At 15.5kms and 870m, this is one of the classic hill races in the calendar. It is therefore very surprising that hardly any Harriers in recent history (only Stu I think) has run it. Although Arran might seem far away, the drive to the Ardrossan ferry is only about 1.5 hrs, followed by a relaxing 50 min boat crossing and you’re in Brodick with only a short walk to the start. Easily done in a day with the race start and prize giving nicely organised around the ferry times.
As Andrea could not go due to tennis (and injury), I decided to pop over for the day while the rest of the Harrier posse drove over to stay the night and make some mischief (that’s another story!). Harriers in attendance were Michael Greens, Andy Briggs, Jan Dawson, Gregor Gorjanc, Gill Cairns, Kevin Anderson, Sadie Kemp and Moi.
The Team
The race is a simple there and back route – the first (last) section is 2kms of road (ugh!), then from the woods behind Brodick Castle, the route ascends with an ever-increasing gradient. It is very runnable at first, but as it steepens it gets more and more technical. The upper 100 metres (up and down) seemed incredibly steep to me.
Race Route and Profile
Weather conditions were almost perfect – 14-17 degrees (elevation dependent), cool SW wind and sun and more sun. So – at 12pm, despite a very loud pipe band doing its hardest to ensure we would not hear the starting claxon, we were off. A 2-km sprint along a road – a detestable section which would be worse on the return. Michael soon passed me, but I managed to keep him in sight as we entered Brodick Castle state. Once in the woods, the route changed to a forest track which slowly became thinner and rockier as we climbed. It was quite warm down at the lower elevations but as we left the wood the slight breeze soon brought the temperature down to a more manageable level. With legs feeling much stronger than they did at Stuc O Chroin 2 weeks before, I soon passed Michael and kept focusing on passing the next runner in front – ticking them off one at a time. Unlike the Ben tourist track, the GF track is a more haphazard affair and, as I said, very technical with nice grippy granite boulders. Fine for running, but horrible if you fell……………some did!
There is not much to say about the ascent except, it got harder and harder as you went up and I started thinking, jeez, we’re gonna have to run down this. On getting to the summit, I was momentarily disorientated. It was packed with people and someone was shouting my name. There were several Carnethy runners up there who were doing the Scottish Island Peaks Race (respect!). After a quick frantic smile and a wave and a look down towards Brodick below, I started the hellish descent. Not initially realising that my summit confusion had befuddled my sense of direction, I took a different track than the one I went up on. In hindsight, I don’t think this made a huge difference but I had a slight panic for the first few minutes of descent as I thought I had gone the wrong way.
Brodick below – I did not take this!
The next 15 minutes was probably the most fun I’ve had in a long time. Knee pain? What knee pain! I seemed to bounce down the track and, I guess luckily, did not trip once. It was frantic, manic and very exhilarating. Much more fun than the descent off the Ben. As the gradient lessened, I soon started hearing someone huffing and puffing behind me – did I recognise it? – yes – it was Michael who finally passed me as we entered the woods. No matter how hard I tried, I just could not keep up with those long gangly skinny legs. All I could do was try and keep him in sight as my legs screamed at the last 2 kms of tarmac!
What a cracker of a race!
My 150th official SHR race (thanks to Shettleston Harriers for providing an appropriate number), with a total distance run (since 2005) of 1931 kms and 102,915 metres height gain – that’s 11.6 Mt Everests!!!
The final Harriers results:
Of 169 runners (6 did not finish), we came in at:
31st Michael: 01:46:11
32nd Moi: 01:46:44
59th: Gregor: 01:53:26 [gonna be a fabulous LAMM partner in 10 days]
63rd: Gillian: 01:54:33
100th: Jan: 02:05:03
121st: Sadie: 02:14:18
127th: Kevin: 02:15:39
166th: Andy: 02:48:34
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- Chillin’ on the boat
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- The Battle begins!
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- Friends really!
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- Off we go then – I simply cannot resist being near the frt
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- Gregor – start
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- Jan – start
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- Kevin – start
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- Rob – the descent
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- Micheal – not far behind
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- Gregor – the descent
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- Gill – the descent
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- Sadie – the descent
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- Micheal – the finish
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- Rob – not far behind
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- Gregor – the finish
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- Gill – the finish
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- Sadie – the finish
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- Jan – the finish
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- Andy – the finish
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- Look what a quick wash in the sea does!
Done the race years ago
After a heavy night in the ormadale hotel arrans only pub
Thanks to tommy Gilmore and staff
Completely pissed still managed under 3 hrs 3rd last fantastic
Could not hold my next pint for the shakes
Managed it just
What a great race. We were so lucky to have clear skies. The next day the cloud was down over the hill, it would have been a shame to miss the spectacular views at the top. Fantastic to spend some time with my running buddies on the island. I loved every minute of the trip.
Well done 8 Harriers up and down one of the most scenic hills in Scotland. Unfortunately if you’re racing you don’t really see the views very often, especially on the way down. It’s a great hill race. Surprised to see some criticism of the sun and the heat, since I well remember in the early nineties travelling all the way to Ardrossan, then ferry to Brodfick, only to find when we got there, the Mountain Rescue had banned the race because there was snow on the hill; so no race up/down Goatfell.
They say Arran is Scotland in miniature, likewise with Goatfell, all Scotlands hill/road races in one. Great report Rob and glad everyone got down in one piece, Hats off to you all.
Fantastic report off the race dr rob nice to catch up with friends on a beautiful day (maybe to hot)would say it’s tougher than the Ben!but loved every minute!o except two toilet breaks on way back???
Brilliant report Rob! What a fun race – I so enjoyed it. Hope a few of us Harriers might make it next year again. Well done too on 150 races – and the distance and elevation involved!!!
We did enjoy our post race food and drink and our stay at Auchrannie….:-)
Great report of a great race! Indeed the ascent seemed like it will never end, even walking most of it. I think we all got a bit tripped around the top. I climbed on the left side (going up) and descended on the left side (going down) – opposite to you Rob. It helped me to gain quite some time I think. Anyway, it was joyful run down – just the right steepness for my taste. Would have been horrible to fall there though! Tarmac at the end was a killer. But the day was great and looking forward to run this in cooler weather.