A Wee Half in Islay

A record number of Harriers, family and friends made their way to Islay last weekend for the annual Ardbeg Islay Half Marathon. Although the traditional Road to the Isles was blocked due to a landslide, this did not prevent the 23 Harriers reaching the ferry at Kennacraig on time in two separate parties joining the Friday morning and evening sailings. Although the weather on the mainland had been atrocious, sunshine and clearing skies greeted us as the ferry arrived at Port Askaig. A 20 minute drive later and we were at the Bowmore Distillery Cottages, our luxury residence for the weekend. As a bonus, the cottages were right on the start line, so no excuses for missing the start!

The sun was splitting the pavements on race morning and we all knew this would be a tough, exposed race. The Harriers were all up early ready for registration and the 10:45 race start. Ever obliging, we even provided the electricity for the race announcer's Tannoy through one of the Cottage windows. 18 Harriers were running, including David Herbertson who had spent the past week there on holiday with the family, Jim Holmes who had literally flown in from a cruise holiday with his family and Ian Hughes who had travelled from his holiday on the mainland and caught the early morning ferry. The start came as a surprise to all of us as race organiser, Margaret in the same breath called for someone to move a car off the main street (clearly to distract our attention) and then said "Go" and pressed the start hooter.

Wary of the heat and the first 150m up-hill, the initial pace was slow but once we were on the upper street, the eventual winner, Robert Gilroy, stretched away and I found myself somewhat reluctantly in second place with heavy legs from the previous Saturday's Swiss Alpine Marathon 30km race. The first 6.5 miles is relentlessly uphill. Not steep but enough to hurt you. Despite being clear in second place to the top of the climb, I knew I was fading and heard Paul Thomson of Helensburgh steadily approaching. We ran together from 7.5 miles along the airport road until the final climb at 12 miles when my legs and heart screamed enough and I let Paul go for a relaxed finish into third overall in a personal worst of 1:20:59, three minutes down on last year but still first M40. Ian Hughes had been looking stronger than me in the first half mile but had a dubious result at a medical health check at the Campbelltown show the day before which seemed to have psyched him out for the race. Nevertheless, Ian held on for 7th overall in 1:25:26 (also 3 minutes down on last year) and second M40. Eddie Reid thought that he had run a stormer and claimed a pb until he realised that his watch had stopped at 12 miles (lap memory full!). Eddie finished in 1:30:41 as 5th vet and 11th overall. Stuart Waugh had knee pain again towards the end but held on to finish 15th and first M60 in 1:34:25. Next to finish was Billy Buchanan in 16th, second M60 and a massive pb of 1:36:34. Karen Allen is developing some great form and finished as first lady in 1:39:17 well clear of Julie Beveridge who was second lady in 1:43:13. Just ahead of the two ladies, Graham Ramage had paced himself well to finish in 1:39:00. Jim Holmes had tried to train on his cruise ship holiday but it was never going to be enough to keep him in shape for a tough half-marathon and felt he had a stinker, finishing in 1:40:13. Frances Maxwell was also recently back from holiday and confessed to lacking miles in the legs, slipping back to second F40 in the last mile to finish in 1:43:48. Joanne McEvoy had been ill before the start and was drained for the duration of the race. She therefore did very well to hold it together for the team to finish in 1:49:50. David Herbertson had technology failure of the day. His Garmin was set to bike speed (miles per hour) rather than running speed (minutes per mile) and he found himself pushing the pace early on to try to get the watch to go below 8 minutes per mile, which was actually 8 miles per hour! So the harder he pushed, the slower he seemed to get according to the watch. Eventually the wheels fell off and David provided mobile cheer leading services to the various Harriers who streamed passed him. David finished in 1:46:39. David Wardrope also saw a reversal of his recent good form but was still faster than last year, finishing in 1:48:29. Hugh Simpson was enjoying himself although had to receive medical treatment from his wife at the half way point due to a sore back. Hugh and David Searil ran to the finish together in a time of 2:03:50. Dawn Buchanan made a running race appearance without a preceding swim and bike (although she did cycle 60 miles to the ferry) and finished in 1:59:00. Geo Ferguson is making a comeback to running and knew he would struggle from 10 miles, which he duly did, finishing in 2:08:35. Meanwhile, the conditions were very much against Russell (and a self confessed lack of training). He finished in 2:17:19 which was within his predicted finishing window.

After a brief swim at the local pool (which was also on the doorstep of our cottages) we made our way back up the hill to the heavily sponsored prize giving, courtesy of Ardbeg Distillery. The first surprise for us was when Allan McLellan was invited up to do the prize giving, in recognition of the fact that his course record of 69 minutes still stands from 1989. Allan was delighted to do this. In addition to all the prize positions mentioned above, we were also first men's and ladies' teams so by the end of the prize giving we had acquired a warehouse worth of shields, trophies and whisky!

The Calderglen Winnings!

We then retired to the cottage garden for pre-dinner drinks and some relaxation. By 18:30, all 33 of us had squeezed into our pre-booked tables at the Lochside Hotel for an excellent dinner. With one eye on the watch, some of us escaped early from dinner to catch the Golden Hour of athletics on the TV. Inspired by Jessica, Greg and finally Mo, it was off to the ceilidh for a further 2 or 3 hours of exercise and/or relaxation. I think the Harriers won the ceilidh too!

A relaxed start to Sunday (at least for those who consider being out of bed, dressed, fed and packed by 10am as relaxed) and we were planning a trip to the beach. Meanwhile, Sandra and Maud were working on ensuring that next year we get the one prize we missed this year (first local) by signing up as an honorary Harrier one of the local ladies who was waiting to clean our cottage. The Strand was spectacular and windless (a first) although it did reveal that several Harriers have a cow phobia (townies!) as we walked across the dunes, past a herd of cows to the beach. Finally it was time to head for the ferry. A logistical problem of not having enough seats in cars to get to the ferry was solved by volunteering Dawn to cycle the 11 miles there (she secretly wanted to do that anyway!). A fantastic weekend was rounded off by watching Andy Murray win the tennis in the ferry TV lounge, with the Calderglen support led by Alan McLellan and Jean Buchanan. Next year's trip to Islay is already fully booked.

Hundreds of photos from Sandra, Frank, Liz and myself are here. Thanks to all for making this a wonderful weekend.

Alan