70 Wild Miles
14th. June 2003
The fifteenth event was one of the best yet ! Lovely weather and lovely competitors! But I'll let the Boss give the proper report:-
70 Wild Miles 2003
Hello Everyone!
Hope
all your aches and pains from either taking part or helping out with 70
Wild Miles 2003 have gone. We were all fortunate enough to enjoy lovely
weather throughout the day and these good conditions allowed the solo
course record (5hrs and 2 mins) to be smashed by Calum Urquhart
from Inverness in a time of 4hrs and 52 mins, fantastic effort Calum!
Twice a previous winner, Simon Patton was a close second in a time
of 5hrs and 06 mins and Brian Moore, another regular competitor,
achieved his best placing to date, being third in a time of 5hrs and 09
mins.
The solo female race was won by Gill
Irvine who on her first attempt at this event managed a very impressive
5hrs and 46 mins.
As
I'm sure everyone is aware, Christy McKee, an American Girl based
in London, suffered a very nasty fall at the start of the cycle section.
We are happy to say that Christy is expected to make a full recovery from
her injuries. As organisers of this event we were deeply saddened to see
anyone get injured. It happens very rarely, however, it does serve to
remind us that there is potential for injury during this course and we
must take all precautions to avoid anyone being hurt. I'm sure everyone
would join us in wishing Christy a full and speedy recovery.
For the most part, the conditions
were good throughout the course, warm sunshine to recover from the cycle
at Taynuilt. We had more or less flat calm water through Loch Etive with
the exception of a few miles of slightly choppier water in the midway
point, some found the run a wee bit on the hot side, however, this made
for a pleasant time with the helpers! (There is always a plus side!).
The junior race was run again this year with around 15 young people taking
part, some of the youngsters came from Tomermory on Mull to take part.
All seemed to have a good time and like the main event, enjoyed fine weather
throughout.
There
were the usual festivities at the Glencoe Hotel in the evening. What was
supposed to be a. band of four people from Inverness playing in the lounge
bar turned out to be about 15 musicians! (The more the merrier!) They
were also joined by Craig Robertson (the piping competitor) for a couple
of numbers.
Upstairs
in the main hall, for the benefit of the younger crowd, "Few Dollars
Short" from Edinburgh played for a blistering 30 mins. They were
followed by "The Jack Daniels Experience" from Stirling who
played until 1 am and as usual, the lads set the place alight! They were
also joined by Craig, (the now very "tired" piping competitor!)
who rounded the night off nicely.
From an organisers point of view,
we have been extremely fortunate once again to have had so many fine people
turning up to help run this event. As has been said many times before,
there are more people helping out than those competing and this year we
had 114 competitors! It never fails to amaze us, the amount of people
offering their support year after year. The helpers not only make the
event possible, they help make it easier for us to organise. We can't
thank you all enough!
This
event managed to raise £44,000 for Cancer Research UK last year.
Based on the sponsorship expectations the competitors made at point of
entry for 2003, we are ever hopeful that we may exceed this figure and
continue the upward trend. Can all competitors please forward your sponsorship
money as soon as you possibly can to the contact below?
We have set a date for presenting
all monies raised from 2003 to a representative from Cancer Research UK
at The Cramond Boat Club in Edinburgh on 27th Sept. at 8pm, you are very
warmly invited to come along if you are free.
Many thanks once again to everyone involved with any aspect of 70 Wild Miles, we hope you had a good time and look forward to seeing you again soon!
Our
very best regards
Brian, Ray, Gordon, John
(Event Organisers)
Please
make all cheques payable to "70 Wild Miles"
(You can also make payable to "Cancer Research UK" if required,
a registered charity, No.1089464)
Whether your cheque is payable to "70 Wild Miles" or "Cancer
Research UK"
Please send to: John I.Allan, 40 Newmains Road Kirkliston Edinburgh
EH29 9AW
On
Saturday 27th. September, 2003 a cheque for £59,000
was handed over to Cancer Research UK.
A full list of the results for the day are listed at the links below for
anyone who is interested. The excellent conditions we had this year allowed
some very extremely impressive performances from everyone.
