Written by Mike Raffan - http://ultramiker.blogspot.fr

Last weekend race was a little different than what I am used to. Why you say, it was only the 53 miles Highland Fling, as race you have done 4 times and once in reverse, once as a training run and 3 times during the West Highland Way race? Well... this time it was different this time i would be doing it as part of a relay team. A 12 mile section from Milngavie to Drymen. The shortest race I have done probably since 2011. The relay is supposed in encourage people that have never done this full race to think about doing it next time. Well 3 of my team had never done it so this was my attempt of encouraging them.

We had a Cosmic Hillbashers team all lined up are ready to go. I had organised it knowing that with ballot paces up for grabs anyone else from the club was free to enter a team but nobody seemed interested. Hopefully next time others will see what a great time we had so they will think about it too. So who would do what leg? Having done the course many times i would let the others choose. Being a hill running club legs 2 and 3 were snapped up by Colin Russel and Luke Taylor. I would let Chris Tomlin take leg 4 and that left the flat mostly road (compared to the other sections) leg for me. this dont always go to plan and in the week before the race Chris was called offshore for work.

MAN DOWN! Call went out to the other club members that we could think might be free and a call out on facebook. Craig MacKay would save they day. He warned us he wasnt fit and not used to short distance (yes people 12 miles is short). Our unanimous reply was if you dont run we dont get to take part so just do your best.

Standing in Milngavie train station I watched the full race head off and waited for the relay to get setup. What I was disappointed with was how much the start line was dismantled. Sponsors took there flags away the timing mats were lifted. It was almost as if the relay was a 2nd class race (I know to a lot of people it is). Maybe something for John to think about if he wants to encourage new people, then again since the ballot is over subscribed maybe he doesnt need to.

7am and the race was off. Straight in the lead, first up the steps, a winning tack tick. By the time I left Mugdock park about 2 miles in I couldnt see anyone when I turned round. So now i just need to keep it up. The disadvantage or being out on your own in the first section in the amount of gates you have to open. I went through one of them and obviously trying to get through too fast i banged against one of the locks that keep the gate shut. Ignore the pain, it will sill be there to deal with at the end. Just before Beach tree Ross and Eilidh were taking photos and told me I had a massive lead as they hadnt seen anyone through the previous gate yet. This sort of feedback is great, normally in ultras the checkpoints are in such remote locations that are not able to tell you what is happening in the rest of the field.

Photo by Ross Lawrie

The road crossing at Beach Tree I caught the first full fling runner. From that point on it was I was catching more and more runners. To me it was good catching people but I would imagine it would be quite frustrating for the back runners knowing they had another 49 relay teams about to overtake them. Once i got to the road crossing at Drymen I felt like I was ready to finish and unlike normal races I could. This photo By Ali Robertson sums up how I felt.

I often get to the end of races and fell, well i could have done this and could have done that and it might have been quicker but for my leg that was all I had on they day. 1 hour 25 min 38 sec. but wait thats only 1 min faster than I did in the full race in 2014 so why did i feel so crap. Had I lost that much fitness? I know i am not as fit as I was but still. After laying down for 10min and puking twice someone pointed out that I had raced 150miles less than a month ago. yup that could have something to do with it. Fine for distance but distance at speed not so much.

Anyway I had given the team a 9min lead after the first leg. Luke took over for leg 2 and the Troon team much have had someone really strong for conic. Luke was our best hill runner and they took the lead down to 2min. Luke isn't used to racing 15miles so by the end he was starting to feel it. I can only speculate that that was why they were able to take time back. Leg 3 was Colin he wanted the technical section but I am not sure he expected it to be like it was. we arranged for Craig to get the train down from Tyndrum just in case we couldn't make it to Bein Glass by the time Colin did and getting out of the carpark at Rowerdennan it didn't seem like we were going to. We were about 1 car away from it being total gridlock with the amount of cars coming in a single track road and nowhere to go. Colin manged to get our lead back to 11 min but what we didn know at the time was it was Dunoon that had over taken Stonehaven and Troon and were now behind us. Poor Craig was feeling the pressure, he had done many big races but never before was he gifted a 11min head start. He had been sick sever time in the past few hours, nervous was an understatement.

All we could do was stand at the finish line waiting for Craig to come through, we could hear the piper and 20 seconds later a runner would come through, time and time again. Would Craig be next? Sadly for us Dunoon's last runner ran a blinder in the last leg and managed to take our 11min lead and some. Not only did Craig feel nervous all morning he now felt crap that he let us down. We all tried to tell him at the same time as taking the piss that we can 2nd in a hard fought race, we wouldn't have got to run if he hadn't stepped in. Looking at the splits after we were lucky to come 2nd any of the top 4 could have won.

The team wernt impressed that we kept being told we wernt real runners at various times of thoughout the day, including when we went for food at the end.

So what happened at the Viking way I hear you say? Well sit tight I took a wrong turn past that race.

Well The race was 147miles along the Viking way organised by Mark Cockbain or Cockbain events fame. Which just to make it a bit harder you are not allowed to use GPS for navigation. Mark says it it because GPS is unreliable, I dont agree, I think he should just say he doesnt want to to use them because the help you then nobody would grumble. I had done the Hill at the end of 2014 and the C2C 2015 winning both. The 3 events make up the gland slam of Cockbain events affectionately know as The Cockslam if you complete them with the 12months. The Viking way wasn't run in 2015 because Mark and his wife bad a baby and the timing meant he took a well deserved break. At the end of the C2C Mark said because they postponing the race for a year if I did it in 2016 it would count for the slam. Now I did know if i wanted to do the race, yes i wanted the kudos of getting the slam but I dont like running and having my face stuck in a map the hole time. but this was the only chance i was going to have of completing it. I dont want to do the C2C again and the hill is probably not going to happen again. So this was my only chance.

Race signed up for at the last minute, maps were sent out. I have to say well done to anyone who managed to complete the race with the quality of the maps that were sent. I think mark must have taken them from a high quality source but they were compressed in email. I used walk highland website to redo all the maps which meant i was able to mark on them at the same time. I marked distances and things to look out for. I used google street view were I could to do a "recce" since i had never been to that part of the country before. As with the previous two races I emailed Jon Steele the only person to have done the Slam before to ask advice on shoes. The options were road shoes, speedcross, or fellrazors. I knew the answer already anything but speedcross would be stupid. But it was tradition so I had to ask.


I long 9 hour drive later we arrived in Hull. Annette would drive to the finish as you were not allowed a support crew. You were allowed people to meet you on route but no support. Roz Glover had signed up to the race but had pulled out after booking a non-refundable room at the premier Inn near the start so I was delighted to snap it up from her. Thanks Roz.

Woke up in the morning to find I had taken from the shoe rack the shoes that look almost idetical to my speedcross, i had taken the fellrazors. Massive lugs and really tight designed to do maybe 10mile hill race. Oh well no point worrying about it put up with what you have got. Right to the start line. where have I put my maps? arggghhhh I can run without them. I had spare for the 2nd 50 and the 3rd 50 in my drop bag but why would i need them for the 1st 50. slight panic later I found them. ok check bag and pop the zip burst. Annette spent 20min trying desperately to put it back together while i went to the start line. I had a better idea, we couldn't find any duct take but the next best thing was safety pins and every race had them. Zip pinned up just in time and we were off.

it was a nice easy flat start which i took at a normal pace but everyone else, and i do mean the whole field seemed to be going slower than 10min miles so it made it look like i was shooting off and great speed. I had no intentions of winning the race I just wanted to complete it to get it out of the way say I had done it. within the first 2 miles i missed a turn, this was not going well, added 1/2mile already, I not going to enjoy this. the whole race managed to pass me, on the upside i didnt need to read the map now i could just follow the crowed. Until I managed to catch everyone again. I ran with Javed for a while at the front. He was doing well since he complete a double Spine not that long ago. i pushed on looking at the map counting how many field I had to pass then turn. I was not enjoying having to keep checking the map. at 15miles I there was along straight I I could see that were was no anyone close to me I had at least a 3 or 4 min gap. but 30seconds later I stopped for 10seconds and there they were. for the next 10 or so miles i ran with Richard and Jamie. Richard hard done the race before and knew the way so. It made for a much nicer race having him there. also there were some turning I was able to get before him from my google recce. I was running ahead opening the gates and waiting for them, that was a lot easier then having to do the nav myself. I am not sure what point it was probably around 25 or 30miles that they started to slow Richard had been complaining about sore calves. We got to a log stright part and i thought i would take me chances, I could always slow down again if needed, So i powered on. Something that on of the guy6s had mention was the way Gary Morrison was great at thumbing the map. I thought I know how to do that so why had I not been earlier? so here goes, and it works just keep my thumb on the point of the map where i am then i dont need to think about it every time i look. wait this is much easier.
Much of the next 20 or 30 miles were uneventful apart from I was finding it hard to eat while running. As i had to carry maps i thought it would be a good idea to have a map pouch on the front of my bag and it was great apart from my bag isnt designed to take one and it must have been bouncing against my stomach. when i stopped i could eat when i ran i could not. one thing for eat walk and eat then run.

It was starting to get dark when heading to Lincoln luckily I had marked on the map how far Lincoln was as i could see the cathedral lit up and it was never getting closer, it was ok i knew it was still 12 miles to get there. just before Lincoln there is a canal and on the map during my recce I had written do not cross but the sign said viking way cross. so i followed my map and did not cross, WHY? why had I written that? i was going up toward the road and I shouldn't be. turned back another 1/2 mile wasted! this time not from missing a turning but taking a stupid wrong turning that i had written on the map. If i had just followed the sign it would be ok. Into Lincoln and the checkpoint. My friend Nick was there and he had been ordered to pass on a hug from Sandra so that cheered me up. mark was there and asked if I had the detailed map that he had given us at the start. My reply " no I took a map that I could read" he took a look and said fair point my one was better you could see the street names. He told me to remember dont follow the map through the park as the gates will be shut at the other end. Roger that! it did stop me getting to the park and going in to find locked gates and having to turn back.

Reaching the cathedral and a lot of the guys that had retired fro the race were at the cathedral to help direct runners the correct way. well they tried Javed tried to direct me down an alleyway but I had recce'd it and knew where I  was going. running down Steep hill (the high street) not hard to see where they got the name from. Lincoln center was like any other at 10pm on Saturday night. I was surprised by how little attention(abuse) I got. coming down the hill there was a girl obviously had a few to drink struggling to walk on her high healed platforms shoes and shouted " how the hell can you be running, I cant even walk" well it could have something to do with my shoes that are designed to run up mountains or something to do with you.... the next was just as I was leaving the pedestrianised area there was two police looking after some one that could hardly stand at one side and a group of lads at the other, just as I got up close one the the lads shouted "HE'S GOT A BOMB!!!"as they all stepped back, obviously seeing my running backpack with two bottle at the front. thankfully the police didnt even look round. I just kept running. would be interested to hear what the others got as the night went on.

this happened a lot

Somewhere between Linoln and the 100miles I lost where I was on the map. So i just kept going stright, I looked at my compass and I was heading in the right direction. every few miles i would see a viking way sign so i knew it was good. I met a old chap in a field at the earlier hours of the morning who said "I have done an ultra" I asked him to show me where I was but he didnt have his glasses so couldnt see that map. He said the name of the village that was coming up but it didnt relate to anything on the map, but he seemed to think i was on the right route. Hmmmm he must be looking for something that is in the race, why else would be be standing in a field in the middle of the night.

After taking yet another wrong turn in the village before the 100 mile check point I made it at last.  I sat down 19hour 51min happy with the time despite all the wrong turns but I needed to eat, I wasn't feeling sick but knew I needed to eat. the next check pint wasn't for another 20miles. the problem with stopping is you get cold. and I was wearing a vest. time to put on all the cloths I had. mark made me some porridge and I asked him to put on another. I never stop at checkpoints but this time I needed food and left at 20hour 29min but at least I had eaten. while I was there 2nd place Jim Rogers had caught and passed me taking over the lead and going on to in the race.
eating at checkpoints got a habit 20min next one.
121miles in West borough, ran past landdrover, I cant remember what was unusual about it that made me notice it. I ran up and past the church and stopped to look at my map. then kept on running. wait thats the landdrover theta i just past, deja vu? compass out! no i was heading the wrong direction. when i looked at the map i'd just turned 180degree and started running the wrong way.

Some of the mud and an electric fence for support

the next 40miles were a bit of a blur, strava says i took 21min at the 2nd last check point. There was lots of mud but then there had been on and off the whole race. Mud meant my shoes were good but around the 100mile mark my feet where starting to swell and I could feel the blisters. At one point I remember looking at the landscape and knowing exactly where I had to go next, I new the lay of the land perfectly. How could that be I had never been there before. I remember having the same feeling at the told of the last climb in UTMB and I remember discussing it with Annette. My brain was on a go slow it was falling behind what my eyes could see, I had seen it all before! Two seconds ago by brain just couldnt keep up. at least this time i knew why.

More mud on my legs

the other amusing thing I remember was a song that I had heard on the radio, I had no idea what the song was and never said I liked it. In my somewhat exasperated state the lyrics that were going rounds in my head for about 10hours were
"Needle in the head, gonna get it out of my head, needle in the head gonna wind up dead" probably not the most uplifting of things to be thinking about at the time. Eventually the words evolved in to more appropriate lyrics
"Mud on my legs, gonna get you out of my head, mud on my legs gonna wind up dead." now can you imagine that on repeat for hours on end. you might want a needle in the head.
the last checkpoint and the end was in sight. mark had said it was 10k but on my map it was more like 4miles, but these are a long 4 miles when your feel are tired. After 33 hour and 44 min and 152 miles, I had done 5 extra from all the wrong turns, But I crossed the line

Photos were taken and facebook posts where made. someone declared me on facebook at the 2nd Cockslamer when Mark said no, its doesnt count. wait what? it ... doesnt count? I explained he told me it did, I wouldnt have done the race if he hadnt. Mark changed his mind again and I was.

Mark messaged me a few days later to say people had been in touch asking why it did count and he was giving in to peer pressure. He said he made a mistake telling me that in the first place. My reply was it was his race and his rules and I will stick by whatever decision he makes. He said i would get a trophy for being only the 2nd person to finish all 3 event so I have that to look forward too. I am safe in the knowledge that I have done what are some of the hardest races in the UK and managed a 9 hour course record to win one of them, an hour record to win the next and in a race that put me out of my comfort zone managed second place. Will I do his new race the Chained, I would love to but its 3 weeks before Lakeland 100 so maybe not, It a long way to travel and maybe not get to run.

The winner Jim was a local so knew the route well, I think anyone that is not comfortable staring at a map either move to Lincoln, tag on to someone that knows the route or get there and recce it. If you want to laugh at all the places i went wrong click here

Thanks Mark and crew for another great experience, I wont be doing that race again :)







We escaped that side of England and headed for Wales, 3 days later we hiked up Snowdon.