ITERA

ITERA starts in the Western Highlands but the Summits are Closed

Rob Howard / 10.08.2025

ITERA 2025 began in the small coastal village of Shieldaig in the Northwest Highlands and teams arrived there by coach just before the midday start.  Their journey was a scenic one on which the roads changed from fast two lane, to single lane, to single track, and as the road became smaller the surrounding mountains grew bigger.  By the time they arrived in the Torridon area they were surrounded by giant, sheer sided peaks on all sides. 

After 2.5 hours they were let out on the road above the pretty, coastal strip village of Shieldaig, and walked down the ocean facing main street of whitewashed cottages and buildings to reach the start line, which set up on the fishing pier.  The village looks out over an inlet of Loch Torridon, which is a sheltered sea loch. There are white tailed eagles nesting on an island just off the coast and seals and dolphins were seen by teams once they got onto the water.

Before they could start paddling there was a 5km coastal run to be completed along a rocky peninsula just north of the town and this allowed views out across the loch in all directions.  Race Director Paul McGreal updated team captains before the start and he had bad news.  With 60 mph winds and bad weather predicted overnight, a safety call had been made to take the summit checkpoints out of the first trek.  Teams would still start and finish at the same places, but taking a lower level route.  It was a disappointing way to start the race, but a necessary decision. 

McGreal gave the start countdown at 12.00 and the racers set off back along the main street for the opening coastal run.  This took them out onto a rocky headland, with sweeping views out over the loch in every direction.  It was an out and back route and they finished by running onto the shingle beach beside the pier, from where they started the kayak stage.  This began by passing ‘eagle island’ but there was no sign of the birds.

The paddle stage had checkpoints set on different shores and arms of the loch, but all of the checkpoints were optional, so it was possible to miss a couple and complete a shorter route, which some teams did.  Conditions were fair, with no rain, but inevitably there were sections with strong and gusting headwinds where teams struggled to move forwards.  At least one team, Bonaly Racers, were capsized in a squall.

After coming ashore at the first checkpoint teams found they had to cross a fast flowing river to reach the point, and most linked arms to force a way across.  They also had a short portage across the headland they had already run to and at the end of the stage came ashore on a shallow sandbank and had to jump out and pull the boats ashore for some distance.   The leading teams all came in close together, and moved quickly to get ashore and up to the transition.  This was a half mile uphill walk to the community centre above the town, and an extra challenge carrying their kayak gear.  (The boats were put on a trailer on the shore.)

Next came the Torridon Giants trek, and though the route was lower level it was still a big mountain trek over wet and rocky terrain in bad weather.  By late evening the rain had set in, the wind was rising and the mountains were shrouded in mist.  Few teams would now regret the missed opportunity to reach the summits, they had enough of a challenge to cope with to reach the next transition area in Kinlochewe.

The first to arrive at the village hall was Team Endurancelife, who have opened up an early lead at the end of day one.   This team is a mix of two very experienced expedition racers (Nathalie Taylor and Ian Furlong), and two racers who made a mark at ITERA Lite in Wales last year.  Andrew Higgins and Mark Clarkson won the pairs category at that race comfortably and were up with the teams of 4 which included many elite international racers.  Now the.y are leading at an early stage of this ITERA expedition race.

During the night teams will complete the Torridon trek and ride through the night and into the morning to reach Loch Ness.  The forecast remains stormy into tomorrow so it will be a cold and wet night on their bikes