Hill Running

The terrain in the Outer Hebrides is typically scrubby grass interspersed with rock and heather with some very steep rocky hills, particularly in Harris, where the highest peak, Clisham, rises to 909 m. Near the beaches there are often sections of super-fast short grass, known as machair, and of course there is also the odd bog and lots of lochs and lochans.

Sometimes the navigation can be quite tricky, especially in mist, as there are areas with lots of natural features, but very few tracks.

All in all this makes for some superb running and the views from some of the summits in particular are spectacular.

Individual runs might vary from less than a kilometre to maybe 15-20 km maximum with the vast majority in the lower half of this range, but the conditions underfoot and the altitude gains are often more significant than distance. In 2004 the total distance covered on foot over the week was about 170 km with 10,000 m of ascent.

Almost certainly, all of the team members will have to do a bit of running at some point, though most teams have one or two specialists doing the bulk of it. On one day during the race there will be a mountain running time trial for a small individual prize (and lots of kudos).

The other disciplines in the Heb are: sea kayaking, road biking, mountain biking and swimming.