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Competitors in new Badenoch duathlon beat the weather and Redcoats!





The first man home was Iain Gordon.
The first man home was Iain Gordon.

The strath's newest duathlon event has weathered the storm and looks like becoming a regular fixture... and when we say weathered the storm, that's just what we mean!

On Friday, as the last preparations were being made for "The Highlander – Escape the Redcoats", things were looking decidedly wet and windy in Newtonmore, and the organisers had to make a few subtle changes to the route.

Mr Dougie Bulmer and his friend Scott MacDonald are behind the new sporting competition launched to raise funds for the local life-saving campaign Lucky2BHere.

"We had hoped it would include some hilly tracks but, considering the range of our entrants – both age and geography – we felt we had to play safe," said Mr Bulmer.

Some 32 valiant cyclists and runners had entered for the big duathlon on Saturday morning and, in the final event, 22 of them made it on the day from as far afield as Wick, Glasgow and Fife, with quite a few locals bringing up the rear.

The route followed a figure of eight course consisting of a 39-mile cycle and a nine-mile run through Glen Banchor by Newtonmore,

"We're really pleased with the turnout, especially considering the way the weather turned out in the build-up," said Dougie, a Newtonmore native now serving as a police detective in Glasgow.

"In fact, the numbers made it all more personal. All the volunteers who turned out to steward the race soon got to put names to faces, and it was great for the athletes to be cheered on by name.

"That's the way we'd really like to keep it. We certainly do now want to make it an annual fixture, and may even restrict the numbers to under 50 as a matter of course, to keep things personal and friendly."

He and Scott, a Laggan-born lad who moved away to the Central Belt, where he is now an Edinburgh fire-fighter, were full of praise for the locals who turned out to man the 39-mile course.

The route started and ended at the Highland Folk Park in Newtonmore, where volunteers were resplendent in Jacobite and Hanoverian costume, lending a bit of atmosphere to the occasion.

The competitors are helping to raise money for more public defibrillators in Badenoch.

"We've yet to gather in the cash but it will be gratefully received," said Mr Bulmer.

Results: 1 Iain Gordon, from Prestonpans, in a time of 3 hours 25 minutes; 2 Kenneth Forbes 3hrs 31mins; 3 Andy Rae 3hrs 39 mins; 4 Lee O'Connor 3hrs 45 mins. First female was Simreen Dhairwal in a time of 4 hours 18 minutes.

For more on the Lucky2BHere charity visit www.lucky2bhere.com

And they're off... re-enactments formed part of the start of the duathlon. Pic: Robert McLean Photography, Kingussie.
And they're off... re-enactments formed part of the start of the duathlon. Pic: Robert McLean Photography, Kingussie.

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