Praise for Burgh athletes

Published 15 Jul 2010 09:00 0 Comments

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ON THE CHARGE: Michelle powers up the never-ending hill

IT is not how far you go, it's how far you have come and the road that you have travelled that is important.

And this year Michelle Hetherington and Andrew Henderson once again earned the coveted HEB three T-shirt by completing a trio of half marathons in some of the most far flung but beautiful parts of Scotland.

Aside from the obvious personal sporting and physical benefits gained, Michelle and Andrew were also conscious of their personal efforts to help boost the local economy of their trips to the island - well at least for the pubs and restaurants they visited.

The Isle of Harris - or Na Hearadhs, from the old Norse meaning 'high land' - provides the uncompromising backdrop to the final chapter of the HEB three series.

The east coast is a dramatic, rocky moon like landscape, where it is hard to imagine how people managed to scrape a living from the land and the sea, whereas the west coast is more conventionally breathtakingly beautiful, miles of golden sandy beaches and fertile machair soil with stunning mountainous backdrops.

It is to this place that the athletes come to lace up their shoes and trot around for one final time.

The event, which was on July 10, is a point to point race with the competitors benefiting from a coach journey to Horgabost beach for the out leg.

However comfortable and well organised the transport may be the twists, turns and substantial ups and downs of the single track road only serves to put into sharp focus the effort that will be required to get back 13.1 miles to Tarbert.

This year regular race winner, and HAAC athlete, Julia Henderson was unable due to injury to defend her title but had persuaded her brother Adam Kennedy that the race was an "easy" introduction to half marathon running.

Adam grew somewhat quiet on the bus journey as the steepness of the terrain was made apparent and there were dark mutterings about this not being like the flat Thames tow path routes he is used to in the south of England.

Julia cadged a ride to the start when Jim Bruce, HEB three organiser, spotted her and traded a lift to the start for some timing duties.

With the opportunity to shout encouragement to team Helensburgh and Elmbridge (Adam), Julia jumped at the chance. Also joining the ranks of HAAC friends at this race was Andrew's long time chum and professor of podiatry from that great Kingdom of Fife, Jim Woodburn.

Jim and Julia must have been in cahoots because he had thought that it would be a great idea to bring along another flatlander for his first half marathon - Juri from Holland.

Mrs Thomas (Gail's mum) made a serendipitous cameo appearance on the boat from Uig to Tarbert seeking out the HAAC contingent, wishing them well for the race and commenting on how much she enjoyed reading about the exploits of Gail and her team mates in the local press.

As is traditional in this race, and to avoid upsetting residents near the start, the bus convoy stops some two miles short of the start line for what can only be described as the most scenic and comical toilet stop as some 150 runners disembark, admire the view and irrigate the landscape.

Avoiding mad-dogs and mid-day sun, but not the stiff wind, the runners set off at 1pm with the sage advice from Jim Bruce that the race has only one hill.

He neglected to conclude his sentence by confirming that the hill starts at mile five and finishes somewhere after mile nine.

Michelle quickly settled into her stride picking up on the tail of some of the leaders and series challengers.

Andrew was merely content to pick up on the tail and watch the front of the pack set out on their trail for glory.

This year the wind provided some assistance, pushing the runners unkindly and speedily along the most scenic and flattest parts of the course before swinging round to the east to provide a testing companion for the last three miles home and down into the new finish at Calmac's Tarbert ferry terminal.

Pushing hard and chasing down a former American marine stripped to the waist Michelle Hetherington finished in a brilliant second place in 1.29.20.

Andrew brought the curtain down on his HEB challenge in a satisfying 2.04.29.

More significantly however Michelle struck silver in the overall womens HEB3 Challenge and was also rewarded with first prize in the super vets category.

This article appeared in Helensburgh Advertiser 15 Jul 10

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