There was only a small turnout of 12 runners for the third annual hill race at Loch Arkaig but we had enough excitement which would have covered 500 runners!!

The mens race in slightly overcast conditions was a very keenly fought contest between Peter Kenned, the flying machine that is Ken Rumgay, Spook and Richard Shaw who all posted improved times from the previous year. It was Peter who took the honours with Ken only one minute and 15 seconds behind. Spook was third after reaching the summit in second place but was overtaken on the descent.

Gordon and John came in just over the hour mark with Susan-Jane dominating the ladies and finishing in an excellent time of just under 68 minutes.

However, it was Jo and Lyndsay who gave us all a fright when, after reaching the summit together, decided to pioneer a new descent route which unfortunately took them into uncharted territory. As soon as their PW’s had passed we started to get concerned especially as Emma and Aileen who had seen them at the top finished without seeing them again.

I would like to thank on behalf of both girls all the following people who then got involved in the subsequent search:- all fellow competitors including Peter and Alan Bolton the local farmer for the use of his 4WD, Kevin D for covering such a huge area on his bike (without a single dab), Emma and Jonathon for co-ordinating everything and the mountain rescue for their quick response to the call out.

The saga ended with great relief all round when they were picked up on the road after making their own way off the hill at some distance from the finish!

See you next year (maybe).