Islay 2015 - Part 1 Stand by for Islay

A Fair Trade - Bread in, Whisky Out

Calderglen Harriers have made the trip to Islay on the Friday preceding the first Saturday in August for most of the 29 occasions on which the Islay Half Marathon has been held. 2015 would be no exception and with 24 places secured in our favoured accommodation again (Bowmore Cottages) this looked set to be another great Harriers' weekend away. This year we had booked the cottages from the Friday through to the Monday with various groups of Harriers arriving on either the Friday afternoon or evening ferry. At least that was the plan. As usual, I had opted for the evening ferry, allowing for a relaxing drive through the day, a rendezvous with other Harriers in Inverary for lunch and a short drive onward to Tarbert and Kennacraig for the 6pm ferry. This year we were planning a BBQ for around 40 Harriers and guests on the Sunday. Thanks to Hugh Simpson's trade contacts (unfortunately Hugh was unable to go to Islay this year) we had been supplied with copious quantities of chicken and burgers which were filling the boot of Billy Buchanan's car in freezer boxes whilst Eddie Reid had converted the boot of his car into a bread van. Eddie and Billy were also on the 6pm ferry. It seemed like a "fair trade"; meat and bread into Islay in exchange for whisky brought back (assuming our runners performed well enough to win the liquid prizes).

From around 1pm, the 3 Harrier's cars booked on the late ferry all arrived at Inverary's public car park within about 20 minutes of each other. So far so good. A table for 10 was quickly arranged in the George Hotel and we enjoyed a nice lunch. The first signs of a problem came at the lunch table when Davy Watt declared that he had forgotten to pre-enter the race due to a family bereavement. We knew from past experience that there would be no entries on the day, no exceptions as Kate, the race organiser, was particularly strict about this. A quick check on the half marathon FaceBook page confirmed that Kate was already harassed with last minute questions about safety pins and water stations so none of us had the bottle to call Kate to ask for a late entry. As Davy was expected to be the first Harrier home, this was potentially a serious set back to our prize haul ambitions.

A glimmer of hope was that Sandra Reid had entered the race but was not running due to a recent injury. But simply giving Sandra's number to Davy and having him run as Sandra was not an option for obvious reasons (the moustache). Our saviour arrived in the form of Jim Holmes' mum who was also travelling to Islay with Jim and his family. Mrs Holmes is a close personal friend of Kate's and we thought that a phone call to Kate from Mrs Holmes would allow us to do a formal swap of Davy for Sandra; another fair trade. After a tense 10 minute period of negotiations and explanations over the phone, the deed was done (except that Sandra had to go back to the car in the pouring rain to find her number so we could relay that to Kate) and Davy's details were transferred over. Thanks Mrs Holmes and Kate! We had now played our "Get Out of (Inverary) Jail Free" card but could carry on to the ferry contented.

On checking in at Kennacraig ferry terminal nice and early, we were advised that the ferry had a technical problem on Islay and would be at least an hour late arriving at Kennacraig. After conferring with the check-in staff, we got the OK to return to Tarbert for an hour or so as Kennacraig ferry terminal is hardly Disneyland in terms of entertainment or facilities (neither is Tarbert for that matter but it least it has the shows and pubs/cafes). We entertained ourselves with a walk up to the atmospheric Tarbert Castle in the pouring rain; a really impressive castle in an equally impressive location. A top quality tennis set was also purchased to enable practice (we need it) for the forthcoming Calderglen Harriers Tennis Tournament (entries still being accepted).

Then it was back to the ferry terminal to be told by the staff that the ferry had not yet left Islay and it would be at least another 2 hours. With a morning race, it would be too late to have dinner on the ferry as originally planned so once again, we confirmed with the CalMac staff that it was OK to return to Tarbert again for something to eat. We got a table for all of us at the excellent Anchor Hotel where most of us had a high tea of fish, chips, a slice of bread and a cup of tea. Very traditional! It was during dinner that we received our second piece of bad news; Jim Holmes phoned to advise that the ferry had been cancelled! The hotel staff soon established that there was no accommodation within a 40 mile radius with this being a holiday weekend. After much FB'ing, phoning around and pleading, we managed to get somewhere for the ladies to stay but the men were homeless. I decided to drive back to the ferry terminal to sleep in my car and Eddie and Billy soon followed on with Geo, Davy and Kenny. Next shock was that the CalMac staff told us we should have stayed at the terminal to re-book and that we were now on standby for the morning ferry with another 40 cars. It seemed unlikely that we would get on the 7am ferry with the cars and, most importantly, the 2 car loads of rolls and meat for the BBQ!

Homeless team before being evicted from Kennacraig ferry terminal

A restless, cold night of not much sleep followed (I can confirm that a sports car is not a motor home) for all of us. Hardcore hero of the night was Eddie Reid who had a sleeping bag with him and discovered that it was in fact more comfortable sleeping outside on the ferry terminal door step than in his car! The seagulls were up bright and early (4:30 they started I think) but none of us were in as good voice when we got up (maybe something to do with the carry-out and not just the lack of sleep). However by sleeping in the cars, we had at least got ourselves in 2nd, 3rd and 4th positions in the standby queue. The bad news was that the ferry terminal was very busy and all the cars and arctics booked on the 7am ferry appeared to have turned up. Calderglen's operation "McStack" appeared to have failed. So what next?

Would the Harriers crack(ed) veteran team make it on the ferry and to the race and would they be capable of running? Would the Harriers have the energy to storm the ferry? Would the Harriers have to stowaway in a Cooperative refrigerated arctic (the BBQ supplies would be in good shape though)? Could the BBQ go ahead without rolls, meat and disposable BBQ's? Would anyone take pity on Kenny, as he extended the "Friend of Handship"? Answers to some of these questions in the next installment. To be continued.........
Alan

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