The Isle of Jura Fell Race Saturday 25th May 2013

Start: Craighouse, Isle of Jura, 10:30am Thank you for your entry for the Isle of Jura Fell Race. There will be a limit of 250 starters, and this year the entry pattern has been very similar to last. Thank you also to those who have already notified us of withdrawal, usually due to injury. So far, about 290 people have entered, 8 have withdrawn, and the rest are on an ordered waiting list many of whom are going anyway because they realise they will probably get a late entry. It is impossible to predict how many will drop out during the last week, or how many no-shows there will be on the day, and we have to keep a few places for local runners, suitably vetted, who may enter on the day. Remember, the figures were the same last year, but only 208 started. The website will be kept up to date on the state of the start list. We know the rest of you are all amazingly fit and well, and are looking forward to seeing many familiar faces again on Jura.

FINAL DETAILS AND IMPORTANT INFORMATION UPDATES Please monitor the website jurafellrace.org.uk for possible updates, if you opted to receive this document by post. If there were anything really important, I would try to e-mail you. CONTACTING ORGANISER BEFORE THE RACE We (inc. better half, Rosie) shall be on Jura from Saturday 18th. Before then, we shall still be at our home address, as on the entry form on the website, tel. 01520 733373, mobile 07973 886037. On Jura, e-mail is the only way to get in touch, but response might be slower. If that fails, leave important messages care of the hotel – see Contacts page on the website – tel. 01496 820243. SMS to 07973 886037 can work, but coverage is very patchy. CRAIGHOUSE For newcomers, the following items are all within about 100m of the Start Line: camping field, bar, hotel, distillery, cooperage (registration, etc.), general store, café, passenger ferry landing jetty, kayak landing zone, public car/campervan park, public toilets (maybe 200m). CAMPING Most folk camp in the field between the hotel and the sea. This is free again in 2013, and the hotel will have a mobile toilet block and showers outside at the back. Showers will probably cost 3 pounds. A new toilet and shower block is under construction, so from 2014 the facilities will be greatly improved. There are also public toilets nearby, as are parking spots for vans, on the road down to the pier. Other tent/camper spots are available away from the village, before and after 3 Arch Bridge. Midge nets can be a blessing of a still evening, depending on how tasty/hardy you are. Don’t forget you can pre-order any special food delivery you need from the community-owned shop: see contact details on our and their websites. The catering van does delicious snacks/meals and the hotel will be dishing out a vast number of bar meals. The van usually does bacon rolls etc. in the morning. What was for three years the Antlers Bistro has now been taken over by people on the island, but in 2012, at least, it was no longer licensed or offering internet access. It is a good café though. RACE HQ FARMHOUSE For the third year running, race HQ will be in Feolin Farmhouse. This is a white house up an initially straight track above a field just over a mile from the hotel as you head north. It has to be hired by the week, but the owners allow us the extra Saturday night after the race. HELPERS There are some jobs and times when extra volunteers would be useful:- 1. Friday evening and Saturday: last minute requests for marshalling assistance if booked marshals have had to drop out. Attendance at the marshals’ briefing at 19:00 in the Fire Station close to the hotel. See below. 2. 10:00 to 10:15: Man the entry gap into the holding pen and tick off the numbers on a list, close pen, hand completed list to organiser computer desk just over the road a.s.a.p. after race has started. 3. 10:15 to 10:25: This requires a few people for a short time – herd the supporters well back from the start line to allow room for runners to assemble and not get mixed up, let runners out of the pen to the start line ready for and close to the final announcements about conditions, weather and retirement procedures. Once everyone is in the pen, we want to get them all out on to the start line as quickly as possible. 4. Finish line: youngsters to place medals on runners when they cross the line. 5. Cooperage: hungry people to eat the cakes and pies. MARSHALS are organised by Donald Ewen on the island. Most are local people. We do our best to assess the situation beforehand, but often do not know until a late stage if marshals are not going to make it. In this case, we need to recruit at short notice, so on Friday it is always possible that a call will go out for more to fill in any gaps. Full marshals, radio controllers and MRT briefing is at 19:00 on Friday. REGISTRATION Will be on Saturday morning from 8.30am to 10.00am by the race start in Craighouse. If possible, this and other activities will take place in the cooperage, adjacent to the start line, as in recent years. You will be asked to fill in a form which would make it easier for us to find you after the race, if necessary. This will include anything like: if camping, colour and location of tent; camper van registration and location; accommodation address; which ferry you are planning to return on; name of some one else (preferably a competitor) who is on the island and who knows you. Everyone has a full kit check at registration. Please allow time to go off and find or borrow anything you have inadvertently not packed. On passing your kit check, you are issued with nine plastic tags bearing your race number. Additional kit checks can be required at any stage of the race, including the finish. Anyone found racing without the relevant kit without good reason after having passed the initial kit check will be disqualified. KIT Kit requirements will be strictly enforced. Required kit comprises: full WATERPROOF BODY COVER, hat, gloves, emergency food amounting to at least 200 kCal, compass, whistle and a decent map. (A robust colour map derived from the OS 1:50000 or 1:25000 series would be expected). Low- resolution copies or the map from the website would not be adequate. Acceptable waterproof body cover must include a jacket with a hood, and be made of a material such as GoreTex, e-Vent or Paramo, and must have taped seams. Please consider a survival bag if conditions look poor. If you decide to leave your road shoes at 3 Arch Bridge, feel free to put them in a poly bag with your name clearly marked, down near where you come out from under the bridge. No need to hide them. Your trashed fell shoes can go back in the bag. PRE-RACE PROCEDURE There is a taped-off pen (the distillery car park) outside Registration, beside the start line. Runners will be admitted to this zone from 10:00. On entry to the pen your clearly displayed race number will be ticked off by the start marshals. You will then be registered as a starter. If for any reason you do not actually start, you must notify the race organiser (or one of the start marshals before they hand in their list of starters to the organiser’s computer table) by handing in all your remaining tags to one of the above. As soon as all competitors appear to be in the pen, after loudspeaker checks, it will be closed, hopefully at or before 10:15am. The exit from the pen and the start zone will be cleared of non-competitors and runners allowed out to the start line. At this point the course – normal or bad-weather – will be confirmed, retirement procedures repeated, the weather and conditions mentioned, and any other warnings explained. There may be a guest speaker. When it is confirmed that everyone is on the start line, the race may start. ON THE HILL Hand in one of your numbered plastic tags at each checkpoint. Shout your number to the marshal as you approach, if it is not clearly visible. The marshals tick off your number; the tags are a backup system in case of errors. There is also a radio person at each checkpoint. Anyone who passes a checkpoint and does not arrive at the next one has to be accounted for before marshals can be stood down. Obey marshals’ instructions. Help other runners in distress (this is probably an unnecessary instruction). Avoid the SSSI on Beinn Shiantaidh – map displayed near registration. You wouldn’t want to go that way anyway, even though it looks more direct. It’s awful. Water can be obtained at principal bealachs (cols) and other known spots from springs, streams or lochans, depending on the route taken and the recent weather. Mountain rescue teams will station themselves at two points along the course. All check points and MRT teams are in radio contact with base. Important Retirement Instructions If you decide not to carry on at any point, or are compulsorily retired by a marshal, you must make your way back to the coast road and then to the Start/Finish point. You must make sure all your remaining numbered tags are handed in either to one of the finish marshals who are cutting off the last tag or tags as people come in, or to the organiser or assistant at the computer table. In either case, you must inform the official you are handing the tags to that you have retired. Informing course marshals or other runners that you have retired is extremely useful, but you must also report to the finish. If this is likely to take a long time, please send word ahead. If, having retired, you reach the road at 3 Arch Bridge, inform the marshal there that you have retired, and make sure this information is being radioed in to base by the Raynet operator at the checkpoint. This is particularly important if you have been out for 6 hours or more by then, and is so that we can stand marshals down on the last hill checkpoints as soon as possible, and put the Mountain Rescue Teams’ minds at rest.

JOHN DARE SHIELD John Dare suffered a fatal heart attack on his way up to marshal at Checkpoint 4 in 2012. He was well known and liked on the island, and a notable sailor. Some of the runners knew him though his and their involvement in the Scottish Islands Peaks Race the weekend before the Jura Fell Race, which takes in the Paps en route. 2013 will mark the first award of a fine commemorative shield for an outstanding achievement in both races back to back. The winner(s) will be chosen by runners who have just been involved in both races and SIPR people who happen still to be in Craighouse. It is retained for one year. MEDALS, T-SHIRTS AND PRESENTATIONS A local lady has spent the winter hand-painting and glazing 250 special ceramic medals to commemorate the 40/30 year anniversary in 2013. All finishers will be given one on crossing the line. I hope there will be a number left over for the children’s races (see below). They are from the Persebus Pottery at Port Askaig. Every runner receives a T-shirt courtesy of the Jura distillery, and they will be available from tables at a suitable time after the race. I managed to squeeze in a last minute request for 50 more ‘mediums’ this year, most runners will be pleased to hear, but it is a ‘free-for-all’ system, so make sure you get one. The prizes and presentations take place at roughly 5pm. The sponsors produce crystal whisky tumblers engraved with the year of the race for anyone finishing in under four hours. If the conditions are fast, let’s hope they have enough of them - there is a very strong field this year. The Islay Brewery is also donating two cases of Islay Ales for prizes. In this anniversary year, there will be some notable ghosts from the past who will probably want to say a few words and hand out the odd prize or two. INJURED OR UNABLE TO RUN Please let us know if you are injured or unable to run for any reason. Right up to the day before the race – by e-mail. Very useful (psychologically) for hopefuls who have made the trip. FAST PASSENGER FERRY from TAYVALLICH direct to CRAIGHOUSE Please check the website page about parking and camping at Tayvallich Do check the information in the Travel and News sections of the website for the details of private operators who will be running this service. There are various options, depending on demand. You do need to phone ahead to arrange a trip, and you might need to phone ahead to arrange a parking or overnight camping spot. TRAVEL ON THE ISLAND Bikes are traditional, free on the ferries. The minibus service from Feolin to Craighouse has a timetable, and may well be running extra trips. Check with the operator, or trust to luck. The Port Askaig to Feolin ferry is not supposed to operate after dark. Check timings. If taking a car or a camper, and a lot of cyclists have already set off from Feolin, why not have a brew for half an hour before setting off along the eight miles of narrow single-track road. Just a thought. CHILDREN’S RACES Please check the website for any information on the ever-popular children’s races. This year they are being organised by Becky Thorpe (2012 organiser) and Polly Gibb (2011 organiser). (Technically, and in fact, these races are run by the islanders and their helpers, and have no legal or insurance connection with the main Fell Race). FUTURE RACES – and how the race works The organiser is merely the co-ordinator of this historic fell race, since so many people are involved. In particular, without the sponsors, the Jura Distillery, and the marshals, their families and other islanders, for all of whom this is a major annual event, and the runners, ex-runners and families who help enthusiastically over the weekend, it would not work. Long may it live on as it is and how we love it. The race cannot operate without on site mountain rescue cover, due to the remote location and the severity. It remains an unknown quantity, as ever, whether the entry fee will have to go up further in the future to cover MRT costs, due to reductions in public funding of the police service in general. We are looking fine at the moment, and pay only for their fuel, ferries and bar meals. We also depend heavily on Raynet, the voluntary radio controllers, paying only for their ferries. We are very grateful to both these organisations. Have a great weekend,

Graham and Rosemary