Scottish Islands Peaks Race 2010

The 2010 Scottish Islands Peaks Race full results will be posted on their website on Friday 28^th May: www.scottishislandspeaksrace.com

We had two teams this year, the Boys with John Denholm and Stephen Leckie on LARK, a beautiful Sweden Yachts 45', ably assisted by Lawrence. The Girls were on SCEPTRE, a 12m with a 93' mast, 69' long, which was the 1958 GB entry in the America's Cup. Sceptre was skippered by Tom Smith, and crewed by Dave and Chris, two other keen members of the Sceptre Preservation Trust.

The start on Friday 21^st May at 12.00 in Oban was a 5 mile run in real heat, followed by a series of 50 yachts bobbing around in the bay, trying to row out to Mull. As the forecast was for a force 1 on Saturday, the youth teams decided to motor to Mull and Jura and try to start their sailing race from Jura, to ensure all the youth runners got to run the islands they had trained for. Barbara and Curly Mills kindly agreed to bend the rules for us to do this.

So began a series of transfers from island to island, with the wind staying away almost completely for the whole weekend. This allowed our boys' team to win the boys, the girls to win the girls' team event, and Fettes to win the mixed team event. (Check the results to see how many youth teams there were!)

All concerned have a real sense of achievement, including all six Glenalmond Girls, the five Glenalmond boys plus one from Strathallan, and the six members of staff who ran as the accompanying adult runners.

"Pain is temporary, but Victory is forever!"