Well, at least that was the plan! But for once the weather forecast was right and the rain just kept pouring and pouring. Nevertheless we left early on Saturday morning for Fort William hoping that it might get better.
We set off from the Youth Hostel towards the Green Wall, as advised by Bob Allison, for the best viewpoint just below the small Loch. We arrived a bit early, i.e. 12.45 with the race starting at 13.00 and nearly got blown off the path by the mountain rescue helicopter that was dropping crew members off onto the path for the race. Reaching our "viewpoint" it also became clear that today there was no view. You could hardly make out the contours of the Green Wall, never mind any runners coming down it later on.
And it also turned out that Tom's 10-year-old Goretex jacket had reached the end of its goretex life and had become completely waterlogged causing him to be very cold indeed. So we decided to turn around and see the runners coming through further down the path. We actually picked a good spot where they all had to cross a small stream. Thomas took lots of photos with the camera sticking out from a plastic bag that was over his head! Most of the runners though did not even look up even when we called out their numbers and in some cases even their names! I guess they were just keeping their heads down and trying to get on with their task. It was a very wet one! Well done to everyone who was brave enough to start the race on Saturday.
We saw a few familiar faces, Sarah Ridgway and surprisingly George Cairns only 1 week after the UTMB. Bob Allison, Jim Alexander and Karen from Strathearn Harriers who ran the Fling this year, Jean and Angus Bowman.
We went straight to our B&B to get dried off and later had a very nice meal in the Lime Tree restaurant. The next morning the weather had not changed and we nearly went straight home. Not before checking out Nevis Sport though.
And surprise, surprise the horizontal rain turned into drizzle and Thomas could not resist to run from the Braveheart Car Park to Kinlochleven. I drove round and made my way up to the Lairig Mor from the other side. We then ran down into Kinlochleven together and I enjoyed my 1st run since the Devil very much! The rain had stopped and there were even a few sunny spells at the end!
There will be a link to a lot of photos once they are all uploaded. Those who would like the original size please send us your email. Sorry Bob but yours are all out of focus :-(
2 comments:
Hi Silke/Tom.
It was good to see you both on the hill. Many thanks for making the effort to come along and support.
Pity about the weather for you. As you say conditions were horrendous up top half. Strong winds. Pouring rain and summit wind chill minus 3. Yikes! I was seized up, verging hypothermic and blown over a few times. Great fun descending though with the spontaneous mud/gravel landslides and water saturation providing many impromptu 'flumes' to slide down. Unfortunately I was 'spat out' of one onto a drop and somersaulted onto rock. Damaged my hand, shoulder and arm. Hey ho.. much the same as usual on the Ben.
Thankfully I again made it 'safely' back to finish and even if it was my slowest ever time, It was still an exciting roller coaster experience.
A great meal/drink and ceildh at night for the 10 of us in the packed Ben Nevis Inn (including Jean and Gus).
Age is catching up though. No sleep last night for the shoulder pain and I feel to-day as I've generally had a good kicking.
I'm glad you had a nice meal and it cleared on Sunday for you both to have a good run on the Lairig Mhor.
....next year it'll be sunny, warm and I won't fall and bash myself too much...aye right!!
Go on you know you want to have a go......
All the best,
Bob
Hey you guys,
How exciting - I had no idea you were there. I wish I had I would have given a cheery wave. I had no idea I looked so determined!!!!! Tee Hee!
The photos you took are great! The day was miserable, but fab.Seriously freezing at the top and truly crazy, scary descent down the scree and grass slope, the latter of which I resembled more of a luger than a runner courtesy of a major wipe out! Loved the ascent though and the more trail bits of the descent were fantastic - def need to invest in some proper fell shoes as opposed to trails! So chuffed as the fling and the Ben were my main objectives this year. Ended up 20th Female in a time of 2hr 26mins 49 secs well below my hoped for 2hrs 40.
How are you guys getting on? You did really well on the Devil's - I loved your write up. How is Thomas - legs all healed up now? I do hope so.
Take care.
Karen (Kaz)
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