Cape Wrath
FIVE races in six days was the task facing Liz Hall and Dave King who travelled to the most north-westerly inhabited part of Great Britain for the Cape Wrath Challenge.
The challenge takes place in the village of Durness in the Scottish Highlands featuring five days of runs of varying lengths and different degrees of endurance. It attracted runners from all over the UK , including a couple from Liss Runners.
The opening day of the challenge began with the Loch Eriboll Run, a scenic half marathon which traces a stunning route alongside the lake and with the backdrop of soaring mountains. It is an undulating 13-miler with a couple of nasty uphill twists and turns towards the end as the finishers reach Durness. Dave checked in with 19th place in 1hr 38min 52sec and Liz was 50th in 2:08.03.
Tuesday was the turn of the Sangomore Hill Run; a pretty gentle five mile race where Dave was 25th in 41.37, while Liz chose to use the day for a stroll on the hillside.
A more stiffer task lay ahead the following day for the Round Durness Run over 8.4-miles. Wonderful scenery, but some killer hills on a course which never let up. Dave took 17th place in 1hr 5min 20sec and Liz was 46th, coming back strongly with 1:24.05.
On Thursday, runners set out on the Target Zero Balnakeil to Faraid Head Beach Run. Competitors had to predict their time over a three-mile run and get as close as they could to the target. Besides those taking part in the challenge, entrants also included a number of children as well as runners in fancy dress. One runner managed to finish spot on their predicted time and second place was nine seconds adrift. Dave was a minute and 50 seconds over his target time with 24min 50sec and Liz was four minutes and 13 seconds under her predicted mark with 28.47.
Fierce winds and driving rain forced organisers to rethink the Cape Wrath Marathon Challenge with the ferry unable to take runners across for the run to the lighthouse at Cape Wrath. Instead, organisers rescheduled with a 13-mile run out and back from Durness for the marathon runners along a hilly, single-track road. Besides the marathon, there was also a series of relays, as Dave and Liz teamed up with one other runner for a three-strong combination. Dave and Liz each ran an 11.4-mile leg with Dave second fastest among the leggers with 1hr 17min 59sec and Liz despite a troubled calf towards the end of the run ran 1:42.
On the Saturday before the Cape Wrath Challenge, Dave took part in the Penicuik 10km road race near Edinburgh, placing 70th in 44.24.