburgh and then
back to Rodel. I had been a fairly last minute addition to this team having
been all set to do the marathon until the realization hit me that my training
had been a bit too curtailed by a knee injury to make that a practical option.
Fortunately Martin had space in his team and I opted for the second leg of the
marathon relay, a more realistic 9 miles.
Soon enough the leaders of the marathon came through with
Norman, Euan, Lorn, Dean Gillian and Susan all high up in the field. In fact
the CAAC race was looking like turning into a race within a race and at that
stage I wouldn’t like to have placed a bet. Soon enough Iain came round the
corner and I set off.
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| Start line |
My warm up on the route had confirmed my fears, the first
couple of miles seemed to be basically uphill. And into the wind. There was
nothing for it but to stick in while trying to find shelter behind any bigger
runners I could find. I ran with a runner from Edinburgh for about 3 miles who
was the perfect size to act as a wind break.
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| Norman |
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| Euan |
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| Lorne |
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| Gillian |
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| Carolyn was the sweeper |
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| Dean |
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| Susan |
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| Nick |
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| Jeni |
The course wound its way through
the amazing rock strewn lunar landscape of the Isle of Harris, past the little
settlements in the bays (past a house for sale in a stunning location – must check
the property website later), alongside a loch towards the finish (for the relay
runners not the marathon runners) in Leverburgh. The roads were shut to traffic
which added to the feeling of silence and remoteness. And all time the ceaseless
Hebridean wind made itself felt. Up ahead at times I thought I could spot Susan
but I didn’t seem to make any head way towards catching her up. I did my best “damage
limitation” for the team and hoped I hadn’t let too many other relay teams past
me but think a few had got past unfortunately.
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| The start at Rodel |
Eventually there was a wee downhill stretch past a fantastic
house that was for sale (must check the property website for that one too) by a
wee fishing loch and then I was in Leverburgh and it was a short run along the
main road to the relay changeover at the village hall. Martin took over for the
11 mile “glory leg” to the end while I headed off for tea and home bakes and to
cheer on the other teams and passing marathon runners. With one thing and
another we got held up at the village hall and then there was very limited
parking at Seilibost so we didn’t get to see the finish of the race on the sands
so we hurried off to the campsite and threw the tent up before heading to Talla
na mara for the delicious spread of food that was put on for the runners.
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| Leg 2 -3 changeover |
The slightly deteriorating weather meant that I opted for an
afternoon of reading in the tent rather than my hoped for beach activities and
Simon had already started making excuses for not going to the celidh before the
occupants of the neighbouring campervan invited us in for an evening of gin and
chat. Warm, dry and gin fueled, Simon by then had talked himself out of the
celidh totally.
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| Horgabost campsite |
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| Camping essentials |
It was late and lashing with rain by the time we staggered back
to the tent and as I opened the zip and felt the sleeping bag I got that
sinking feeling. Everything was soaked. It was actually raining inside the
tent. Instead of the trusty little tent that I usually use Simon in his wisdom
had insisted on taking the bigger tent which, due to his reluctance ever to go
camping, meant that it hadn’t been used for about 10 years. Extra lines and
tent pegs meant that it was firmly secured though so it was going nowhere in
the wind so I guess that was a plus. After a quick mop up of the worst of the
water in the tent we hauled a spare tarpaulin over the soggy sleeping bags
which for the most part worked to keep the rain off. If you think the duvet war
is a hard fought battle then believe me it pales into insignificance with the
tarpaulin-in-a-soaking-tent-war….
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| It was raining in the tent |
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| Soaking sleeping bag |
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| The clean up operation |
At least I seemed to sleep well enough despite the strong
wind and rain. On awaking though there seemed to be something wrong with my
feet. Initially I couldn’t quite figure it out but slowly it downed on me that
the bottom of my sleeping bag was in a pool of water and was soaking wet and my
feet were just about numb. Oh the joys of camping. I suspect though we had a better
night that the owners of the tent that we found abandoned in the campsite skip
the following morning!
We spent a lazy morning exploring the the Island and I had a better look at the race route than the previous day before heading back to Stornoway to catch the ferry home. It transpired later that in the day that Martin must have
had a stormer of a run to bring team “An Sgioba Sgoinneil” into third place.
This was the first edition of “Marathon Hebrides” in its
current form after two Callanish marathons and a one off Harris marathon back
in 2008 or 2009 and it was a great success. Willie and the team did a fantastic
job with the complex logistics and I hope the race is on again next year.
And, most importantly, Dean won the CAAC race!
