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Swim, run, bike, kayak – Same as usual?

Pyro / 03.07.2006

Monday’s race started off with a bang at 6:30am on the island of Barra, at the southern end of the Hebridean island chain. After the bleary-eyed racers dragged themselves from their beds, the first order of the day was a swim around the very scenic Kisimul castle, the ancestral seat of the clan MacNeill.

The numerous rubber-clad entities entered the water shivering, cursing and generally worrying, the Access Sport Hebridean Challenge started in true style. The baying hordes on the shore cheered on their nervous swimmers clockwise from the jetty at Castlebay, round the north side of the castle then back into the slipway by the Calmac terminal. The swimmers then ran or staggered up the slip to tag a waiting road biker while their supporting kayakers regrouped for their first race stages of the week.

The bikers headed at top speed to Vatersay for the first points section of the week. (For the uninitiated, the teams are required to make up 150 points over the week by sending multiple competitors out over certain sections of the course with time added to the overall times of any team who fails to make 150.)

This first section was a combination of bike legs and hill runs, taking in hill tops, a control on the ‘narrows’ - a small tidal causeway to an island and the peak overlooking the campsite. From there the land teams split into two pairs, with one pair on bikes and one on foot, to take in a number of controls dotted over the centre and north of the island.

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