The Southern Upland Way
Carnethy Record Attempt, 1996
(by Mark Johnston)

The challenge is simple: Organise a team of five individuals to run 212 miles across Scotland along the Southern Upland Way from Cockburnspath on the east coast to Portpatrick on the west coast, as a relay with as many changeovers as you wish, with the team running together for the first and last quarter mile of the journey, and team members being accompanied by a responsible adult if running in the dark. Nae problem! This was a challenge that captured the imagination of John Coyle who gathered together a team of five guys, Jamie Thin, Adam Ward, Garry MacInnes, Mark Johnston (me!) and himself to attempt to beat the six-year-old Southern Upland Way relay record of 30 hours 10 minutes held by none other than Carnethy’s (friendly) rivals Livingston (now Lothian). Not to be outdone by the lads, the Carnethy lassies led by Nicki Innes, formed a team with Angela Mudge, Anne Nimmo, Kay Dodson and Hilary Spenceley to establish a ladies record. Astonishingly no other ladies team had attempted the challenge.
Preparations started early in the year with a date for the attempt set for the beginning of June. Training was in progress with team members involved in classic races such as the Tasmanian and Scottish Islands Peaks Races, the Western Isles Challenge and Bishop Hill. As well as being fit enough, one of the most important aspects of any attempt on the record is for each team member to recce the legs they are going to run beforehand. This involved many enjoyable evening trips down to the Borders, running over a variety of terrain but mainly rolling, hilly countryside. Some of these trips involved epics, one in particular which left two runners stranded in the middle of nowhere, a visit to the local police station to report them missing, a frantic phone call from one of the stranded runners to ‘the wife’ fast asleep back in Edinburgh to come to their rescue, then an eventual rendevous of runners, supporters and ‘the wife’ in the wee small hours. Everyone arrived safely home by about 3.30am none the worse for their experience.
That episode in particular highlighted how careful we would have to be in arranging a schedule for support drivers to deliver runners and pick them up at the correct time and place. With 22 changeovers planned this was not going to be easy. Breaking the record would not only involve the team members being able to run fast enough, but also pulling off the master plan without hitches. We were helped a great deal in our planning by receiving details from John Coon of Livingston’s schedule and changeovers etc. Our changeover points were largely the same with a few modifications, resulting in legs which were mostly between 50 and 90 minutes in length.
As the months passed it was becoming obvious that our original date, the same weekend in early June as the Culter Fell Horseshoe race, was too soon with many legs still to be recce-ied, (although the women’s team were ahead in their preparations). We delayed the attempt to the first weekend in July and as it turned out, this was a stroke of luck as competitors in the Culter Fell race were buffeted by strong westerly winds. At the race, team member Adam Ward, scooped first prize, continuing an excellent run of form and with three other members of the team also highly placed, signs were good.
The new date approached and the plans and preparations were finally in place. Many of the team gathered in Abbey St Bathans Youth Hostel on the Friday night. The women’s team had an early start at 6.00am on the Saturday morning and I was glad to still be in my pit when they arrived back at the hostel from Cockburnspath, to await the arrival of Nicki their first runner. The men gathered for an 8.00am start, much more civilised, but not for the residents in Cockburnspath who were woken by the general jocularity (particularly Jamie’s laughing and claymore antics). The incentive was there of chasing the women and catching up on their 2 hour start (we hoped to see them again before Portpatrick!). We managed to escape the town without arrest and so both attempts were safely underway.
The course of the Southern Upland Way had been altered in a few places since Livingston had set the record resulting in it being longer, just adding to the challenge. One of these sections was on the first leg and with a moderate headwind which persisted for the rest of the weekend, the men’s team were 8 minutes down on Livingston’s schedule at the first changeover despite a strong run by Adam. Both teams had worked out their own schedules beforehand, the men running to a schedule that would see them finish in 27hours 35minutes, well inside the record, and the women scheduled to finish in 34hours 55minutes. So that the teams would have a good idea of how they were getting on, young Camus and Ailish Nimmo kept records of the changeover times as the runs progressed and manned the mobile phones so that the teams could keep in touch.
I was the last of the team to get a run and by the time I was handed the medal which was our baton we were just about bang on our schedule. The adrenaline was pumping now and determination not to let the team down helped concentration. My first leg took me across farmers’ fields over the hill to Yair Bridge, the cows and sheep having better things to do than take notice of a skinny runner trotting past. Running alone proved to be the most peaceful time in the whole weekend, it’s always a nice feeling being ‘at one’ with nature. I handed the baton safely over to Adam to start his second leg, then retired to Colin Pritchard’s van for several plates of Serena’s pasta. The team were truly spoiled by the supporters who were also caught up in the excitement of the challenge. We were lucky to have three masseurs Mark, Serena and Moira to keep the muscles loose although many of the supporters (principally the very injured Spenco) seemed to develop sore calves etc. and so ended up getting more attention than any of the runners!
At the first rendevous point, Tibbie Shiels Inn, both lads and lassies teams had gathered. Jamie was first to appear having had a hard time trying to catch Hilary, the ladies team now being 45 minutes ahead of schedule. The relays proceeded over to and through the secluded but beautiful Ettrick Valley, past Moffat themn over the hills to Wanlockhead. It was just getting dark as I passed on the baton once more to Adam waiting at Daer Reservoir with supporter Malcolm Maclachlan. Malcolm had previously attempted to run the Way, west to east unsupported (i.e. all his kit and the food he ate on his attempt was in his rucksack at Portpatrick). In what had turned out to be an epic, his attempt ended in Lauder not far from the finish, where he was forced to stop through exhaustion. We hoped that none of us were ever going to experience such lows on our challenge and Malcolm had been a great help and inspiration throughout the planning and now on the day.
Wanlockhead Youth Hostel was bustling with team members and supporters, but most importantly the support runners for the night legs had also arrived. Some people managed to grab a little much-needed sleep, but the adrenaline levels were still high and I for one found it hard to force my body to rest for the short period available. Adam arrived after another great run. Things seemed to be going too well with the men now nearly half an hour inside the ambitious schedule. We all knew however that it was during the night where Livingston lost time. Following the Way is far from easy over the confusing terrain as Dave Cummins and I, as well as the ladies team were to find out! We had to leave the hostel before the lassies arrived but they were now over an hour inside their schedule.
Running on a compass bearing at three in the morning across tussocky moorland and farmers’ fields proved awkward for Dave and I but for once Shettleston and Carnethy combined well and we kept our heads to finish in St John’s Town of Dalry having lost no more than ten minutes due to tricky navigation. John’s allowance of fifty minutes for eigth miles was somewhat less than generous, but having taken eighty minutes on our leg the team were only now just inside the schedule. We felt though that with dawn beginning to break, we may have got through the worst and it was now a case of keeping body and soul in one piece. Lack of sleep was beginning to tell as Dave drove myself and the now fast asleep Garry and his supporter Andy Patience round to Knowe. It had started to rain a bit but once we got there all were glad to grab some sleep while awaiting John’s arrival and so piled out of Dave’s car to find a nice comfortable bit of tarmac on which to rest. Too good to be true AAAARRRGGHH!, bl***y midges! What a nightmare! Sleep was impossible in the cramped, stuffy, sweaty, smelly car with the windows jammed shut (you get the picture). The next four miles from Knowe were along a flat road, thus the fastest section of the relay so far ensued with Jamie, John and I exchanging the baton every 400 yards or so thanks to following support vehicles. An interval session in the pouring rain at 7am in the morning is definitely not to be recommended but anything was better than those midges!
Spirits soared and the sun came out as the Portpatrick peninsula and the finish grew nearer. As the baton was handed over to John for the last leg, amazingly after such a long way we were now bang on our predicted schedule! We met John coming in and ran down the steps to the official finish of the Way in Portpatrick (or what should be the start), 27 hours and 39 minutes of running now at an end. PPHHEEWWW!!
	Everybody was in high spirits as the bubbly flowed, the feeling of satisfaction, pain and fatigue now overwhelming. We dosed around, slept, ate and drank wine while waiting for the ladies to arrive. They had encountered navigational problems through the night and had lost a significant amount of time (path ‘works’ coupled with darkness left Kay and Nick MacDonald running east instead of west for a fair bit!) but through some superb running they still managed to regain time towards the end to finish in 35hours and 51 minutes, a remarkable achievement. Now both teams and the fantastic supporter team could celebrate together, two records in the bag. If other teams wish to have a crack at the challenge I would say go for it. There is a trophy awarded each year for the fastest attempt. Much time and effort is required but I can safely say that our weekend turned out to be the best ever with great memories making it worthwhile.

Breakdown of the Legs