'Lawrence of Arabia enters the cauldron'
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Sun, Slioch and Sandwiches Richard Bush |
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On Saturday
31st May at 12:00 noon four Carnethy runners (Joanne Anderson, Steven
Fallon, Simon Peachey and Richard Bush) were amongst those lining up
beside Incheril car park for the start of the new Slioch Horseshoe race.
The estimated length of the race never varied from the stated 13 miles
but the estimates for the amount ascent and descent varied from 1000m
to 5000ft (excuse my mixing of units), depending on which source of information
you read. |
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The
morning started off grey with low cloud, which suited the midges perfectly;
even those
who’d spent Friday night inside Torridon’s Youth Hostel had
not avoided their attention. However, by mid morning the sky was blue
and the sun shone down. We could have been at Italy’s Lake Garda
rather than on the shores of Loch Maree. The race route followed the
Munro baggers route to the top of Slioch, round the ridge to the summit
of Sgurr an Tuill Bhain then descended via the waterfalls back to the
path used for the inward part of the route. Route finding was straight
forward enough though Ian and Anne Nimmo, who were marshalling on the
descent, commented on the variety of routes chosen by runners on their
way down. |
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The
race was won by Carnethy’s Simon Peachey in a little over 2 hours. Simon
closed a 2 minute gap to catch and pass Brian Marshall in the last 5km.
Some reported Brian had “blown up”, others that he’d
hurt his ankle. Either way Simon was deservedly delighted with his win
and put it down to having a well primed immune system due to midge bites
earlier in the day. There was more support out on the course and less
space in the car park than expected, as a walker was completing his round
of Munros by bagging Slioch. Not only was he up the mountain, but so
were 45 or 30 or 50 or 60 (depending on your source of information) of
his friends. One group shouted words of encouragement to me “go
on, you’re doing quite well”. |
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Race organiser, Ross
Bannerman, had done great job of making sure everything was in place,
which included, with the help of his wife, Mother and others, a magnificent
spread of sandwiches and cakes at the finish. With the sun shining throughout
the afternoon, virtually everyone stayed to enjoy the chat, eat the food
and clap in each and every runner. |
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