WHW Relay 2019

After a week of fine weather, the Harriers faced a night and early morning of rain when we awoke (or not) to make our weary way out into the streets to meet the minibus. After a slightly longer tour of EK than expected, we arrived at Milngavie station ready for a 5am start. Fortunately the rain had now stopped when Andy Henderson was dispatched for the umpteenth time for the first leg to Carbeth. Stephen Phimister was on a marathon mission and volunteered to accompany Andy along the twilight trails out of Milngavie. Andy splashed his way to Carbeth in 39:40 giving us a good start.

For leg 2 to the Beech Tree Inn at Dumgoyne, we had Sandy Hayden who would be able to put her speed and descending skills to good use on this trail. Sandy's entourage comprised David Wardrope and Gordon McInally, both of whom were a little surprised (or shocked) by Sandy's initial pace but managed to hang on to changeover along the path of the old railway line to Buchlyvie. Sandy finished the leg in 24:44.

Russell Couper was on leg 3 to Drymen. Russell was in great shape following his preparation for the London Marathon but had experienced a twinge in his hamstring the week before which meant he would have to be cautious this morning. Fortunately Russell had no problems on his leg, even keeping a large group of mountain bikers at bay (I imagine some elbows were involved). Conditions were good for running by now with a comfortable temperature and no rain, the only problem being the slightly soggy field to end this stage. Russell handed over in a time of 47:26.

Stephen Phimister was sent out on the first of the long legs, up and over Conic Hill and down to the changeover in Balmaha car park. Of course Stephen's welfare on this tough leg was very much central in our minds as the rest of us contended with the trials of retrieving our frisbee and other throwable items from burns and undergrowth. For once the frisbee did not end up stuck in a tree, a significant achievement for the Harriers. So with our dynamic warm ups complete, we remembered why we were in Balmaha Car Park at this ungodly hour and a few runners headed back up the trail to "spot" Stephen.

Five or ten minutes later, the shout was heard that he was approaching and Kenny Leinster and his escort of Chris McCarron and Davie Watt lined up for the handover. Stephen looked remarkably fresh as he sped down the trail to finish in 61:20 but reported that the conditions had not been so nice up on top and were very slippy on the way down.

This next leg would be a short one but definitely not easy and would be the first of two legs assigned to Kenny that day.  The leg finishes in a lay by at Milarrochy, a short distance along the road from Balmaha. As always, Kenny had completed his secret warm up and was aiming to be "in the zone". However he found the constant encouragement from Chris distracting to the extent that he only got into "a" zone and not "the" zone as planned. Notice from the photo that Davie stayed a safe distance behind, fully respectful of the "exclusion" zone around Kenny. Kenny completed the leg in 15:40, hardly warmed up but, importantly, not injured.

Next up was Jim Holmes along the really tough trail to Rowardennan. This leg is rarely flat and is either steep up or steep down on a twisting trail through the woods along the loch shore. The weather was still dry and the temperature fine for running. We had driven along to Rowardennan where we were disappointed to find that the midges had awoken, not as bad as usual but bad enough. It was therefore imperative (to us) that Jim dispatched this leg pronto, which he of course did! Jim finished in 53:45.

Cometh the hour (or two and a bit), cometh the Man. The loch-side leg from Rowardennan to Inverarnan is the longest, toughest and most risky leg (about 14 miles of undulating hell). Eddie Reid had volunteered for this leg some weeks ago, so the usual dilemma of deciding who could do this leg in a reasonable time, ensuring we got to Fort William in time for dinner, was solved. However, it is always a worry and a long wait at Beinglas Farm wondering if the person on this leg is OK. But the rain was on again by this time so many of the team positioned themselves in the farm cafe or slept on the bus! Stephen Phimister still didn't have enough miles in his legs so volunteered to run back along the trail to look for Eddie. I was on next so attempted a warm-up and some drills whilst standing under a tree. A few more headed off along the trail to keep a look out for Eddie. We were all glad to see Eddie appear in 2:22:40, looking in remarkably good shape and also uninjured. By this time of the morning, there were plenty of hikers out on the trail and this had added to the obstacles that Eddie had to negotiate.

I was pretty wet and cold by this time so decided to keep my running jacket on. This proved a sensible decision as I was into driving wind and rain for the whole run. As I was soon reminded, this leg is all up hill but that was OK as I was under medical instruction to "take it easy" and "don't fall" and the hill kept the pace and risk of falling under control. I was also pleased to see that the final half mile of this leg had been surfaced with compressed ash/gravel, having previously been a quagmire of cow poo. Everything up to that point was as bad as usual though with puddles and burns to run through (and hikers to pass). My time for the leg was 51:37.

It was now Kenny's turn for his second official leg of the day which Kenny remembered as a steep, technical descent to the A82 main road just outside Crianlarich. This would suit him well as he is an ace descender. Unfortunately, Kenny had forgotten that there are a number of significant "ups" before the "downs". One benefit of being a super veteran athlete is that some things that are best forgotten are genuinely forgotten! Kenny completed the leg (marked appropriately by the "friend of handship" in the photo), in a time of 23:56.

Gordon McInally was assigned the next leg at the first of several virtual handovers at the main road crossing. Gordon was accompanied by Stephen Phimister and Jim Holmes for the run into Tyndrum, a leg that seems quite flat but has sufficient hills to punish if the initial pace is too fast. Unfortunately, this is the only leg for which I don't have a photo (I do have a good photo of a van passing in front of Gordon, Jim and Stephen though) but Garmin Connect is the place to go if you want to see Gordon's effort in detail! Gordon completed the leg in 32:48 and did another virtual changeover across the road to Joanne McEvoy who was on the spectacular leg to Bridge of Orchy.



Not only is the scenery particularly spectacular on this leg but the underfoot conditions are pretty good. By now the rain was easing a bit too. Joanne was absolutely flying on this leg, not giving us much time in Bridge of Orchy to meet and greet Jim, Ruth and Davie who were out on an epic WHW Race training run. Joanne completed the leg in 50:29.



Fully warmed up and waiting to take over from Joanne was Billy Buchanan, another of our squad on the injury comeback trail. Billy had Sandy to blaze the trail ahead of him and would also be chasing down Jim, Ruth and Davie, so plenty of targets to aim for.

This is a steep wee climb and immediate descent down into Inveroran. The leg was not completely without incident though as Sandy twisted an ankle. It didn't stop a very speedy descent to the finish though. Billy was glad that his knee did not flare up as he negotiated the rocky trail to the hand over in a time of 22:50.

Chris McCarron was on his first WHW Relay and was given the atmospheric leg over Rannoch Moor to Black Rock Cottage. This is a 2/3 up hill 1/3 downhill leg but is pretty good running, as long as you avoid the Oban road. After a few false sightings, we spotted a fast moving dot on the horizon which was indeed Chris. Whilst Chris approached and although Colin Banks was lined up for the next leg, we had a re-shuffle of the subsequent leg as Andy Henderson was a little bit achey after his early morning leg. Fortunately, Davie Watt was up for using the next two legs as a warm-up for his assigned leg over the Devil's Staircase into Kinlochleven. Chris arrived in 65:18 and Colin was off like a rocket.

Colin's destination was the Kingshouse Hotel, completely rebuilt as a modern, Alpine style hotel with the old historic hotel cowering alongside it. A little bit of a visual shock but of no concern to Colin as he stormed into the car park for the changeover in a time of 8:47 to hand over to Davie Watt. This was difficult as Davie was a good 10m behind Colin chasing him down!





Davie set probably the fastest Harriers' time ever on the run to the foot of the Devil's Staircase. We anticipated a continuation of this fantastic pace on the next leg and stayed on the bus to ensure a fast getaway to what would be a very tight drive to the changeover at Kinlochleven. Davie reached the bottom of the Devil's Staircase in 21:00 and then seemed to accelerate up the rocky steps on the next leg.

Fortunately we arrived in Kinlochleven in plenty of time as it turns out the final bridge across the power station pipes had been demolished and there was a minor diversion in place at the usual changeover point. David Wardrope was on the next leg and was a bit unsure of the route out of Kinlochleven onto the trail up onto the military road to the Lairigmore.

Not to worry though, as Stephen Phimister had volunteered to run with David. This was a bit of a shock to me as Stephen already had a lot of miles in his legs and this is one tough leg but it would at least ensure David stayed on track. On balance, this seemed like a good idea until we found out that Stephen had not run this leg previously either! Oh well, you can't get very lost on this leg!!!! Meanwhile Davie Watt came flying down the side of the pipes to the changeover point and David and Stephen were off on a voyage of discovery. Davie Watt completed the leg in 44:55 but not without taking a tumble on the descent. Fortunately nothing was broken.

Another tricky drive followed as we headed to the next changeover at Lundavra. This was another long and anxious wait as the underfoot conditions on this stage are tricky and twisted ankles are easy to acquire. There's no phone signal up there either. However, at least the weather had improved and it was dry which would help David and Stephen. We were all glad to see the duo running steadily and injury free along the rocky trail to hand over to Geo Ferguson. David completed the leg in 92:45.

We then had a relaxed drive into Fort William and up Glen Nevis to the Braveheart Car Park for the final changeover. There we met former Harrier Jimmy Stewart who lives nearby. All of a sudden Geo flew into sight, running very well indeed and handed over to the "masses" for the final mile into Fort William. Geo finished his stage in 50:00 and carried on straight through for the final run in to the finish.

The total time for the 96 miles was 14:15:07, which was in our usual range of times when we have an incident free run. Even better, we had time for a swim at the hotel before our 8:15 dinner booking.

This was another very enjoyable WHW for the Harriers. Thanks to Frances for setting the whole weekend up and gathering the names, to Kenny for organising the right bus for the right weekend and to the team of drivers including Jim and Kenny and especially Eddie for arranging the complex pick-up schedule!

As always a good time was had by all that evening (and for some into the early morning) in the Ben Nevis Hotel. Sunday was a very relaxed journey home in the rain via a cake stop at Glen Coe Ski Centre.

All my photos from the weekend are here. The official timing sheet is here.
Alan