ITERA

The Loch Ness Paddle turns into a Monster stage on day 2 at ITERA

Rob Howard / 11.08.2025

Moving into the second day of ITERA the teams arrived at Loch Ness for a stage called Monster Hunting, but it turned into a Monster Stage, and one which few teams completed in full.

After completing the long, overnight bike stage they arrived at Abriachan Village Hall, many still with smiles on their faces from riding the Abriachan Forest bike trails.  Teams rode the full blue route, weaving through the heather on the flowing singletrack.  The route book advised everyone to do this stage, just for fun!

From Abriachan there was a short downhill walk to the Clansman Hotel , where there was a checkpoint on the Nessie statue which is a magnet for the tourists stopping by the coachload. Teams then used the foot tunnel under the dangerous A82 to get to the kayaks and launch near the pleasure boat jetty.

The full route on Loch Ness included another 3 checkpoints, North and South and on both shores, and this was always going to be a demanding paddle.  The weather and water conditions made it too hard for many and gruelling for everyone.  The high winds which have plagued the race continue and paddling on Britain’s biggest inland body of water was unpleasant, with strong head winds and continuous choppy waves.

One checkpoint was at Uruquart Castle, the major tourist attraction in the area, and it was set on a shingle beach below the castle walls.  When Team Rachel’s Irish Adventures arrived , after battling into the wind, they commented, “This is going to be too hard for some teams and I hope it is shortened, it’s brutal and at times you are hardly moving.”  They did complete the stage in full, as did race leaders Leaping Fish and second place Endurancelife, plus Dutch Direction, but even for the leaders the stage took far longer than predicted.

The race organisers did take out two checkpoints and will make timing adjustments to teams who had already completed them.  They also advised all teams to be off of the water by nightfall and stopped any teams from starting the paddle after 7pm.  (Teams who up to then were racing on the full course and who missed the two removed checkpoints will still be considered full course.)

Team Bonaly racers did take a direct route, but could not make progress and pulled out of the stage, dragging the kayaks up a scree slope on the shore.  “It was just constant chop, chop, chop,” they said, “and we were going nowhere, just holding our position.  If we’d capsized we would not have been able to get back into the boats and we’d just had enough, it was too much.”  The team and kayaks were fetched by one of the race vehicles and taken to transition 5, where they carried on and set off for the canyon stage.

By evening time on day 2 the leading teams were setting off for the ‘Foyers Trouser Filler’ – a big canyon descent from the Foyers Waterfall back down to the shore of Loch Ness. After a steep walk up through the forest teams arrived at the waterfall viewpoint, stepped over the barriers and slid down a zip line over the dark pool at the foot of the waterfall.  Once they reached the falls it was time to ‘pull the cord’, release and drop into the turbulent waters below!  It was a stylish way to enter the canyon. 

Ninety minutes was allowed for the descent, which included a jump, another roped descent, lots of scrambling and some swimming.  After the endurance epic on Loch Ness the stage put the smile back on racer’s faces and it continues through the night.  The drop beside the thunderous waterfall in the dark will require some nerve and be an experience racers will remember!  Teams must start this special stage before  01.30.

The stage 7 ride into the Monadhliath mountains takes teams across to Strathspey by a little known route and via the Eagle of Glendoe statue.  This is a huge eagle sculpture, set in remote and rarely visited hills and teams will reach it after a big climb.  But then comes the fastest descent of the race down fast wind farm tracks and the route book advises keeping speeds under 25km/hour.

The leaders are on this 7 hour stage through the second night of the race, and Team Leaping Fish are currently maintaining the advantage they gained over Endurancelife on the Loch Ness paddle. Rachel’s Irish Adventures are holding third place.