Highland Fling Relay

This year I decided not to run the full 53 miles of the Highland Fling from Milngavie to Tyndrum. The decision was based on the amount of time I took to recover last year and the races I either entered and did poorly or missed due to injury. So planning on running Stuc a Chroin, an AL Scottish Hill race, instead I was surprised to get an email asking me to run a leg of the mixed relay team Helensburgh AAC had entered for the Fling.

Leg 3 was to be by leg and it is a tough leg with lots of undulations and tricky boulder strewn narrow sections to navigate at speed past tired ultra runners and West Highland Way walkers. The leg is 13.8 miles long and some 1387 ft of ascent/descent.

The weather on the day was really too hot for comfortable running and I really felt for the flingers coming in to Rowardennan as I was waiting to start my leg. The atmosphere is really good however and the runners were mostly in good spirits, although I did see one or too withdraw who looked a little too hot.

Soon enough my turn to run came as Karen Wallace came into view running through Rowardennan car park, I grabbed the timing chip and headed off up the long steady climb along the side of Loch Lomond heading North. The fireroad climbs through the forest for a few miles before becoming more undulating later on. I made good progress along this section and felt to be going well

The problems start after Inversnaid when the trail gets very narrow and scrambly in places and you feel more like a mountain goat than a runner bounding from boulder to boulder. Walkers were becoming a bit of a pain here as I tried to manouver around them and their huge swaying packs. I was also starting to feel the heat and felt the going get quite tough although I was spurred on by the sheer determination of the flingers as they plodded steadily onwards and as a result felt like I needed to push on harder. Easier said than done, but I was nearly there and could see Beinglas farm in the distance and my finish, and was glad I had no more miles to do.

I handed over to Gordon Howat and headed for an ice cream at the wee campsite shop and time to catch my breath and cool down. I was pleased with my time of 2:03:40 but would really have liked to get under the 2 hrs.

In the end Helensburgh won the mixed team prize and celebrated with an ice cold beer at the finish, along with Sarah Walker and Michelle Hetherington who had run the whole lot - well done.

Montane Highland Fling

Montane Highland Fling Pics

The Fling was not something I was thinking about running until Sarah talked me round some months ago. With not much training under my belt due to injury I still felt optimistic. Two weeks ago I ran the Highlander Mountain Marathon coming in 5th on the A class, and no sign of the injury, so I thought ok lets go for a good time in the Fling. I set my sights on sub 9 hours and worked out what splits I'd need to achieve that. Hoping for a rainy overcast day, as I don't do well in the heat, I was pleasantly surprised by the rainy start at 0400 on Saturday morning, this was not to last. After waving Sarah, Ann and Ross off at the 0600 start and Stevie B away at 0700, it was my turn at last.


With stomach churning in trepidation of the 53 miles that lay ahead and the pace I was aiming to set, the race got under way, before I knew it I was running with the leading pack flying through Mugdock park and on our way to Drymen, averaging 7.3 min/miles. Conic hill flew past and on the descent I could feel my quads complaining which I wasn't expecting until at least half way. Checkpoint at Balmaha, fill up bottles, stock up on gels and banana cake, crack on ! No time to waste. The next section is a good trail but pretty undulating and I found it tough going. Thinking about nothing other than the next checkpoint I was just focusing on maintaining the pace, lots of encouragement from the vets as I passed really helped keep the momentum. It was good to hear Claire, Julia and Andrew's familiar shouts of encouragement as I approached Rowardennan and the half way point in just under 4hrs.


Quads were v.sore now and it was hot, not a good combination, and I was only half way. Focus, think only about the next checkpoint, this was what I kept telling myself. One foot in front of the other, off I go. Maintain the pace but don't go mad up the hills. The next bit is a quad killer and mine were already dead. I struggled over boulders and up down steep slopes trying to get to Beinglas in around 6.5 hrs, but I could see this was not going to happen. Finally Beinglas appeared after what seemed an eternity and I could see Sarah waving at me from the checkpoint. She was about to leave but waited while I grabbed some food and we set off together on the final leg. Running now was truly a painful experience, and I managed a walk/run over the last 13 miles. The heat was cranked up full now and the lack of wind didn't help. I reached the finish line feeling quite emotional and also very sick. The heat had taken it's toll and my legs could no longer function as nature intended. I was a mess. Over 10 hours of running and an hour over my target. Sarah on the other hand had paced it well and made the ceilidh in the evening while I had no choice but to lye down in the tent and drink water all night.


Would I do it again ? Maybe, I'd still like to get sub 9.