Well here we are, the end of the line. In May I did the toughest event I’ve ever done, ROC Wales. In September I did the toughest event I’ve ever done, ROC England, it’s now October and I’m writing this four days after the ROC Scotland. Spoiler alert, it was the toughest event I’ve ever done..
ROC Scotland is a short race, only 73km; but within that 73km it builds in:
- Sea loch swim (1500m)
- Mountain Bike (27km)
- Up Ben Nevis (~8km)
- Down Ben Nevis (~8km)
- Mountain Bike (27km)
- Run (1.5km)
The total ascent for the day, 2400m.
Oh and it’s only the second year that the event has gone ahead, with last year being apocalyptic, albeit very Scottish weather, resulting in a cancelled swim and a shortened run.
As with all the other ROC races, the only time constraint is the mountain summit cut off, in this case this fell at 5km into the run and was set at an optimistic 1200.
That’s the background, onto the story..
Buildup
Post ROC England (only about give weeks ago) life was turned a bit upside down for a few weeks courtesy of work, my shakedown run being running to Gatwick a day after the race for an impromptu three day trip to Sweden followed by some illness and various other excuses meaning that training was next to non existent. I suspect I managed to just about keep ticking over.
The most concerning point about Scotland is the cutoff, as above it’s a bit of an unknown and looking through the results from last year about 50% wouldn’t have made the cutoff unless they’d had extraordinary swims. The 1500m swim also has a 1km run back to t1, which last year as the swim was cancelled was replaced by 1.5km run too and from t1. So by my maths they were at least 20-25mins better off than we would be if the swim went ahead. Ah well, nothing I can do but give it a go..
About a week out from the race we finally sorted some accommodation, a lovely little cottage in Glencoe. The western highlands are one of my favourite places on earth so we were keen to get back for a full week. I entirely screwed up though and ran out of holiday so had to work one day in the week but being Scotland it was grim anyway.. We had an absolutely stunning few days. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday with Thursday being acceptable for “Scotland in October” standards.
On Monday night, I joined some locals on a “walk and a dip” at Steall falls just off the Nevis Range, which was an amazing experience. The water was about five or six degrees and a perfect way of ending a day. Well worth a trip if you’re ever in the area.
As the week wore on though the weather forecast for the weekend was looking more and more worrying, with forecasts of rain at “ground level” with strong winds and low visibility at Ben Nevis. When I say strong winds forecasts throughout the week were estimating between 40mph and 80mph with +20mph gusts, with <100m visibility.
To say I was nervous was an understatement, and we ended up buying some more kit in Fort William, namely a warm fleece and a balaclava.
Friday came round and a quick trip to Kinlochleven for registration, a typically painless affair (although they didn’t have any swim hats which isn’t ideal). The two people I spoke to from the event team had varying views about what Saturday would hold, varying between “There’s no chance you’re getting to summit tomorrow” to “yeah it’ll be a full swim and you’ll make it, no worries”. I did leave with some confidence that they’d try to run the full event.
I took a wander down to the swim start to have a bit of a look but it was dark and a bit of a waste of the walk, but it’s never a bad thing to see where you’re going to be.
Back at the cottage we negotiated with the tiny terrorist (two year old) about going to bed and I made sure everything was as ready as it could be. Trying to work out how to pack everything whilst still taking the various mandatory kit. (I’m glad I had suncream and a baseball cap for sure).
In the end I decided to wear some mountain bike shorts over my tri suit for the sole reason that they had a pocket for my waterproof, which doesn’t fit in my trisuit as it transpires, and a fleece on top.
Race Day
Well, predictably I slept dreadfully, I always do the night before a race, too many nerves/adrenaline/other. The alarm went off at five thirty and I dragged myself to get a coffee and try and get some food down. Early morning food is another thing I really struggle with, but I managed to eat most of a slice of toast and most of a pot of instant porridge. Most importantly I managed to get the coffee down me.
Threw the bike on the roof and a toddler in the car and we got going, we’d agreed the night before that with the location and the distance between the swim and t1 there probably wasn’t a lot of point in Becky sticking around with a grouchy toddler so I cracked on.
It was drizzling a bit and the early morning news was that the swim was “probably” going to be shortened to 1000m, and the run was highly likely to be terminated at some point before the summit that was yet to be decided. Shortened swim here was pretty disappointing, I was angling for a cancelation in a lot of ways. For almost everyone a 1.5km run is going to be quicker than a 1.5km swim and a 1km run.. but we take what we can get.
Racked up, got chatting to a few people (shout out to Huntingdon Tri club and all the trilogy athletes) and took the walk down to the swim start.
Swim
So the swim is in a sea loch, there’s a few “odd things” about this, the main one being it was weirdly salty. Not as in it was really salty, but that it wasn’t. There was just a slight hint of salinity that made it really odd..
It was an in water start so the temperature (no idea what it was but logically somewhere below 12.5, I don’t really trust organisers measurements), wasn’t a particular problem. Don’t get me wrong, it was really cold but you had some time to acclimatise. Also, slightly differently from the other races Gloves, hats and booties are allowed should you so wish. I did chose to wear gloves just for a little more comfort.
And we started. The water was pitch black, no visibility at all and I found myself drifting off to the right a fair bit so had to adjust to sight more than usual. Oddly for a 1000m swim, my watch vibrated for 500m substantially before the turn point but I didn’t think much of it. Lots of people clearly struggling with the temperature, lots of breast stroke.
I did in the early stages of the swim resort to a bit of breast stroke just to make sure I wasn’t getting overwhelmed by the cold and losing my breathing calmness. Those who swim in cold water will know once your breathing gets out of control it can be really hard to get it back..
Approaching the turn around my lips were going very numb and I was clearly losing some concentration as I ended up swimming over a couple of people (I’m far to polite to do that if I realise) this knocked me a little but nothing major and we got to the finish a decent way up the bottom third which I was pretty pleased with. Definitely had more to give but as I’ve said in previous reports these aren’t races to experiment with pacing.
Swim: 27:55 (Garmin measured as 1450m)
T1
The run to T1 was grim, I wore calf guards under my wetsuit as decided that trying to run without them with super cold legs was going to be a recipe for disaster, but to call my trip to T1 a run would be very generous, but we got there. (8:48)
I faffed at T1 quite significantly, I’m not sure what was going on but my body wasn’t keen on doing what my brain asked of it. 9:14 T1 and onto the bike.
Bike
This was savage, there’s no other good way to describe this. The bike starts off with a gentle climb, before ramping up to a 3km, 7.2% climb up to 229m with the elevation for the first 8k being over 300m. I sure as hell wasn’t cold after that..
You come off the tarmac after that first 3km to proper British gravel (ie a bridleway with surface quality varying from a bit rough to absolutely disgusting. One rider in front of me snapped his rear mech almost immediately and unfortunately had a long walk back to the start.
The surface for the next 10k or so is about the same, with plenty of “rolling” hills and a fair bit of hike a bike (for me at least). When we eventually got clear of the first section of off road we were greeted by some fairly robust climbs. The race guide says you could do the course on a gravel bike, everyone I spoke to on a gravel bike agreed that it was stupid. That being said, there were a few sections on the tarmac where a gravel bike would have been drastically quicker. I actually think the ideal bike is probably a light hardtail with fairly non-aggressive tyres. I have fairly aggressive trail tyres on mine and whilst they were good on the offroad sections they sapped my speed, power and strength on the road parts. Although to be honest, I think I’d have enjoyed it more on a full suspension bike just for a bit more comfort.
Anyhow.. feed station. Jelly babies and water. Winner.. I did a bit of a silly and wore a camelback on the bike. You might think this is a great idea, and it would have been. Except I washed it the night before and all I could taste was washing up liquid. I think I managed two sips before feeling nauseous. My excellent nutrition work at the ROC England just didn’t happen in Scotland but more on that later. I had a boost, a cup of water and a handful of Jelly Babies. I didn’t die.
After the feed station you loop round toward fort William on what is largely pretty decent single track with a nice decent into t2 through some trees, nothing too technical and quite a pleasant experience overall.
Bike One: 2:12:22
T2
Into T2 with about an hour to go before the 5km checkpoint, we find out the turnaround has been set at Pooh corner due to the weather (about 1250m so not too far below the summit)and that the 12:00 checkpoint might have some wiggle room but that we should get cracking.
Got myself sorted and out of T2 in a sprightly 6:29.
Run
The run starts off with a 1kmish flat section of tarmac before you start up Ben Nevis, this was predictably pretty fine although the legs were certainly not 100% after the bike. That being said you have to push on as this is (for people like me) the only real chance to make up some time.
Then the climbing starts. Ben Nevis as a general is a straightforward (albeit arduous) climb, in my view substantially more straightforward than either Snowdon or Scaffel, but it is relentless. The 5km checkpoint is not far off the height of the full Snowdon climb. About 4km in and about five past twelve, a marshal shouts that the 1200 cutoff has been stretched to 1230. The relief was significant, knowing that I still had a chance to make the 1230 cutoff if I got a shuffle on. I’ve got 20mins or so to do 1km, should be fine. It was, but not by much. I think I reached the cutoff with about 5mins or so to go, at this point pretty chilly as I didn’t want to stop to put on my jacket or feed and miss the cutoff. I had a bit of a chat with the marshal and photographer and watched the last couple of runners come in with seconds to spare on the cutoff.
I’d made it.. I was going as far as it was possible to go on the day. Even if I had to push the bike back, I would finish the trilogy!
The last slog up to the “top” was great, with an instant mood lift. I stopped to take some photos and to just enjoy the rest of the experience. The sun even looked like it might make an appearance through the fog. At the top a group of us formed with some top banter which stuck all the way down as well. A quick photo at the top and we’d done it!
Run up: 2:14
The way down was pretty straightforward, and actually offered some views. The weather forecast was actually mostly wrong! The sun did come through and we had some great laughs coming down the mountain, although my knees did feel dreadful by the bottom. Ben Nevis has a lot more “stairs” than the other two and this definitely took a toll.
Run down: 1:40
T3
Had a wee and a cup of tea. It was very civilised. I confess I wasn’t really looking forward to the bike back, but it was going to be what it was going to be.
T3: ?? (Tracker says 1:28 but I don’t believe that).
Bike 2
Absolutely disgusting. Lots of hike a bike, my legs and general core were shattered. Mountain biking (at least cross country) is a full body workout and everything was unhappy. I did conclude fairly early that staying on the bike and spinning was, worst case marginally quicker than getting off and pushing, and did get more confident with the terrain as time went on.
After the first section of off road though, after a lovely little decent where, dare I say it I actually smiled. We did immediately hit a hill where I might have uttered a few profanities, getting some chuckles from someone who had conveniently got a mechanical not far from the start.
On we cracked though, walking the toughest sections and spinning the rest. I think the way back is a tougher ride as while the ascent is far more gradual, it goes on and on and on sapping the energy out. By the intermediate feed station there were a selection of us trading places at fairly regular intervals depending on the terrain. Some were making time back on me on the descents but then losing it on the rougher terrain, by this point I was feeling a bit more confident and obviously promptly had a minor wobble, clonking my knee into the frame and unclipping unceremoniously.
I stopped and took some photographs and a lady who’d been swapping places with me since T1 and I agreed we were both emotionally and physically ready for the bike to be done but that it was a pretty good view over Kinlochleven.
Pretty soon after this we hit the tarmac again and began the decent into T4, the tarmac felt like the best road surface I’ve ever experienced and the decent down into the town was lovely.
Bike 2: 2:48:47
T4
I entered T4, had some banter with the BTF rep, but couldn’t see Becky, William or Chewie. Disheartened I got myself sorted for the final, 1.5km run home. Fortunately I spotted Becky waving frantically and I pulled myself together for the final slog.
T4: 2:20
Run 2
The race ends with a little loop of the ice factor in Kinlochleven, and somehow, my legs felt ok all things considered and overall I averaged 5:46/km including fighting with a toddler at the end for the finish.
I overtook three people on the run which was awesome, but I made sure to cheer them all on. It was a tough day for all and no one needs a smug sod running past ignoring them.
I got to the finish, grabbed (literally in this case, he wasn’t happy) William, threw him under my arm and got across the finish.
I did it. I completed the toughest section of events that I’ve ever done.
Run 2: 8:40
Aftermath
I had a chat with some of the other competitors and cheered the last few finishers over the line (there weren’t many a I finished 92nd of 97 finishers). We then drove to Glasgow to see the ever wonderful Gav and Rebecca for the rest of the weekend.
Overall I was across the trilogy, literally last place, 30th out of 30, which could be a bit depressing, but then I started digging into the statistics. In total there were 48 people who did at least one race of the trilogy that means that 37.5% of people did not finish all three races.
I had an absolute howler at Wales due to illness, costing me a huge amount of time on the series. I was faster than a number of higher placed athletes at England by a substantial margin, and had a couple of others reached the Scotland cutoff I’d have been ahead of them overall as well. Regardless of all of this, I got out of bed and signed up for something that most people would look at and say “that’s a bit mad”. I did it with a small child and a hectic work life which does impact training no matter how hard you try.
Most Importantly, I absolutely loved it. If it’s still going I’ll do the series again for my 40th hopefully I’ll have forgotten about it by then.
Shoutouts and Final Thoughts
Want to give a couple of shoutouts although they probably won’t read this.
Firstly to the winner of Scotland Iain Veitch who incredibly won in a time of 4:58:54, 20 minutes ahead of second place. (fourth place was just under an hour behind). Iain passed me about 1km into my run (coming down while I was going up) and took the oxygen to say well done.
As if the timing wasn’t enough, a bit of stalking later and I find out not only did Iain win Scotland by a bonkers margin, he also won England a month prior. Has a young child, and broke a vertebrae back in March. Absolute fair play..
Second, all the ROC event team, marshalls and mountain crew thank you for making these events happen, and thank you for giving up your time to sit on a mountain in the wet so us nutters can do silly things in the name of fun.
Third, to all the ROC athletes for the banter, the encouragement and the staying power. I’ve never raced where there’s been quite so much comradery amongst competitors. This makes it so special.
Last but not least to my wonderful, ever suffering wife Becky, who always has the hard job when I race, entertaining a two year old and a springer spaniel, and even getting up at 0515 on Sunday morning when William decided it was time to wake up and I couldn’t face it. Thank you for everything Becky. When you do the ROC I’ll happily take on that baton and watch you smash it (you did buy a hat..)
I’m now planning on taking some time off races and training in general (with a possible exception for my standard pre-christmas “wrong turn at the parkrun”) to let my body and mind rest a bit, and get back into the coaching side of things which I really do enjoy.
2025 is going to be different, but still big with just a Single race planned, it’s not Bolton but hopefully next year will be the year I cannot shut-up about finishing an Ironman.
