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| Map: Scottish Hill Racing |
Arrochar alps is, for me, a local race and where the majority of my hill specific training is done. I have always had the aim of running sub four hours at this one and this year I was hoping to achieve that.
The weather was not too bad with little or no wind and not overly warm. The problem that would tax most people was the thick clag covering the hill from about 300m. Unless you know the route well navigation can be problematic due to crags dotted here and there blocking the direct line on a compass bearing. The best line often has to zig and zag around the crags and it is easy to lose your bearings.
Because I had set myself the aim of getting a sub 4hr time I was actually quite nervous before the race start and found my self shaking at race registration, so decided to go for a warm up to try and calm my nerves. 30 runners had entered this year as it is a busy weekend with lots of other races on elsewhere. On the start line the midges were annoying as last minute instructions were briefed by the organiser.
The race was off and the pace picked up to a fair trot up Glen Loin which is a tough undulating track that finishes below the Sloy dam and the foot of Ben Vorlich. I tried to keep up with Mark Harris and Dave Eiser but only managed to do that until the last big hill of Glen Loin where they opened a little gap on me which I managed to maintain for the rest of the tarmac section to the foot of Ben Vorlich. I had to push hard going through Glen Loin and was now drenched in sweat and felt clammy as there was no wind to cool me. The ascent of Ben Vorlich is very steep and my legs complained as I started the long climb to the summit. There is a bit of a track going up here and I was following it initially until I saw that the leaders were now over to the left and no longer on the same track as me. The track ultimately leads to the summit but there is another more direct steeper route which looked like the leaders were taking. I chose to follow and made my way over to them but once I got to where they had climbed it looked like it would really tax my legs and I could also see Mark Harris heading off towards the track again. Decision made follow Mark back to path and hope that the leaders route isn't a real advantage. Mark was climbing well, I couldn't hold that pace and watched him disappear from view. I could hear a small group close behind who had stayed on the track closing on me so I pushed on and up but was aware that Niall McAlinden was hot on my heals and Chris Upson not far behind him.
It went a bit pear shaped here as I thought I knew a direct contouring route to the cairn but ended up doing a bit of a detour to arrive at the cairn at the same time as Jonny Knox and Chris Upson. Jasmin Paris and Niall had just whizzed past commencing their descent. A bit annoyed at having blundered I sped of after Niall and Jasmin hoping to catch them on the descent to the dam. Actually I caught them just at the start of the near vertical descent down to the dam and Jasmin was about to overshoot and go off in the wrong direction. Seeing the route I was taking Jasmin headed over and on the way down we chatted about possible finishing times. I still thought sub 4hr was possible and explained that I knew the route well as I was fairly local. The female record was 4:06:46 and I think Jasmin was set on breaking it. By the dam we had pulled away from the group behind us and it was now just the two of us. The climb up Ben Vane was horrific and the clag was extremely thick, it was evident now that Jasmin had made the decision to stay with me as I knew the route and I realised now that if I went wrong I would not only prevent my chance of sub 4 but possibly even ruin the race for Jasmin too. The doubt crept in once on the plateau before the gulley leading to the summit of Ben Vane and I hesitated a couple of times and I could feel Jasmin looking at me wondering if I had gone horribly wrong. Thankfully we made it and the line I had taken was bang on. Near the summit we came across a woman looking for her dog whom she had not seen for over two hours; I hope she found it.
The descent from Ben Vane was fairly fast and uneventful I realised we were slightly too far to the right and perhaps lost a minute on the ideal line. The climb up Ben Ime was painful but we punched on aware that the clock was ticking. At the summit we had 1hr and 4 minutes to get down Ime over Nairnain and back to the finish if we were to break the 4 hour mark. No time to waste, so we sped off down the boggy tussocky track to the bealach between Narnain and Ime. One more munro to go and I didn't know if my legs would carry me up it. I could feel small cramps in my adductors and knew that if I pushed too hard here my legs would just go into spasm but I was also aware that we had no time to spare. I gritted my teeth and pushed on to the summit. What a feeling when we reached the cairn knowing that there were no more climbs left. Just one small problem to deal with now, 35 minutes to get to the finish it was going to have to be a quick descent. The route down is not easy and is covered with boulders and crags and is steep. To make matters worse there is an old pipe track with concrete blocks where bits of old metal protrude from them, any slips here could be potentially lethal. We made it down with only a couple of slips and trips and found ourselves on the fire road back to the finish, approximately 1.5 miles to go. The clock showed we had 11 minutes to do 1.5 miles. Now, running 1.5 miles normally would take less than 8 minutes however after nearly four hours of running and climbing four munro's this particular 1.5 mile run was going to be hell. We sped off down the road and I have never felt my lungs burn so much, my legs were periodically throwing little spasms and all I wanted to do was lay down. I hadn't had any water since before Ben Ime and my mouth was now also very dry. The road ends at a gate and over into a field before crossing a little bridge and then down a road for 500 yds to the finish. Somehow we couldn't find this little bridge and we had less than 3 minutes to get to the finish. Bugger, I thought I had blown it right at the end, when suddenly I caught sight of the red tape marking the bridge and we sprinted for the finish line just making it in 3:58:46. I was exhausted and felt a little queasy. But we were both ecstatic to have achieved our aims. Jasmin set a new course record of 3:58:55, well done Jasmin.
