THE WEST HIGHLAND WAY 95 MILE ULTRA RACE 2013

A beautiful sleep

No, I don't wanna wake up, I'm warm and happy here in my lovely little dream!  Why are you trying to wake me up when it's so cold and dark out there?

"What's your name mate?  Tell us your name!"

Strange place to make introductions... oh alright, I suppose I've got a race to run.  "Minty, Ian Minty".

We were high up on the Lairig Mor at maybe 1500 feet elevation, some time after midnight during the 2013 West Highland Way Race.  I'd been keeping a steady pace up 'till then all along the rocky military road, three yards behind Iain Shanks - aka Shanksi - my support runner along that stage.  Not sure why I missed it, but I stubbed my foot on a boulder that catapulted me, head first, towards a nice chunky stone.  It was no contest, the stone won!

Flat out and dazed for a few seconds, I lifted my head up to find a nice little pool of blood building up on the trail.  Oh dear, I thought, this could be bad news.  The order of what happened after that is still a little unclear but I said to Shanksi that we needed to stem the blood flow, and he had the presence of mind to wrap another buff around my head, which did the trick.

Unfortunately, that's when my body defences kicked in, and as I went to sit down at the roadside I fainted.  I'm told I was out for only 10 seconds or so, and that's when the other two competitors and their two support runners kindly stopped to attend to me.  Then I was sick a few times, which again was probably part of the recovery.  I'd also knocked my ankle and bruised my arm, and so I started very gingerly to hobble towards Lundavra, ably assisted by Shanksi.

Anyway, back to the start.

Milngavie, around Midnight, Saturday 22nd June 2013

Julia and I had arrived in "Colin", our little green VW camper van, at around 10:30 pm on the Friday night, and ambled across to the race registration, where I was signed in, given my timing chip and weighed (my shoes must have been heavy, is all I can say).  It was great to see so many familiar and established runners helping out at registration: Ian Beattie, the Race Director, warmly greeted us, with Andy Johns, Richard Dennis, Robin Wombill, Karen and George, et al, all looking after the runners and helping keep me nice and calm.

Pensively listening to the race briefing

Then we just played it very quiet back at the van, joined soon by Christina Schmidt, who would form the support team along with Julia and Shanksi.  We all kept it nice and chilled, and at 12:30 am went out for Ian Beattie's race briefing.  We listened as Ian read out Fiona Rennie's poignant words she posted to us all just a few days before the race:

This week is a tough one where you can get bogged down with lists, splits and packing a truck load of gear, ok it will give you something to do. But when the word "Go" is shouted at Milngavie, take a deep breath, relax, the adventure has started, enjoy. 
Keep it simple, we do this because we love to run, it's not rocket science, don't look too far ahead, if you must, no further than the next checkpoint and the culinary delight you're going to have. 
Live in the moment, enjoy the morning bird song along to Rowardennan, the dodgy, scary path along the Loch, the peace and beauty of the Angel's Playground, the fun of the rollercoaster, the wide openness of Rannoch moor, the majestic brooding hills around Glencoe, if it isn't hurting by now it soon will, remember you are here because you have the privilege of good health and had the ability to train for this whether it has gone according to plan or not. In xxxx hours it will be over when you slap your hands on the door of Leisure Centre. The pain and discomfort you will feel in this challenge of your own choosing will never come close to those fighting terminal illness. 
Remember how lucky you are, the sense of achievement when you pick up your Goblet will never ever diminish and will enhance your life forever.

And we're off!

Exactly at 1:00 am the starting horn sounded, 181 runners set off.  After years of seeing videos of this iconic start, It was just magical to be a part of it.  And quite exciting to be running with head torches in such a large group.  I passed my first "test", and kept the pace sufficiently steady to avoid my usual early race right leg pains that usually surface in the Fling at the first incline in Mugdock Park.  I was loving this, and soon we we were out of the park and running happy and free.  When we came to the disused railway line I was just behind Keith Ainslee, but I couldn't comfortably keep at his pace and so after the first two gates I ended up opening every single one until the race rejoined the road.  Looking back, I had quite a "train" building up behind me, maybe about 10 runners in the end.  At first I wasn't sure whether to find it funny or to be a little miffed that no-one else was taking a turn.  In the end, I decided that everyone was rightly employing "self-preservation" mode, and so I continued to happily open away, doing my duty for the day.

I reached Drymen in 2:11, four minutes ahead of my 25:15 finish schedule.  I was comfortable, but certainly keeping the pace going.  It would have been quite easy to have come in at 2:20 or so - maybe the darkness sub-consciously slows us down.  Julia and Christina were ready with a cup of homemade warmed lentil and tomato soup and a hot bacon sandwich which made me the envy of my peers during the next climb!  Then onwards towards Conic Hill, where I skipped past a few runners wearing road shoes - I'd made that mistake earlier in the year.  The new paths are great, but a bit slippery on the surface,  and my Innov-8 Roclites certainly made a big difference.  I turned the head torch off before the main climb and it was beautiful and serene out there as dawn broke on the cool summer's morning.  Onto the second test of the day - to take it slowly up and down Conic Hill: Test duly passed - hopefully that would stand me in good stead later in the day.

Balmaha to Inversnaid

This tortoise was very happy arriving into Balmaha in 3:44, 11 minutes ahead of schedule, to be greeted by Christina.  She guided me over to Julia and Colin (the camper van - you were concentrating weren't you?) where I was presented with warm Smash, baked beans and gravy granules.  Yummy! Well, not exactly, but I was thrilled to be getting necessary solid food down me, after problems with my nutrition at both the recent Fling and Cateran ultra races.   That would be the last time I'd see my crew until the other end of Loch Lomond at Beinglas Farm, as we'd agreed that Julia and Christina would try to grab two or three hours' sleep at the Oak Tree Inn, where we had a room.

Quick stop at Balmaha for Smash and beans!

For mash - get Smash!

Steadily climbing up the steps to the viewpoint at Craigie Fort, I was just waiting for my right leg to give way - but it didn't!  So the careful pacing on Conic had helped.  Excellent.  Then it was just a case of banging out a steady rhythm all the way to Rowardennan.  At this stage I did feel quite optimistic, as I wasn't struggling like I do during the Fling in this section.  In fact, the day is all about "banging out a rhythm" - nice and steady.  The weather was quite changeable during this period, and I remember arriving at Rowardennan into a downpour, in 5:36, 19 minutes ahead of schedule.  Here Paul Houston kindly helped me with my food and drink.

Then onto "Minty's Hill", so-called by Ross Lawrie (who else?) when we'd all ran up it in a training run.  Well I certainly didn't run up it today :-)  Starting the descent after the bench viewpoint quite a few strong-looking male runners quickly passed me, but I didn't let that rattle me.  The race is only against myself, and as anyone at the sharp end certainly knows, you can't affect other runners' times, only your own.

Then I heard the dulcet tones of Alan Robertson bounding up behind me.  I was rather surprised he wasn't way out in front, and even more taken aback when he said that David Simpson was behind me also.  I'd presumed David would have been way ahead of me.  Alan stayed with me for a little while, but he was itching to catch up some other guys he'd been running with and so he sped off.  Not long after that he came rushing back my way when he heard a loud scream!

The terrain was getting rougher as we were nearing Inversnaid, and I'd completely overlooked a boulder and went headlong onto some nasty looking rocks.  The scream was because I thought I was a gonner, but I managed to avoid my head; with my legs and ribs taking the full force of the hit.

Alan kindly helped me up and I limped on to the drop-point, remarkably 29 minutes ahead of schedule.  My grazes were cleaned up by the Wilderness rescue guys, who I also harangued for a Nurofen.  During my extended rest, David Simpson came into the drop-point, looking a little less than his normal cool self!

"Good luck, I won't see you again", I shouted, as he quickly left.  "You'll catch up with me", he countered.  And he was right.

It was a real shame, because David's running has been excellent for the last year or so I've known him.  I was expecting a sub-24 from him, but his legs were really struggling to move at all as I caught him up, the pain-killer having worked a treat.  We ran all the way into Beinglas Farm together at 9:34 elapsed time.

Where's my team?

So I was at Beinglas Farm checkpoint, but my team weren't!  This is about the only thing I have in common with Paul Giblin!  But his team had a good excuse - they were kept out by a locked gate as he had sped through in record pace earlier than expected.  Well Julia and Christina also had a pretty good excuse, as by this time I was 36 minutes ahead of schedule, which they weren't aware of.  Anyway, it was a measure of how I was feeling that I was pretty chilled about it, and received drink and food from Anna Seeley and Carolyn Kiddell, and just about to set off when I saw Julia and Christina arriving.  They caught my frantic wave and in the end it worked out quite well.

I don't remember much about the next section - maybe the anti-histamines were kicking in.  It wouldn't be the first time today I'd be nearly falling asleep, although pretty early on I remember a revitalised David Simpson whizzing past me with a big grin.

What I also remember is the absence of cows and their droppings at the infamous "Cow Poo Alley", and I remember entering the large kissing gate approaching the forest climb.  Then my mind is a bit blank until just before the A82 crossing, and I had a nice run in from there to Auchtertyre, to be met by Shanksi, who'd joined the team at that point.  Checkpoint reached in 12:19, now just 21 minutes ahead of plan. I was still quite cheerful, and very glad now that I'd have company for the remainder of the race.

Running with wife - and falling asleep!

From Auchtertyre to Bridge of Orchy I had the pleasant and reassuring company of Julia.  I think she started to get a complex by the end of the day though, because I really struggled in the two sections I ran with her.  After Tyndrum I was running fairly ok, but I could hardly keep my eyes open.  Needless to say, I don't remember much of this period, arriving at Bridge of Orchy exactly on schedule in 14:55 elapsed time.  Julia had phoned ahead for the crew to prepare me for a power nap, 15 minutes beauty sleep that seemed to recharge me perfectly well.  By now I was behind schedule, as my plan didn't allow for beauty sleeps.

The next section was my first run with Shanksi, and very pleasant it was too.  I took it fairly steady on the climb up Rannoch Moor, only running when the gradient flattened out.  But we ran well into Glencoe, arriving at 18:06, now 26 minutes behind schedule.  Actual running time was 2:48 versus the plan of 2:45, so pretty good pacing by Shanksi, but now I was looking at nearer 26 hours finish time.

Glencoe to Kinlochleven

Julia took over support duties for the short stretch from Glencoe to Altnafeidh, the base of the Devil's Staircase.  I feel really bad for her that this was another really tough section for me; again I was falling asleep, and unable to muster up even a jog, which put me quite a bit further behind plan.  But Julia had some magic (jelly) beans and in no time I was restored to my former greatness!  Just in time for Christina to take over (sorry Julia).

The climb up the Staircase was fairly easy, again I deliberately didn't push the pace up a climb, and my legs were very grateful for this.  At the top, I took a breath or two, and then followed Christina who went skipping off down the other side at a good pace.  This was a lovely section - my favourite of the whole race.  The legs were operating fairly ok, there was still plenty of light in the sky and we had a really good run down into Kinlochleven - even overtaking a few other runners!  The checkpoint was reached in 21:30, only 35 minutes behind schedule, so 26 hours was still a distinct possibility.

Christina, Minty and Shanksi, Kinlochleven

The "Rocky Road"

Arguably, the climb out of Kinlochleven is the hardest of the whole race, but with Shanksi guiding me up it didn't seem too bad.  But then once at the top of the main climb, the rocky road  is still a tough challenge underfoot, and with the light now completely gone, I just didn't have the confidence - or probably the energy - to break out into a run, and so we walked steadily onward towards Lundavra until my head-butt with a boulder.

Taking up the story again after the fall, Shanksi and I were joined by Neal Gibson, who was marshalling at Lundavra and had heard about my accident from a young support runner of one of the guys who stopped to help me.  Apparently this young lad came bounding into Lundavra and shouted, "Man down, his name is Ian, he's about 60 years old(!!!), and he's unresponsive!".  That obviously caused a fair bit of concern, and Julia was worried sick until she saw me hobble in to the checkpoint.  I'm a bit disappointed they turned the blaring music off when I arrived; I was hoping for Eye of the Tiger or the theme from Rocky perhaps!

By this stage I'd moved from being in shock and subdued to a state of planning and determination.  With each step I was recovering, and I resolved to get to the finish.  So the first words that greeted Julia were "I'm carrying on".  She says that I didn't look too beautiful at this point, and considering that a few seconds before, she didn't know if I was alive or dead, she was remarkably composed.  Neal said that it was my support team's decision whether I could continue or not, and there were hushed conversations going on between Julia and Neal, and Julia and Christina.  The decision was eventually reached... you can carry on, but you need food down you and some warmer clothes on, and you'll have two support runners instead of one.

Yee-hah!!!  All the latest shenanigans had transpired to lose me somewhere between 60 and 90 minutes, but I was happy at this stage just to finish.  I suppose I was thinking maybe a 30 hour result might be possible, but other than that, I didn't worry about the time at all.

Final stretch

So, I set off with Christina and Shanksi, whilst Julia drove the van to Fort William.  It was a bit painful and quite slow at first, as my ankle, legs and ribs were a bit battered from the day's fun.  Then fairly quickly we were on the last climb, where the forest used to be.  It all seemed a bit too easy, and then miraculously we arrived onto the fire track with just four miles to go.  The rest of the route was all downhill, and I said to Christina "there's two ways we can do this" and proceeded to break out into a steady jog down the road.

Mike Raffan, who finished in a superb 6th place in 18:18, slicing over an hour off his PB, drove down to Braveheart car park - just to meet us!  That gave me a real boost, but I kept it steady and we walked up the final stretch until we reached the 30 sign - surely the most beautiful road sign in the world :-)  Julia ran down to meet us around this point, which was lovely.

Then a final push and we all arrived at Fort William Leisure Centre, 27 hours, 26 minutes and 20 seconds after leaving Glasgow! Forgive the shaky photos - I must have been going too fast!

We had made it.  What a team effort!  Take a very deep bow Julia Minty, Christina Schmidt and Iain Shanks, you are all great people who did an amazing job. I was just the runner - in many ways I had the easy bit.  Everyone else had to deal with all the wreckage I left behind - of which there was quite a bit.  I'm so grateful to the many people who helped me achieve my long-held goal - to finish the West Highland Way Race, especially Ian Beattie and all the many organisers, marshals and helpers involved leading up to and on the day.  Thank you all.

A word on my kit.  I didn't change my shoes (Roclites), socks (Ron Hill trail mono) or shorts (cheap Amazon ones) at all during the whole race, and at the end my feet were in perfect condition plus I also had no chafing whatsoever.

Here are the key stats of the day:

Cleaning up and prizegiving

After a quick but thorough inspection from Silke the on-duty race doctor, I was sent packing off to Bellford Hospital at about 5am to sort my eye and ribs.

I had a couple of stitches and admitted "overnight", so had a nice breakfast and then spent the next 2 hours agitating for my release "papers".  These duly arrived about 11:10, and so I jogged straight from the hospital to the Nevis Centre.

Here I had time to chat with Mike and Paul Giblin (who was more interested in my adventures than talking about his own record-breaking race win!) and several other finishers.  I really enjoyed that time, but the icing on the cake was the prize-giving.  Every one of the 149 finishers was called up by Ian Beattie, to receive their finisher's crystal goblet from Adrian Stott.  I don't think I've ever had a broader smile than when my turn came.

Receiving my goblet from Adrian Stott - photo kindly taken by Donald Sandeman

Photo courtesy of Ian Russell

Next Year

Next year I can take 2 - 3 hours off my debut time - and I already know how I'll achieve that. First things first - maybe a trip to Specsavers!

For now I'm going to take some time to recover.  A week later and the eye is healing nicely, the ribs and ankle may take a bit longer.  Next up is the Devil o'the Highlands race in August for a potential Triple Crown, and then the much anticipated Glenmore 24 in September.

First drink out of the WHW goblet - ale kindly presented to me by Christina