Speyside Way Ultra Race... Good luck everyone!!

9.00am Saturday 27th August 2011, 108 runners, including myself, will be starting off on the 36.5 mile 'Speyside Way' Ultra race. Good luck everyone, have a great run !!
The race starts at the old railway station in Ballindalloch  passes through Craigellachie, Fochabers and Spey Bay, and finishes in the centre of Buckie.
It's a great wee ultra race, part of the Scottish Ultra Marathon series, well organised, not too commercial and very friendly. An ideal race for runners wanting to move up from marathon distance, as well as seasoned ultra runners. Last year I ran it in 6.06.06,(6 hours, 6 minutes and 6 seconds), spooky time or what?? This year I will be happy with a sub 6 hour time, but the main emphasis is to take it easy as a last Ultra run prior to the Tor Des Geants in 2 weeks time.

At 11.30pm this evening, ( postponed from the earlier start time) the 2011 Ultra Trail Du Mont Blanc will start, 103 miles non-stop from France to Switzerland to Italy, and back into France, over the Alps. The weather forecast is not so good, thunder in Chamonix and snow falling at 2000 metres. My best wishes go out to all the runners taking part, wishing them a safe, successful run.
There are a number of Scottish runners out there from the WHW 'family', so all the best guys, have a great race!

Today I picked up a new running jacket, the Montane Minimus, from the 'Run-4-it' shop in Aberdeen. The staff there have been really helpful sourcing some top kit for me over the last year.
The Montane Minimus is an extremely lightweight, ( 230g Medium size ), fully waterproof and breathable jacket. RRP £ 120.00.  I will be reviewing it on this blog site within the next 2 weeks.
This is the jacket that will accompany me on the 208 mile Tor Des Geants satisfying the mandatory requirement  to carry a waterproof jacket. I think the TDG will be a suitable test of its capabilities.

For a bit of fun I will be taking my old companion 'Rubber Ducky' along with me on the Tor Des Geants and photographing 'RD's' exploits along the way as he becomes 'Ultra' Ducky !!
Rubber Ducky accompanied me Ice diving under the White Sea in northern Russia in 2008.
I will post some photos of his previous exploits shortly !