A friend had suggested this race to me a few weeks ago, saying it would be good to run it together. Donald and Stevie also said they were keen to join us. In the end my friend couldn’t make it and neither could Donald. So it was down to Stevie and myself.

I set off from Paisley at 10.10am and picked up Stevie at Milton (nr Dunbarton) at 10.30am. Stevie had been working from 7-10am. We had a good journey up chatting about the race and also the whw race. It was difficult not to as we drove along the route for a good part of the way.

We arrived at the Corran ferry about 12.30pm just in time for the 12.45pm ferry. There were a good number of runners also waiting for the ferry. The crossing only takes 5mins or so. The weather was wet and windy. Unfortunately the wind was heading towards Fort William which meant that we were going to be running into a head wind the whole way!

As we got off the ferry one of the runners had left their umbrella so I picked it up ready to hand back to one of the runners. The runner in question was none other than Jim Robertson. He said 'I was hoping to see you.' Jim has run the whw 11 times. He was the first to run it 10 times consecutively. He then had a break of a year or two, ran it once more but then has not been well for the past few years and has not completed his 12th. This year he dropped out at Balmaha. But he has entered for next year. Jim said he enjoys reading my blog. We chatted for a while as we got on to the bus. Lochabar AAC who organise the race lay on a coach to drive us the 10miles up the road to Trislaig to register.

It was good to see the route we would be running as we drove back. It seemed fairly undulating on a quiet country road. I spotted a couple for the mile markers as we went past.

We arrived at the tea shop were the registration was at about 1.15pm. Plenty of time to get my number (58), for Stevie to register, get changed in the doorway of the room! and warm up by running the 400 yards to the start and back and then walk (with Jim) back to the start again.

The race is 10.8 miles long and is run between the two ferries, (Camusnagaul and Ardgour). I reckon there were about 60 running with a good mixtures of ages and sexes. Stevie and myself lined up fairly near the front. We had talked about running the first few miles together and then see how we felt. I really wanted to go off steady thinking 7min miles would be fine. Stevie said he felt good and was planning to run as he felt and not worry about
times.

We set off and very quickly everyone settled into their position. From what I could see there was a group of about 8 runners in a pack at the front. Then another group of 6 which included Stevie and then there was me. Not sure what was happening behind as I didn’t look!

I was about 100 yards behind Stevie’s group at the mile marker but as I’d run it in 6mins 28secs I was quite happy with that. Over the next mile I caught and went past two runners who had been part of Stevie’s group while the others had gone a little further away. I could see Stevie was running really well. He had left the initial group behind and was catching up with a couple of runners from the leading group. I didn’t see him again from about 3 miles.

My second mile was a little slower and then from the 3rd mile I was running at an even pace about 6mins 35-40secs per mile. I could see 3 runners ahead who I thought I might be able to catch which helped keep me pushing on.

The rain was pretty relentless through the run and the wind was definitely against. After the 5mile marker there was quite a long up hill section. I also caught the runner in front by the end of that but he went away from me on the down hill bit to mile 6. Once the route levelled off again I slowly reeled him in and went past him before the 7th mile marker.

I could still see 3 runners ahead including 2 ladies but they were too far ahead to realistically catch in the last 3 miles or so. I concentrated on trying to keep my pace even. The 9th mile was my slowest but the wind was at its strongest and it was uphill!! I started to feel the outside of my right knee at the 9th mile. It was a little sore but I don’t feel it slowed me down too much.

I went past the 10 mile marker in 67mins 50secs and then pushed to the finish. It was good to see the small crowd waiting at the end.

Stevie was jogging back up the route and cheered me home. He had an excellent run finishing in 68mins 43secs. The last time he did this race was 1996 and he ran it in 64mins so that wasn’t too bad only losing 4mins in 11 years – plus the weather was a lot worse!

We went into the toilet of the hotel to get changed. Lochaber had organised soup and nibbles at the end so that was good. The tomato soup was very welcome and warmed us up. My knee was a little stiff but eased off by the time we got on the ferry and back to the car.

We left Corran at 4.10pm and listened to the Football scores on the way home. I couldn't work out why they weren't giving the Everton result until they recapped on the earlier scores. Everton's game was at 12noon rather than 3pm. I won't mention the result.

I dropped Stevie at Milton and arrived home about 6.25pm. Quick shower, update blog with result and then off out for the evening for a meal and meeting at church.

John Kynaston