Ultra Trail Scotland 2019 Summary

Posted on June 16, 2019 by talkultra

The Isle of Arran, a hidden gem just 90-minutes away from Glasgow. Many describe the island as ‘Scotland in miniature!’ Have to say, for a first-time visitor I was a little blow away by this little gem.

On first impressions, I thought travelling to Arran would be difficult. I couldn’t have been more wrong. A flight to Glasgow, a 30-minute train journey from Paisley to the harbour station of Ardrossan and 15-minutes later, the ferry departed for the 55-minute journey to Brodick and then a 5-minute walk to the race HQ where the weekend’s race would start and conclude.

Ultra Trail Scotland is the brainchild of elite mountain runner, Casey Morgan and Andrew Falconer of Find Your Adrenaline – www.findyouradrenaline.com – Also important to mention the incredible work of Noreen Devine and her incredible logistics and support who held the event together.

The duo have created two races, the Ultra Trail Scotland and The Tarsuinn Trail – both races showing the best of the incredible trails and mountains that Arran have to offer over the distances of 45km and 26km respectively.

The main event of the weekend is the Ultra Trail which manages to provide 3500m of epic running for vetted runners. This really is an out-and-out pure mountain running experience that harks back to the heritage of skyrunning races in Italy.

Nerves of steel, a head for heights, the ability to traverse amazing ridge-lines, climb and descend technical routes that pound not only the body but the mind. Remote and sublime, the route is an epic day of running compressed into 45km. Highlights coming with the technical ridge that follows Mullach Buide leading to Cioch na h-Oighe. Cir Mhor and of course, the Witches Step.

One could almost say the 26km Tarsuinn Trail is the fun run…! But it is no easy race with 2000m of vertical. The early trails to Goatfell at 873m only a warm up for what is to follow as the route shares some of the trail with its bigger brother.

The day before the races was bathed in sun with blue skies, white fluffy clouds and the Arran skyline looking magnificent. But as the day came to a close and as the race briefing concluded, the patter of rain started what was to become a very wet night. At 11pm, the weather forecast completely changed and the early forecasts of rain clearing to sunny skies disappeared.

At 0600 on race morning, two-hours before the scheduled start, Casey and Andrew took all the elements and mountain conditions into consideration and delayed the start to 10am. However, conditions did not improve, and a revised route was devised to still offer the runners of the Ultra Trail an incredible 38km mountain run, but unfortunately removing the two key technical sections of the ridge and Witches Step to ensure the safety of the competitors. The shorter, Tarsuinn Trail route was left unchanged due to the shorter distance and the midday start.

Let’s be clear here, the revised route for the Ultra Trail was still a beast of a course and as the race was underway, it was clear to all, that the conditions to change the route were completely justified. Visibility for much of the time was down to a few meters, the rain relentlessly poured, and the wind gusted and thrashed the mountain. The predicted clear patch in the early afternoon did arrive and provided everyone, runners and Marshalls included, a welcome warm and dry patch before the mist and rain returned later in the afternoon to remain well into the evening.

Caisteal Abhail provided a turnaround point for the Tarsuinn Trail and a key checkpoint for the Ultra Trail as runners passed through here on the way to the Glasson carpark, where they turned and re-traced back to Caisteal Abhail before concluding the race. As they passed through, there were no complaints from the Ultra Trail of a revised route or shorter course, just appreciation and thanks for the bravery of the decision, no matter how hard, to make the right decision for everyone’s safety.

The Ultra Trail was dominated by Rob Sinclair who was untouchable in the men’s race, he made the course and the conditions, dare I say, look easy. Stuart Whittle and Michael Reid had a much closer battle for the two remaining podium slots.

Debbie Martin-Consani needs no introduction to the ultra-world in Scotland and despite saying she would be happy with a top-five placing, she went on to win ahead of Katie Henderson and Ruth Stanley.

Tarsuinn Trail was led by Hamish Battle early on and unfortunately, he took a wrong turn and dropped to seventh place. Ahead the race went on with Gregor Stewart taking the win. However, Hamish battled hard and clawed his way back to second with a great run. Graham Connolly rounded out the podium.

Highly respected and renowned hill, fell and mountain runner, Jill Stephen controlled the 26km’s with a strong and dominant performance ahead of Hazel Wright and Erin Rendall.

The event concluded with the last runner arriving just before the 10pm cut-off. It had been a testing day for all concerned, but gladly, there were no major injuries and despite constantly testing conditions, everyone had had a great day on Arran.

Full results, reports and additional information will be posted HERE

Race Images Gallery HERE

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Tom Owens to race The Coastal Challenge 2017 #TCC2017

Posted on November 3, 2016 by talkultra

Tom Owens is without doubt one of the most inspiring runners from the UK who performs consistently on the world stage. Fell runner, ultra runner and Skyrunner, Tom has pushed the world best.

Back in the day, Tom forged a reputation for himself with Andy Symonds at the Transalpine run where the duo were a formidable force. In recent years, Tom has mixed fell running and Skyrunning. In 2012, Tom placed 2nd behind Kilian Jornet at the iconic Trofeo Kima, he looked set to dominate the Skyrunning circuit but injury hit. Time away and keeping fit doing cyclocross, it was 2014 when the Glasgow based runner finally re-emerged at Transvulcania.

Transvulcania was a surprise return… renowned for running shorter races, Tom stepped up to 70+km – an unknown commodity. Class shone through and he placed 6th. A 3rd at Ice Trail Tarentaise and then 4th at Trofeo Kima and we all knew – Tom was back.

2015 started really well with a win overseas at the Buffalo Stampede in Australia, 6th at Matterhorn Ultraks and arguably his best result came with 4th in the IAU Trail World Championships in Annecy.

Roll on to 2016 and Tom focused on the Skyrunning Extreme Series that combined all the elements that make Tom, the great runner that he is. Technical trails, altitude, distance and an ability to adapt to an ever-changing landscape. Victory at Tromso SkyRace and 5th at Trofeo Kima set Tom up for a potential overall title.

Going into the Glencoe Skyline, a head-to-head being Tom and Jon Albon whet everyones appetites. On the day, Albon excelled and it was 2nd for the Scot.

As 2016 comes to a close, Tom is looking ahead to 2017. Not known for his ability to handle heat and humidity, I wondered why Costa Rica?

“It looks beautiful, exciting and warm! I always like to escape the Scottish Winter for a week big volume warm weather running in January or February – it seems to set me up well for the rest of the year.”

And what about the heat and humidity?

“The heat and humidity will be massively challenging. I’ve not worked out how to run well in these conditions. It will be my first big block of running in 2017 and so interesting to see how the body holds up. I also find running in sand really tough…”

Costa Rica may well prove to be much more of a test of running. We all know Tom can handle the rough and technical stuff – the river and bouldering sections will put the fell/ Skyrunner in the terrain that he loves. But Costa Rica will have sand too, albeit not soft sand. It may well be a whole new learning curve.

“It’s going to be real challenge for sure but that is what makes it interesting! I will be at a disadvantage against pure multi-day runners but I will embrace it. Running day-after day is not really a problem, I love the technical stuff but it’s the heat and humidity that will really test me as I have already mentioned. I have really suffered in such races with cramps (I’m a big sweater) such as at Transvulcania, Buffalo Stampede and the recent World Trail Champs.”

Scotland and the UK is not going to be the ideal place train for a Costa Rican race in February, I wondered if Tom had any specific training plans to be prepared?

“I’m looking forward to trying some different strategies to cope with the heat – I hope the TCC will help me with the some of the other objectives that will take place in remainder of the year. In regard to training, I will aim to get back into regular running mid/late December or early January and build up some endurance. Beyond Coastal Challenge I have no 2017 plans yet. I only ended the 2016 season a couple of days ago – it was a really long (from Feb till end October) and fun season but now i’m enjoying a break and not doing any planning at the moment.”

Competition in the men’s race will be fierce, the recent announcement of Sondre Amdahl’s participation will no doubt focus the mind of Tom and the other male competitors. But a physical and mental rest is required before thinking about 2017. One thing is for sure, Tom always races to win and he will be prepared come February.

About the race:

The Coastal Challenge is a multi-day race over 6-days starting in the southern coastal town of Quepos, Costa Rica and finishing at the stunning Drake Bay on the Osa Peninsula, The Coastal Challenge is an ultimate multi-day running experience.

Intense heat, high humidity, ever-changing terrain, stunning views, Costa Rican charm, exceptional organisation; the race encompasses Pura Vida! Unlike races such as the Marathon des Sables, ‘TCC’ is not self-sufficient, but don’t be fooled, MDS veterans confirm the race is considerably harder and more challenging than the Saharan adventure.

Hugging the coastline, the race travels in and out of the stunning Talamanca mountain range via dense forest trails, river crossings, waterfalls, long stretches of golden beaches backed by palm trees, dusty access roads, high ridges and open expansive plains. At times technical, the combination of so many challenging elements are only intensified by heat and high humidity that slowly but surely reduces even the strongest competitors to exhausted shells by the arrival of the finish line.