West Highland Way 2015

Last Saturday, the 23rd May, the Harriers made a 4am start from East Kilbride to make the short drive to Milngavie and the start of the West Highland Way. Eddie Reid was on a mission to get us to the start for a 5am prompt start, giving us every chance of getting to Fort William by around 19:00 with time for a swim in the hotel pool, a jacuzzi and sauna before dinner. That is what I call thinking ahead. We even had a minibus with a spare tyre this year.

After the team photo we were indeed ready for a 5am start and Joanne McEvoy was selected to cover the 4.1 mile stage from Mingavie to Carbeth, a beautiful leg considering it is so close to the city. The ever enthusiastic Stephen Phimister volunteered to run with Joanne on this leg whilst the rest of the team proceeded to Carbeth by minibus.

Despite the early start, always the main problem with this leg, Joanne flew around this undulating route in 31 minutes, leaving Stephen gasping and more than warmed up for his upcoming leg. After several years of injuries and other setbacks, Russell Couper's fitness is heading in the right direction again and he was champing at the bit to get going on leg 2 from Carbeth to The Beech Tree Inn at Dumgoyne, a distance of 3.1 miles, finishing on the flat but with some hills in the first half. Russell has Davie Watt and Davie Herbertson, who we all thought was a veteran of this event but who was in fact participating for the first time. Russell finished in fine form in a time of around 25 minutes, the first of many runs that Russell was to do today.

Sandra Reid had not participated in the WHW Relay for several years due to injury and was very happy to be lining up for leg 3 from Dumgoyne to Drymen (5.1 miles) despite the still very anti social time of day. Davie Watt carried on running with Sandra to continue building his mileage. We had a brief sighting of Sandra and Davie at the Killeran Road crossing after about 2.5 miles at which point Russell (starting early) and Jim Holmes decided to complete the remainder of the leg too. Sandra reached the changeover at Drymen in a time of around 46 minutes. The next leg was the longest one so far up and over Conic Hill and into Balmaha. Due to some last minute injury call-offs, it had been decided to extend this leg a mile or two to its original finish at Milarochy on the "Bonnie Banks" of Loch Lomond rather than in the car park at Balmaha. This was perhaps a point that Stephen Phimister had failed to appreciate at the pre-race briefing and he came storming into the car park at Balmaha where we were all amusing ourselves with a frisbee only to be told that he was carrying on to Milarochy to give a total of 8.8 miles, a distance he covered in 1 hour 18 minutes.

WHW newcomer Sandy Hayden was lined up for a tough, hilly leg along the shores of Loch Lomond from Milarochy to Rowardennan, a distance of 6.1 miles but with two severe climbs. By her own admission Sandy does not like hills, not having been running for long and still needing to develop the strength, so she was accompanied by me in a coaching capacity to keep her pace under control and to encourage her up the hills (and to keep her on the correct route!). At least that was the plan; I was not quite ready when Stephen arrived so Sandy set off without me. Could I catch her from a cold start? No, it took me a good couple of miles of breathing out my ears to actually catch Sandy, so she was going well. I caught Sandy before the first big climb which was really too steep to run up, so power walking was the order of the day, although we were still passing some hill walkers. Unfortunately, the second climb was even longer but we did manage to start running again just before the top and thereafter maintained a good steady pace (with some verbal encouragement) to the finish.

Gerry Mullen was on the feared Lochside leg, the longest leg of the day at 14 miles, starting at Rowardennan and finishing at Bein Glas Farm at Inverarnan. Gerry has been training for the Edinburgh Marathon (today), so had enough miles in the legs. But it is not the distance that is the problem with this leg, it is the terrain and the underfoot conditions. The first 3 or 4 miles are OK but from Inversnaid Hotel the "path" is a rough ribbon of rocks, tree roots, 90 degree turns, big steps and even a ladder, so it is as much scrambling as it is running. The minibus has quite a long but relaxed drive around from Rowardennan to Inverarnan, so we had plenty of time to relax, have a coffee and generally muck about waiting on Gerry's arrival. This he did after 2 hours 30 minutes of tortuous running but as always, Gerry still had a smile on his face.

After last year's minibus problem which resulted in Davy Watt having to run back to back legs on very tough terrain, we gave Davie an easier task this year to run the 6.1 miles from Bein Glas Farm to the high level trail above Crianlarich. Of course, being a high level trail, this meant that the entire leg was uphill! No problem to former Scotland international marathon runner Davie who sailed majestically to Crianlarich in 46 minutes.

Eddie Reid has been suffering from a sciatic nerve problem for months, severely limiting his training. However, it seems to be not so bad going uphill so he was at least pleased with the very steep uphill start of his leg from Crianlarich to Tyndrum (another 6 mile leg). Stephen Phimister once again tagged along, perhaps not realising just how steep this stage was. After 2.5 miles, the route crosses the busy A84 and at this point Stephen decided to drop out and David Herbertson took over the job of keeping Eddie company. By this time the early morning sun had given way to more overcast conditions and it was definitely one of the coldest occasions that we have run this event. In those conditions, Eddie arrived and with a virtual "tag" across the busy A84 (time 52:26) Jim Holmes took off for the spectacular leg from Tyndrum to Bridge of Orchy, following the a path very close to, sometimes above and sometimes under the railway line but always dwarfed by massive mountains on either side. This is one of the most runnable routes and it was the first time that Jim had been assigned this route after many previous WHW weekends. Jim was delighted to have this leg and

completed it in 49:03, a great time.

Russell Couper was on for his second official leg next, a short but sharp 2.2 miler from Bridge of Orchy to Inveroran with a 171 metre climb and similar descent. Russell was joined by Sandy Hayden and George Stewart who was fragile with a calf injury and not taking an individual leg. All three fairly flew over the hill with Russell setting the official time of 25:15.

Frances Maxwell is in fantastic running form at the moment and was assigned one of the classic, hard running legs of the WHW across Rannoch Moor, a distance of 8.7 miles from Inveroran to Black Rock Cottage just below the Glencoe Ski Centre, very appropriate for a keen skier like Frances. Frances was expecting to meet Harriers Davy Searil and Ian Rae on this leg, both of whom were on a WHW Race training run from Tyndrum to Glencoe and back again! Frances duly met the dynamic duo after a couple of miles and stopped for a chat and photos and much adulation before continuing on her way at speed to come flying to the finish in an excellent 71 minutes.

Now it was the turn of Davy Herbertson to do
his actual, assigned leg, despite the fact he seemed to have run several times the distance of his 6 mile leg from Black Rock Cottage to the Devil's Staircase already. At least Davy had a downhill start for a mile or so to break him into it (again). Davy always gives his all and there was no doubt that he was pushing himself to the limit on this, he supposedly final run of the day, when he appeared in view approaching the changeover at the foot of the Devil's Staircase. Davy completed the leg in 33:09 and handed over to Geo Ferguson for the steep climb and equally steep descent of the Devil's Staircase leg to Kinlochleven. Stephen Phimister once again chose this uphill leg to join in on with every tiring legs. Perhaps because of these tired legs, Stephen took a trip on the descent but by all accounts managed to forward roll back on to his feet with hardly a stride lost and only a skint knee to show. Geo is really taking his training seriously now and the results are showing. He came flying in to Kinlochleven in 54 minutes to hand over to me (Alan Derrick) as I psyched myself up for the tough 8 mile leg climbing 1500 feet out of Kinlochleven into the Mamores and finishing at Lundavra, high above Glen Nevis.

Due to rain in the preceding week, the rocky ascent was slippy and it felt like I was going nowhere fast as I lost momentum here and there and had to power walk one short, steep stretch. However, after 15 minutes or so the steepest path was over and I was on a more gradual but still rocky ascent for another 3 or 4 miles. The scenery was spectacular and the weather threatening and, sure enough, before I was half way, the head wind was joined by driving rain. I had run this leg many times over the years and was used to having to jump the many burns which cross the old military road. However, on this occasion there was more deeper water and the burns were wider than usual so eventually I gave up jumping and just ran through the shallowest parts as I was already soaked. This is a lonely place but that makes it all the more atmospheric and I was really enjoying myself as I seemed to be running well despite the wind and rain.

This leg is one of constant concentration as the road is like a rock strewn river bed and it is a case of twisting and turning and jumping from rock to rock to find solid footing, particularly in the final 3 miles where the road gradually descends. Finally I saw the white minibus a few hundred metres ahead and was glad but surprised to see Davy Herbertson lining up on his own as a) he had finished running for the day and b) Joanne was assigned this leg. However, as Joanne was not feeling too good, Davy decided to go it alone again. I thought momentarily of carrying on with him but the steep uphill start to his leg convinced me quickly not to. A glance at my watch confirmed the time as 64:11 which I was surprised to find was 10 minutes faster than my previous try in 2012 and 3 minutes faster than my 2008 time, despite stopping for a half minute for en-route photos. This was also the most extreme leg for the minibus, culminating in a very steep reverse to a turning point, so the drive back down to Fort William and the final change at the Braveheart car park in Glen Nevis was scented with burning clutch.

One good thing about the colder than average weather was that the midges were noticeable by their absence and this was indeed the case at Braveheart car park which is usually a midge feast. We all now realised that Davy had never been on the West Highland Way relay before and so he had been well warned to absolutely not deviate from the forest road despite what any signs said and must not on any account end up in Glen Nevis camping site. This message seemed to have been well received and Davy once again came powering into sight having taken around 50 minutes for the 5.9 mile leg. As is traditional, as many of us that were able to then completed the final 0.8 miles along Glen Nevis to the finish of the West Highland Way at the entry into Fort William. Sandy Hayden was still full of running and was the first Harrier in and stopped the clock at an excellent 14 hours and 12 minutes for the 96 miles of the West Highland Way, an amazing accomplishment from a group of Harriers of all abilities. The final team photo was duly taken and we were in very good time for a swim, jacuzzi and sauna before dinner as planned.

Sunday was a relaxing day with a late morning start, stopping off at the Glen Coe visitor centre before heading on down the A84 to Callander for (more) well earned cakes/soup and coffees. Next year is, we believe, the 25th edition of the Calderglen Harriers West Highland Way Relay, an event which we started when Calderglen began a 10 year stint of organising the West Highland Way Race and we thought that doing it as a relay a month beforehand would provide a good way of familiarising all the Harriers who would be marshalling with the route. It remains one of the highlights of the Harriers' calendar and we look forward to something special next year. Book your space early!

Thanks to Frances for her perfect organisation of the weekend, to Eddie and Gerry for sharing the driving and to all the Harriers for approaching this event so enthusiastically.
Full album of photos and comments to be found here.
Alan