Devil o' the Highlands Race 2015

The Devil is a 42 mile ultramarathon on the second 'half' of the West Highland Way - it basically starts roughly where the Fling stops, and goes to Fort William. This year, Johnny Fling had taken over as the new Race Director, giving a fairly popular race a new makeover, and a welcome lift, and I think it'll be interesting to see where it can grow from here. It also completes the 'Triple Crown' series, a kind of unofficial recognition for completing all 3 WHW races in the same year - the Fling in April, WHW Race in June, and Devil in August. It's quite some undertaking, and not to be taken lightly, but the numbers achieving such a feat seem to rise year on year. This year, for the first time, I had the pleasure to become a "Triple Crown Volunteer" (there's no such thing, but soddit, this is my blog and I can make up awards if I want to), being part of the race team for all 3 races in the same year!! I had a look at the other volunteers, and I think there are only maybe 4 of us this year who achieved that honour. (Like I say, my blog, and I'm calling it an honour, hehe.) - Me, Sean Stone, Aurel Lewis, and Norma Bone. If I've missed anyone, I do apologise!! Of course, there are countless more people who have been involved in all 3 races in one way or another, a mix of running, volunteering, and crewing for other runners. :-) Like I say, popular races.

So, I volunteered to help out this year, and Johnny asked if I would help John Kynaston with the timing and results at the finish line. I figured that would mean a nice lie-in, until I realised I was working registration too... at 4am. ;-) But you know me, and I can't turn down the opportunity for ultra-runner hugs!! So, yes, I was in. I booked accommodation in Fort William, and made the trip up the night before in the pouring rain - only to realise when I arrived that I'd left my rain jacket at home, in Edinburgh!!! Eejit. Luckily there are plenty of outdoor clothing stores open late on the high street, and I treated myself to a new waterproof jacket, lol.

I slept maybe 3 or 4 hours, and was up getting showered, dressed, and breakfasted, in time to leave the hotel at around 2:30am, for the drive to Tyndrum. Couple of points of the journey where I had to slow right down to allow deer to cross the road in front of me, and I really had to have my wits about me, what with them not wearing hi-vis kit! But I made it safely to the Green Welly, where Johnny was already setting up. I got started inside with setting up registration, as my fellow volunteers arrived. We had a pretty awesome registration team - Noanie, Lorna, Myvanwy, and Lucy - with a whole bunch of other fantastic volunteers turning up for their own tasks too. It was great catching up with friends and familiar faces, and as registration went on, lots of hugs and smiles all round. It feels good spending time with this bunch of mad folk...

Photo courtesy Green Welly Stop. Thanks for the hospitality!

Registration closed, and we tripped off to the start line round the corner - I had a couple of stopwatches I needed to start (we had a lot of stopwatches that needed to be started!) and before you knew it, they were away! Then it was a case of tidying up, thanking our hosts at the Green Welly, and heading away to our various next duties. My next job wasn't for a few hours, so I decided to head to Bridge of Orchy and watch the race unfold. I joined the timing team at Bridge of Orchy at the top near the station, rather than heading down to the checkpoint across the bridge at the bottom - so stood with John K, Alexa and Robin, as they masterfully tracked all the runners coming through. This isn't easy, let me tell you!! At Bridge of Orchy you're only about, what, 7 miles into the race, so people are generally still pretty bunched up - catching their race numbers and recording their times, needed the three of them working well as a team, and a lot of attention to detail. They only missed one runner, and I sprinted off after him to try and get his number... Sadly, my "sprint" pace (seriously flat out) wasn't enough to match his "racing 42 miles today" pace, and I just couldn't catch him, but I spotted Knoxy taking photos and legged it down to him to see if he'd caught it, which he had! So... that was my exercise for the day!!!!

Photos by Chen Chee Kong.  ...Midges??

It was great to cheer everyone through, and get one or two mid-race hugs lol, and fab to meet Alexa, and catch up with the ever-cheery Robin and John. I owe Alexa a big apology, though - when the last runner came through, I was determined she was 10 out in her records, and gave it all the accommodating "Oh well, there were loads of people coming through in groups, it's reasonable to have missed some, especially as some folk hadn't attached their race number properly as requested..." but she was adamant she'd missed nobody. I was a wee bit patronising (yes, me! who'd've thunk?) in a kind of a "it happens to all of us, don't worry too much about it, it'll get sorted by Glencoe..." way. Half an hour later, John K worked out that it was actually my sums that were wrong, not Alexa's records. I'd subtracted 53 DNSs from 240 race numbers, and got 197. *glows red in embarrassment* ....in my shaky defence, this was all done at 6am, after not a lot of sleep............... I apologised (several times) to Alexa later, lol!

Now here I must pause to be a bit of a moany cow, briefly. Runners: if you are given instructions from race officials, this is for a reason. If you ask us to clarify such instructions, and then still ignore us, you are a twat. Simple as that. We told every single person at registration to display their race number clearly on their front, because the race is being manually timed. You're just making the marshals' jobs a wee bit harder if you ignore that. But if you have actually asked me: "Oh, can I not put it on my backpack?" and I have replied, clearly, "No, like I say, it needs to be on the front - it's so that we can see your number as you come into each checkpoint. Please attach it to your front." - and then you still stick it to your backpack, I have no respect for you at all. End of. We volunteer to help out at a race, so that you can run, safely, and with all the help we can give you along the way - don't disrespect us by ignoring our instructions just cos you think you know better. (Rant over, sorry.....)

Okay. So! :-) After Bridge of Orchy, I headed up to Glencoe ski centre. I was hoping to grab a cuppa, but sadly they were still shut, boooo, so I milled around the checkpoint for a wee while, cheering the first few runners through, and catching up with the marshals there. Fab to see Katy, and of course it's been well-documented by runners at the Devil this year that the checkpoint team here included some pretty significant stars of the ultra-running world. Debs, Sharon, Lucy and Paul, are all race winners, record holders, and (somewhat sickeningly, where are the flaws godammit?) really lovely people to boot - and it seems from feedback that many of the runners were utterly starstruck as they were handed dropbags, or had water bottles refilled. :-) It's things like this that make you realise how utterly inclusive and supportive the ultrarunning world can be... awwww. (soppy moment)

It was apparent at this point that Donnie and Casey were up for a good run today, and perhaps the 'battle' would be for third place. Everyone seemed to be running well, and the weather was being generally friendly, so it was shaping up a really fab day. I couldn't stay too long at Glencoe, as I needed to get to the finish area and set up for recording the first runners, so I headed off at around 8:45, and enjoyed the drive north. At Fort William, I found the new finish area just behind the leisure centre - definitely an improvement on previous years' finished on the path besides the roundabout - with marquees all set up by Johnny and his team of volunteers the day before. Now, the wee field was a hive of activity, as food service areas were being set up, goody bags sorted, gazebos being put up for the finish timing, more volunteers arriving (including Clark and Amanda - Clark was photographing the finishers, Amanda was doing massages) and a finish funnel being created, with a lovely big inflatable arch (which deflated a few times, much to everyone's amusement and Johnny's frustration, lol!). My role here was to keep track of any drop-outs over the day, and assist John K with the finish timing. We had comfy seats (much to Clark's chagrin) and a table, under the gazebo... which came in handy as the rain started. While setting up, I got the call that Glencoe had 'missed' recording two runners through the checkpoint, and the sweepers were in. We needed to very quickly identify whether they were lost on the course, or had just been missed by the timing team - but this required a one-for-one manual checking off of 187 runners against 185 checkpoint times. Not easy. John and I got cracking straight away, and with a few calls to Noanie who had been at the road crossing with Lorna, we finally accounted for everyone, and knew nobody was missing. Phew! It was too early in the day for 'drama', lol!



Photo by Colin Knox. (I'm the one in the gazebo, lol)

Soon, it was time for the runners to start arriving. A wee buzz about the finish area, as we knew by now that Casey and Donnie were finishing together - but you still don't quite know whether you're about to see a competitive sprint finish or not! The guys crossed the line together, a nice touch and indication of how their day had gone, and respect for one another. Then over the next few hours, runners arrived, runners crossed the line, and John and I worked diligently at recording them but also keeping track of times through the other checkpoints, and people who sadly had to drop out of the race. In between all of this, we also moved location twice, because for a while the weather went absolutely nuts - it was pouring down with rain so much so that it was just coming straight through the fabric of the gazebo roof, and the wind whistling around kept blowing my paperwork away!!! I was going spare, lol. My fingers started to get really cold too, and Noanie came to my rescue with a loan of Johnny's down jacket - and frequent cups of tea or delicious soup, hurrah!



Photo by Clark Hamilton.

It was fab to see so many lovely people (and friends) finishing, and plenty of smiles all round - I laughed a lot every time someone finished and immediately cursed at Johnny for the new race finish including a steep hill thrown in right at the end... well, it's clearly not called the "Devil" for nothing, huh? ;-) I was working hard to try and manually work out prizewinners for the various categories, which required comparing various bits of paper all of which were getting damp with rain, or muddy from having blown off the table into the mudfest below! It was definitely a challenging time, but I wouldn't have missed it for the world - loved every minute.

Absolutely brilliant to watch the last few runners come in, exhausted but happy. As exciting and impressive as the 'pointy end' of races can be, it's often at the very end of the races where the grit, heart and determination show most. I love being at the finish for the very last few finishers - at a time of the day when pretty much everyone has gone home, and the finish area is starting to be packed away, it's great to give them the best welcome you possibly can.

After packing up, I headed back to the hotel room for a hot shower. There was a wee bit of drama before that, finding my car tyre flat from a slow puncture of some sort, but Alan and Tom gallantly came to my rescue, and thankfully the problem was a lot easier to resolve than I'd thought. By the time I was in the hotel room, showered and wrapped up warmly in a towel, tiredness kicked in, together with the realisation that my own running plan required a 10 mile run early the next morning, so I forewent heading to the after-race party, and just drank tea, watched telly, and drifted off to sleep instead. Fab day, and another fantastic event. Well done to everyone who ran (I'd name names, but there are far too many fabulous people, and I'd only end up missing someone), and to all my fellow volunteers. Huge congrats go to Johnny Fling, for his first year as RD of this race - a pretty successful one at that. Next year though, John, see if you can do something about that weather......? x