Ellie said...

I'd like to echo David's thanks to Jason and crew. Thanks especially to the marshalls, who, although much colder and damper than I was, managed to tolerate my flustered demands for directions from them and wave me onward- even though I reliably lost the descents paths moments later in the low cloud.

I was rescued at one point by 'Lassie' (aka Rani), who, knowing my competence on the hill, pursued me down from the summit of Ben Ime, barked and wagged her tail to gesture me away from the path up the Cobbler over to Narnain! I liked that touch.

Having spent most of the race playing roulette with my compass while staring into the growing hole in my soggy map, hobbling on the infamous 'snapped' ankle ligaments, and questioning the sanity of hill running, I was hugely relieved to reach the end, and be rewarded with Fyne Ales and a pottery jug to drink them from!

Clearly, this race truely sorts the grain from the chaff of hardy hill runners, and without the usual band of merry men to follow, I met my comeuppance. Here's hoping for a larger field, softer landings and a canine support crew in 2009.

Tuesday 1st July 2008 9.11am

Chris said...

Interestingly enough, my GPS measured more like 15&frac12 miles, rather than the straight line half marathon distance.

The wet conditions made the steep descents off Vorlich and Narnain pretty challenging, but luckily and unlike Ellie, I always had runners in front to chase, apart from the opening 800 metres when I found that I was leading the race.

Results | Race Profile

Tuesday 1st July 2008 9.36am

Elsie said...

Well done Ellie, I see that you are now leading the long classics series! You will have to do 2 more now!

Thanks to the marshalls as well, they were all a great help when I had to retire, hopefully I'll be back next year and manage to get round next time.

Tuesday 1st July 2008 12.30pm

Val said...

A huge well done all. We could barely see you arriving out of the cloud so nav must have been tricky. Had an interesting marshalling experience as Rob assured me that with his ultra light mtn marathon equip we would happily be able to run in pitch tent and cheer you on in relative luxury. The ultra light tent pegs I can only describe as 'hair pins' were not quite up to the rigours of Ben Ime summit and we had several comedy moments trying to rescue tent, now in diguise as survival bag, while spot runners in the murk. Had a brief fright when Stewart Whitlie who arrived 1st, thought he was 3rd and we thought we had missed 2, but they thankfully arrived from a different direction 30 secs later!

Thanks to the soup maker for reviving me at the bottom.

Serious respect to all you runners, it looks brutal.

Tuesday 1st July 2008 4.37pm

Ellie said...

Yikes! Two more? I don't have enough spare ankles. Perhaps we could arrange a three-legged ankle/knee combo...my strength is your weakness and all that.

Tuesday 1st July 2008 4.52pm

Jason said...

Can I just use this club space to thank everyone involved in making sure this race went off successfully again this year. I am sure I will forget individuals so I will apologise for that in advance. First and I think most importantly I want to thank Christine, Helen and GrahamB for so much work. Graham did a cracking job organising the marshals again and it does seem a difficult task to herd you all. Manny should also get a honourable mention here as his selfless offer angry email seemed to spur a few on.

If this race is to continue (and I think we have a race of potentially UK wide importance here) then it does need to be owned by the whole club, especially if we ever get Champs status. It will take time for the name to spread down south but give it time, this is a good un)

Anyway back to the thanks, and a big thank you to everyone who did turn out to help on the day, on and off the hill, mostly connected to this cub, but also friends, family and supporters of hill running who just wanted to see it happen.

Thanks to Arrochar Village for the use of their hall. If they have a new hall next year do we want one of your famous post race Scottish ho-downs? Also thanks to Arrochar MRT for their support out on the hill.

Achillese Heel gave us some towels which made good prizes for people coming in cold and tired after 5 or more hours.

Very special thanks have to go to Fyne Ales and particularly to the Delaps who are so keen, supportive and generous. The prizes, sub 4 hour badges and free post race beer were all donated by them and they were still asking what else they can do. They want to see the race succeed, grow and last and want to try and get the village involved more if we can.

Of course I want to thank all of those who ran as it is what this is about and when everyone is so positive it makes it all worth while.

Finally can I just give a mention to Luke who helped kick all this off with last years race and has kept abreast of what has been going on with it despite being half way around the world. If he ever comes back we would live to see him marshaling :-)

See GrahamK I didn't put any pressure on you at all. You know what I mean!

Wednesday 2nd July 2008 5.15pm

Graham K said...

Yup - HUGE thanks to everyone involved in making this race happen.

The Arrochar Alps race was the very first hill race I heard about back in the 80s - I couldn't beleive that it was actually possible to get round them in a day never mind race them.

Ended up going round most of the course there or there abouts with Brian Marshall - cannot see that happening again once his ankle is sorted. Steve Ward also joined up during the descent from Vane. Being in a wee group and being able to see a few folks up ahead made a huge difference to both morale ...and navigation. Well done to those to had a more lonely experience.

Would love to see this as a Scottish Champs race as it really is a classic in every sense of the word.

Personally, I would keep the route the same ...the run to the dam is a nice warm up for the silly steepness of Vorlich and the last descent from Narnain provides a test for the legs.

Would equally love to run it again next year but I had my opportunity and am happy to commit to marshalling anywhere Graham B needs next year - also promise to bring along at least one other "volunteer" to help out.

Thanks again and congrats to all who ran !

Cheers

Wednesday 2nd July 2008 5.17pm