Ultra Great Britain Race Across Scotland
Race Across Scotland is a Coast to Coast Ultra-Marathon following the Beautiful ‘Southern Upland Way’ across Scotland.
An International field of runners take on this breathtaking Scottish National trail taking them from the beautiful coastline of Portpatrick, over the mountains, along the valleys, through the beautiful forests of the Southern Uplands and along trails steeped in history, finally finishing in Cockburnspath. Participants are allowed 100 hours to complete this ‘landmark’ single stage race. Although the trail is a distance of 215 miles the race route is actually 220 miles allowing access to a number of indoor checkpoints along the route. The elevation covered is more than the climb of Everest.
Runners are allowed a support crew from mile 45 however access is very limited meaning crews can only get to official checkpoints, some of which are 28 miles apart and take in excess of 10 hours. The ability to have a support crew with extra footwear at the checkpoints would prove to be a real race saver for most runners. Those without a crew are allowed drop bags along the route.
The route is marked as a national trail but self navigation is required, which is difficult and challenging at times, particularly during the night and in times of bad weather (which on this year’s event there was a lot). There are numerous cut offs along the route, which on paper look generous but in fact do not allow any room for error and once near the cut offs they reduce a runners time to rest at each CP, which ultimately makes continuing much more difficult.
The top 3 Male and Top 3 Female Finishers earn an outstanding two-tone ‘Ultra Great Britain’ Buckle. The top 25 Finishers earn Gold, 26-50 Placed Finishers earn Silver. And 51+ Finishers earn the beautiful Bronze Buckle.
Two Ripon Runners were on the start line on Saturday for the race; Claire Baker and Lena Conlin. The weather on Saturday morning at 6am was good although this was short lived and as the race progressed conditions deteriorated considerably. The terrain is also particularly challenging as the first two thirds of the race are predominantly bog. The last third is dryer but consists of very rocky, sharp, hard, uneven tracks which are a real test for feet that have already been challenged on the route. A very large number of DNFs were down to the damage caused to runners feet and foot care would make or break your race. 75 runners were on the start line but only 28 runners reached Portpatrick, giving a DNF rate of 63%.
Claire battled the course for 82 hours 17 minutes to finish 2nd lady and 6th overall, beating the existing ladies course record by more than 6 hours. 1st lady was a Scottish National athletics represented runner and had run the route before. This was by far the hardest event Claire had ever taken part in and there were many very low moments to battle through during the race and numerous difficulties to overcome. There was also a bit of crying at times but the highs were good too and the elation of crossing the finish line is likely to never be repeated.
Lena battled the course but the terrain caused severe blisters on her insteps, which ultimately slowed her pace. Although the CP staff were all amazing this was much harder to rectify without a support crew with addition kit at the checkpoints. Also working only from drop bags the CPs were cold to try and sleep at if all the sleeping bags were in use. Lena reached 154 miles on the tracker and then due to fatigue took a wrong turn. Tiredness took over and Lena fell asleep at the roadside only to be phoned by the crew from CP9 to be told the CP had closed and she had missed the cut off and would not be allowed to continue. An outstanding effort and on a course that you had to be on to appreciate how hard it was. There are few runners that would even get this far (as the statistics showed).
This race challenged and pushed every runner on the start line to their limits many times over the 100 hours and it is hard to put down on paper the magnitude of these challenges. The race certainly isn’t for everyone but credit is due to those runners that stand on the start line, irrespective of whether they cross the finish in Portpatrick or not. Both Claire and Lena will have given everything they had out there.
If you’re looking for a hard challenge that at times feel impossible then this is the race for you but underestimate it at your own peril!