Salopians conquer Scottish Islands Peaks Race and come back with a trophy

An intrepid group of runners and sailors took part in the Scottish Islands Peaks Race. Ed S (Rt, LVI) reflects on the challenge. 

After driving north for a wearisome nine and a half hours, the Scottish Islands Peaks team reached the Western Highland’s capital of Oban just in time for check in. The ‘crew’ was made up of myself, George H (O, LVI), Anna B (EDH, LVI), Sophia U (EDH, LVI), Hubert R (Rt, LVI) and Kit L (I, LVI), as well as Oscar Dickens (OS), Mr Griffiths and our sailors Hugh and David.

In the morning, we drove to the marina to prepare the boat for the journey ahead. Returning to the boat club, George and myself waited on the start line (for what felt like hours) in anticipation for the race to begin. At midday the countdown began, and we were off the mark! Running off strongly we knew that Oban was the shortest run of the race (4 miles), navigating our way through the groups of runners we managed to reach the front of the pack to eventually come in 6^th out of 39 teams. Consequently, we exited the bay and began our sail to the Isle of Mull leaving much of the competition behind.

 A spinnaker run and some rowing brought us to Salen at 5pm, the runners Oscar, Sophia and Anna rowed ashore before embarking on their 18-mile epic that took them an excellent 4.20hrs. Wading through rushing rivers and deep peaty bogs the team made it to the summit of Beinn Talaidh (3000ft) prior to venturing down the rocky trails back to the boat just before darkness descended.

In the trusty hands of Hugh and David we sailed through the night to Craighouse, Jura, reaching speeds in excess of 9 knots in complete darkness. By morning, the shores of Jura were in sight, Hubert and Kit accompanied by Mr Griffiths, set out to climb the island’s Paps despite encountering dangerous cliffs and unstable boulder fields throughout. Despite not having not eaten for thirteen hours due to seasickness, they finished in a superb time of 3hrs 25 (an hour faster than other teams).

It was not a question of a very long beat around the Mull of Kintyre that would take us a full 9hrs and take us to the limit. Despite wind and rain chucking down, Hugh and David remained stalwarts at the wheel and we eventually turned the corner to now peer north to Arran with the wind and tide in the dark.

Soon, George and I were woken up at 2:00 am after reaching Lamlash in the pitch black. Rowing ashore we had no real idea where we were. Completing final kit-checks in the tent and assisted by Oscar we set out to summit Goatfell mountain (3000ft). Headtorches on and feeling fresh we pressed on into the night slowly overtaking fellow competitors one by one. After reaching the peak, we decided to ‘bomb’ it down the perilous pathway to back to the beach eventually returning to Lamlash as daylight broke.

After rowing out to the awaiting Brown Bear, we completed our short sail to Troon to find out that although we had finished second to Keswick College on their racing monohull, we had won the Junior King of the Bens trophy for fastest running times overall. At last the boat was still and we could eat much of the food that we had not touched for so long. Overall, it was unanimous that everyone enjoyed the race; despite its hardships, it was undoubtedly an incredible experience for everyone who took part. Furthermore, we embodied the spirit of Bill Tilman, the great sailor and mountaineer who inspired the race, who when advertising in the Times for crew put:  'No pay, no prospects, not much pleasure.'