UKC

Anyone from here doing it this year? I've got a place which I need to accept in the next couple of days.

Bailed last year from the Glencoe Skyline at CP5 as was feeling terrible and didn't want to make a liability of myself by going back up high onto Bidean. DNF-ing the Skyline really got me down - to the point where I couldn't even look at the even photos online. I went back to Glencoe 2 weeks after the Skyline and did the Marathon to try and sort my head out.

Really want to have a crack at the Ultra - especially seeing as they have hugely altered the route for 2018 - Salomon etc got a fair bit of stick for the route in 2017. Just have a niggling fear of failure again.....That and its £89...

Training has been ok so far this year - could always do with more hill work. Couple of ultras done so far (D33....Highland Fling) Got the Dirty 30 in Kintail in couple of weeks, then Devil of the Highlands in August. Milage should be ok.....just the ascent I need to contend with. And any brutal cut off times at checkpoints...

Not entirely sure what the ask is from this post - maybe just to chat with others who may have had set backs, and how to deal with it? Anyone else got a place themselves?

TIA

I'm doing the Skyline again this year but I know a few folks that are doing the ultra. The course looks much more sensible this year with better cur offs although I don't think the cut offs have been published yet.

As far as DNFing / having a bad day goes it happens to everyone, just look at Simon Yates!

What time did you get to CP5 in on the Skyline?

Hi Dave thanks for the reply. Yes I've looked at the new route and like you say it's a lot more sensible than that stretch from Fort Augustus to Spean Bridge last year. I'd have preferred to see the cut off times to help with the decision making - I might have a look again just to be sure I haven't missed something.

As for last year, I bailed at CP5 at about 3 hrs 50 ish - would need to go back and check strava to be 100% accurate. But pretty slow regardless. I remember the checkpoint marshals saying I had about 60-90 mins spare and could have kept going but I felt terrible at this point so I sacked it. I'd been going over it in my head the whole way down of Buachaille Etive Beag.

If I'd carried on, it was almost certain I wouldn't have made the tight cut off at CP11 which caught a lot of folk.

Massive respect to anyone who finishes it though - its an epic race, with some incredible athletes running.

3 hrs 50 to cp5 doesn't seem particularly slow, the last finisher went through there in 4:27 and mid field runners in 3:30ish. Making a cut off with over an hour to spare is massive but if you felt crappy pulling out might have been for the best, still a long way to go from there.

Thinking about that ultra it sits a bit oddly with the other events. Distance and height gain wise it's not much different from the Skyline but less technical ground. If they wanted to do a more accessible ultra then they could have easily worked out something say 75k ish and more on tracks.

Just checked strava there and its saying 3:57. Personally I didn't think there was that many folk behind me, but there was quite a gang just ahead of me making their way up towards Sron Na Larig.

R.e the Ultra route I think they said they deliberately wanted it to be more in the spirit of the skyrunning series, hence CMD arête and mamores and less track bashing. 2nd half of the route still looks bloody hard like, but like you say, much less technical.

I've entered this and am, quite frankly, not entirely convinced I'll finish. That said, for me, it's more about having a goal in the future that will allow me to focus my training on. I'm still trying to build back up after an injury last October so you are way ahead of me in terms of mileage this year. The way I'm looking at it, to train for it, I'm going to have to get through some mileage and some hills, so if I don't end up finishing, it will have been a good journey anyway. 

I've never failed to complete an Ultra (only done 3 to be fair) but I have totally been cherry picking them and staying well within my comfort zone. Massive kudos to you for having a bash at the Skyline, it looks an epic route and it will be a long time before i would even have the balls to attempt it. 

I guess the couple of days are up now, so did you enter?

Chris

I’ve enteted the Skyline, really looking forward to it but also worried about the ascent. The ultra looked very similar distance and height gain wise but the Skyline looks more fun and I love the technical ground. 

Don’t worry about DNF’ing, sounds like you are just being sensible but I understand how you feel. 

Good luck!

Just man up, easy hill day really. Just run faster.

If you need a rope for the CMD arete then give me a bell, will do competitive rates for veterans like yourself Al!

Hi Sutty thanks for the reply. Good positive way of thinking about it. I have entered yes, so I suppose if nothing else it'll be a nice day out in the hills. Hopefully the checkpoint cut-offs wont be too brutal for us mere mortals.

Off to Glenelg this weekend for the Dirty 30. Hoping for some nice weather, but not too warm!

Thanks Tom. The skyline is a fantastic route. The view up Curved Ridge with so many folk on it at the same is a bit of an eye opener!

You turned into some kind of hill basher like?

Shover yer rope, if you could meet me on CMD with a (Cold) bottle of full fat Irn Bru that'd be great.

I was supposed to be at Glenelg but have had to cancel due to work. A bit gutted really. See you in September, good luck.

PS. I think we've run together before, a little bit of the speyside way a year or two ago. It was your last run before the highland fling... I think it was you anyway.

Chris