The Heb Race happened at the start of September. If you haven’t been to the Outer Hebrides yet, let’s just say it is one of Scotland’s best kept secrets. I have cycled, run and raced on them a few times and every visit brings an amazing experience and a great adventure. I named my dog Barra after the southern main island of the archipelago. This year, three weeks before, I re-crocked one of my dodgy knees again and the x rays, scans, acupuncture and physio were inconclusive other than lots of degenerative & arthritic blah blah. They could not confirm the cause of the three pains so I had a decision to make; cancel and try and get a refund or deferral or go and do the non-running and non-walking bits and treat the cycle as physio. In other words, use the ferry and campsite bookings, cycle about and follow the route, eat the paid-for meals, enjoy the race craik and use it as a wee holiday.
The Heb is known as the “Race on the Edge. An achievable, exciting, engaging, truly adventurous and absorbing journey through the most spectacular, wild and remote landscape the UK has to offer – the Hebridean Island chain off the west coast of Scotland!” It involves two days of cycling roads, tracks and trails, kayaking, hill running and some navigation around the central islands of Benbecula, North and South Uist plus visiting the quite unique Vallay across 2km of immaculate sands.
Using this race as physio for a sore knee mirrored my solution to a previous knee injury which worked well. We all met at Mallaig for the 3.5hr ferry to South Uist. While the others took comfy warm coaches, I set off from Lochboisdale Ferry with Barra sitting in a pull along dog buggy as the rain started and cycled the 37km to our Benbecula campsite. Arriving cold and drenched I put a tent up in torrential rain and was the last to get fed. Joy. After a venison pie and soggy chips I slept well with a wet Barra who became very cuddly. In the mornings he escaped the tent to chase rabbits around the Otters View Campsite and said hello to most of the 150 racers and maxing out on cuddles.
In summary, I cycled the Day 1 cycle route dragging a 26kg dog in a 10+kg buggy in the rain, wind and sun and did 110km. I missed the running legs but did hobble to one checkpoint on Vallay to confirm I could not walk. On the Hebrides it is nearly always windy. If it is blowing the wrong way on a bike with a trailer you are stuffed. Everyone was friendly, cycling past me and saying hi as Barra whined to get me to cycle faster or let him out to run, which I did where I could safely. Day 2 was more of the same with the wind coming from the South as we headed South on an incredible 12km beach section on South Uist’s West coast. One of my three pains gave an increasingly sore knee that required me to bail out over the sand dunes to a golf course and so to find tarmac to the race end, after 50km of cycling.
Carnethy had a few racers with Drew Sharkey coming second overall behind Edinburgh Tri’s Calum Fisher. Issy ? came second female pair with her friend Vic. Well done both. Barra ran after anyone he could see and finished very clean while I finished as a non-starter with an even sorer knee. If you fancy a stunning adventure race next September, look up The Heb. Don’t try it with a dog and as physio though!
Mark Hartree