Rat Race City to Summit
Race Down Ben Nevis for Rat Race City to Summit Title
Rob Howard / 03.06.2014
After the inaugural Rat Race City to Summit last year the brave competitors who took on the Edinburgh to Ben Nevis triathlon gave it universal acclaim as one of the hardest ironman races in the world.
Due to the cold winter they’d only had a shortened swim however – this year’s brave entrants got to complete the full 2.4 miles in the waters of the Firth of Forth and covered the whole distance. Not surprisingly they agreed – it’s one of the toughest tri’s on the planet.
The setting for the swim is stunning – the open sea between the Forth Road and Rail bridges, with swimmers setting off from the pier at South Queensferry on the outskirts of Scotland’s capital. This year the water temperature was around 11C, still too cold for a sanctioned triathlon ... but not for this one!
The swimmers set off at 06.00 on a brilliant sunny Saturday morning, angling towards the road bridge and coping with the ebb tide as best they could. The course was 2 laps, which gave those who were struggling the opportunity to pull out early, and a few did take this option. One swimmer thought better of the idea straight away and was brought back to shore promptly by the safety crew.
Most of the swimmers were in the Expert category, aiming to complete the course in one long day, but there were also some ‘Challengers’ who would be camping out overnight after the ride, and finishing with the run up and down Ben Nevis on Sunday.
First out of the water, and the only swimmer under 1 hour was Jon Thorp of Team ISKLAR Elite, a 37 year old Norwegian who has completed many Ironman’s and finished 7th in Norseman in the past. His experience and swimming ability opened up a strong lead, and last year’s winner Tom Phillips (City of Lancaster Triathlon) was over 22 minutes slower.
Transition was on the waterfront in the historic village of South Queensferry, and before all the swimmers were back in there was a second start, this time on bike for the Duathlon competitors (those not swimming).
The 112 mile bike ride starts with the crossing of the Forth Road Bridge and took the competitors coast to coast across Scotland, passing Gleneagles and finishing with the crossing of the wild open spaces of Rannoch Moor and a dramatic and fast descent down through Glencoe. The ride/run transition was in Ballachulish, just past Glencoe village.
Thorp was in no mood to relinquish his lead and lead all the way, but Phillips was catching him and was just under 14 minutes behind setting off on the run, his best discipline. The run is the real sting in the tail of this race, 27 miles along the West Highland Way to the foot of Ben Nevis, and then up and down Britain’s highest mountain before the finish. Phillips knew what to expect but it was new territory for Thorp, and almost certainly harder than any run stage he’d ever completed at an ironman. The race was still on.
Much of the route is off-road, Ben Nevis is only half the ascent, and the final run down the stepped and stony tourist paths on The Ben is as painful as he steep climb. Thorp didn’t give much ground on the climb, leading at the top by 11 minutes. He wasn’t stopping to admire the amazing views on such a stunning day, but most those who came later took in the sweeping panorama of the Highlands.
However, it was on the descent the race was to be decided and Thorp was struggling for rhythm and to keep his momentum ... and he knew Phillips was gaining – quickly.
When he ran in to finish by the Ben Nevis Visitor Centre he was a very relieved and happy winner, and barely had time to catch a breath before Phillips crossed the line just 1 minute 51 seconds later. The defending champion had made an amazing effort to close the gap on the descent, but the Norwegian held on to become the first international winner of City to Summit in 12 hours 37 minutes 27 seconds. He was not the only visitor in the top positions either. Nikiforos Fokas of Greece was 5th, and there were finishers from France and Holland as well.
The top female Expert Triathlon finisher was Kate Pearson, in 34th place overall and a time of 16.05.51 and 92 competitors managed to complete the full triathlon in a day with the last finisher coming down of Ben Nevis close to 3am in the morning.
On day 2 it was time for the remaining Duathlon competitors and Challenger triathletes to take on the Ben Nevis run, and they had a cooler day for it, with a few refreshing showers. Eleven more competitors managed to complete the Triathlon, lead by Peter Bruce who had an overall time of 14.27.48.
In the Challenger Duathlon race the overnight leader was Duncan Borthwick, but Claire Gordon was in second place and the experienced fell runner raced away on the final stage to take the overall win with a time of 11.38.34 with Borthwick taking second place.
You can find all the details of the City to Summit and full results on the event website at http://www.ratracecitytosummit.com/
Race photos by RandR Photos – www.randrphotos.co.uk
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