The 2007 Adventure Race World Championship
Across the Water and Over the Hills
Rob Howard / 26.05.2007
With such good weather on arrival on Rum, no one was too worried about getting there a bit late, though perhaps they didn’t realise quite how lucky they were to be there. Rum was known as the ‘Forbidden island’ for decades and is still visited only by a lucky few. During the course briefing Gary Tompsett asked who had been there before, and only a handful of arms were raised. “There is no home advantage here,� he said. For many, many years the island was off-limits as it was privately owned by the Bullough family who turned it into an extravagant Edwardian outpost, building Kinloch Castle on the shore of Loch Scresort in 1897. George Bullough paid workers an extra shilling if they wore kilts … and smokers were paid extra as they helped keep the midges off!
In 1957 the island was purchased as a National Nature Reserve and is home to some internationally important flora and fauna, including White Tailed Sea Eagles. It sill has tightly controlled access rights and is not easy to reach, nor does the terrain lend itself to day-trippers as the mountains are exceptionally steep and out of bounds to all but experienced mountaineers … and adventure racers.
After the frantic unloading of the kayaks there was a sense of excitement and everyone was purposefully going about their tasks, collecting their kit boxes and pulling on wetsuits and flippers ready for the swim across Loch Scresort which began the race. The start banner was set up in front of the castle and they had to run from there for a kilometre around the shore to the start of the swim.
It was an unusual start, with the teams all carrying surf boards and flippers, and dressed in rubber. Most had hoods up and a couple had opted for full dry suits, so it was a sweaty run along the shore! Canadian photographer Chris Owen Halper was amazed to see teams running around puddles on the way to the swim!See All Event Posts
