Scottish Islands Peak Race - Report from Tim Darlow

Many thanks to all marshals and the organisers for committing so much time and energy into making a great race.
Before the weekend I’d never been in a sailing boat before. Come to think it, I’d not run 68 miles in a weekend before either. Was I foolhardy to take on the SIPR? Read on to find out…..

SIPR – A beginner’s perspective

Myself and Matt Davies teamed up with three retired Edinburgh doctors –Chris Oliver, Alan Wright, and Murray Carmichael - to enter in the ‘Cruising’ Class. Although Matt was also a SIPR ‘virgin’, he does have plenty of ultra-running experience and, as one Carnethy offered, was a good partner for me as “at least he can navigate”.
After boarding a yacht for the first time to load my food and kit for the weekend, it was back to land to start the race outside the Oban Sailing club. The short cross country run around Oban passed in a blur and it was into the dinghy for my first experience of trying to marry up a moving yacht with a moving dingy. Safely aboard I tucked myself away in the cabin as the sailors busied themselves with the task of getting us out of Oban bay.
We seemed to be making good progress until we hit, not for the last time during the race, a patch of sea with no wind around the tip of Lismore. Having been up since 5.30 that morning I retired to the 1st Class cabin to take some more Stugeron and have a nap. When I awoke, we seemed to have found some wind and were making good progress up the Sound of Mull towards Salen.
Disembarking at Salen at about 19.30 went smooth enough and we found President Gordon waiting on shore to set us off on the run. As we headed out on the initial tarmac sections a number of teams passed us coming the other way, nearing the end of their runs, their boats having got lucky with the wind. The clear still evening meant that the run up and around Ben Mhor was a real treat, even though we needed headtorches for the second half. We completed the run in about 5hrs (results to be published) and returned to Salen where Gordon’s spirits seemed to have been lifted by a selection of local malts.
Whilst me and Matt slept in comfort the sailors took us on to Craighouse on Jura. More friendly Carnethy faces at the Jura kit check and the welcome enthusiasm of Andy Spenceley. I think we had the best of the running weather on Jura as although windy, we had a mainly dry and clear run over the Paps. Although it was my second ‘race’ in two days, the legs felt ok and we posted a reasonable time of 4hrs21. With some stronger winds, and a shallow bay, the process of marrying up dinghy with yacht was the most tricky yet. Back on board the sailors kindly plied us with real food, before Matt and I stowed ourselves away whilst the sailors tackled the trip around the tip of Mull of Kintyre. Our expectation was to reach Arran by morning.
When I arose on Sunday morning all seemed very still and Chris was busy attaching brackets to the side of the boat. We, along with many other boats, were totally becalmed about 13 miles south of Lamlash. Rowing a yacht for 12 hours is character building with only the boats ‘speedometer’ giving any indication that we moving at all (at a rate of about 1.5 knots). Team work got us through and we finally arrived in Lamlash at about 20.00 for the run over to and up Goatfell. For me, this third long run in three days was into uncharted territory and I was fighting the descent into survival running mode with Matt looking strong. However, I felt myself lifted as we came out of the clouds near the top of Goatfell and the run back to Lamlash was not a bad as I had feared (4hrs10 ish).
With the wind still dead calm, there was a discussion back at the boat as to our options – stay the night in Lamlash and hope for wind the following day; DQ ourselves by motoring across to Troon; or start rowing in the dark. The sailors bravely chose to row and the lights of Lamlash slipped away as we made our slow progress towards Troon. I promised to wake-up early and chip in with the rowing, but sometime in the early hours the wind must have made a welcome return as I was woken at 6.00 to be told we would be in Troon in 30 mins. It all seemed to be over too quickly and I would found myself wishing I could stay on the boat for its return to Oban.
Sam Hesling, along with Matt Sullivan, was also competing and the practice of Aggregation of Marginal Gains™ (see Glas Tulaichean report) obviously helped as their boat looked to be very well placed overall (although having a Catermaran is a pretty big Marginal Gain!)