Hoka Highland Fling 2015

pic by Jeni Rees-Jenkins

I've sat down and stared at the blank screen about a dozen times since the race on Saturday, and still not sure what to write. My volunteering role this year was longer than previous years, and an absolute blast, but in some ways I felt a little out of the action, so I'm not sure whether a report I write would read a bit like "And then I did this, and then I did that, and then I did this, and then I did that...." - so I've been a bit stuck. Writer's block, I guess - if I'm allowed the indulgence of calling myself a 'writer' in this context!!



pic by Jeni Rees-Jenkins

I think I'm just going to keep it pretty brief. Friday afternoon started with registration at the Lorne Hotel, with a fab group of ladies. We had great fun, and it was brilliant seeing so many familiar faces turning up to register for the race. I tried to grab a word with a couple of the faster runners, see what they were feeling about the race this year, to try and suss out if a record was on, but mostly, it was just handing over envelopes and attaching wristbands to various people who totally ignored what we were telling them about the wristbands. ;-) The 3 hour session flew by, and then Noanie and I packed up and headed to Burnbrae for the second registration session - well, I got a bit lost en route, but I got there in the end, grabbing Sean when I arrived to help carry boxes. "Hi, is it Sean? can you just take these....?" - lol. The second session involved more catching up with loads of fabulous people, and lots of hugs and chat. It was quieter in there this year than previous, but still we kept fairly steady, the 3 hours there passed pretty quickly too. We packed up, and I went to bed.

I couldn't really sleep - just buzzing with adrenaline I think - but I decided that even just lying restfully in the dark with my eyes shut for the 4½ hours would be better than nothing! As it happens, I think I got about 2 hours sleep in the end, waking up an hour before my alarm clock, and deciding just to start my day. It meant I actually had time for a shower and some breakfast too, haha. I left a little after 3:30am, and headed across to the carpark, arriving around 3:50-ish. John had already started setting up, and my registration tables were put up inside the bus shelter, in time for the rain coming down. I got the boxes of remaining envelopes out, and set the registration 'booth' up as best I could. My team for the morning started arriving, so a wee bit of training, bit of banter, and we were good to go.

From 4:45 through to race start at 6, we were pretty steady again, so I stepped out of the registration so I could get out of the way and so that I could be a central point for bus queries, and parking permits etc. - it also meant I got more hugs, from friends who came over to the registration area (many didn't, so please just assume I was wishing you all well in my head, lol!) and then the team deserted me to man the starting pens, so I set about tidying up registration while the race briefing went on, and preparing the relay registration while the main race started.

Did I say I wasn't going to write a blow-by-blow account of the day??? lol. I'll try and keep it briefer....

Relay registration went smoothly, and then we packed everything up as the relay set off at 7am. I loaded my car with the remaining registration envelopes of runners who hadn't turned up, and with two big boxes of yummy goodies which were destined to be the prize for the Balmaha drop bag competition winner, and headed north, into the not-forecast-at-all sunshine. Not stopping anywhere on the way, I got to Tyndrum really early, before the timing tent was set up etc, and long before John arrived - so I took up the invitation to join Alice and her friends for a cuppa and chat in the campervan. I had my phone and notepad with me, so started taking calls of drop-outs from Balmaha, which was basically my job for the rest of the day. After a cuppa, biscuit and chat, more people started arriving, and the rest of the site set-up began. We got gazebos and tents up, set up tables, and Julie got cracking with setting her team up in the goody bag tent. Busy busy! At this stage, most runners were probably about halfway through, though we knew the front runners were much further on, and we were trying to work out if a new course record was on or not.

pic by Monument Photos

My duties at Tyndrum were manning a position in the timing tent - sitting between the official timing guys, and Adrian Stott who was officiating the Scottish Trail Ultra champs, I think, we basically spent the next 10 hours having a bit of banter, dealing with loads of queries from friends/family and finished runners, and registering DNFs as they happened, so we knew where people were for safety reasons. Together with getting the data together for the prizewinners, for John to award, and just generally being a central point of contact.

See, I wish I could write a lot more about it - but really, that's all there was to it: 10 hours of dealing with whatever query arose, helping runners and supporters whenever they needed it, managing to fit in a little time to post random updates on the facebook page, and telling a million (ish) people where the buses to Milngavie were going to be leaving from. And drinking tea, the amazing soup that John's parents make each year, and nibbling non-stop on sandwiches, and a bag of marshmallows I'd taken. I kind of ignored the 'healthy' snacks I'd taken with me, and managed to bring home 2 boiled eggs and a pack of grapes the next day! lol. One of the timing guys, who'd been at exactly the same desk as me the whole day, smugly advised he'd managed over 17,000 steps on his pedometer, when mine read closer to 8,000 at that point - I was raging, how was he doing that??!! Turned out he just kept getting up, and stepping back and forth a little bit... genius! :-)

We had a lot of help at our tent by Jo Adams, who is the son of the Out-Run team of Cat and Mike Adams. If I ever felt lacking in energy, all I needed to do was tune back into Jo's banter for a pick-me-up, hahaha, because I seriously don't know how he managed to keep it going so much! I should have maybe put my pedometer in HIS pocket, with the amount of crazy running around he was doing, running errands for us, helping runners, helping his Mum, etc. He did a grand job! For such a long shift, the day really did pass pretty quickly, due to being so busy. I missed seeing loads of my friends finishing, and very few came over to my tent, but every time I had to run an errand myself, I also took the time to congratulate a friend if I spotted them. Managed to get plenty of hugs, haha!! It's what it's all about, after all! :-) It was brilliant to see that so many friends had smashed goals, beaten PBs, or just beaten whatever demons had been out there that day to cause trouble. Best hugs of the day go to the guys, I'm afraid ladies. Proper big hugs from them... but I don't discriminate, and I tried to get as many hugs as I could right across the board, lol.

In the last hour or so, a bit of liaison between the timing guys and Alice and Julie at the finish line, so we knew how many people were still out on the course and they knew how many medals and goody bags they needed to have ready, respectively. No panic there whatsoever. Nope. Especially not from Alice. *shifty eyes* - then I phoned the sweeper for an update, and when we knew the last runner was only about a mile away, John got all the ceilidh attendees back out of the marquee, to line the finish line in the growing darkness. It gives me goosebumps just thinking about that, actually, but Cara got the loudest finish of the day - the support of the ultrarunner community knows no bounds. :-) Whether you finish in 7 hours, or 15 hours, everyone puts themselves through the challenge, and knows what needs to be done to get to the finish line. I'm forever inspired by ultra-runners, and this weekend was no exception.

Packed up the timing tent, and I headed for the bed and breakfast I was staying in 5 minutes up the road. It was after 10pm now, and I just about managed to wash my face, change clothes, and collapse onto the bed - so how on earth people managed to dance the night away at the ceilidh is beyond me!! In the morning, after a delicious breakfast, I headed back into Tyndrum and picked up Antonia and Mr Antonia, for the drive home to Edinburgh; good chat and company for the drive home, and great to hear about how their Fling went. Home at last, and the Fling is Flung for another year; another epic event put on by Johnny Fling, with a great deal of assistance from Noanie, and a huge team of helpers to support. I would highly recommend being part of the volunteer team, if you've not tried it (don't panic, not all shifts are as long as mine, haha) - what a day! Hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did; see you next time!!!! x x

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I haven't named many names in this write-up, mainly because it would take so long and also because I would undoubtedly forget people. Some great performances, and fantastic results, and I'm so proud to have been part of the day, in whatever small way possible. However, what I do want to acknowledge is a bit more personal. A HUGE thankyou to everyone who told me how well I was looking, or congratulate me on how my weightloss is going. It makes me feel a bit tearful (in a good way) thinking about how many of you are out there supporting me, and it means so much to me that even on a day when you're running or marshalling an ultra-marathon, you still took the time out to say something nice to me. It might not have felt much to you at the time, but believe me, it means a lot to me. x x