Applecross Duathlon Sep 2024
Allan and I did this race two years ago, making a weekend of it and tackling the Bealach
na Ba from Lochcarron on the Sunday. I had planned a similar trip (minus Allan) this year
and was more prepared for the steep hill on the Sunday with my carbon road bike and small
gears. But, all the best laid plans…
On the Saturday morning I drove from my parents house on the Black Isle, through Torridon
to 10 miles west of Shieldaig at Arrina and was greeted by lots of wind and drizzle. I
dumped my bike and cycling shoes beside the marshall and drove the remaining 15 miles
(the cycle route) down to the start at Applecross. The car park was looking decidedly
soggy and the hills were obscured by cloud. Still, it wasn’t particularly cold and the
race didn’t require any tricky navigation.
After signing on and eyeing up the mounds of post-race food at Hartfield House, I jogged
over to the start and watched the ‘Challenge’ group of runners start off up the glen
towards the north coast. It was quite sheltered here, but as it was quite wet, I opted
for knee length shorts and two layers for the run. Warming up, this felt about right.
At 13:00 we were given a short briefing and then we were off into the mist.
The running route started of as a muddy farm track complete with puddles and sheep poo,
but then narrowed to a track which became gradually steeper as it wound its way into the
hills. The highest point of the track was at around 700 feet so this was a trail run
rather than a hill run, and it was satisfyingly runnable most of the time with rocks,
heather, grass, deep puddles, burn crossings, bogs, the lot, to keep you interested.
As we got higher up, the weather got steadily worse – colder, wetter and windier. By the
time I hit the Shieldaig road with a mile to go, I was soaked and thinking of more layers.
At transition I gulped down some water and munched an energy bar and donned my light-
weight cycling top, shoes and helmet. Actually, the start of the cycle was OK as we were
sheltered from the southerly wind. The legs took a while to adjust to the pedalling,
but then I was enjoying the speed and the ups and downs.
The road then swung round to the south and that all changed. The wind had indeed got up
and was making controlling the bike very difficult and the speed dropped markedly.
Although I had clip-on tri-bars on the bike, there was no way I could use them, the wind
was all over the place. One minute it was head-on and you were crawling along at 5mph,
the next the bike was being pushed sideways and almost off the road. I was becoming
slightly nervous and it took all my energy and concentration to stay on the bike and keep
some momentum. I was now regretting being a nine-stone weakling! Other riders were also
having problems and some had resorted to walking up the steepest hills.
Half way down the road, I was crawling up a hill in my lowest gear when a particularly
ferocious gust blew me over to the left hand verge and, to avoid falling off, I had to
unclip and get off the bike. Drat it! But then I couldn’t clip back in to re-start and
ended up trotting with my bike to the top of the hill. How embarassing! By then I was
in a foul mood and yelling at oncoming traffic when they weren’t slowing down.
Eventually with about two miles to go, the road turned round to the east towards
Applecross and it was more sheltered and more downhill. With great relief, I turned
left on to the Hartfield House road, negotiated some speed bumps and crossed the finish
line. Phew.
After getting rid of some very soggy clothes, I was beginning to warm up and headed to
the hall with the grub. It was packed with wind-bashed duathletes consuming piles of
food. After a happy hour gorging myself, swapping stories and enjoying the banter, the
prize presentation duly started. Ah well, compensation for a tough race –
first ‘Old Fart’ (MV60).
I had planned to camp that night and cycle up the Bealach na Ba the next day, but the
wind was still blowing a Force 8 and I wimped out and drove back to the Black Isle.
After a days relaxation on the Black Isle on Sunday, I was now looking for something
else to do before heading back to Penicuik and decided to find some munros to climb on
the Monday. So I drove down to the Drumochter Pass in the morning and parked at the
Balsporran car park just south of Dalwhinnie. Amazingly, it was warm and sunny, with
not much wind. As my legs were a bit trashed from Saturday, I took it easy and just
walked uphill, and jogged along the flat and downhill. Still, I managed four munros
in four hours and was rewarded with unusually good weather and amazing views.
Glen Clova Extreme Duathlon Sep 2024
Last year Des, Allan, James (Bell) and myself attempted this race in horrendous conditions.
It rained all weekend and the weather was so bad that the organiser shortened the course so
that competitors and marshals didn’t get hypothermia. I was keen to come back for a second
attempt, hoping for better weather. I think that Stuart also did this race a few years back.
The event consists of a 16.5 mile cycle, followed by a 9.0 mile hill run over 2 munros,
followed by a 3.5 mile cycle. The start/finish is at the Glen Clova Hotel with the transition
further up the glen at the Glen Doll car park.
This year Gilly had also entered (her first duathlon) and we had originally planned to camp
on the Friday night to give us plenty of time for the 10am race start. However, a couple of
days before the event, the forecast was for night-time temperatures to drop to zero and we
decided that a better option would be to just drive up early on the day. This unfortunately
required a very early start and we met in the Straiton Park and Ride car park at 5:45 on the
Saturday morning to be sure of arriving at Registration in time. Gilly had kindly offered to
drive and the two bikes just fitted nicely into the back of her estate car.
The drive up was quite straightforward via Forfar and Kirriemuir and we arrived at the Glen
Clova Hotel at 8am (registration closed at 8:30). We signed on, collected our shirt number,
our bike number, box number and ankle timing strap (not to mention our soup voucher). Our
hill-running kit and hill shoes went into our Tescos/Morrisons plastic transition box and
were loaded into a van. We then had plenty of time to check our bikes and decide how many
layers to put on. It was still pretty chilly (5 degrees) and most people had two layers on,
some with a thermal top and full gloves. I settled for 3/4 length cycling shorts, two layers
and a buff under my helmet. This meant that I was slightly cold for the cycle and slightly
too warm for the first part of the run, but at least I didn’t have to change any clothes at
the transitions (except for ditching the buff).
We also met Sarah (and Adrian Davis) in the car park and had a brief catchup.
After a short race briefing, we were sent off down the road at 10am on our bikes in a
number of small groups, 1 minute apart. The cycle route is a lot of fun on the single track
road with tight bends and small ups and downs. I passed a few other cyclists but was passed
myself by some hard-core (and young) triathletes on fancy bikes.
Fifty minutes and 16 miles later, I was at the transition car park in Glen Doll and
looking for my Morrisons box. After some very poor transition times last year, I was
determined to reduce the faffing around and had invested in stretchy shoe laces for my hill
shoes. These worked really well, and even with cold fingers, the shoes went on a treat.
My legs didn’t seem to want to run and it took a good 5 minutes to find some sort of
respectable running pace. The route through the woods up the glen started off as a wide
track with a good surface and a gentle incline. It gradually narrowed and steepened and
then we were out of the trees and gasping at a massive spectacular corrie with imposing
hills above. We could see runners in front as small coloured dots winding their way up the
corrie. Excellent, this is going to be great!
The path was now enjoyably narrow, steep and rocky and I passed a few runners on the way
up. The path eventually became less steep and more grassy and it wasn’t long before the
rounded summit of Mayar came into view. The view was now quite stunning and a large
expanse of the southern Cairngorms was visible with Lochnagar to the north covered in a
dusting of snow.
With visibility so good, map or compass were not needed and we said Hi to the marshalls
and swung east towards the second Munro, about a mile and a half in the distance. The
running was now excellent with a well-defined path and not too many rocks. Down to the
bealach and then the climb up to Driesh. Another fine view and then double-back down
to the Bealach and a sharp right turn onto a rocky path down a valley. And this path
was very rocky and needed a lot of concentration. I was still going OK with no signs of
the legs seizing up or cramp, and I managed to pass another couple of runners on the way
down. Back on the the Glen Doll trail and a lollop back to the transition car park.
I can’t describe the pure joy of wheeking off my hill shoes without having to fiddle with
wet and muddy glued-up laces. After some large glugs out of my water bottle, I was back on
the bike. Very strange, my legs didn’t seem to want to pedal and it was a very slow start
to the last leg. Eventually the legs recognised the circular motion and I started to fly
down the road towards the finish at the Hotel. These last three miles were a lot of fun,
with hardly any wind, sunshine, a rolling road, time on the tri-bars and knowing that the
end was in sight.
At first I thought that the event was easier than I had expected, but after hobbling
around the hotel grounds for a bit, my legs told me that I had actually put a lot of
effort into it. Sarah and Gilly came in a bit later and our chip times were:
16th Duncan Ball 2:58:09
50th Sarah MacKechnie 3:43:16
60th Gilly Marshall 3:49:39
If you are looking for a bit of variety in your training and racing (and own a bike) then
I highly recommend having a go at a duathlon – and especially if, like me, you are a crap
swimmer and would drown during a triathlon. There are shorter ones to try first, for
example the Peebles Duathlon (also September), but Gilly managed to cope exceedingly well
with this ‘extreme’ event as a first timer. The only gripe I have of this particular event
is that it had no age category prizes and I have no idea if there were any old gits in
front of me.
Thanks to the organisers and helpers for two very memorable events.
Duncan Ball
1st October 2024.