Tiree Ultra

Tiree was my first venture into ultra racing… super excited…. had endeavour to get to the start line of a couple of other ultras but to no avail.

The race is 35 miles long and involves running around the outside of the island only moving inland when the terrain becomes un-runnable due to the rocky coast line.

Looking back 10 days on from the event my mind takes me to the beautiful beaches, we ran on 11 in total. I’m also reminded of jackets on, jackets off. Over the 8.5 hours that I was running we were treated to a cycle of rain, wind and cold which would turn into to lovely warm sunshine.

The terrain was as varied as the weather, well suited to the off-road runner. Wet sand, dry sand, trods, long grass, short grass, heather bashing, bogs, yucky ones and wet cold ones. There was a hill to climb in the first leg, yes, really. We even had to climb over a barbed wire fence. Just in case we were enjoying this too much though we did have a couple of stints on tarmac.

I would highly recommend this ultra, 35 glorious miles of running on a beautiful Scottish island.

If you are thinking of entering this great race I would recommend taking a bike to get around the island. The ring and ride bus service was a bit hit and miss. I’m also sure the 3 mile cycle back after the race helped disburse the lactic acid build up.

I need to mention Sue and John at this point, two very kind Tiree residents who loaned Jamie and I their bikes for the weekend. Having them made a big difference.

To sum up, a great wee ultra that is good for the running and good for the soul.