Well, this should be a 4Km race from the bottom gondola station, to the top gondola station 610m above, followed by a lift back down. However on New years eve, reports were out that that the weather was predicted to be wet and windy, meaning the gondolas would probably not be running!
The roads were strangely quiet on the drive down to Fort William and the first part of the weather report was proving accurate that it was relatively warm and definately wet. The wind didn’t seem to bad at the sheltered lower station, however it was apparently windy further up the mountain and the gondolas wouldn’t be working. So, it was now a revised course of about 2/3rds up then back down again (or as far as the marshals got to before being caught).
130 dafties assembled at the start line, dressed anywhere from the serious nutters in shorts and vest through to my sensible tights and jacket. Setting off mid pack the pace was ok for the first part of the climb throught the forrest on a fairly decent path. However by 1Km the run able sections were giving way to sections of steeper rock and mud so it was now down to run and walk. Out of the forrest and past the deer fence, the rain was still just as good and the promised gusty wind had arrived. By this point, I was expecting (hoping) to see the front guys heading back down again but everyone I could see was still going upwards.
Eventually the front guys started to appear with most of them going off track and bounding through the heather like mountain goats and at last the turning point was in view. A brief wind assisted run followed by another stretch of walking finally got me up to the two marshals and the start of the downhill retrace. 100m later and I’ve already been on my backside once and another slip slows me down to a steady pace at the expence of being passed by at least 17 people before geting back to the forrest.
At last the finish line was back in view with a good crowd of wet and muddy people clapping everyone home, so that was the first race of 2015 done before lunch. Lunch being an excellent bowl of soup for everyone before the presentations.
Report by: Neil Purdie