The 2007 Adventure Race World Championship
What's in a Name?
Rob Howard / 21.05.2007
It's a certainty that during the race registration and briefings some unfortunate racers, maybe even the odd visiting journalist, will refer to England or English ... when they should be saying Scotland or Scottish. And judging by email correspondence a few volunteers already think the race venue is Alba as a result of seeing the race logo ... when in fact Alba is the Gaelic name for Scotland. (All of the signage on the race will be in both English and Gaelic.)The longer they stay the more teams will encounter Gaelic names and terms, and Scottish vernacular, and it could be important. It's the language of the land and the places of the country they are racing through and the terrain, weather and locations will all be named and described by it. And besides, they may have to stop and ask the way!
Teams will be paddling sea and inland lochs, climbing Bens (hills) and jumping burns (small streams). They may encounter stalkers ... who are not AR obsessed fans following these world class teams around ... but deer stalkers who work in game management and hunting, which is one of the Highland's major revenue earners. They are unlikely to meet the landowner (Laird), but may come across the Factor (estate manager).
Then there is the weather. With such a changeable climate there are probably hundreds of Scottish words for different types of weather but most likely they will encounter a haar (sea mist)or some Dreich conditions.
This onomatopoeic word means wet and dismal weather not drenching rain or stormy, but the kind of day when you are not sure if you are in low cloud or ground mist, or which is damper, the bog underfoot or the moisture in the air. If they are unlucky then they may get caught in a pish-oot (a downpour).See All Event Posts
