The 2007 Adventure Race World Championship

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A Highland March

Gary Vallance / 25.05.2007

At four thirty this afternoon, teams throughout the Nevis Centre were interrupted in their map preparations with a reminder of the rapidly accelerating timetable. The distinctive teal jackets of the organisation staff were instantly everywhere, as they poured out from behind the scenes to rally the troops for the official procession and opening ceremony in Fort William.

By five o’clock, the location had moved to the grassy square outside the Nevis Sport outdoor training centre in the town centre. Nearly two hundred racers amassed before the Donald Cameron monument, and beneath a cloudy sky broken with optimistic blue, race masterminds Phil Humphreys and Gary Tompsett looked on like proud parents.

With the venue filling rapidly with racers and onlookers, their escort through the town appeared. Twenty young pipers and drummers of the Lochaber High School Pipe Band silently headed to front of the line, formed into a column, and piped the forty nine teams to attention.

Flying the flag

As they filed onto the high street shoppers and commuters stopped in their tracks to let them pass. Resplendent in the bright colours of their team jackets and hats, but unified by the green race vests they strode on, proudly bearing their national flags high on trekking poles.

The pipe band led the procession into Cameron Square, where the racers were addressed in time honoured tradition by John O’Kane of the Highland Council, who thanked them for their attendance, and wished them all a safe return by next weekend. It’s clear that the Wilderness ARC event, the host of this year’s AR World Championships, has secured a loyal following amongst the local people, and was described as the key event in the promotion of the outdoor opportunities this part of the world has to offer.
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