Westies triumph in Outer Hebrides

Westies win in the Islands shocker ! 1st and 3rd for the Gold and Black ! Team prize taken by Westies ! Biggest surprise in Harris since the Vikings landed !

I headed off to do the new race, organised by Stuart Simpson, ascending Clisham on Harris at the weekend. I decided to drive to Uig late on Friday night and then sleep in the car before heading over as a passenger on the CalMac ferry. Big mistake, although the 4 hour drive to Uig went OK my new car proved to be a seriously uncomfortable place to kip …..not enough legroom and too bumpy so not a great night. The ferry trip went ok, was glad to see that temperatures were a good bit lower on the west coast which suited me fine. After disembarking I contacted Stuart looking for a lift to registration/race start and he told me to relax as Manny, Brenda, and Maisie were on holiday on the island and would pick me up. So after a leisurely lunch and a wander round Tarbert I met up with them and we headed off to race start where it was blowing a hooly and seriously not warm. Iain Stewart and his family appeared and with less than an hour to go itlooked as if the 4 Westies would make up the majority of the field ……..Maisie and Iain’s oldest girl Eva were having some sort of debate about whose daddy was the fastest although the bold Manny appeared to have run over just about every bump on the island in the previous week so probably was a tad knackered.  A late influx of runners appeared swelling the field to 16 in total. The race route was a classic. Start by the side of a burn and choose any route you like running up the valley to the summit of Clisham, with one short marked section to ensure you missed a nasty wee crag, then turn and retrace your steps …..no tracks, no roads ……magic. Iain and Manny were slightly less confident when Stuart told them that a good runner from Ron Hill Cambusland was in the race but after some photographs we were off. Within 10 minutes or so it was obvious that the race was between Iain and the Cambuslang guy, McCorquodale ?. As the field stretched out they were locked close together at the front with Manny a clear 3rd ahead of Stuart and the rest of us. The middle part of this race is the steepest and you just get the head down and slog uphill. I was doing OK trying to keep up with Neil McRury who had informed me within 2 minutes of meeting that I still owed him a pint from last year’s Rheniggidale race, these island boys take their drink seriously you know. 3/4 of the way to the top and here comes the leader, our own Iain Stewart, and I can see the 2nd guy couple of hundred metres behind him, and that while Iain is striding out good style the other guy is slipping and sliding bigtime and losing a lot of ground to Iain. Not long after that Manny comes past, his legs heavy with the week’s running, too far behind to challenge and nobody chasing him so he is just enjoying the run. Wish I was, as I still had a good bit of climb to go …..hang on in there and get to the top a minute behind one of the islanders. The race is well marshalled with local rescue guys at the top and by the marked section on the climb. Not far off the top I meet Brenda who’s having a not bad climb and I try to chase down the guy ahead. He takes a rather scenic route which confuses me slightly but by the time we’re off the steep bit I’m level with him …..then as i overtake I manage to find a nice deep wee bog which gives him enough of a lead to hang on to the finish. Everybody gets down safely and Brenda nabs the 3rd woman spot. The local Scaladale Centre hosted the prize giving as well as offering showers and tea/coffee and biscuits. The prizes for 1st Man and 1st Lady were unique, must have taken several hundred million years to make and certainly won’t blow away in a gale. The race also managed to provide everybody’s time at the summit as well as the overall time which is an excellent help in assessing your ascent/descent and I wish more races did this.

The Stewarts head off to find a campsite and the rest of us go to Tarbert to get food and, after Manny has turned down one hotel because their beer is sub-standard ( not the actual word he used ) we manage to get a table and have an excellent meal and a couple of drinks …..the scallops were easily the best I’ve ever tasted. Maisie is simpy amazing, despite occasionally looking like she was about to crash and burn she kept on going, always finding new playmates like iain’s kids, or the 3 she met on the boat. Duracell bunnies would be tired watching her and I have no idea how Brenda manages to keep up, just hope Maisie had a good sleep last night. Back to Uig and then I ran to the car in order to get ahead of some of the mob streaming off the ferry as I had a long way to go. Got home just before 3am ….exceedingly knackered ….but a great day out, made even better by the unexpected presence of other Westies. Well done Iain and Manny …..1st and 3rd …..where’s yer Carnethy noo eh ?