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Dunoon Hill Runners club member, Michael Tweedley, has won the Kintyre Way Ultramarathon in a blistering time of 4:52:17. Conditions were sunny and warm for the race, held on 6 May, which covers a distance of 35.5 miles from Tayinloan to Campbeltown. Michael is no stranger to local podiums, having won the inaugural Dunoon 55K Ultramarathon last year. The Kintyre route was also successfully completed by fellow club runners, Elaine Graham and Michelle Cameron.

Michael Tweedley being interviewed by BBC

Michael Tweedley on the podum

Presenter Dougie Vipond was filming for the BBC’s Adventure Show and took the opportunity to meet the Dunoon Hill Runners, interviewing Michael at the finish.

The 2017 race season has well and truly commenced for the club, which has been represented at several other prestigious events across the country. This included the 53 mile Highland Fling Ultramarathon through Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, held on 29 April. The five individual club runners who completed this formidable race were returnees Ian Marshall, Ricky Reid and Lisa Marshall, all of whom set personal bests, as well as first timers, Richie Longster and Sabrina Collins Brolly. This was Sabrina’s longest ever distance, having completed her first ultra last October, the Dunoon 55K Ultramarathon. In addition, the female relay team, consisting of Angela Wilson, Lucie Shaw, Sara Cudahy and Kat Ullrich, performed very well, reaching the end in an excellent time.

Sabrina Collins Brolly at the Highland Fling finish

That same weekend, Annie Lloyd Evans completed the Fellsman for her fourth time. This consists of a high level traverse covering more than 60 miles over very hard rugged moorland in the Yorkshire Dales. The route has a total elevation gain of over 11,000 feet and requires good navigational skills.

Nearer to home, Morven Walsh and Jean Maclennan finished strongly in the 31 mile Glen Lyon Ultra on 6 May – an achievement made all the more challenging by the warmer temperatures that day.

Michael Tweedley, Grant Mackellar and Bryan Fitzpatrick all produced fast results in the short but tough Beinn Dubhh hill race at Luss on 26 April, with Michael coming in seventh. And David Walsh saw success at the Stuc a’Chroin long hill race on 6 May, a gruelling 22 km with 1500 metres of climbing, described as one of the most arduous races in Britain. Bryan Fitzpatrick and David Walsh then went on to set personal bests in the Ben Lomond hill race on 13 May, with Bryan taking over 30 minutes off of his previous time.

Race season continues apace and Dunoon Hill Runners will be found running up Goat Fell and Ben Nevis, among many other hills, as well as taking on the 95 mile West Highland Way race in the coming weeks.

DHR Vertical KM competitors

The penultimate race in the Dunoon Hill Runners’ 2016-17 league series of 6 races took place on Saturday 4 February 2017. This was the Vertical KM – which is as the title suggests, a brutal kilometre of relentless climbing! It was held on a damp and misty morning, when hardy competitors
signed up for an all-out, lung-busting ascent of the hills above Loch Eck.

Ricky Reid takes the lead in the Vertical KM race

Competition was fierce, but the finishing order soon became apparent as the runners approached the upper reaches of the route. Continuing a string of league race successes this season, the first male finisher was Ricky Reid in a time of 7 minutes 11 seconds, closely followed by Grant Mackellar in
7:38 and Charlie Collins in 7:53. The first female was Lucie Noakes, who has also had a very successful season, in 8:29. She was followed by Kat Sims in 8:39 and Morven Walsh in 9:55.

On Saturday 11 February, a 10-strong club contingent headed over to the Pentland hills to run the legendary Craigdon Carnethy 5 hill race, organised by the Carnethy Hill Running Club. This race is renowned for its brutal conditions and this year was no exception, with officials advising that it was the worst weather in the history of the race. Undaunted, the Dunoon Hill Runners set forth and, despite very high winds and searing wind chill, outstanding performances were achieved. The women’s team came in fourth overall, with results led by Sara Cudahy whose first appearance at this race produced a highly impressive time of 01:19:12. The men’s team came in twelfth overall,  with results led by Grant Mackellar in an incredible 1:03:43. Several personal bests were accomplished and special mention must go to Bryan Fitzpatrick, who took almost 20 minutes off of his 2016 finish time, coming in at 1:18:07.

DHR 2017 Carnethy 5 Hill Race competitors

The final race of the Dunoon Hill Runners league series was the Handicap race, held on Saturday 18 February 2017 (info to follow).

Anyone wishing to join the Dunoon Hill Runners is invited to complete a membership form and bring it along to a training session, or pass to a committee member.

by Richie Longster

LtoR: Kevin Nairn, David Wilson, Richie Longster, Ricky Reid

In a moment of madness I entered the West Highland Way Foot Race, which consists of 96 miles of hill and trail. I had never run anywhere near 96 miles throughout my training and on 18 June 2016, the day of the race, I was filled with doubt that my legs would carry me through the next 2 sunrises. My attempts to convince my fellow comrades Ricky Reid, David Wilson and Kevin Nairn that I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to do this fell completely on deaf ears!

As the start bell rang at 1 am, and with the tremendous support of family and friends, all 201 runners from all around the world excitedly set off into the night towards the first stop, Balmaha. At this point I was thinking, “It’s OK, Richie, you can pull out of this any time you like”. It wasn’t long before I watched the sun rise over the picturesque Conich Hill and I descended into Balmaha. I was feeling good but remained mindful that I had the same distance to do another 3 times over and the route was only going to get tougher.

Pressing on to Rowardennan, the terrain and miles weren’t the only battle, the midges became intolerable. There were clouds of them and not even the elite racers could out-run them! It was a tough section as the pesky midges remained an unwelcome distraction all the way to Inversnaid.

Beinn Ghlas was a welcome sight and this is where I was met by my incredible support crew including my wife, support runners and our amazing local physio Elaine Graham of Cowal Physiotherapy, who strapped up my knees as they were beginning to ache. After a bit of grub, I hit the trail once again.

51 miles had passed, another 45 to go, and I met up with my first support runner, Linda Good ,who helped me push on to Bridge of Orchy to meet Lisa Marshall, my second support runner, who kept my spirits up with her good banter.  By this point I had developed the mother of all shin splints and I knew from here on in there would be little running. Having made good progress until then, I could theoretically walk to Fort William within the required timescales but I knew my success would depend on a positive mindset. On arrival at Glen Coe Ski Centre, 71 miles in, I was greeted with a much longed for fish supper, and the queen of pain relief, Elaine, worked her magic on me again!

Ian Marshall and Richie Longster

Night was creeping in and I was down to my last section, only a marathon distance to go! I knew if there was ever a man who would get me through this next section it would be Ian Marshall who was my third support runner. My calculations were indicating that, at my current pace, it would be 9 hard hours incorporating the infamous Devil’s Staircase and the climb out of Kinlochleven before I passed that finish line. It was a daunting prospect because by now every step was painful and slow.

Through the night, going over the Devils Staircase and down into Kinlochleven tested all my mental and physical strength and, with the sun rising for the second time, I had 14 miles remaining. From here on in my memory is vague, mostly due to lack of sleep but what I do remember is that I spent my time concentrating on simply putting one foot in front of the other.

The last few miles were on tarmac. It was relentless but the extreme exhaustion I felt was soon replaced with euphoria as I was met by the cheers and support of Dunoon Hill Runners as I crossed the finish line in Fort William at 7am.

Would I do it again? Absolutely! But not next year!