Another free t-shirt

IAU World Trail Challenge, Serre Chevalier

Does anyone else get fed up with free race t-shirts? I've lost track of the colossal quantity of unneeded and unworn kit I've gained this year. The 'May Hill Massacre' t-shirt was the first if I remember rightly, with a tasteful dripping chainsaw logo. Draycott Water 35 and a local 10k soon followed with some fairly naff shirts covered with sponsors logos.

My Wye Ultra finisher's shirt is at least a reasonable training top; the Galway 100K t-shirt is moderately wearable. But then for Galway, I was also given a Scottish vest, tracksuit, shorts and a Scottish Athletics t-shirt. It was the end of March, and my wardrobe was already close to exploding.

Joining the Vasque team, I was given three more tops to wear for races – a vest, t-shirt and a long-sleeved top so to have something for any weather. And a fleece to wear afterwards. Oh, and a whole load of socks, and a few pairs of Vasque shoes. And then a month or two later, along came another two t-shirts, and a couple more vests... plus a windproof top, another fleece... and a few more pairs of socks.

Hurrah for the Highland Fling, which gave us bottle of champagne for finishing. Full marks too to the Fellsman (nothing but a cup of tea), Marlborough Downs (a nice hand-made mug) and the Girton 5K (banana). The Picnic marathon a few weeks ago however compensated for these far more sensible races, netting me a naff sunhat and a canary yellow training top (not to mention some non-wearable rubbish). Though, to be fair, it did have a fine picnic afterwards too. But why can't race organisers just charge a smaller entry fee and make the t-shirts and tat an optional extra?

But running for your country really takes the biscuit. A fortnight before the IAU World Trail Challenge in the Alps last week, UK Athletics sent me a kit form. Foolishly, I ticked the boxes for everything I was entitled to, and two days before the race, an enormous package arrived. For running one little race for them, I got a vest; a short-sleeved running top and a long-sleeved running top; a cotton t-shirt; a long sleeved cotton shirt; a polo shirt; two fleeces – white and blue; a jacket; a couple of pairs of shorts; two pairs of leggings (long and short), a couple of sets of tracksuit bottoms and five pairs of socks.

It's all nice enough stuff, and the shorts, vest and socks I wore for the race were very comfortable. But the rest is really terribly wasteful: I'm never going to wear most of it.

I suppose it is quite an honour to be swaddled so comprehensively in the colours of the union flag, so I shouldn't grumble. My only worry now was running well enough in the race to justify my selection - I knew that while in Lizzy Hawker and Angela Mudge we had an exceptionally strong womens team, us blokes were considerably less strong. Neither of us had run internationally before, and in the selection race Allen Smalls had come third, and I had trailed along gently in fourth. I was well aware that if Jez Bragg hadn't decided to run Western States instead, I would never have been asked – and that there are a fair number of runners in the country faster than me who hadn't for various reasons gone for selection.

I thought I should at least enjoy the experience of running at an international level now I had been given the honour though, and Serre Chevalier was a fantastic race setting. Lots of memories will stay with me - the start with a thousand runners jostling in the darkness along the narrow track out of town; the switchbacks up the Col du Galibier, and the steep rocky ascent to the pass; labouring across the high screes and patches of snow in the thinner air of nearly 3000m altitude; the fast loose descents off the cols; the awesome views to the mountains; the smells of forest and meadow as we climbed out of the valleys.

Having gone off from the beginning fairly hard, I managed to stay ahead of the girls – though not by much. They were certainly the stars of the British squad, with Angela taking the ladies silver, and Lizzy – despite not being on her best form – the bronze. Given the standard of the opposition I was pleased with my 14th place in the overall race (7th in the IAU competition), and Allen came around halfway through the International field too despite the terrain not really suiting him.

As I crossed the line, sweaty and tired from 42 miles of running and 3500m of climbing, a French girl smiled sweetly and handed me a finisher's momento. I glanced down.

Just what I needed. Another t-shirt.

Three Peaks Yacht Race win

We had come to the realisation after the Scafell Pike run that we were out of the running for the king of the mountains trophy and decided to pull out all the stops on the sailing and running to try to win the overall prize: it was a gamble all strategy.

Late on Wednesday evening, it looked like our strategy had gone horribly wrong. It seemed like a line of wind was pushing the chasing fleet towards us as we were rowing in dead calms. We managed to escape the clutches of the Lynn of Lorn tidal gate as the others got within a mile of us. We rowed desperately up Loch Linnhe as we watched the other boats assemble at the Lynn of Lorn tidal gate: the Gates of Lorn.

We rowed up Loch Linnhe for hours until we picked up a feeble wind. We watched the other boats trying to battle their way out of the Gates, but progress seemed slow. It appeared as though one white sail made it out through the Gates.

After hours of rowing and feeble winds, we suddenly got involved in a force 7 blowing down from Glencoe. EADS Innovation Works heeled right over and shot off. These were the only strong winds we had in the whole race. The Martins woke up as the heeling began and we set about manically stacking charts and electronic kit that was lying about the boat. Things were flying everywhere. It brought back fond memories of the 2008 race. North of this wind were the Corran Narrows: the final tidal gate before the finish. If we could get through this with no other boat around, we'd have a clear and substantial lead.

The wind inevitably died down (maybe to force 3) as we went through the Narrows. The spring tide rushes through The Narrows at 4 to 5 knots and is a true tidal gate. Geoff worked his magic and negotiated the gate. At one stage, Geoff was apparently so close inshore that the crew could have picked flowers from the shore! I can't say I was asleep while all this was going on: I was dozing. I couldn't get to sleep: John kept shouting out our progress over the ground (from the GPS). My spirits would rise with sounds of forward progress and fall when John exclaimed that we were going backwards. When I could take the suspense no more, I got up, popped my head out of the hatch into the cockpit and saw the Corran Narrows behind us: what an uplifting sight. Geoff taking EADS Innovation Works through there in light winds, against a spring tide was a work of pure genius.

We sailed and rowed up the upper part of Loch Linnhe. We had maybe 3 more hours of rowing: mostly sailor powered, but some powered by the runners. We were greeted by a beautiful dawn at the head of Loch Linnhe and eventually by the even more beautiful sight of an Fl(2) red buoy: this marked the limit of where we could get our engine on and was a huge relief to everyone.

Within 10 minutes, Team Vasque were stepping ashore onto the pontoon, ready for the final running leg. We had a 2 (or so) hour lead on the next yacht.

I was extremely sceptical of how well we'd run given all the rowing we'd done, the night watches, the lack of sleep. In 2008, I knew that something was wrong as soon as I stepped onto the pontoon. This year, I bounced up the pontoon: this felt promising.

We had a nominal race plan as ever: 30 minutes to Achintee House, 90 minutes to the top, 50 minutes back to Achintee House and 30 minutes back. The most important thing was to get up and down in one piece: to not do anything too clever, too special, too flashy. The race plan was secondary to the main goal.

We could see Ben Nevis 5 miles away, patches of snow covering its summit. The initial issue is a 4 mile road run to the base of the mountain proper. We ran this well, getting to Achintee House in less than 30 minutes. I was then surprised that we wanted to run up the path towards the Ben. I just went with the flow. As we ascended, we never got to the stage where things seemed difficult: the hours of rowing and lack of sleep seemed irrelevant as we raced up Ben Nevis, leading the Three Peaks Yacht Race on a perfect day in the cool of the early morning.

We had a tactical decision as to whether to take the zigzags or climb directly to the summit. We were ascending well on the zigzags and just stuck with that plan. We were really enjoying it now and powered up towards the top, clipping the summit checkpoint less than 2 hours into the run.

We made a little detour on the way down to admire the view down to the CIC hut from the summit cornice. A huge gulley, flanked by slabby cliffs and snow fields, dropped into the abyss, clouds swirling around the adjacent crags. It was a beautiful sight, well worth the detour.

We descended directly, running down scree slopes to meet the main path again, then legged it back down towards the mountain base. This was really enjoyable running, bouncing over the rocks as gravity took us home towards the finish line. In the distance, we could see other yachts making their way up Loch Linnhe towards Corpach. Below the Red Burn, we passed the first set of runners coming the other way: this would be a hot and tiring ascent for them.

Martin turned on the style as we ran along the road sections back to the finish. I tucked in behind and followed him all the way. I thought we ran pretty well to the finish, finishing in 3h20m.

The finish line was a welcome sight: our crew and support crew were there. We were sprayed with bubbly as we crossed the line. It was a fantastic feeling to have won the Three Peaks Yacht Race. This had turned into a life ambition and now it had been realised: you can't be unhappy with that! I was especially happy to win it with Geoff and Gary on board EADS Innovation Works. We'd shown loyalty sticking together and sticking with Lightning Reflex (aka EADS Innovation Works). It might have been possible to find a bigger, faster boat, but it was important to me for us and Lightning Reflex to stick together.

I thought we'd stood a good chance of winning the Ben Nevis leg with our time of 3h20m. In any other year, that would have been a stand out time. It is a testament to the quality of the runners in the race this year that 3h20m seems to have only got us third place and that many running teams have posted sub-4 hour times.

The day has been taken up with chatting to the other crews, lounging around in the sunshine, eating haggis burgers and the obligatory trip to the local pub: where three of us fell asleep at the table - according to team tradition. The finishers' party starts tonight: I need to stay awake. Tomorrow, I can sleep on the long trip back to Bristol.

Slow progress east of Lismore Island

Progress has been slow up the east side of Lismore Island. There was a good gust of wind half way up that had us tanking along at 8 knots, but that died almost as soon as it started. We then got to the Lynn of Lorn which is a little strait at the north end of Lismore. The tide turned here.

Things were looking a bit desperate. Objects on the land were transitting oh so slowly. The GPS showed us stopped in the water. The Lismore ferry came over and offered us assistance (we've had about ten offers of assistance from other mariners and all seem somewhat bemused when we explain that we're intending on rowing to Fort William). When we declined their offer, they told us that the tide was turning and we'd need to move quickly. We were only a few hundred metres from open water.

This somewhat desperate situation got us motivated. We got all four oars out and started rowing with some determination. We started moving at 2 knots through the water, seeing objects on land slowly transitting. Inexorably, we passed the northern tip of Lismore, out into Loch Linnhe and our first sight of Ben Nevis which is so near, but so far.

We have seen other yachts come up behind us. They have made good progress in the band of wind behind us. This has been pretty demoralising. Our hope is that they will have a battle on their hands getting out through the Lismore tidal gate. Out in Loch Linnhe, we seem to be making progress against them, but who knows?

The marine life continues to be very exciting. We've seen beautiful jellyfish sculling for whatever they eat, otters swimming around watching us and seals that seem to pop out of the water, clap and dive. I like to think they're cheering us on.

The ideal scenario now is that we get enough wind to progress while the rest of fleet suffer in the calms of Lismore. This might sound unsporting, but we've had our fair share of rowing and it's only fair that they have to do their penance.

The nightmare scenario now is that everyone gets strong winds. The mile or so that we've pulled in front through hours of rowing may count for only 10 minutes in strong winds. In a dead calm, the mile advantage will keep us an hour ahead. This is an hour that the runners will need given the effort that we have put in with the rowing.

I can't comment on current conditions for competitive reasons. We keep our spirits us, show plenty zeal and hope for the best.

A seal or otter dives in front of Ben Nevis as the sun sets and the runners prepeare to sleep. Whatever happens, we'll have a battle on our hands on the Ben and we need to rest.

Exciting developments coming soon

I've been trying out a pair of the new Transistor shoes that should hit the shops in early 2010 - it's exciting stuff!! They are super light and built using a different technology that means no insole and a much lower profile. The lower profile means that they offer great stability and, although intentioned as a road/trail crossover I have already taken them through their paces on the Canyons section of Western States course twice - they give great confidence on the descents. Despite the lower profile and weight they offer good support and good cushioning (even for my ageing knees). I now have a pair with a bit more grip and forefoot protection for those pesky stones and plan to try them out on the traditional sufferfest that is the Hardrock 100 course recce - imagine, no acclimatisation, 3 and a bit days on trail carrying everything, loads of elevation,scree,rocks, snow and thunderstorms and all the while worrying about bears! Ah well, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger and I'll have my new shoes to keep me happy :) Look out for them - they rock!!

Mark:.....Blog: www.markhartell.blogspot.com

Rounded Mull of Galloway

We rounded the Mull of Galloway several hours ago thanks to the tide and some feeble wind. We've been chasing patches of ripples on the water. These ripples indicate where there is wind. The scenery is all very nice, but it would be nice to see something different for a change.

We're among a fleet of Three Peaks Yacht race boats. GFT Adventure are very close on our starboard side. Both us and them have been rowing on and off to try to get our yachts into the ripples and hence into the wind. As I type, we've hit the wind and have thankfully speeded up. This is good news for me as it means that I am off rowing duty for the next few minutes. I periodically get asked to move from one side of the boat to the other. Apparently, this can beneficially alter the shape of the sails. It is good to know that I am useful, even if only as ballast.

Spirits rose at midday as we got the music on and we sailed, or drifted along in the sunshine to the sound of country and western. I have even more respect for Geoff now I know he listens to Tammy Wynette and Dolly Parton. I am pleased that he has been sharing this music with us.

The tide will turn in the next couple of hours. Unless we get some more wind, we might end up going backwards. I'm hoping that we make the Mull of Kintyre by tomorrow morning. We should then have a nice upwind sail up by the islands of Jura, Islay and Mull towards Fort William. One thing's for sure: we should be well rested when we arrive for the final run!

Rowing through the Sound of Luing

There was little wind through the Sound of Luing. We could choose between saving ourselves for the next run and rowing. Rowing was the more likely way to win the race overall and so we opted for that. We've done about three hours rowing. There is going to a price to pay for this on Ben Nevis. If we are sufficiently ahead on the water, it will have been a price worth paying.

The tide really pushed us through the Sound of Luing. Although we were only doing 1 knot through the water, we were managing 6 knots with the tide. The tide race in this region might get a bit dodgy for the following boats: there is an infamous whirlpool called the Corryvreckan whirlpool that some of the other boats might have to contend with as the tide builds. For us, this problem is over. There is one tidal gate to go through: Corran Narrows. After that we will be on the homeward stretch to Corpach and the final run (which will be a real test).

The scenery we are sailing through is spectacular. There are mountains and islands to our sides. We aren't commenting on boat speed or conditions out here for competitive reasons: the rest of the fleet will find out for themselves sooner or later. The Team Vasque Martins just need to rest and ready themselves for the run to come.

Nightwatch

It' been an eventful night....

There was a tacking match between the lead boats along the coast of the Mull of Galloway in glorious evening sunshine. We got to see this beautiful, but relatively unknown, coast up close: a mass of slabs, zawns and pinnacles. We were sailing up here against the tide and against the slightly onshore wind. When there is a strong tide out at sea, the tide inshore is often less and hence there is advantage in sailing as close to the coast as possible. Hence we tacked close inshore against Ulula and Hazard Chase for a couple of hours. They were ahead of us. The goal was to round the northen tip of the Mull of Galloway: we'd then get out of the strongest tide and be able to make better progress.

The wind died by the northen tip. We saw the two lead boats in a wind hole: in glassy seas. Then we smelt land and the wind flipped to the other side of our sails. The wind had suddenly changed. Geoff steered EADS Innovation Works towards the open sea, towards the ripples and away from the lead boats. EADS Innovation Works sped up and we tanked past the lead boats at 6 knots to become the lead boat ourselves. That land wind was a godsend: cow poo never smelt so good!

We sailed across the mouth of the Firth of Clyde in the setting sun: Ailsa Craig and Arran to the north, the Mull of Kintyre to the west and Northern Ireland to our south. The sky was beautiful: pretty much cloudless and lit up red and orange as the sun set behind the Mull of Kintyre. There was a beautiful beam wind which gained us speed. The other boats dropped off behind or down towards Northern Ireland. As Geoff commented: if you're behind or downwind, you're behind.

Until the Firth of Clyde, we hadn't seen any especially fancy marine wildlife. There had been loads of jellyfish and the odd seal, but nothing to write home about. But in the mouth of the Firth of Clyde, we saw a fin rise out of the water and then the body of a whale arcing into the water. I'd never seen a whale before in any shape or form, so seeing one in the wild, in this race, was special.

Given that the race was likely to take some time, we'd decided that the plan would be to let the sailors get some rest overnight, so they would be able to race our yacht as well as they possibly could up the Sound Of Jura towards the finish.The runners could then get some sleep during the daylight, ready for an evening run up Ben Nevis. This made sense as it was unlikely that the runners would win the king of the mountains trophy after GFT's run on Scafell Pike. We might as well place all our eggs in one basket and just do everything we could to try to win the overall race.

I shared the first part of the nightwatch with Geoff, EADS Innovation Works tanking across the Firth of Clyde on a flat sea, under an orange sky, with the spinnaker up. John took over as we approached the Mull of Kintyre itself. The wind died and we spent some time rowing in the dark. When the wind reappeared, it had shifted. We got the genoa up, the wind built and we were on our way again: no other yachts in sight.

The Mull of Kintyre in the first light of dawn (which happens in the northern sky up here at this time of year). From seaward, it is a triangular massif, rising on both sides to a pinnacle summit. We saw it as a black silhouette against an orange sky: an amazing sight. It feels like a reaaly significant turning point: a british Cape Horn.

We turned the Mull of Kintyre sailing at 8 knots, doing 12 knots over the ground with the tide in our favour. The wind became really strange with hot and cold gusts. The wind then flipped through 180 degrees. We followed the wind and ended up pointing back where we'd come. As the wind shifted, we swap from pointing at the Paps of Jura (the right way) to pointing at the Mull of Kintyre (the wrong way). It was all extremely confusing! I was getting tetchy by now and I knew that the best thing to do was for me to just go to bed. Gary was woken up quickly and so John, Gary and the other Martin sorted things out while I went below.

It is now Wednesday morning. We are sailing along in a good wind. Nunatak has closed on us, but they've recently hit a wind hole and fallen back. It's going to be cat and mouse all the way to the finish. I hope that the sailors will be able to keep us going and keep us in the lead. I just need to rest now.

Stop press: we've passed loads of beautiful large grey dolphins. The wind has died and we're rowing like mad. There's a slight concern that another boat has gone the other side of Islay, but we'll soon be in the same water which will destroy any advantage they may have. Cruising boats all around Are motoring along offering us tows that we cannot accept. It is always a concern when they appear on the horizon as they seem to be going quickly and we think they may be in the race.

No sleep till Ben Nevis!