The Heb - Race on the Edge
Once More Unto The Beach
Carrick Armer / 05.09.2017
Apologies for the delay on this write-up: blame celebrations, storms, ferries and long drives!
The second day of The Heb - Race on the Edge was less bright and breezy than the first. Mainly just breezy. The wind had picked up overnight, flattening at least one racing pair's tent and sending others scampering for the safety of the Dark Island hotel, just down the road from the campsite. At breakfast there were a good number of concerned faces evidently not relishing the prospect of racing in the high-speed horizontal drizzle that was forecast, but the rate of drop-outs was impressively low.
One of the great elements of The Heb's course design is the ability of participants to pick and choose their CPs to do as much or as little as they desire. This choice came into play early in the day, once the racers had fought the wind southbound on the main spine road to Howmore and the first run transition. While the conditions demanded that the summit CPs on Hecla and Beinn Mhor be removed, the remaining three CPs saw varying numbers of visitors. The two high ridge controls, which dipped into and out of the cloud base, were the preserve mainly of those fighting for podium placings. Hatharsal, the lowest and closest CP got a good number of dibs, but a percentage of the racers decided to save their energy for the long bike stage to come, pausing for some food before heading off to the machair.
The machair tracks and beach riding on South Uist have been a classic stage of Hebridean events since adventure racers first landed on the islands. The Atlantic coast offers firm, compacted white shell sand that rides surprisingly well - well, at least surprisingly for those who've never been there before. Unfortunately this year that coast also offered a ton of exposure and nowhere to hide from the relentless headwinds, gusting at over 40mph and making every pedal revolution hard work. The racers slugged it out into the gales, with the course re-routed to use back roads and the machair tracks to give a modicum of shelter and slightly less resistance, but the later segments ran down the sands to Orasaigh, a little intertidal island hosting a CP and two slightly windswept marshals. The short climb gave a break from the saddlem a chance for some food and to stretch the legs, before climbing back on the bikes and heading once more unto the beach... thanks (ahem...) to Bill Horsman for that particular pun...
As the competitors rounded the coast near the Smerclate they finally turned out of the headwind, with a sigh of relief as the gusts provided a little help rather than a large hindrance for the first time in several hours. With the second kayak leg cancelled due to the conditions, the short final run up onto Coire Bheinn was all that stood between racers and the finish line. Well, all except for the Kilbride campsite cafe, where the Durty events timing team were sheltering, and several racers popped in for a bite of savoury food and a hot drink before the final push. Apparently a bacon butty and a coffee was the perfect fuel for the last 3km of the race.
With all the racers home safe, the prizegiving and after-race party could take place, with entertainment provided by possibly the world's greatest accordionist, dancing courtesy of the racers, and hosting and food from the folks at the Polochar Inn. Ted Aas and Sean McFarlane took the overall title as well as the male pairs trophy, but the surprise of the evening was the Women's Solo podium, none of whom had had the faintest idea of their ranking for the entire event.
Provisional podiums are below, with full downloads at Durty Timing's page. Many thanks to all the competitors, marshals, safety crew and followers, and we hope to be back to see you all next year!
Female Solo:
1 Gill Crane
2 Sarah Watt
3 Nonie Horsman
Female Pairs:
1 Katy Boocock & Dagmar Borrowman
2 Lisa Codo & Caroline smith
3 Alison Spiers & Jane Campbell
Male Solo:
1 Drew Sharkey
2 David Holgate
3 Alan Affleck
Male Pairs:
1 Sean McFarlane & Ted Aas
2 Gerry Wheeler & John Jolly
3 Ben Reed & Andrew Cartmail
Mixed Pairs:
1 Emma Bentley & Steve Bentley
2 Mandy Peffers & Andy Peffers
3 Angus Thomson & Seona Burnett
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