A group of Moorfoots (Colin Williams, Andrew Dancer, Simon Hammond
and Scott McDonald) headed to Tiree for the annual 35 mile ultramarathon http://www.tireefitness.co.uk/tiree-ultramarathon/
The course was actually a bit shorter than then 35 miles claimed
– how much depended on how much you decided to run in the edge of the sea or go
wide to stay wider and drier on the 19 beaches it crossed, and it came with 1,300ft
or 400m of climb.
We arrived after a short flight from Glasgow in Tiree
(Peebles to Tiree door to door in 3.5 hours – the Oban ferry alone takes 4
hours) and picked up our hire bikes that were going to get a lot of use over
the next few days being used for 8 trips back and forth the 4 miles or so between
the hostel and community hall/race HQ and airport.
The weather simply got better and better on the Saturday so
by the time we registered on the Saturday evening it was still with glorious
sun and blue sky.
Race day wasn’t quite as kind although you could argue that no
risk of heat stroke or sun burn was a good thing, however the wind and drizzle
did increase over the course of the race which started on Sunday morning at
8am. The race route was actually a lot tougher than we expected for a pretty
much flat course - with some seriously rough and boggy sections and soft wet
sand. Some long sections of exposed beach near the finish left you fully
exposed to the wind.
That said Tiree is a truly beautiful place and there was a
great vibe about the race.
There was a really good showing all round with all four of
us finishing in the top 10.
4 Scott McDonald 04:51:23
5 Simon Hammond 04:53:23
8 Andrew Dancer 05:10:40
9 Colin Williams 05:11:50
Full results here: http://www.tireefitness.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Ultra-2019-first-draft.pdf
Scott had a particular good run to finish 4th considering
he is partially sighted and had a few slips and falls in the muddy sections
which meant he had to hold back until the ground was better. In particular there
was one comedy moment where Scott tried to take the racing line through the
rocks and ended up neck deep in a pool – completely un-hurt luckily!
Where we were expecting Scott to be challenging for the
podium Simon was a bit of dark horse. He started very sensibly in about 12-15th
place and then worked through the field. He caught Colin at halfway moving into
8th and then picked off the next few runners including Andrew not
long after until by the final beach he had Scott in distance and finished
exactly 2 mins behind.
Colin caught up Andrew shortly after the third checkpoint
and moved ahead slightly before Andrew pulled it together for the last two
miles and regained his lead.
We had a break before the evening’s ceilidh and prize giving
and a few celebratory drinks were had.
All in all a very satisfying race and an enjoyable trip altogether.
Route from Colin's Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/2690514232
Nice flyby of the route from some one who shared it: https://www.relive.cc/view/gh40293626859
Album here
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