Thirteen Tortoises gathered at Androssan Harbour to  join 28 other running club teams to  journey over to Arran for the annual Round Arran Relay race.

For those who are not familiar with this event the relay consists of teams of six runners who combine to run the 56 miles around the Island, the legs are split into six sections with distances varying from 8.5 miles to 11, the routes are listed North 1,2&3 and South 1,2&3.

Each runner runs a leg and all times are totalled to give an overall time, luckily this is not a relay in the sense of handing over a baton you are bussed to your start location and picked up at the end of your section.

So after an uneventful crossing for everyone except George who was fielding questions from everyone about how difficult and hilly there section was we disembarked with lots of other running clubs into a very balmy Broddick.

After a short walk along from the harbour to register and change into our kit we then had the obligatory team  photos taken, the organisers then bussed all the teams runners to Blackwaterfoot  as the first set of runners set off.

We had a gents team and a mixed team and the first runners on the North leg 1 were Stewart Swan and Mags & Hazel with Fraser and George heading off at the same time on the south leg 1.

The rest of us was then split onto busses and driven to our respective start locations, i was running South 2 along with Lucy Oldham, on arrival at our start location we were faced with a 2 mile killer hill run to start off with and it did not get easier from there, i must say my leg and Lucy can vouch for this was tough with lots of hills but some spectacular views to compensate.

After a brisk 8.9 miles and eevryone had finsihed it was back on the bus to Broddick to meet up with every one else, eevry Tortoise had a horror story to tell with some killer hills on every section, however there was also much to be proud off with some great times posted and a great overall result for both teams.

I must say that Claire Bain has alraedy said she cannot wait for next years run and wants to captain a ladies team so she can pick her own route i am sure thats what she said by ‘never again’

For those who did not have to rush home the usual post race recovery took place in The Douglas Arms and involved stretching no further than to the bar.

Next year we hope to enter three teams a ladies, gents and mixed team, its a great day out on a great island.

Results

Gents Team 9th overall time 6hrs 56.35

North 1 Stewart Swan 1.28.09 11th overall – North 2 Jim Phillips 1.14.37 9th overall – North 3 Rob Carroll 1.12.52 14th overall

South 1 Fraser Mcphail 49.38 7th overall – South 2 Darrell Dunscombe 1.09.32 13th overall – South 3 Jamie Bickett 1.01.47  11th overall

Mixed Team 21st overall 8hrs 19.47

North 1 Hazel & Mags 1.46.50 25th overall – North 2 Ian Mcnee 1.31.15 23rd overall – North 3 Graham Mckenzie 1.17.49 17th overall

South 1 George Mcgregor 1.05.15 18th overall – South 2 Lucy Oldham 1.20.02 21st overall – South 3 Claire Bain 1.18.36 26th overall

http://www.roundarranrelay.co.uk/gallery-2015.html