Saturday, May 22 1999

16 Miles 7500ft Category AL

Starts at 10:30:00

From Craighouse, Jura

This is a rather special race that was a bit out of hand the last time I went. If you have never been to Jura Go! The race is big with usually excellent weather and a great welcome. The race was first run in the seventies then fell into disuse until wotsisname revived it about 1982 or 83. The first revival had a really pleasant feeling of the locals and the runners both sniffing it out and finding it fun. There was a small entertainment provided where the McSomething girls sang a couple of Gaelic airs. The girls were in their eighties! But sang beautifully. The Cheildh that night was also different, easygoing verging on a shambles. I went for a number of years and remember the first year that I couldn't go sitting at home really missing it. I did make it back another year but the wild drinking shambles element had taken over with an almost ganglike atmosphere. Its apparently the friction between the locals and the youthful Islay visitors. I haven't been back since because I felt I was trampling pleasant memories with a rather darker present. I therefore confess to fogeydom! The race itself is a biggy with huge boulder screes where you can find yourself accompanied on descents by boulders the size of your torso lazily tumbling along beside you looking for a limb or a hand to playfully snap. There is also a characteristic smell of the dry rocks as the dust rises from them tumbling. They also ring out almost musically. It is a cliché but that last 3 or so miles of road is a very Zen experience.

 Men's Record is 3:06:59 set by M Rigby in 1994.

 Women's Record is 03:50:22 set by A Carson AKA Angela Brand Barker in 1988

  Contact details are A Curtis,
35 Aquila Drive, Heddon on the Wall, Northumberland.,
NE15 0BS,
Tel 01631 562396