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And they all came in together ...

Rob / 27.06.2003

Friday morning at the lock at the end of the Caledonian Canal just outside Corpach, it’s raining and Ben Nevis is cloaked in cloud, but all the runners on the race are now safely back down and the race is over. After a frantic Thursday afternoon and evening, when runners and boats were coming and going almost non-stop, the final runners, from Chic Nic and Paget’s Lady, crossed the line together at 03.30am on Friday morning to close the race.

For the skipper of Chic Nic, Steve Robinson, and his crew, it was an ambition fulfilled and third time lucky. This was their third (and last) attempt at the race after being forced to retire in the previous 2 years and the team of Lloyds TSB employees have now finally done it! They’ve even won the Last Inn Cup as well. Pagets Lady were given a 2 hour 30 minute time credit after their runners stopped on Scafell Pike to attend an accident (not anyone in the race) so this left Chic Nic secure, but happy, in last place.

The incident with Pagets Lady showed the value of the compulsory kit list which the marshals were carefully checking each runner for before they headed up Ben Nevis. On Scafell Pike Neil Morris, who is a firefighter and runs Duke of Edinburgh award schemes, used all his first aid equipment, sleeping bag, spare clothing and emergency rations to attend the injured climber while they waited for rescue teams to arrive.

Fortunately, there were no such problems on Ben Nevis, where conditions were hot but otherwise perfect and the panoramic views from the summit were spectacular. With so many runners on the mountain at once the race was on for places and trophies. Jonathan Bradshaw and Martin Wilcock of Xchanging overtook 3 other pairs of runners on the climb to move up from 6th on arrival at Corpach to third place overall. Barry Spencer and Gary Offland from Jacana also overtook the runners from Freedom to move into 4th place, a result all the team were delighted with.

“We’ve never raced Jacana before,� said Geoff Webb, “it’s a family cruiser, so 4th place is a great result. My father bought Jacana after it had been laid up for years and years and had grass growing on the deck. Getting ready for this race was something that motivated us to get all the work done. My brother Phillip has been skipper and we met the others through sailing courses at Plas Menai. We’ve had a great time and got on really well with the runners, who were sharing a bunk for the trip as it’s a small boat. Fortunately, they already knew each other well!�

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