So I did a thing. The ‘thing’ was The Salomon Ring of Steall Skyrace. I wasn’t totally sure what a “Skyrace” was, but it sounded cool. You can find the website here.
The Salomon Ring of Steall Skyrace follows in the tradition of skyrunning, which consists of uncompromising mountain running, such as scrambling along mountain ridges with steep ascents, traverses and descents on technical and challenging terrain. This skyrunning race route incorporates two lofty ridges: the Devil’s Ridge, which provides a thrilling and airy traverse with Glen Nevis visible ahead and has a yawning drop far below, and Ben Nevis beyond and towering above.
The race route is set within the Mamores, which are an east – west series of majestic Munros, with four to summit. The route even takes in the Steall waterfall as seen in the Harry Potter movies! The scenery is incredibly beautiful if you can avoid the cloud, fog, and rain which, even in late September, I mostly managed to do.
The race itself forms part of the Gold Trail World Series and is attended by some of the best athletes in the world, and means there’s even some good t-shirts up for grabs.
The weekend got off to an auspicious start, with the drive from Glasgow Airport to the race village of Kinlochleven being through some very Scottishweather. On arrival the reports of people being lifted off the mountain by mountain rescue were going round like wild fire. The suggestion that the route may be switched to the ‘bad weather’ course was met with muted curses. Anyway, the Celtic Gods blessed us with a 12 hour dry window, and all was well.
I sorted my mandatory race kit, donned my secret weapon… fingered socks… little toe hugs for when it all gets a bit bleak, registered, and made my way into the start pen.
9am arrived and, like the start of any decent event, the Bagpiper piped up. And that was that… off into the hills. All the way up to the first checkpoint there were crowds of people ringing cowbells, and the encouraging shouts of “Allez Allez!” carried through the mist, which felt a lot like genuine European mountain running. Once at the first checkpoint on the ridge between Am Bodach and Sgurr an lubhair, we headed north along the Devil’s Ridge – a knife edge ridge that offers a bit of exposure, and the first chance to realise that you’d be using your hands as well as your feet.
As I approached the first Munro top, Sgurr a’ Mhaim, the clouds cleared to reveal some spectacular views. Looking down I could see for the first time how far there was to drop back down to the valley bottom in Glen Nevis. The descent is 1000m in about 1km, which is great for a good leg wobble, and meant more water ended up on the floor at the feed station than in my bottle.
The next couple of km went along the valley to the river crossing before heading back up the next Munro. This was the low point. It also happened to be the lowest point of the race. A smidge over halfway along, and a big smidge under half the climbing done. Fun times. With freshly soaked trainers from the river crossing, so began the gruelling zigzag path that took us up to the second Munro, An Gearanach, and on to the next ridge line. After the little scramble along this ridge I arrived at Munro number 3, Stob Corie a’ Chairn.
The check points slowly ticked off, a
nd I ambled along following the little orange way marker flags… every one a blessing that I still wasn’t lost. Eventually I made my way up to the last summit. Arriving at the top, to be greeted by the ever cheerful race marshall, reminding me that its now all downhill from there. I like a dad joke as much as the next guy, but…
Now came the bit that before the race I had decided was going to be a quick 5km dash back to the start. In hind sight, it was indeed 5km…however “quick” and “dash” are words I’ll leave for the pros.
I “sprint” for the line, go for a Rob Friend head duck…. Only to remember the timing chip is on my ass. Official time 6hrs 1 second… F@*k!
All in all, a pretty spectacular, well run event… and I strongly recommend adding a Walrus Skyrun to the calendar. I’ll even remember the Walrus running tee next time.
538 runners started
497 finished.
(If anyone knows anyone that works for Babybell, I’ll happily receive sponsorship next time… they taste virtually identical when you taste them the second time around, and get me into a proper Alpine vibe.)
