Highland Cross 2016

 

One of the highlights of my running year 2016 was the Highland Cross, a Duathlon held every year to raise money for Highland charities. Entry is in teams of three and each team must commit to raise £500 for charity. We managed to raise £1150 through quiz nights, selling home baking after races and donations from family members and friends.

During 2016 I had been carrying an injury and my running was not going too well. However I did get a new bike and was cycling to work so getting a lots of miles under my belt. The week before my event however, my confidence took a bit of a dent because I was in a tumble at high speed in the wet. My new bike was a little scraped as was I!

On the weekend of the Duathlon we travelled up to Inverness and I managed to get my bike loaded onto the truck with about thirty seconds to spare. The bike was going to be transported around to the changeover point at Glen Affric. I was meeting fellow team mates Anne and Jane and we were getting the bus round to the start at Morvich on Saturday morning from Inverness. My injury seemed to be playing up this weekend and it was touch and go whether I would even start the race.

 

The weather was glorious and the scenery was stunning up at Morvich and we waited for the start with anticipation. Another Wee County Harrier, Sandy, was also doing the event with some family, so we met up with him too. Funnily enough as soon as I started running, my injury just disappeared and I really relaxed into what was going to be a very sociable and friendly event.

We wanted to really enjoy the run so we chatted, ate, laughed and giggled as we ran the 20 stunning miles from Kintail through to Glen Affric. It is a really well organised event and the marshalls are wonderful and encouraging.

 

The terrain is quite rugged in bits but we took our time and walked any really steep hills. We were not racing anyone and we did not have a time to finish in mind, we merely wanted to complete!

The 30 mile bike ride starts with a very steep descent which normally I wouldn't mind. However after taking my fall off the bike the week before, I was taking the descents a bit gingerly, so we lost a little time at the start of the bike ride.

This is an event I would love to do again. Great organisation, friendly marshalls, stunning scenery and they even organised the weather for us. An added bonus was that it finished in Beauly which had a mighty fine chip shop. Here's hoping I get into the 2017 event!