Devil O the Highlands race report

Hre's my slightly late, but better late than never, race report for the 3rd race in the unofficial triple crown of Scottish ultra races ... the Devil O the Highlands ...

Pre-race

Our daughter Eilidh is teething just now so the 5 odd days leading up to the race were rather short of sleep - 5 or 5.5 hours a night - groan ...

Anyway I drove up from Milton Keynes to Cumbernauld to stay with my folks on the Friday immediately before the race. We all ate promptly upon my arrival and were in bed by 9pm so we could get up at 3am to drive to Tyndrum without feeling like potatoes. I got up, had 2 cups of coffee and still felt like a potato, or at least like someone had extracted my brain and replaced it with potato or perhaps a potato-turnip mix. The coffee had no effect at any rate.

The roads were unsurprisingly completely empty so we got to Tyndrum easily and I registered. My mum and dad were support crew for me and eagerly snapped up the tea and coffee on sale in the Green Welly Store (well organised race this!).


Me in the car park of the Green Welly Shop at 5am

I footered around the boot of my Dad's car getting my hip pack ready in a confused, very tired manner havig met and chatted to Davie, Marco and Debbie (who just er happened to be out at 5am in the morning - slightly odd behaviour and I'll be sharing a tent with Marco at the OMM soon - should I be concerned about psychosis?), Tom, Silke, Ian, Allybea (yes there were lots of WHWR family there), Dario and George Reid. I lost my race number in the dark then remembered where I'd put it but was thinking coffee coffee why aren't you working ... ?

To Bridge of Orchy

Brody's Store car park was almost light by the time we all assembled at the start. Debs was looking professional with a big camera and took some great shots like the one below. She continued taking great shots until Kingshouse when she and her equally mad husband Marco shot off to go to a wedding in Giffnock (as you do after having stood around in the rain from dawn).


Tom, Marco and me at the start

I started running with Tom but found his pace too fast for me to sustain so I dropped back after only a few hundred metres to join up with a Dutch fella called Erwin and shortly also Davie Bell. We three ran together to BoO at a much faster pace than I had planned (8 - 8:30 / mile rather than 9/mile) but my legs felt fine even though my head was still one big tired sleepy potato. The weather was fine and the running good so I only stopped for a minute to grab some water and some buttered malt loaf, my chosen fuel for the day aside from gel packs.


Me running into Bridge of Orchy with my Dad jogging along (I'm sure he could be a decent runner)

To Blackrock Cottage

Davie Bell pulled away gradually from me as we plodded up the hill towards Inveroran. I was struggling with the sheer chewiness of the buttered malt loaf and felt really sleepy tired. Legs fine but no real oomph. After falling back a few hundred metres I upped pace to stop falling further behind and eventually caught him as he made a post Inveroran pit stop with his support crew dancing the midge avoidance dance. The wee buggers were pretty serious despite the rain which had started.

Davie and I chatted and plodded our way up and onto Rannoch Moor and kept up a good 8:30 pace across the moor over Ba Bridge then walked much of the gradual rise which takes you up towards Blackrock. My calves and quads were feeling heavy and I still had a potato head on me. Davie confirmed his legs were pretty heavy too.


Me running into Blackrock with Richard and Sharon (1st lady) in hot pursuit

We arrived into Blackrock and were immediately followed by Sharon, eventually the 1st lady. Davie thought 'shit!' according to his blog and I too thought 'shit!' but instead of upping my game like Davie I just let things be. I left Blackrock after a very quick coffee not knowing whether I was in front or whether Sharon was, or where Davie was. To be honest I didn't really care, but now, after the race and having been beaten by both of them fairly resoundingly I wish I had been bothered! If I'd kept up I could have got much nearer to 7 hours. C'est la vie. C'est la vie. Next time.

To Kinlochleven

This section was pretty uneventful for me although I was pleased to have managed to keep up a decent pace on the descent after climbing the Staircase. In the full event my knees are too sore to run this at much of a pace at all so I quite enjoyed the relatively pain free run down. The climb itself was fine and the rain was nice and cooling. I passed Richard Dennis at the foot of the climb then he passed me on the way up. He got to Kinlochleven before me but I left it before him - a pattern we'd been keeping up throughout the race. I'd stop for less time but he'd catch up and over take me.


Wet and leaving Kinlochleven

The Dutch fella Erwin, that I'd run to BoO with had pulled away from me on Rannoch Moor so I was pleased to catch him up by Kinlochleven and to leave the stop before he did. It meant I wasn't losing too much ground despite my potato filled head.

To Fort William

The climb up and out of Kinlochleven was a grunting sweaty affair as it usually is, but the run along the long, high valley of the Lairig Mor was quite pleasant and uneventful. The wind was behind me and the rain was cooling. I met a happy Murdo McEwan running the opposite way and overtook a couple of folk. Richard Dennis maintained a lead on me and Erwin overtook me whilst I was stopped at Lundavra. I'd encountered no hikers at all until this final section when there were loads - must have been well over 20 all heading towards Fort Bill and a welcoming pint I expect.



Me eating very very chewy malt loaf at Lundavra

I had a quick cup of coffee and was off at a creaking pace from Lundavra. I soon caught up with Erwin who was mostly walking and then Richard who was struggling with the descents. I kept on and built up a fair lead over Richard in the final descent into Glen Nevis. I then just kept up the pace till I hit Fort Bill and had the triple crown in my hands.

The whole race was a bit of an experiment to see what would happen having run the main 95 mile event only 7 weeks or so previously. Overall, with a time of 07:28 I think it went quite well.


Post-race stiffness in Fort William

Post race thoughts

Realistically I just didn't have it in me mentally or physically to get much nearer to 7 hours finishing time. I hadn't trained enough post-WHWR and was knackered. Wish I had pushed it a little harder though! Davie B absolutely trounced me (not that I'm in competition with you Davie but 26 mins is a tanking - well played you).

Never ever choose to eat buttered or non-buttered malt loaf as your food of choice in an ultra. I reckon I must have consumed at least 1000 extra calories through chewing alone.

Congratulations and many many thanks must go to my Dad, Gordon, who has been instrumental to my completing the triple crown by acting as support crew for me at each of the three races. He has completed the triple support crew crown and deserves a very loud hoorah - HOORAH!


Gordon (support crew triple crown completer) with son Brian (running triple crown completed)