Isle of Coll 10K 2017 - Race Report

Post date: Oct 12, 2017 2:47:34 PM

By Robert Semple

Following on from MOK TRI the next excursion was the Isle of Coll for the 10 k and Half Marathon . An early start was required to catch the 06.15 ferry from Oban and many familiar faces were seen on the boat including Glasgow based Spaniard Miguel who had finished in the top 5 of the MOK RUN . ( can’t get into results to check exactly where)

A strong wind greeted the competitors as we arrived at the race registration in Arinagour where most of the competitors were camping the scene was like Everest base camp with multi coloured tents blowing about everywhere.

My race was the 10 k which is not my normal distance however on Coll it was far enough! The 10k starts just before the beach on the south west of the island , as we were waiting I heard one of the other competitors look at the sandy track and say “ I wish I had brought trail shoes my friend said the race was all on roads” my reply was “ this is Coll these are the roads “!

The start was highly technical with a mobile phone and Bluetooth speaker blasting out accordion music for the warm up and a count down to the start time ,- again with the phone, well there is not much in the way of facilities in the sand dunes!

Away we went , I pushed fairly hard till the first water/ whisky stop and after a quick dram on the move my pace slackened allowing a couple of runners past however I had a good battle with another three all the way to the line and coming out on top of them finally finishing 14 th out of 83 in a time of 52 mins

Margaret Sinclair completed the half marathon in 2hrs 2 mins and was first super vet , our Spanish friend was 4thIn the race but won the Tri Island series made up of Tiree, mull and Coll Half and 10 k races .

A great ceildh went on into the night and by lunchtime on Sunday it was time to get the ferry home . Great event with 350 competitors including the kids race and I think the Tri Island challenge could be on the Callander for 2018.