Jura Fell Race 2012

Results

What an amazing weekend. With a forecast of scorchio, being quite disorganised, and the day off on Friday with only one purpose – to get to Jura – I decided to take the scenic route. So after the train to Ardrossan, ferry to Brodick, a cycle round Arran to Lochranza, a ferry to Cloanaig, a short cycle to Kennacraig, a ferry to Port Askaig on Islay, another ferry over to Jura and a final cycle I arrived in time for tea, and already I was inspired by the beautiful weather and magical scenery.

I met Brian for dinner and knew that Niall was arriving on the fast boat in the morning. It wasn’t until the morning that I met Alan (even though his tent was beside mine) and Murdo (who wasn’t running). And, on the startline I caught up with Manny too.

We all set off at 10.30 in the glorious sunshine with the promise of a light breeze on the tops. I’m so glad this turned out to be the case as it helped keep the body temperature down a little. Alan and I were running within a few meters of each other for the first 2 hours with Manny out in front and Niall, whose body clock was all over the place having just come back from San Fran, keeping Alan and me in sight.

Everyone tells you how rough Jura is and I can now say first hand that it is rough and steep and relentless. It was on the thrid pap that I started to suffer, really flagging on the climb and all over the place one the decent. Thankfully I found some water after the decent which with the help of Jelly Babies got me back to running for the final climb of the day. It is a great grassy decent of the final hill which I loved, then the final punishing 3 miles along the road, when all you want to do is jump in the lagoon blue sea lapping up the white sandy beaches to your left. It was a tough 3 miles!

Manny had a great run well under 4 hours – the medical support had to revive him by pouring cold water over his face after he lay down after finishing. Alan had a great run also in 4h30m (ish). I was about 10 minutes later and Niall a further 10 minutes. Unfortunately Brian was timed out.

A fantastic long weekend away with great company!

0 replies

Leave a Reply

Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.