Glenshee – The Walking, the Wounded and the Weary

Rob Howard / 23.08.2012

Today teams have been in the mountains, either side of the Glenshee Ski Station, as they cross the Grampian mountains.  It is at this point in the race, into the 4^th day, and on the punishing long mountain trek, that experience counts, and teams are either able to hold together and push on, or the wheels come off the wagon.

The earliest arrivals were teams who had opted to take enough short course options to keep them well ahead of scheduled cut-offs and to the front of the race, a position they can make adjustments from depending on how well they are going.  One such are novice team Lakeland Terriers, who have not paid any attention to penalties or rankings, they have just completed the best bits of the course and made sure they get round. James Thurlow commented, “They’ve shown this course is manageable if teams make the right decisions and they are enjoying themselves and having a great adventure.” 

Lakeland Terriers are on the fun side of the race scales and balancing them out are the elite teams on the competitive side of the scales.  In between are a full range of teams – all trying to find their own balance of priorities as the race progresses.

The first of the leading teams to arrive at Glenshee were adidas TERREX, where they rested up for quite a while.  Even the race leaders didn’t look in great shape at this point, and they had completed the first part of the trek in daylight and good weather. Their lead is not really threatened though, they arrived at 23.06 last night, but it wasn’t until 08.45 next morning that second placed full course team For Goodness Shakes Nectar arrived, though they had slept out in a bothy (hut) during the night.

Most teams had stopped to rest during the hours of darkness, knowing they would only progress slowly and navigation would be more difficult.  One such were AVT Asset Management who camped in a hollow near the top of Lochnagar when darkness fell. “It was the best sleep of the race so far,” said David Mortlock, “much better than the bus shelter at Blair Athol or the decking outside the pub!”

The weather had closed in so we settled down to sleep in the dark, knowing it would have been stressful to try to find them.”  Rosemary Byde added, “We had a Golite tepee and were camped in a hollow by a small stream. I was warm and dry in my down sleeping bag, it was bliss.”

The team were up at 05.30 and heartened to hear only 16 teams were into Glenshee ahead of them as they felt they were at the back of the race.  It may be teams behind them have less penalties, but AVT felt their pace was OK to finish the trek without another overnight camp and ensure they made the cut-off for the next paddling stage.  Teams behind them may have to miss more CP’s now or slow down on the hills tonight.  It is only at the end game of the race that team strategy plays out, successfully or otherwise.

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