Well done to the 85 ultra finishers who rolled in the magnificent setting of the Glengyle courtyard on Saturday afternoon. Times for the slightly revised route were longer than anticipated with everyone claiming the route had been extremely tough.
Starting at 8.00 a.m. in thick mist at Tayinloan, the climb through the wind farm sorted out a few of the runners and many found the humidity, despite the cool air, energy sapping. As someone said, “When we were in the trees, it was as though all the previous runners had used up all the oxygen!”
As far as the race went, spectators were excited to see Kevin Craig and Stuart Miller renew last year’s rivalry, both of them reaching Carradale in under 2 hours. Craig’s 4 minute lead had reduced to 1 by the Lussa checkpoint with the middle third, proving particularly energy sapping, but neither could do anything to stop Daniel Bond from cruising past after a perfectly paced race to finish in 05:14:19.
First lady, Nicola Duncan, also paced her race well to finish in 4th place overall in an impressive 05:23:46. Starting strongly Nicola gradually extended her lead over Niamh Cooper and Marlene Baillie who finished 8th and 11th overall, Marlene also being first lady over 50.
First across the line, however was Stuart Oates of relay favourites Frigate Bound in 05:12:53. A solid first leg from Colin Macfarlane and a strong second leg from Tom Carbro set up Stuart for the glory leg. Stuart made straight for the massage table as he was heading off to run the Leeds marathon on Sunday.
The regulars faced strong competition this year from The McMillan A’s, Kirsty, Duncan and Archie, who were just 5 minutes behind and Sunshine on Leith a further 6 minutes back, after their first leg runner, Esther Weil, had taken an initial lead.
Courtesy of Keep It Simple Timing,
Full solo results and splits are here
Full relay results and splits are here.
Kenny Craig’s photographs are here
The Central Organising team would like to thank our brilliant sponsors, Kilkerran for prizes, miniatures and the fantastic finish area, SSE for drop bag transport and management, prizes, financial help and marshalling, Kintyre Gin for prizes, route maintenance and signage, Fyne Ales for prizes, East Kintyre Community Fund for financial support and West Kintyre Windfarm Trust for financial support. Also huge thanks to over 50 volunteers who helped behind the scenes and on the day, including Oban Mountain Rescue who enjoyed a quiet time in Kintyre while their colleagues were on a more serious call-out.
Profits from the race are used to maintain the Kintyre Way.
We look forward to seeing you again on the 11th of May 2024, when we will be running the northern third from Tayinloan to Tarbert.