Road to the Isles half marathon
THE ANNUAL Road to the Isles half marathon took place last Saturday.
As well as the half marathon which started at Arisaig House at 12pm, there was a 10k race starting on Traigh Beach and a 5k at Loch Morar.
The event was to raise funds for the Mallaig Pool and Leisure Centre refurbishment which aims to raise £1.1m overall and prior to the half-marathon day the total was at around £ 309,000.
Over 450 participants signed up, coming from as far as Devon and Cornwall, Paris and America. Alistair Hay (Central Athletics Club) was the first man over the line in the half marathon with a time of 01: 08:30, with Iain Manson (Metro Aberdeen Road Running Club) coming second with a time of 01:19:29. In third place was individual runner Donough McBrearty with 01:22: 02 and the first local to finish was Ewen Henderson with a time of 01:24:11, placing him in fourth.
The first female finisher was Kate Jacobs (Swindon Harriers) who finished in sixth place over-all with a time of 01:26:36.
The winner of the 10k run was Gareth Niblock at 44mins 29 secs, with Patricia Mulholland finishing second with 49:50, and Ewan McCarthy coming third with a time of 50:27 secs.
The fastest three runners in the 5k race were all junior runners with Thomas Woods (Central Athletics Club) coming first with a time of 22:40, Iain-Finlay MacIntyre was second with a time of 23:14 and Jennifer Scott came third with a time of 24:30.
The male and female winner of each race won a painting each of the Road to the Isles scenery courtesy of Laura Kingswood.
The whole community pulled together to host the event.
Cameron Macintosh donated a giant paella pan that feeds 250 and Duncan Chisholm from La Tortilla in Inverness offered to cook the paella, with Arisaig born fishmonger Iain Stewart donating seafood for it.
The McCarthys from Mallaig Bakehouse donated granola energy balls for participants and Pam from Lochaber Yoga gave free, post-race yoga classes.
Sarah at Arisaig House and Eilidh at Traigh Golf Course let organisers start the races at their properties.
Shiel Buses donated a bus and driver to transport participants to the start line and the Co- op in Mallaig provided water, sweets and fruit for participants as well as sending over some staff to help give out medals and goodie bags.