Isle of Jura Fell Race

24th May 1997

Manage to avoid colds, sore throats and flu all winter and guess what happens the week before the Jura Race a rasper of a sore throat, the usual start to a bad cold. So hit it with anti inflammitory pain killers and hope to catch it early enough that it does not progress to the full scale article. But on the Friday afternoon ferry to Islay, after three days of this treatment, it still shows no sign of getting better. The Jura hills are looking great and the weather is forecast to stay sunny and cool perfect conditions so resolved that evening to at least start the race and see how far I could get.

Saturday morning and the pain killers have taken the edge off the sore throat but my breathing is now seriously bunged up. However, this might not make much difference to my usual pace and there is a good chance I can sweat out the cold before it takes hold. Good turn out of Westies, both in the race and supporting. Mark, Jenny, Murdo, Jean, Christine, Chris Speight and Chris Osmond, plus semi Westie John Donnelly.

Off up the hill track in glorious sunshine and out on to the moor beside the plantation, wetter and muddier than I can remember it several runners in front suffer an early bath. Long slog up to the first check point quite comfortably inside the time out limit then a good run over the next two hills and the steep descent to the base of the first Pap. Christine had been feeling unwell so decided to retire about here after the equivalent of a decent hill race by non Jura standards, and still a long, rough route ahead to get back to 'civilisation'. A long line of coloured dots snakes up the steep 2000ft slog of Beinn a'Chaolais and fortunately by the time the tail end group get to grips with the slope the adders, for which this slope is famous, have all been scared away. This first Pap takes its toll on the tail enders time allowance but some clouds are forming to give us the prospect of cooler conditions to come. The marshals tell us that the two leaders passed them well ahead of the field and a good guess that they are Mark and Ian Holmes proves later to be correct. Our group has settled to 5 of us, including 1 Jura runner who is doing the race for the first time and one other for whom it is all new since he completed it 2 years ago in atrocious conditions and saw nothing.

Straightforward, careful progress takes us up the middle Pap, Beinn an Oir, with one of the group pulling ahead. Across to the final Pap, Beinn Shianntaidh, with the first twinges of cramp on the ascent moving me back another place, then encouragement / abuse from Pat and Moira at the summit before the horror descent down the quartzite boulders to reach thelovely peaty track to the lochans and the foot of the final hill. Catching up on the two in front when cramp kicks in with a vengeance. Near the top of the ascent the Jurach appears ahead of me by some easier route so now there is only one behind.

On the long run down the moor this remaining rival takes a parallel route which gets him to the river crossing first and then to add injury to insult I am attacked by an owl on the moor before the road. Later no one seemed to believe that I had been buzzed by an owl in daylight and out on a moor but it was real enough and later identified as a short eared owl.

Once on the road it was mind over matter time with the only bright hope coming when I rounded a corner to find my last rival only 100 metres ahead, but he must have been taking a rest as he pulled away again and finished several minutes ahead. At the finish I caught up with everyone else's news. Mark had stormed to a fine win in 3:08:17, just 1 minute outside his own record leaving Ian Holmes trailing 4 minutes behind. Chis S finished just outside the 4 hour mark on 4:09:18 with John D not far behind on 4:14:42 in spite of running for 2 1/2 hours with a burst shoe only held together by binding it with his laces. Murdo followed on 4:21:48 then Jenny came in as 4th female in 4:45:14. Jean was next in 5:23:57, then Chris O in 6:06:22 and finally myself in 7:17:27 with all traces of my cold sweated out on the first Pap. Inadvertently Westies had bracketed the field!

But in Jura the proceedings do not finish with the prizegiving, there is still the post mortem in the pub and the late night ceilidh to follow. The public bar began to take on the atmosphere of a war zone as the Islay youths started to succumb to a surfeit of alcohol, so the extended Westies family congregated in the residents' lounge to study timetables and work out the logistics of Sunday's return journey. All combinations of car, bus, cycle and ferry were worked out until brains started to hurt but fortunately it was by then time for the masochists among us to head for the ceilidh.

As Jura ceilidhs go this was one of the better ones since the Islay riff raff had been successfully excluded. However, the band gave some cause for concern. We later discovered they had entertained the occupants of the afternoon ferry and raised a considerable sum of beer money, most of which seemed to have been used up by now. The accordionist was on automatic pilot, the drummer's previous experience must have been with a BB band and the guitarist stayed seated all evening, presumably unable to stand up. Somehow they managed to produce a good enough sound for the dancers to cope although when they degenerated towards a country and western bop and sing along around 2.30am it was time to head for bed.

Sunday was another beautiful day and all the transport logistics seemed to work out so we all made the afternoon ferry from Port Ellen and watched the magnificent Jura hills fade into the haze for another year.

Posted by Graham Benny on Wed 30 Nov -0001 | comments are closed

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