TTC 2021 - Final Arrangements

An extra point to note for those driving through over the weekend, there is a new 20mph speed limit the full length of Callander Main Street (and the main streets in all towns in Stirling Council area) that came into effect about 5 weeks ago. The 30mph limit reduces to 20mph at about the Roman Camp Hotel/Bracklin Road turn-off and continues all the way through Callander to the Dreadnought Hotel/Tesco Express where it returns to 30mph. There may be random speed checks in place. So watch your speed!

Alan

The running routes have been checked out by your team of coaches and all that remains is to fill you in with the final details. PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING CAREFULLY AS THERE ARE SOME CHANGES COMPARED TO PREVIOUS YEARS GIVEN THE COVID PRECAUTIONS.

COVID PRECAUTIONS

• At all times, running and socially, be respectful of your fellow participants who may be less comfortable than you with the group arrangements.
• Self-test in the few days before the event and withdraw and self-isolate if you test positive or show symptoms. Advise me verbally on arrival that you have tested negative and get in touch and let me know if you have to withdraw.
• Follow the now familiar hand hygiene rules. 
• Please wear a face covering when moving about inside the communal areas of the hostel (fine to take off when seated).
• The people in your dorm will be your indoor bubble for breakfast tables, lunch tables (if we are indoors) and car transport to/from the Lade Inn.
• Keep dorm's as well ventilated as possible e.g. by keeping the door and windows open whilst we are in or around the building and keeping windows cracked open through the night (this may make the rooms a little cold so bring extra clothes for bedtime).
• Each table in the dining room will be marked with your dorm/bubble number. Each bubble group should wipe down their table before/after use.
• Each bubble/dorm should arrange their own transport to/from the Lade Inn so we are not mixing too many people between cars and the driving gets shared out over the Friday and Saturday nights. Wear masks inside cars.
• The Lade Inn has its own covid arrangements which we must adhere to. These include temperature measurements on arrival, track and trace register and wearing of masks while moving around inside.
• As there is a possibility that some will become "relaxed" as the Lade Inn evenings progress, remember to stay respectful of other people and the guidance above.
• There is no impact on the training. It will continue in the way that we are familiar with!

The Venue

We are returning to the Trossachs Tryst Hostel (The Treehouse) on Invertrossachs Road, Callander. Refer to the map in the How to Get There section for the precise location (your sat nav will only get you very approximately onto the right road due to the remoteness of the location, so look at the map first). This is the same venue as 2019 and the same as used for the first 9 years of the TTC for those who have been regular participants. For those who did the May Saturday run this year, the hostel entrance is 6 feet beyond the entrance to the forest car park, so very easy to find! The hostel is owned by the children's charity FABB Scotland and is not permanently staffed. Therefore, the venue will not be open until the part time caretaker can meet up with me to hand over the keys. This will not be until after 4pm on Friday 10th September (we will be charged extra if we want in earlier than that). If you are coming through to Callander earlier in the afternoon, please spend your time in Callander having a cake and a coffee or whatever rather than coming to the venue. Also note that Wheels cycle hire, which is located beside the hostel and is permanently manned, has nothing to do with the hostel and has its own car park on the hillside. Note also that we do not have access to the upstairs area of the hostel, so don't go up there.

Please be ready to run at 5:15 pm on the Friday evening. If you are going to be late arriving, please give me a call (07867863741). For the safety of all/fading daylight, we can't really delay the start too long but will try our best. Please don't take any risks to get there on time if you are late. Its only a run! Dinner is booked for 7:30pm at the Lade Inn.

The accommodation is in 5 dormitories of various sizes with a mix of bunk beds and single beds, each dorm accommodating from 4 to 9 people. There are 32 bed spaces and we have 19 or 20 participants who I have spaced out as much as possible. I will let you know on arrival what room you are in just in case we have any further changes through this final week. Bedding is provided. Please bring your own towels.

We have to be out of the hostel by 1pm on Sunday. Please make sure you have taken all your belongings as we don't have the luxury of the previous resident owner calling me up to tell me what she has found after we had left!

How to Get There

Approaching Callander on the A84 from Stirling, proceed to the centre of Callander to the traffic light controlled cross roads where you should turn left down the hill onto Bridge Street/A81. Follow the road across the bridge and the various speed humps past the primary school to the mini roundabout a hundred metres or so further on. Turn right onto Invertrossachs Road and follow this road for about 1.5 miles (do not bear left into the Callander Holiday Park caravan site entrance after a half mile). There is a big green sign at the entrance to the hostel.

This Google Map shows the route from Callander Main Street.

What to Bring

Please bring the following:

• Towels
• Running gear appropriate to the weather forecast! (1 run on Friday, 2 runs on Saturday plus a core session, 1 run on Sunday). From the information provided, it seems that we do not have access to a washing machine, so bring enough changes of clothes with you.
• All of the runs are on a mixture of trail and tarmac. I would say that road shoes are fine on all of the routes but some of you may also wish to bring trail shoes if you have them and are comfortable running 3 to 5 miles (5 to 8km) on tarmac in them. Many of the routes can be wet, slippy and eroded so care is necessary irrespective of the footwear chosen.
• Water bottle and belt or bum-bag or running back pack. This is not an expedition and the runs are of normal training run duration from 30 minutes to 2 hours so no massive back packs that will only slow you down; just enough to carry a light running jacket and your water bottle/gels on the long Sunday run. Your pack leaders will not be able to carry stuff for you as they are running too.
• I suggest bringing your phone on the runs in case of emergencies (not just for photos).
• Any medication that you require (and let your room mates and pack leader know where and what it is just in case of emergencies)
• A yoga mat or beach towel for the core session which will be outside if the weather allows. I think it will be too cramped from a ventilation perspective for us to do the session indoors in the lounge area if the weather is bad, in which case I will come up with an alternative plan.

Food and Drink

The water from the taps is beautiful Trossachs water so is fine to drink. If you think you need any special gels for the runs, then please bring your own. We will be doing 5 to 6 miles on Friday, 7 to 9 miles on Saturday morning, 3 to 5 miles on Saturday afternoon and 11 to 14 miles on Sunday morning. The distances are not far but the elevation gain is significant on all the routes. You shouldn't really need gels during any of these runs except perhaps the longest route on the Sunday. Don't handicap yourself by wearing a backpack!

Everyone has made their menu choices for dinner on Friday and Saturday and they have been submitted to the Lade Inn. A printed list will be available on each of the dinner nights for those (like me) who can't remember what they ordered.

Breakfast goods will be provided on Saturday and Sunday. We will arrange for a selection of breakfast goods to be laid out on each table to avoid a total stramash in the kitchen.

Your Tesco meal deals will be available on Saturday. I will print out a master list of who ordered what and arrange the stuff on a per person basis as best I can but do check that you have picked up what you ordered. Hopefully the weather will be good enough to do the lunches outside on the bench/tables but otherwise it will be in the communal dining room.

We are responsible for washing the hostel's cutlery, so please lend a hand and don't leave it to the few.

We are bringing communal tea, coffee, milk and biscuits which will be in the communal dining room. Clean up/wash-up after use.

Safety

Safety is paramount for the entire duration of the weekend. There will be a briefing before each session highlighting additional points but here are the main ones:

All runs will be in approximate equal ability packs based on what you have told us on the entry form and what we know to be the real situation. Please stick to the pack you have been assigned at the start of each run. We can always move people up or down a pack for the next run. If you are struggling during the run, your pack leader should have noticed this but please let your pack leader know anyway. 

Nobody goes off on their own or is left on their own as there are several hundred km's of trails to get lost on in there.

We are sharing the trails and roads with other users (motorists, cyclists, walkers). Be respectful of all and be aware of what is going on around you. Go single file when passing other road/trail users.

There are public access Automatic External Defibrillators at two points on the Sunday run route. Your pack leaders are aware of the locations and many of the Harriers are familiar with their use through the training organised by Jim Mearns in previous years. Heaven forbid we need them but they are there if we do.

The Lade Inn is over a mile away from the hostel. Most of us will use cars to get to the Lade Inn (see Covid arrangements section). However, if anyone is walking to the Lade Inn, they MUST NOT walk on the main road (A821) to Kilmahog. This is an extremely dangerous narrow road with blind dips and bends and a high proportion of tourist traffic (cars, buses and motorbikes) who are not familiar with the twists and turns and often drive too fast. The traffic has been worse in recent months due to staycation traffic and it seems that Sat Navs are now directing people onto the road past the Lade Inn and the hostel as the quickest route for those taking the back road to Glasgow/Drymen, bypassing Callander Main Street. So be careful. If you are walking to the Lade Inn, take the high level footpath parallel to the main road.

There is a mountain bike race taking place again on part of the trails we are using on the Sunday. They have exclusive use of the trails on the south side of Loch Venachar due to the speed they will be racing at and the trail will be closed. However, their race starts at 9am, our run starts no later than 8am. We have to be clear of the first section of the trail beside Loch Venachar before that trail is closed.  That means there will be no turning back on the long run. Once we have all passed the section of trail on the south side of Loch Venachar, we have to continue with the loop on the north side.

If anyone has any additional questions, then please drop me an e-mail (w.alan.derrick@gmail.com) or text (07867863741).

Alan