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Arrochar Alps
Having walked these hills I'd said I'd never run the race so I'm not entirely sure why I ended up on the start line. Naill and new recruit Peter were also there, as was Chris who gave into the peer pressure and decided to run - with low cloud it wasn't really the weather for taking photos.
With tired legs from the start I took it easy to the first climb before finding some sort of rhythm. The mist and cloud made navigation very difficult and I made my first mistake dropping too far south of the dam. Having lost lots of places I climbed Ben Vane alone - it was very eerie but thankfully my baring was good and I found the summit and a group of other runners. We stuck together as we headed over to Beinn Ime as it went disasterously wrong. I'd love to see a Garmin track of our route as I'm still not 100% sure where we went. Still, we eventually got back on track, battled through the low energy and made it to the finish. What a brutal race!
Chris was first Westie home, I'll leave Naill to expand on why he wasn't next. I'll be doing this one again but maybe not next year!
Posted by Cameron Burt on Sun 26 Jun 2011 | 2 comments
Category Hill Race
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Comments
graham k said...
I first did a recee with Jason K (who organised before Rob took over), then ran, then marshalled at the bealach between Vane & Ime and topped it off with sweeping this year. The arrochar alps are for sure a complex wee set of hills that is not really reflected on a 1:50k map. Great effort to all those who ran - it is a real test of mountain skill and fitness. Looking forwards to running it again next year.
Sunday 26th June 2011 10.49pm
Rob said...
First, thanks again to all those who marshalled, swept, put out summit clips and helped out at the start and finish. It really wouldn't happen without your help.
The weather made it a navigational challenge again this year and we had the usual stories of additional tops, sights of the rest and be thankful and other directional difficulties. However, all 34 runners made it back in time for the excellent soup and rolls at the village hall. Fyne Ales came up trumps with great prizes as usual and we gave our first sub-4 hour award for a woman, after Jasmin Paris set a new record of 3:58:55.
All in, another good year for the race, despite the relatively small field. Keep next year's race date in your diary, Sat 7th July, as we're a British Championships counter. I'll be looking for lots of willing helpers and I hope to see a good few Westies running too!
Thursday 30th June 2011 9.53pm