Monday, 23 June 2014

Quick West Highland Way Race Report


Conic hill, 4:20am Saturday 21st June, 17.5 mile done
Had a absolute blast in West Highland Way Race on Saturday, had a few little mishaps along the way but came pretty close to running the perfect race.  Finished in 20:18:46 which is nearly an hour faster than Gold target, and just off my Platinum dream time.  Very happy indeed.

View from Devil's Stair case looking back towards Buachaille Etive Mòr More. 4:49pm, 75 miles done
Weather was great, underfoot conditions perfect, atmosphere at start, during and after at the awards ceremony was electric.  Some truly amazing performances were put in by the elite men and women.

Paul Giblin's new course record of 14:20:11 will create shock waves far beyond Scotland, a world class performance.  2nd place Robbie Britton also ran an astonishing race finishing in 14:47:18, 20 minutes inside Paul 2013 course record.  Matt Williamson in 3rd finished in 16:04:07, a time that would have comfortable won in most previous years.

In the women's race Fiona Ross won in 18:45:04 which I believe is the 3rd fastest women's time and Rosie Bell finishing in 19:02:19 with the fourth fastest women's time.  I actually caught and passed 3rd placed ladies finisher  Keziah Higgins on the descent into Kinlochleven (80miles in) but she passed me later on the way to Lundavra after I was hobbled by a calf injury.  Keziah finished strong in a time of 20:09:35.

It's now a day an half since I finished and I am feeling a bit battered and bruised thanks to the little mishaps but 100% elated.  Scrapes, bruises and strains are just part of the collateral damage of covering 95 miles on stony trails, these will be heal quickly.

I will write a full write this week, collect together various photo's taken by my family and crew.  I had an absolute ball and much of this was made possible by the support of my crew and my family. Thank you guys and girls :-)

Thanks also to race organizers and all the marshals, the warmth and efficiency was top class.  What an amazing event you've created!
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6 comments:

  1. Thomas23 June 2014 at 13:00

    Well done! I knew you'd do well, I told you so :)
    Can't wait for the race report. Well done again.

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  2. Unknown24 June 2014 at 10:56

    Well Done! Great time and looking forward to the write up :)

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  3. Anonymous24 June 2014 at 14:54

    Absolutely brilliant result Robert, I was following your progress and it looks like you stuck to your heart rate plan the whole way.
    Can't wait to read the full blog, looks like you may have even got closer to 20 hours had you not picked up an injury.

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  4. Robert Osfield24 June 2014 at 15:41

    Thanks Thomas, Heather and Steven. Haven't started the write up yet... still digesting it all, and enjoying recovery ;-)

    I now have a rather strange shaped right lower leg where I tore my calf muscle. The injury likely cost me a sub 20hr - two runners I had passed on the Glen Coe to Kinlochleven leg passed me on the way to Lundavra and went on to record two 19:50's times. I'm pretty sure like them I would have also done the last leg in under 3hrs - I had the energy and my head was still in the game, but as it turned out my right calf just didn't have the resilience required on the day. The poor muscle had put up with 80 miles of tough trails and performed great so it did pretty well - so no complaints or regrets.

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  5. Anonymous27 June 2014 at 10:35

    Well done

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  6. Sarah27 June 2014 at 13:02

    Well done, indeed - sorry I never got chance to chat, you were over the other side of the hall in the prizegiving and I lost you in the mass exit. Looking forward to seeing the write-up. There are some pictures of you in some of the albums posted up on facebook, don't think you're on FB though are you? Hopefully someone is finding them for you, for the blog post. :-) x

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