The Heb

Scotland 2nd– 7th July 2007

 

Once you done it, you will fondly refer to The Hebridean Challenge simply as ‘The Heb.’

 

As races go it is quite simply the best I have ever done and certainly deserves the title of an Adventure race.

 

Many people don’t realise the scale of these islands which stretch for 150 miles from Barra to the Butt of Lewis at the remote north westerly out post of The UK. The six main islands vary in size and shape and contrast dramatically amongst the sea of rock, sand and mountain. Getting to the race is an adventure and for most will involve a five hour ferry crossing from Oban, to Lochboisdale on South Uist. The shortest crossing is about two hours from Uig on the tip of Skye to Tarbet.

 

Essentially the race is a relay and comprises 5 very full days, with a stop over each night at a mobile race HQ. You’ll need a team of five including an experienced and qualified sea kayaker, or a four person ‘land based team’ who can road cycle, MTB run and swim. There is also a race for pairs who do all the disciplines split between them, due respect to them. (The solo class was dropped a few years ago as numbers indicated that not many people are up for such lunacy.) Because it is a relay, you need a multi-skilled team prepared to do discipline and the strongest teams are capable all rounders. There is a big element of planning and strategy involved, not least because one of the team has also got to drive your support bus from the various checkpoints and tag points, so expect pretty busy days of 12 -15 hours. Teams also need to score 150 points by ‘doubling up’ on special points stages, so many of the sections be it mountain running, MTB, or road cycling is done in pairs. As a rule of thumb I guess most team members are active for 50% of the ‘working day’.

 

Our team this year consisted of Pete Smith, Gareth Hicks, Hannah Marshal and myself. I’d decide many months ago that I couldn’t cope with the prep and logistics of including a kayaking person this year, especially if it were to be, but already I’m prepping for 2008. Gareth and Pete were equipped with mountain bikes whilst Hannah and myself had road bikes, and swim wetsuits. All of us have some experience of hill running.

 

This year’s race started on Eriskay based from an idyllic wild camp, where kayak testing, kit checks and last minute prep took place. Sunday evening involved a Prologue with two team members plus kayaker crossing to the island of Barra. One runner did a hill run time trail whilst a cyclist rode the hilly 16m road loop around this beautiful island. Meanwhile back on ‘the mainland’ the two other team members Hill ran/MTB’ed a cross over route. Hannah rode the cycle loop, I ran the hillocks. Pete and Gareth did the deeds on Eriskay including a visit to the pub! All this was a suitable evening’s introduction to the complexities of the week to follow and I slept soundly in our wild and dramatic camp.

 

Monday Morning

The sea kayakers started the race proper by paddling across The Sound of Barra. On arrival they tagged the first swim section of the race, (acting as safety cover for the swimmers). Due to the resources available to our team, Pete volunteered to swim as Hannah and myself were on the ferry returning from Barra. Hannah and myself then had a short spin on our road bikes before Pete and Gareth rode the rough stuff before handing back to Hannah and me. These early stages had been short and fast and led to the first big mountain leg of the day. Pete and Gareth disappeared into the mountains and mist whilst Hannah and I drove up the only main road a few miles to awaiting there re-appearance. This is the typical pattern of the days to come. Whilst waiting, we became intrigued by the number of people riding and wheeling ‘spare bikes’ up the track and mile or so. This is for the convenience of the incoming runners, who are then spared the mile or so of running. After dismissing it for a while, and watching one over enthusiastic team drive their hire van half way up the track until the sump dropped out – engine oil not very green! - we decide that I would ride up the track so that Pete and Gareth could ‘tag’ me, then I could swoosh down the track to ‘tag’ Hannah who would then race off on her road bike for the next leg. The plan worked well with Pete and Gareth arriving a few minutes later.

 

Slotting the bike into the van, we set off driving after Hannah who was zooming along at 20mph + enjoying a tail wind. We only just got ahead of her on this section before the next mountain leg where Gareth, Hannah and myself all ‘tripled up’ for maximum points.

 

The day was moving fast. Hannah did another road bike section easily clocking in excess of 30 mph, before I did a complex ‘bog-fest’ of technical ‘O’ through lochans of all shapes and sizes, running hard to make a cut-off time. I handed over to Pete and Gareth who did a MTB leg for ‘double points,’ then Hannah and myself completed the day with a short road cycle riding two up so as to help each other as we turned south into the prevailing winds. Here ended Day One. We’d had a good day, learnt a lot, score more than enough points for the daily average, and more importantly got to know the systems and techniques and each others strengths and abilities for the four days remaining.

 

Overnights

The Heb is a ‘Stage Race’ with each day ending at one of a number of Community Halls or schools. Wild camping space is usually provided close by but facilities are limited and often in high demand; don’t expect a shower each night. An optional evening meal is provided and the hall acts as a briefing point for what sometimes appears to be a very complex route.

 

Such is the nature of the race that teams try all sorts of tactics for drop bikes and picking up runners and cyclists. Remember, there are kayakists out there too, whose times are added to your teams accumulative race time each day. Good planning and application is vital at The Heb.

 

Tuesday and Beyond

Tuesday morning was a mass start of bikers racing northwards across Benbecula and North Uists crossing the dramatic moonscape of sea, rock, peat and moor, all joined together by a strip of tarmac. Hannah and myself doubled up on our road bikes, (for points and work sharing) and settled into a steady ride. Then followed two parallel Hill Running bike/run/bike legs (or three for 5 person teams) to end at the ferry terminal prior to the crossing of the Sound of Harris. There certainly was a sense of pressure given the time constraint, but I enjoyed solitude as I ran right across the heart of North Uist whilst. Other teams ran into, and out of, the first control then biked around to the second control. Whether it was quicker generally is hard to say but it worked for us, as Hannah and Gareth had doubled up for Leg 1, whilst Pete dropped the bikes and drove the van and recouped some energy after a very tough Monday.

 

The hour’s crossing of the scenic Sound of Harris allows you to appreciate the beauty of the landscape and admire the bigger hills of Harris. An Clisheam reaches a height of 799m and it’s classic horseshoe would form the Hillrunner’s Time Trial on Wednesday. First we had another MTB leg, swim, then three short hill runs, followed by a tough road cycle to finish at Tarbet; a busy and rewarding afternoon. The day’s finish was at the main secondary school on Harris which also houses a community sports centre. A shower, Jacuzzi, shower, swim, and another shower preceded another three course fresh fish supper, and another wild and idyllic camp on a headland a few miles west looking out to the Atlantic Ocean framed by the Harris mountains.

 

Wednesday

Wednesday was a complex day with a hard, fast and technical MTB ride looping back south around the ’Golden Road’ peninsula before ejecting itself onto the paradise beach at Seilebost. Pete and Gareth were proving to be a strong and able MTB partnership. Hannah swam, I ran another technically tough mountain leg, finding good lines through the complex rocky terrain. Gareth took over from me and we finished back at the school where we started that morning. A road cycle Time Trial followed and Hannah was keyed up for this. I was to ride as back up and ‘double up’ for points, but drafting was strictly not allowed. This ride proved to be very hilly with two big climbs on the outward leg to the remote Reinigeadal YHA. The gradients and zigzags were tough on this remote leg and the roads were rough and covered in chippings. One rider had punctured and the cattle grids were of rim eating proportions. I was a minute or so ahead of Hannah at the turn point and waited to suggest we keep in touch on the return leg and make sure we both survived. A ‘mechanical’ out here would be a serious delay. Hannah had big time trilling gears whilst I had a triple front ring; consequently our riding styles and pace differed, especially on the hills. We kept visual contact a few hundred metres apart, and as I drew ahead on the climbs I looked down the zig-zags to see Hannah pushing an awesomely tough big gear. I couldn’t watch – my knees screamed out in symapthy. Hannah would quickly catch me up on the flats and could leave me down hill so I timed it so that we arrived more or less together. It had been a memorable ride.

 

Pete and Gareth took over for a Run/Bike/Run cross-over on the hills to the west of An Clisheam. The clagg was down and the navigation tricky. They performed well arriving back within a close time of each other. Hannah and myself fed ourselves, sorted the van, dried aired kit, as good house-keeping is a key part of team work. We prepared for the last two legs of the day which was a short hill run primed by a ride back up the first cycle hill before dropping over a shoulder into a long valley trail run. Pete and Gareth would collect our road bikes and then drive around to meet us; biking into tag us before Pete soled the road back to base. So that was another day over apart from Scalpay’s Monster Fish Pie to conquer. It had been another good day, and we were firmly in the groove as a team. Overall we weren’t trying anything to whacky and made sure everyone got to ‘play out’.

 

Tomorrow would be dominated by three stages; the Clisheam Hill Run Time Trail run parallel to the MTB Time Trial, and later in the day and long flat and potentially navigationally challenging bog trot across the interior of Lewis towards Callanish. Both the Time Trials are classic routes and having done them in a previous year I volunteered Pete and Gareth the Hills and MTB respectively. I offered to trash my legs on the big bog trot, and Hannah did the early morning trail run and road bike at the end. We each fitted several other smaller mountain legs into the relay around the key stages. All seemed to go well; the ‘one section on, one section off,’ allows some personal recovery and time to eat and drink. The highlights for me were forcing the pace on the big bog trot, which was navigationally tough but I was ahead of schedule and running strongly. Straight after this I went onto the road bike for the last 25 miles across the wilds of Lewis riding ‘doubled up for points’ with Hannah. Even so a solo rider caught us up just before the end, and offered to ride as a three. Although we tried to stay with him he was simply too strong for us.

 

Suddenly it’s Friday.

From past experience Friday becomes ‘Frantic Friday’. The last day is always one where everyone throws caution to the wind and gives their all. It was quite a complex day with a swim to start, kayak leg, road time trial sprint, headland run, all done with limited van support and access. A MTB/road section back to Stornoway and Lews Castle took us to the special team stage in the castle grounds requiring each of us to run or MTB around a short ‘O’ course. This stage also allowed me to get to the Co-op and buy some supplies for the evening. Having ridden to the store I stood in a queue with a dozen bottles of local beer, fresh coffee and a few nibbles. No one gave me a second glance as I stood patiently in line wearing running shorts and five day old thermal shirt, helmet and cycle mitts. Right next to me was a stack of cases of 24 bottles of some brightly coloured alcopop, and for a moment I thought if I substituted the beer of a case of 24 alcopops I could use the ‘10 items or less’ queue, but quickly dismissed it as a daft idea!

 

The afternoon comprised of a road cycle, very tough MTB leg, long tediously tough bog trot and then short legs of running to the finish. Hannah pushed hard on the bike whilst I rested up for the bog-fest. Time was running tight against a cut-off prior to the bog trot but we had re-started much later than most teams that morning, having cared for a near hypothermic swimmer, abandoned by her team after the swim, in Friday frantic farce.

 

I tried my hardest on the bog-fest but couldn’t race the pace. The terrain was simply too tough and tussocky to run much as it was 12km of long deep reed grass. Only in the last few km as the route dropped back down to sea level, could I run more than a few steps, at a time. Thankfully Gareth had biked into a remote track end to ‘tag’ me and took off on foot whilst I rode out exhausted on his bike, for the last few miles. The remaining sections were all to be done on foot. Garath tagged Pete who set off for the coast. We discovered many of the teams were simply running along the road in short relays rather than the coastline, a distance of 9k of tarmac rather than 6 km of rugged coastline. This was a mistake and several teams were seen plodding that endless road late into the evening. Common sense prevailed and we saw the benefit of the coastal route, clearly intended by the planner, which turned out to be some of the most beautiful running of the week. We each took a turn in relay. Finally, all the team were required to join together for the last mile or so across the headland at the Butt of Lewis, and to the most understated but memorable finish imaginable. It had been a great week.

 

I’ll be Back Next Year…

If you want a truly challenging and rewarding experience ‘The Heb’ is one hell of an adventure. Yes, it’s a bit ‘old-school’ and lacks a few niceties, but if you like wild and remote terrain, and enjoy being self sufficient, and can cope with the demands of the terrain and tough navigation then ‘The Heb’ will grandly reward you and your team mates. If you want smart facilities and your adventure on a plate this isn’t the race for you. You won’t get laminated maps, a goody bag, instant results, or other 21 st century IT stuff, Wilfs, or big prizes. If you are solely interested in racing, winning and beating other teams, then go else where. If you want a true adventure race come and have a ball with your mates.

 

Joe