Page 15 - QARANC Vol 15 No 1 2017

THE GAZETTE QARANC 13
sizes had signed up, determined to complete this hilly, beautiful, off-road event. Luckily the weather was kind with sunshine, mostly cool temperatures and only a little rain making for ideal running conditions.
The route was approximately 90% off-road with just a few short sections on tarmac. The off-road sections were a mixture of wide Land Rover tracks, flat railway lines, tough uphill slogs, manicured paths, shingle beaches, rough stone steps, pretty forest trails and fairly demanding technical scrambles. The race route included 2300 metres (7500 feet) of ascent. The trail was challenging as runners faced steep inclines, such as Conic Hill (350m), rough shoreline paths on the east side of Loch Lomond and numerous smaller ups and downs.
Lt Col McCullough ran the first leg which covered 12.5 miles between Milngavie to Drymen and arrived in good spirits to hand over to Pte Harris who was ready to tackle leg 2. Pte Harris set off at pace to complete the 14.5 miles from Drymen to Rowardennan. This leg was more challenging, with beautiful views going over Conic Hill into Balmaha.
WO2 Low then took over for leg 3, the legendary ‘lochside’ stage. This was the leg everybody spoke about with awe; 14 miles of super gnarly terrain, which included boulders, tree roots, wooden bridges and ladders, giant stone staircases, big stiles – more like scrambling than running, requiring use of your hands as well as your feet.
The Glory Leg was completed by Maj Gregor – 12ish miles of easier terrain but tough going due to it being mostly uphill. There was also the infamous ‘Cow Poo Alley’, a few miles north of Beinglas checkpoint which had to be carefully negotiated.
While team members were running their respective legs, the rest of the team had to weave their way through busy, narrow and winding roads in the team vehicle to ensure that the next runner was in place and ready to go at the relay changeover points. Parking the vehicle posed an additional challenge as 50 relay team vehicles were all competing for the limited parking spots at each changeover location, making for inventive use of tight spaces.
The team celebrated as our last runner crossed the finishing line with group hugs all round and a well-earned team drink. After cheering in the remainder of the runners we all headed
4 Recovery Drinks
back to Edinburgh with a real sense of achievement.
Did we enjoy it?
Overall the event organisation was excellent and all the staff and spectators were superb making for a really great atmosphere. The course was varied with a good mix of easy flats, challenging terrain and amazing scenery.
Of course, we were all humbled by the ultra runners who ran the whole 53 miles and still managed to say ‘well done’ to relay members who had to gently navigate past them.
Our team did really well, finishing in a time of 11 hrs 12 mins, with the fastest relay team covering the distance in just over 7hrs.
Maj Narelle Gregor QARANC 2IC Nursing Sqn
Pte Harris QARANC – View from the Trail
I ran the second leg of the relay event, 14.6 miles of varying terrain from Drymen to Rowardennan. I had done a couple of reccies to the area and knew I was in for a treat with the steep Conic Hill (or as some of the locals call it Chronic Hill) waiting for me at about 7 miles in. I was determined to try and keep a running momentum up Conic Hill but soon realised this was not something I had trained enough to be able to do so I power walked the steepest parts.
My training had started well a few months before the event. I had tailored myself a training programme from a marathon website and factored in trail running, lower body strength sessions and some swimming.
Unfortunately about 4/5 weeks before the race I was struck down with the flu and had to rest for more time than I wanted to. I let this have no impact on the day itself though as I was very excited to be taking part in such a massive race. The atmosphere was friendly, the competitors were happy and the weather was dry and sunny!
I really enjoyed getting myself fitter in preparation for the event and the team spirit was excellent; the whole experience was a learning curve for me in regards to ultra running itself and how far people can push themselves to cover such distances. It was really interesting to see the dedication of the event organisers and the huge effort that is required to make an event like this work!!
I loved every minute of it – sign me up for next year!