Arrochar Alps - June 29th 2019

A plan to get back to fell running with the Duddon valley race at the beginning of June was disappointingly scuppered by a road closure in Langdale. A silver lining presented itself however a few weeks later when a weekend break with my two big sisters in Arrochar, coincided with the Arrochar Alps Hill race.

Dodging midges at the start

 On closer inspection the Arrochar Alps looked slightly daunting – 25km, about 2500m ascent, four Munros, and some very rough, pathless terrain. On the positive side it was a Scottish championship race this year, so it would be good turnout, so less likely to be all alone for hours on the fells. 

After glorious sunshine the previous day, the day of the race was mild and overcast. Visibility seemed generally good although the summit of Ben Vorlich was in cloud. The calm, overcast conditions meant that the midges were out in force at the start so it was a relief to get under way and escape them. The first 5km went out along a pleasant path along Glen Loin. I took it easily, still a little haunted by my epic in Buttermere last year, the last thing I wanted was a repeat of the nausea and exhaustion I experienced there, so better to be a little cautious than push it too hard and go cold. 

 

Start of ascent up Ben Vorlich

After the Glen Loin path, the route crossed over on to the Sloy dam road for a kilometre or so before turning right off the road and up the remaining 700m to the summit of Ben Vorlich. A slow, hands on knees, ascent into the cloud and on the ridge, and then along the ridge, past the trigpoint to the summit checkpoint. I crossed paths with a small group on the ridge that suddenly realised that they had not gone far enough, having only been to the trigpoint, and had to go back again to the checkpoint. From the summit it was back along the ridge a short way before the jaw-droppingly steep descent off the side straight down to the dam.

 

View from the Sloy dam

I was in a little group of three. In the cloud we ended up going a bit too far back along the ridge before descending. As we descended below the cloud, we saw the dam further over to the right and a group of runners heading down having taken the more direct line.

I crossed the dam and then started the relentless climb up to Ben Vane. It was hard going, steep and trackless. I was now in a loose group with three or four other runners, that I stayed with most of the rest of the race, one of whom turned out to be Westerlands club Ladies Captain, Jenn. After a slow ascent we eventually reached the summit of Ben Vane.

Ascent of Ben Ime

 

View from Beinn Ime

From Ben Vane it was more rough and trackless terrain over to Beinn Ime. I stayed with my group for the descent from Ben Vane but lost them on the ascent and took a poor line too far to the south. I eventually spotted them and managed to catch them again before the summit. There were rumblings of thunder, which I was a little uneasy about, we were warned there was a low risk of a thunderstorm at the race briefing. Fortunately, it didn’t materialise but just before we reached the checkpoint, we were treated to a heavy hail shower.

View from Ben Narnain

From Beinn Ime there was a path again, and a good, runnable descent, followed by the final ascent up to Ben Narnain. At the checkpoint I was in position 100, so I knew there were a still a few behind me. I followed the path down through the crags. It was a long descent, tricky and scrambly at the top, steep and muddy through the forest at the bottom.Eventually I reached the forest track for the last couple of kilometres to the finish. As I ran along the track, Jenn appeared suddenly appeared out of the forest, having taken the ‘racing line’ from the summit of Ben Narnain – the advantages of being local! I couldn’t catch her so I crossed the finish line in 101^st place.

It was a slow time – 5h 46m – and 101^st of 118 finishers (136 starters), but I was satisfied enough. No nausea, no exhaustion, and eating and drinking regularly. It was a good, tough race and thanks go to Westerlands for arranging it.