Hebridean Challenge

Racing Round in Circles

Martin Stone/Rob Howard / 07.05.2002

The 2002 One.Tel Hebridean Challenge began with a massed start of kayaks racing from a white shell sand beach on the Isle of Eriskay to an equally stunning strand at Crannag on the Isle of Barra. The morning’s sea fog lifted to give bright, sunny conditions for the paddlers from 21 teams and the two brave soloists. They faced a slight headwind, but still beat the estimated time for the crossing, with Ian Tordoff of Team Wales leading the way in 1hour 5 minutes.

Ten minutes later a second start began on Barra for two members of each team who had already been ferried across – they faced a cycling and hill running course, and a tough course planning test. Although they knew that they had to visit the highest points of Barra and Vatersay (which are joined by a causeway), they didn’t get the last three controls until they were actually on the start line. A few frantic moments of map marking and planning ensued, before they raced off on bikes from the ferry terminal at Aird Mhor.

Some controls had to be visited by both team members, others by just one. The optimum route choice – for those who worked it out - involved cycling to different sides of the main block of hills then running over them in opposite directions and retrieving the other team member’s bike to cycle to the finish. (Barra has one, almost circular, coastal road round a mountainous core.)

The fastest team to complete this brain taxing and leg sapping challenge was Team Compeed/Maxim in 4 hours 17 minutes. The remaining three members of each team were meantime planning ahead for the rest of the week at the event centre in Daliborg community hall. This is on South Uist, the next main island on their northwards route, so for the start the teams were on 3 different islands! Tomorrow they will meet their paddlers as they kayak over from Barra for a swimming leg on Eriskay, before travelling the length of the Uists under their own steam.

The running repairs award of the day goes to Mark Wilson and Gareth Lewis-Jones of Cadbury Trebor Bassett, who only discovered a ripped tyre two hours before they sailed to Barra. A replacement arrived as they boarded the ferry and they changed the tyre on board while steaming to the start.