Social Events

The Extravaganza is our annual club relay event, in which carefully selected, evenly balanced and not at all cobbled-together-at-the-last-minute teams awake before dawn on Saturday morning and set off to run legs of a long distance route, culminating in a shared meal and party / ceilidh on the Saturday night.

Previous Extravaganza include:
Curlywee to Galloway (2019), the Cateran Trail (2018), Tyndrum to Milngavie, avoiding the West Highland Way (2016), the Speyside Way (2015), the mythical Arran coastal path (2014), the Real Rob Roy Way (2013), Hadrian’s Wall (2012), Campsie Fells (2011), the Cateran Trail (2010), a failed attempt at Skye (2009), and the Rob Roy Way (2008).

Historical excavations of old Westies haunts reveal traces of even earlier Extravananzas.

The Loch Ossian Youth Hostel is one of the remotest habitations in the country, accessible only by foot from Corrour railway station. Westies have been making an annual pilgramige to Loch Ossian every November (with one exception) since 1990, and the event has become an eagerly anticipated highlight of the club social calendar.

Pilgrims arrive Friday evening, spend all day Saturday in the hills, returning to the hostel for a shared meal and party on the Saturday night. Sunday features the Lap of the Loch (kudos awards for those who complete the 12km route in under an hour), shorter run/walk options (weather dependent), lunch, cleanup and back to Corrour Station for the closing rituals and return home.

The weekend is not in any way similar to its depiction in cinema.

A selection of unreliable, heavily expurgated reports can be found here.

Our Xmas variation on the Wednesday club run. We meet in a pub, put some money in a kitty jar, then run suitably decked out in seasonal fancy dress, baubles and lights to a selection of quality public houses. The evening is topped off with a curry and announcement of the winner of the coveted Curry League.

Our annual informal Do, consisting of food, music, Westies friends old and new catching up and reminiscing about hills and races done and to be done.

We use the Xmas Do to celebrate the Westies year gone by. The Captains make short speeches, notable race reports and photos are commended, and the Westie of the Year is announced.