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Stewarton Ultrarunners Summer Sur-round . 100 miles around Ayrshire
During lockdown , all running events were cancelled , and
although daily exercise was encouraged , running was restricted initially to one daily session outdoors from the front door .
From late May onwards , running events companies started arranging “ virtual races ” where participants could sign up , do their running on their own and log it with the event to show what they had done . Two of the Stewarton ultrarunners covered 100miles each over 4 days in the “ centurion one community virtual race ”, and some of their children got involved during the week with ( slightly ) shorter runs . lifted , so the group could run together again , in a physically distant way ( with no high fiving ). The route started under the viaduct in Stewarton at 10 am , headed out to Dalry by road , then over the hills to Largs . There was a climb up through the windfarms behind Dalry up to 1000ft with a section crossing a moorland bog ( soggy ).
Three of the group had originally signed up for the 95-mile West Highland Way race , which was originally due to be held in June , but this was cancelled . However , the organisers arranged a “ virtual West Highland Way race ”, with the challenge to cover 95 miles in 10 days . 4 of the group took part .
Arriving in Largs ( 24 miles , 3pm ) they then took the Ayrshire coastal path all the way down to Irvine ( 50miles , 9pm ). It was a baking hot that day , in the 20s . Loads of people were out on the beaches and enjoying the sunshine . It seemed too hot for a long run . Kirsten Cowling was on hand with her van at points along the route for the runners to rehydrate and stock up . The route continued from Irvine along the beach via Troon and Prestwick to Ayr ( 62 miles , midnight , wading through a river in the process .) From there the route followed the River Ayr Way up to Mauchline . Through this section , the darkness had fallen and the runners had to trudge on through the night by the light of head-torches through thick mud and marsh . After Mauchline ( 80 miles , 5am ) the route went by road over to Galston then on to Fenwick . The last few miles were the toughest and a real slog to the runners left . They had become quite spaced out ( in both senses of the word ). Scott , Marc , Gordon and Billy completed the 100 miles , all within 20 minutes of each other , after 25hours of running / hiking . Billy Mclean , who was the first finisher , said it was a tough route . ( slight understatement ) Kirsten said she had great fun crewing but missed the fact she wasn ’ t allowed to hug anyone at the end . Scott didn ’ t have much to say and fell asleep pretty soon after finishing ….
The group will be back running together when covid guidelines allow . Watch this space !
This all turned out to be good training for the challenge they developed for themselves to do on 8th August : A 100 mile run around Ayrshire . By that time some of the restrictions on activities and meetings had been