Scotland Coast to Coast Race Report 15-9-2012
Dave Murray
This looked like something a bit different. 105 miles across Scotland from Nairn to Ballachulish near
Glen Coe. It involved a 7 mile trail run, 48 mile road bike, 1.5 mile run/kayak, 33 mile bike (half of
which was off-road), 14 mile trail run, then a 1 mile kayak. There was about 2100m climbing in total,
800m of which was on the last run. There were two options, and either could be done as a solo
competitor or pairs: the Challenger category did it in 2 days, stopping after the 1st kayak. I’d opted
for the solo Racer category that did it all in 1 day. We had 13 ½ hours to reach the final kayak stage,
otherwise it was too dark to get across the loch safely.
In terms of training, I was relying on fitness left over from Midnight Man IM distance race a month
earlier. I’d done most of my long runs on the moors, including some hill work, so felt reasonably
happy with run fitness. Following my IM, I’d spent the 1st week doing nothing, then 3 weeks redoing
the IM-taper to keep things ticking over, butswapped the swim for some Concept 2 rowing. I arrived
at race day feeling pretty rested.
The weeks prior to the race had been spent sorting out kit. Bike choice was a big decision. Most of
the field seemed to have mountain bikes. I had decided on a cyclocross bike. Race reports from
previous years had suggested that the off-road sections werent too bad and I didn’t fancy long road
sections on a mountain bike. I’d also gone round a red route at a local trail centre just to get a feel
for what its like to ride singletrack on a cyclocross bike. It isn’t too bad if you remember to approach
things as if you are on an MTB rather than a road bike. In the event, this was probably overkill,
although the ability to hammer down fireroads on a CX bike we was useful. I’d also gone for some
semi-slick tyres (Schwalbe CX Comp) rather than CX knobblies, for better rolling resistance on the
road section. According to my powermeter this was worth an extra 1mph for the same power
output.
The final few days were spent with eyes glued to the weather forecast.Those of you with a good
grasp of geography will have noticed that the race course went in a pretty much straight line from
NE to SW. Given the prevailing UK wind conditions, there was always going to be potential for a bit
of a headwind. We didn’t get a “bit of a headwind”; we got a brutal, non-stop, 20mph incessant
headwind, with 40mph gusts.
We travelled up to the finish the day before, and got the race transfer to the start with our bikes.
This was a pretty tedious 3hour coach journey, with cramped legs (I felt sorry for those who were
going to be doing the same journey back to the start at 9pm after the race), but it gave us a chance
to eat, and watch the scenery go by. We arrived at transition to drop the bikes off at around 3pm. I’d
fitted tri-bars to my bike, and was a bit surprised to find that only about 3 other people had done the
same. A few people had left their race rucksack at the transition, but most hadn’t. I’d not been
organised enough to do so, and still had half an eye on the weather. After another quick transfer
into Nairn, we found our hotel, went to the registration point, (bought a heavily discounted jacket –
cant resist a Rat Race bargain), then went for a meal. After that, it was time to finally pack the race
rucksack that we’d be taking on the day. This needed to contain everything you might need for the
race, including all food. The only aid provided was water at the transitions. All food had to be carried
by yourself (or you were allowed to pop into the shops en-route!)
The race started at 6.30am near the beach. After a quick breakfast, we were soon lining up. The gun
went, and the 240 solo/teams doing the Racer version were off. I kept to a fairly steady pace for the
1st 7 mile run, being careful not to go off too fast. After 2 miles of road, we got onto a narrow trail, a
bit slippery underfoot, with only a few opportunities to overtake slower runners in front. I did the 1st
run in just over an hour, got into transition and put my bike jersey on, along with bike shoes and
helmet. I had a couple of gels during the run, planning to eat small and regularly throughout the
race. The trail shoes went into the rucksack, where they’d stay for the next 6 hours.
The 1st bike section was brutal because of the headwind. Its not often that you need to pedal
downhill in Scotland to avoid slowing down. Luckily there were a few of us who were prepared to
work together in a group that varied between 3 and 5 of us. We must have been putting up a pretty
good effort, as we started to mop up the faster runners, many of whom were on mountain bikes. I
was surprised how few tried to latch on to us. You needed to concentrate to stay on the wheel, as
the headwind could make it difficult to get back on if you lost the group. The bike leg in an Ironman
is all about maintaining a steady pace, to avoid any lactate build-up so you can still run. This was
totally different. It was impossible to maintain a steady effort due to hills and headwind. My legs
started burning after 90mins. After 3 hours, we’d covered the 48 miles. The last 2 miles were a
welcome 12% descent into Fort Augustus, where I managed to hit 35mph despite the headwind.
The next stage was a short run down to the kayak. The run felt longer than I had anticipated, but this
might have been because I’d decided not to change my bike shoes for the kayak. Running in carbon
soled MTB shoes isn’t easy, and a bit painful. However, on arriving at the kayaks and discovering that
we’d be wading out to them, I was glad that my trail shoes were going to stay dry. The kayak was
probably only about ½ mile, and we had a tail wind so it went pretty quickly. I’d never kayaked
before, so was glad that it didn’t turn out to be that difficult.
The next section was back on the bike. This was another 33miles, half of which was off road. Most of
it was fire-road/forest tracks, with probably only 1-2 miles in total of proper single track. The latter
was easily doable on a CX bike. Despite the rain in the previous week, the trails were pretty dry. I
didn’t come across many people on this bike leg, but caught a few up for the last 5-6 miles into Fort
William for the transition. It wasn’t quite as windy, as many of the sections were sheltered in forest,
although the road sections were unrelenting still. It was still a hard ride. The off-road descents were
just as tiring as the climbs. To descend with any speed (and comfort) off-road on a CX bike, you need
to stand up on the pedals rather than sit on the saddle. Hence there was no respite on the descents.
Nutrition on the bike leg consisted of 2 powerbars, 2 Hi5 bars, ½ a large maltloaf, 3L of sportsdrink,
and 1L of water.
The clock stopped in the Fort William transition, as we had to load our bikes onto the transfer lorries
to be transported to the finish. We could also leave any bike related kit attached to the bike, ie
helmet, bike shoes and jersey. I spent about 30 mins here, refilling my camelback, getting some
water, and had a bagel with marmite to get rid of the sweet taste.
Time for the last trail run. I was glad I’d kept my trail shoes dry, and changed into some dry socks.
They had shortened the run route by about ½ miles, and removed about 150m climbing. However I
hadn’t picked up on this, so was a bit confused when I started the run, as I couldn’t work out which
way to go. This was despite a marshal telling me 30 sec before hand! I had forgotten whether to turn
right or left after crossing a footbridge. It wasn’t helped by the fact the there was a ½ Ironman race
going on at the same time, using some of the same run course apparently with different coloured
arrows pointing the way. Two of us decided to follow someone else. Turned out we were wrong, so
we had to back track a bit, but at least it was only ¼ mile at most.
I thought the run would be a struggle, as my legs had felt shot from the bike. However I seemed to
be moving OK compared with other competitors, and was overtaking a fair few especially on the
climbs, even though they were no more than a fast walk. After a mile or so, we turned off road, the
climbing started, as did the walking. This was where the 2nd thing went wrong. I managed to rub my
eyes and dislodge a contact lens. In found in training that I couldn’t run very easily on trails without
glasses, and glasses kept steaming up. I’d therefore got myself fitted with contact lenses for this
race. Losing one 2 miles into the run was a very annoying, especially as it was my worse eye. Running
with perfect vision in one eye, whilst the other is a blur isn’t easy. The 1st part was a fairly steep
climb of around 300m, then a more gradual descent. The trail was pretty dry, but fairly rocky which
made running downhill difficult (not to mention the lack of decent eyesight by this stage).
The next bit of the run was generally undulating. This was where the 3rd thing went wrong. I could
feel a dampness on the back of my leg. Top of the Camelbak must be loose. I had a look, tightened it
up and carried on. The dampness soon turned into a torrent, and I discovered a 2cm split in the
seam of the Camelbak bladder almost at the bottom. Given that I still had 11 miles to go, and all my
fueling was in the form of fluid, I had no option but to remove the bladder from the bag, and carry it
in my hand upside down. In order to drink, I had to stop and pour it from the split into my mouth. I
decided not to bother with my planned small and regular mouthfuls, but just drank all 1500mls in 2
stages. It made for a bit of sloshing about, but at least I didn’t need to carry it separately anymore.
(As an aside, it turns out Camelback offer lifetime warranties, so hopefully it will get replaced.)
My feet were still dry at this stage, although that changed when we had to wade through a river just
before the final 500m climb. At least it washed the leaking sports drink off my legs! The last climb
wasn’t as steep as I thought, and I managed a fast trot up. At the top, we could see the finish point
about 3 miles away. The descent was very boggy and very steep. I found it impossible to run at any
speed. I slipped over 3 or 4 times. Again, the descents were probably harder on the legs than the
climbs, especially at this stage of the race.
At the bottom, there was a short road run to the final kayak stage. This was about 1 mile across the
loch. We were paired up for this in Malibu sit-on-top kayaks which were very stable. The wind made
for a very choppy crossing, with sea spray coming over the top and soaking me. However the lure of
the finish kept the effort up, and I didn’t suffer any muscle cramps. The guy I was with thankfully was
also in a reasonable state and could still paddle. Looking back at the other kayakers once I had
finished, there were a lot of interesting lying down paddling techniques, presumably brought on by
cramping muscles. We managed to overtake another pair who had headed for the wrong island. As
we got to the shore, we were helped out of the kayak, then had a final 100m run to cross the finish
line. I finished in 10 hours 40 mins.
We clocked our chip timers in, and got a print out. I was amazed to discover that at that stage I was
12th. That explains why I didn’t see many competitors out on the course! My final placing slipped to
14th out of 165 final solo and pair finishers. About 80 people DNF’d or were timed out as they failed
to make the final kayak cut-off before darkness. The winner came in in just under 9 hours.
I was freezing cold by this stage, shivering uncontrollably, and couldn’t hold the cup of soup without
spilling it. Luckily we were staying at the finish hotel, so went up to my room and sat in a hot bath for
half an hour, eating crisps and Mars bars. I’d definitely recommend staying at the finish hotel for
that reason, and being able to have a few beers and a meal while still soaking up atmosphere at the
end.
Looking back at the results, many of the people who finished ahead of me spent almost an hour in
the Fort William transition. Given that this time was removed from the overall time (packing bikes
away etc), I just wonder if it might have been worth spending a bit more time recovering. But then I
may have stiffened up more. I suspect if I’d known that I’d finish so strongly, I may have spent less
time taking photos on the way round (although in reality that probably only cost me 2 minutes at the
most).
If you are thinking of doing it, I can recommend it. It was good to do something different to a
triathlon. The travel logistics are a bit of a pain as it a long way north (the motor way signs above
Glasgow still say “The North”). In terms of training, it is a long day and probably merits a similar
amount of training as an Ironman, especially as there is a cut-off for the final kayak stage.
Final times were:
7 m Run
Transition
48 m Bike
2 m Kayak/run
Transition
33 m Bike
(Time out/transition
14 m run/1m kayak
1h 04m
2m 30s
3h 02m
24m 55s
1m 41s
2h 47m
33m 05s)
3h 19m