Glen Clova Xtreme Duathlon 2014
The weekend had finally arrived. Glen Clova is a beautiful and magical place. If you haven't visited please take a weekend and enjoy a beautiful area that isn't nearly as popular as it should be.
Anyway back to the event itself. I had arrived on the Friday with the aim of spending the weekend (more of that later) on the Friday there was a lot of relatively low lying fog. The event organisers Tayside Mountain Rescue (TMR) organised free camping in the field opposite the the Glen Clova Hotel and after work I set out to Glen Clova, pitched my tent and did what any highly trained athlete would do and went into the bar for a pint and something to eat.
A couple of hours later I happened upon Jurgen and her pals. Jurgen had been the one who had put me onto this event in the first place and her and her friends welcomed me into there group for a few beers and some fun chat. Perhaps not the finest of pre-race routines in the world but we were camping, it's Scotland and I'm not exactly a 'honed' athlete.
After heading to bed and getting a mixed nights sleep, I woke to realise two things, 1. If ever deciding between a self inflating mat and a a good old fashioned roll mat. Go with the good old fashioned roll mat. If it can break it will break. I've yet to see a roll mat 'deflate' 2. Despite number 1. Camping is fun, it just makes things feel like a bit more of an adventure.
Anyway, race day was upon us and I woke to find that the sun had come out and Glen Clova hotel had put on a wonderful set of breakfast rolls. Filled with a Lorne roll that contained at least three well fed pigs I relaxed in the baking sun for an hour before getting into zone- putting shorts and a T shirt on. Being my first ever Mountain race event I was a little cautious in the bag I used for the run and made sure I had full water proofs and some food in my bag for transition.
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| The Duathlon Route |
The first leg of the Duathlon was a 16.7 miles Cycle with 580m ascent (sorry for mixing imperial and metric, it's just the may my brain works) around the base of the glen.We were to start in waves of 20. As my group started it soon became clear that I am a slow cyclist. I was bursting a gut to try and stay with people but even then I was quickly 'dropped' by the proper cyclists despite covering the first two miles in 6 minutes 38 seconds. After that I decided to be sensible and just stick to my pace and see how i go making sure not to trash my legs too much for the hike section, this is supposed to be fun isn't it. During the first half of the cycle I chatted to a few people and everyone seemed to be enjoying it. After about 4-5 miles the faster people from the later groups swooshed past me. At 6.3 miles we turned around to head back to the Hotel and I realised why I was going at such a high pace. The tail wind that had been helping was now well and truly in my face.Still after 16.7 miles I reached Glen Doll car park where the transition was set up.
From here we had an 8.7 mile 'hike' with 1000m of ascent following the well known walking route that takes in the Munro's Mayer and Dreish. Having walked the route a couple of times I was looking forward to this as it's simply beautiful with some bits you can run and some bits you walk due to the gradient (the fittest must have run both bits).
The first section is a gentle gradient along very runnable tracks if you don't have jelly legs. I managed something that looked like a run but much slower. As you get nearer Corrie fee it gets a little steeper and I started to do a quick walk and eat some food. This seemed to work well as those in front of me seemed to stay the same distance ahead. As you get into Corrie fee you are faced with a beautiful amphitheatre that can only really be seen to be appreciated. The section through this towards the waterfall is great fun and was where I remembered I had my camera. Strangely I used my camera more when I needed a breather ;)
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| The Summit of Mayer |
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| Yep, I'm shattered |
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| From dreish to the Kilbo path |
The Kilbo path was the part I was least looking forward to as it's a very well worn path that has eroded into being split on two thin levels and reduced me to a tentative scutter.
Once into the Forrest the route is really fun but my legs were getting tired and I was starting to get sore knees from all the descent.
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| action shot |
As the above photo shows the finish area had a really relaxed atmosphere. The event itself was really well organised. TMR organise it all and all the money goes directly towards them which I really like. Speaking to the director the night before I found out that the guy giving out the medals was actually saved by Tayside Mountain Rescue which was a really nice touch. As part of the 'goodie bag' you got a brilliant mug, medal, free soup, free camping and free after party entertainment. All that for £45 which all goes towards helping volunteers help people who end up in trouble while in the hills. Brilliant!
After the party and a few hours relaxing in the sun with a drink I started to stiffen up and the thought of camping and waking up after camping having just completed this event made me wince. I ended up heading back to Dundee and more importantly my bed, sadly missing out on the entertainment and more of Jurgen and her pals company.
All in, this was a great day and a great event. Thinking about it I really want to do more running like this. Having just had a holiday in Chamonix and read Running Free: A Journey Back to Nature I think it's not important to 'run' a route. The important think is to do the route and work up to running it later. It's okay to walk a steep hill then run the flat while trying to get stronger.
Many thanks to everyone that helped out in the event and all the sponsors etc that helped TMR. It was great fun and I'll definitely to it again next year. Roll on 3 hours 30mins?
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