Lairig Mor Trail Race

14th March 2009
Results | Photos | Route details at EveryTrail

22km trail race from Mamore Lodge to Fort William along the West Highland Way

This was my 4th outing at Lairig Mor and almost certainly the windiest. Before the start I chatted with Craig Mitchell, Tom Smith, Mark Harris and Jason Williamson, and as luck would have it, this was precisely the group I ran with until about the halfway point. Jason and I were doing most of the sheltering, and Mark and Craig were taking most of the wind.

The pace felt pretty pedestrian until halfway at which point Craig stamped his mark on the race and really took off. Tom gave chase, with Mark, Jason and myself strung out in 3rd, 4th and 5th positions. I lost sight of Jason for the last few miles into Fort William, but kept working hard to make sure I would finish under 1:40, which I just managed with 1:38:41.

Lairig Mor Trail Race

17th March 2007
Results
22km trail race along West Highland Way from Mamore Lodge to Fort William.

The race was won by Lochaber's Craig Mitchell with Colin Donnelly 2nd, John Kennedy 3rd, Adrian David 4th, and I finished 5th just ahead of Dan Gay. First lady was Lochaber's Amanda Blackhall with Ellen Homewood 2nd and Cat Miller 3rd, both of Westerlands.

The weather started off OK, but got increasingly wet and windy, and was pretty vile by the end in Fort William.

Lairig Mor

11th March 2006
Mamore Lodge to Fort William
14 miles / 1660ft ascent / 2270ft descent
Results
As a bit of light relief before tomorrow's Balloch to Clydebank Half Marathon, I drove up to Fort William for Lochaber's Lairig Mor Race along the final 14 miles of West Highland Way. I started steadily and only lead for the first mile or so, before I let John Hepburn and Peter Kennedy pull away from me. Next to pass was John Kennedy, followed by Michael Diver. I ran with Paul McLean for a while, before he dropped out with a twisted ankle. Three other runners passed, but I got 2 of these back in the second half, plus Peter Kennedy who faded badly. Two other runners caught me later on. The first was George Cairns, then near the end Niall MacBeath came storming through having a great run. I got a major kick up the arse when Niall arrived, and used him to get past Ken Rumgay before the final bit of road. I planned to drop Niall as soon as we hit the road, but in fact the opposite happened, and my sprint finish never materialised.
Somehow Michael Diver must have got lost, since he finished behind me, without me knowingly having overtaken him.
1. John Hepburn, Lochaber, 1:27:27
2. John Kennedy, Clydesdale, 1:28:48
3. Jason Williamson, Cosmics, 1:32:38
4. George Cairns, Lochaber, 1:33:48
5. Niall MacBeath, Lochaber, 1:35:14
6. Chris Upson, Westerlands, 1:35:26
16. Steffen Gorgas, Westerlands, 1:44:03
44. Christine Menhennet, Westerlands, 2:01:34
68 finished