Traigh Harder Series 2023

By Ewan Smith

Stornoway Running Club’s Traigh Harder Series involves 4 short races over 4 days; a beach run, a track run, a trail and a 5K on the machair. There wasn’t much more info than that when I signed up but I was to be in Lewis for 3 out of 4 and I’d never run on a track so it sounded interesting.

The first race was on the track. It turned out to be a mile which I knew would be hard as while I still have endurance, speed is not a strength. We had been asked to provide an estimate beforehand and as a result I found myself in the final group along with guys in a whole different league. I recognised a few faces from previous Stornoway halfs and knew that 3 of them had been 15 minutes faster than me. The club has a strong junior section and a number of them were also lined up. I spotted a lady who always seems to pass me at mile 8 of the Stornoway half and decided to tuck in behind her and see what happened. What happened was I came last. At 5:55 I was behind the winning time of 4:40: I had struggled to keep to Muriel the lady I was following and I had been passed by all the juniors. On a more positive note I had been faster than the other old guys in the previous heats and so found myself on the podium clutching a marag dubh (a Stornoway black pudden for the uninitiated).

Later in the evening I discovered that the series did not have the usual categories of vet, senior vet etc. There were 4 categories:”coves” a Stornoway term applying to any male; “blones” a Stornoway term for any female; “bodachs (old men and “cailleachs”. I had max points as first bodach on the track.

The second race was in the grounds of Stornoway castle where there is a maze of trails, cycle paths and wee short cuts. The premise was simple; you had to race to Gallows Hill and retrieve an object (a Cadbury’s hero) to prove you had been to the top but the route was up to you. I have, over the years, pushed buggies round the castle grounds but I had only the sketchiest notion of the best route. My obvious solution was to follow Muriel again. But that plan fell apart as Muriel was a time keeper!

And so we set off. Fairly quickly I was in 3rd with 2 guys in front of me but then the closest, Murdo MacKenzie disappeared amongst the trees on a route of his own. That left me trying to follow Lewis Macalpine who won this year’s Edinburgh 10k in 32:45. What could possibly go wrong? A couple of wrong turns later, I got to the top and decided to follow a wee shortcut down which I had spotted on the way up. Unfortunately it wasn’t quite what it seemed and I ended up sprachling down a steep bank through the trees adding on a good few hundred metres. However, I had done enough to finish 3rd; albeit well behind the first 2

The third race was on the machair in the north of the island. Mostly the grass was short though there were some section where it was longer and other more duney bits. The course was marked with wee flags but I had done a warm up with Lewis Macalpine and knew they weren’t always easy to spot. I went off at my usual pace but I heard Muriel’s feet behind me and Tommy Morran’s voice in my head so I eased up and let her pass which solved pacing and navigating at one go. All went well until the 4K mark which was uphill and I passed Muriel. Whether she was tiring or playing me at my own game I don’t know but anyway I was navigating. All was fine at first but the grass got longer, the flags got harder to see and the lead 2 runners were out of sight. Muriel was still following but we were both starting to question things. Unfortunately when we stopped we realised we had no idea where were or where we were heading. By the time we reached the finish we had added on the better part of 1K but surprisingly we weren’t last.

I couldn’t do the final race on the Traigh Mhor ( of beached whales fame) but if you’ve done the Slog in the Sand then you’ve got the picture

So to sum up, I got 3 races - all that bit different from the usual, one large marag and some great company and all for a fiver! As a final touch , when I got back home I learnt that I had got enough points from the 3 races to win the Bodach category.

There’s life in the auld Fla yet!