(Photographs by sleepmonsters.com & Durty Events)

ITERA-lite (referred to as the little brother of the epic ITERA 5-day race) was designed to be a do-able stepping stone to expedition length adventure racing events for new people interested in the sport, a training opportunity for established teams, as well as being a great race and adventure in its own right.

Our team consisted of (left to right)

Dave, an extremely experienced Adventure Race veteran with a few expedition races around the world under his belt. Dave has strength in all disciplines and is the most experienced in the kayak amongst us..

Team captain Kim, a veteran of the Speights Coast to Coast in NZ, mountain marathons and the Heb. Her endurance levels and mental strength are superb, and would be looking forward to the running sections.

Simon, another mountain marathon runner with years of experience of hill running and would be Dave’s support in navigating us around the course. Simon is not only a strong runner but strong on the bike too, exactly the sort of solid all rounder you want in your team.

..and me, Alan. My main strength is on the bike, am comfortable on the Kayak but my weakest discipline would be the running sections.

Although I had taken part in 1-2 day stage races, since 2001, they would normally have a break between stages to recover and a compulsory night stop. This event would start at 4pm Friday and only stop when the team crossed the finished line, anticipated to be between 48-60hrs later.

An expedition race always seemed a step out of reach, but here was an opportunity to give it a go.

At the event launch, teams were told to expect around 350km of non-stop multi-sport action with stages comprising trekking, mountain-biking, kayaking, navigation, as well as special stages –taking competitors to some hidden gems across the South of Scotland.

A week before the event, Teams are sent a race schematic, showing stage type, length and anticipated fast-slow times and what Team baggage would be transported to the various transitions, this is to make sure you have the right kit in the right place.

The event organiser then transports your kit around the course.

I received the schematic while at work and may have said a swear word…

Stage 1- 10km trail run (fair enough, breaks up the field)

Stage 2 – 40km kayak

Stage 3 – 175km mountain bike

Stage 4- 40km trek / run

Stage 5 – 30km mountain bike

Stage 6 – 10km orienteering

Stage 6B- 15km kayak

Stage 7 – 25km mountain bike

I hadn’t seen the 40km kayak coming, so a section of that length had to involve fast flowing water.

A 175km mtb would be a huge stage, I’ve done that only a few times on a road bike but never on a mountain bike.

We gathered as a team in Selkirk on Thursday night transferring kit out of cars and into various bags, we each had a bike box, then there was a Team bag (tent, sleeping bags etc), Wet Bag (for kayaking gear, Paddle bag (the purpose of which was unknown..), and you would have a share in an “A “bag and a “B” bag, these would be moved to different stages.

The event started at Selkirk and as is often the case with these events, the course is kept secret until the big reveal a few hours before you depart. Given you only limited time to work out your route and sort final kit changes.

At midday we gathered in the local rugby club, acting as Race HQ to see what we had let ourselves in for.

The race would follow a clockwise route from Selkirk, then to Kelso, over the Cheviot Hills into Northumberland, onto Keilder, then to the east of Moffat, then curve its way round to Peebles, onto Walkerburn then back to Selkirk.

The course was clearly following a very remote route and we were unlikely to see either a shop or a non racer for quite a considerable time.

The weather was beautiful on Friday afternoon as we headed towards the start in Selkirk.

The organisers made some prestart speeches, while we fist pumped, looked each other in the eye and wished each other well. Then it was a “see you on the other side” from the race director and we were off.

The Stage 1 trek took us along the right of way to Yair, climbing up and around the hill of Peat Law to a cairn just below the Three Brethren, then a run downhill to Fairnilee Bridge to begin the kayak.

First thing we noticed as we crossed the bridge was that some teams were capsizing on the first rapid..that didn’t bode well.

As a team of four we had two sit on kayaks between us. We got the backrests fitted and gear loaded and clipped on.

First rapid ….safely through, phew!

Kim told me later that at this point Dave said, “in all my years of kayaking I have never capsized..” and then Kim & Dave capsized…

The kayak started off on a beautiful evening and it was really a cracking route, the route had us paddling under the towering columns of the Leaderfoot Viaduct before taking a series of sweeping bends past Dryburgh Abbey and some beautiful houses and grounds.

The main downside was that it was 40km to Kelso with no short cuts, so although we were moving well, we knew it would be dark at some point on the kayak stage.

The lower rainfall over the summer meant that the river was low in places so we often got stuck on rocks and had to drag the heavy kayak through sections of river bed.

The rapids however were still there and would cause difficulties. I recalled one of our earlier team chats when we debated about taking wet suits or just use waterproofs, thank goodness Dave made the call for wetsuits!

As dusk came down we hit a rapid that tipped us all out and I found myself hanging onto the kayak, being washed downstream in the torrent , Simon & I had to ride out the river & wait until we hit shallow water before we could sort ourselves out.

The kit bag was still there but Kim in the other boat had lost her paddle, she would have to share a paddle with Dave for the rest of the trip.

That had shaken us and we were extremely glad to reach Kelso around 11pm.

We grabbed hot food at Transition and prepared for the huge 175km ride over the Cheviot Hills and through Kielder, before crossing back into Scotland. We set off into the night.

Dave navigated us brilliantly over the moors overnight and we headed towards Kielder around dawn, the heavens opened and we were suddenly hit with a huge deluge of rain. It was almost a tropical storm in its nature and there was no hiding place.

The long stage ride was broken up by two special stages for climbing activities, the first was at the Calvert Trust Outdoor Centre near Kielder.

Each team had to complete 3 challenges in the centre, which is primarily for children with disabilities. The facilities, include indoor climbing walls, a high ropes course and the only ‘zip coaster’ in Europe. 

To give teams some idea of the challenges faced by the children who use the centre, one racer had to climb wearing a boxing glove, and another blindfold.

Next up was the leap of faith which is a climb up a shaky pole, about 15m high to reach a small platform.  Racers had to climb up and stand, then leap off to grab a trapeze before being lowered to the ground.

That was not easy after being out on the bike for so long!

Another mtb over kielder trails took us towards the abseil at an old railway viaduct before heading on the last part of the mountain bike through the forest towards the hamlet of Craik.

By this time it’s Saturday evening, we’ve been on the go for over 24hrs, and the rain is throwing it down as we take shelter under some trees.

With no sign of the rain easing we headed up into the woods and spent another 3-4hrs here trying to find the way through the forest, the routes on the OS map were not tying up with what we could see. We had no option but to turn back to where we knew was correct which was right back where we came in.

Eventually after seemingly climbing forever, we found a route out, but life’s never that easy, the way out was over a wide ford, so after trying to find the bridge on the map we gave up and just waded through and headed into the transition at Ettrick around 1am Sunday, after nearly 26 hours being out on the mountain bike..

An hour for food, kit change and bike pack before grabbing 3hrs planned sleep in the tent. I was squeezed in with Dave and I thought I might not be able to zzzzzzzzz.

3hrs later Dave is nudging me telling me to wake up and get a move on!

The weather hadn’t improved as we set off heading for the first of the trekking checkpoints, set at the base of the Grey Mare’s Tail waterfall.

The hill trekking after this was steep and the navigation not easy but Dave kept us right. Weather was akin to a winters day on the Cairngorm as the strong wind battered us sideways and the rain flew horizontally.

At this point we had made the decision to drop some checkpoints as not only was the weather horrific, we had to manage our effort. We hadn’t seen anyone since we left the checkpoint near the car park, this really was a remote place.

We dropped down into the valley and took the long walkout to the transition at St. Mary’s Hall, Cappercleuch. By this time I was starting to feel a bit off, I was finding it hard to eat and I was getting a bit concerned as to my ability to match food in with energy being burned. Kim said she was feeling a bit drained too, but after a ten minute Kim-nap at transition, she seemed to bounce back well.

Meanwhile we went onto Stage 5 – the 30km mountain bike into Peebles via the southern upland way.

By the time we got to the bottom of the last big climb I started to feel incredibly drained, as energy levels were dropping and had been struggling to take on food and water for a while, the body was rejecting anything I tried and I was violently throwing up.

We discussed it as a team and we agreed the best course of action was for me to slowly walk up the hill, Kim carried my pack, while Dave & Simon shuttled the three bikes up the hill between them. This took a huge effort by them.

Finally we get to the top and I was able to sit on the bike and free ride downhill on a beautiful sunny Sunday early evening with a clear run all the way. That certainly made me feel a little better and I was starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, all be it… a very long tunnel.

Stage 6 was orienteering

We took a part time penalty as I stood out of this one to try and rehydrate, refuel and recover while the other three ran around a hill side for a couple of hours, that’s their specialty after all and it seemed to keep them happy.

That small rest for me helped as I started to be able to slowly take in fluids, although only water, no energy drink. I also managed to nibble some McCoy crisps, my go-to emergency food, as I huddled up in my sleeping bag in the transition area.

We packed up our gear for the last two stages as we walked through Peebles on a dusky Sunday evening.

Stage 6B – 15km kayak

By now it was dark and we knew the hazards this would give us from the previous kayak.

Kim had managed to borrow a spare paddle so we loaded our gear onto the kayaks and set off.

With all the rain the river seemed to have risen but it was hard to tell what it was you were hearing when you heard the flow of the water change, was its rapid or was it just shallow rocks?

Around halfway down we spotted a rapid & opted for what looked safer channel to the right. The photo below looks like the one, although this was taken in daylight, we saw it at night…and not from above.

That turned out to be a bad move as we were both quickly thrown sideways out of the kayak.

I got hit by the kayak turning over and my head torch was snapped off as I found myself under the kayak heading downstream fast, I managed to get out, checked Simon was there too and we used all our strength to pull it to shore.

We were now without any lights as my one was upstream under water, Simons battery had failed and Kim had also lost a light, so we were now one light between 4 with still a long way to go.

Luckily, I had a spare in my pack so we managed to get that out. By this time I think we were all a bit nervous about further rapids so we gingerly made our way to Walkerburn where we could finally get out. I felt like the Pope arriving somewhere and kissing the ground.

A quick change and a hot drink at the local rugby club and onto the final Stage, a 25km mtb back to Selkirk that was mostly following the Innerleithen red mtb route up to the three brethren. Time? No idea? Maybe midnight … still, it rained.

All I remember about that route was what seemed like endless climbing, I found the red route ascent so frustrating, it was dark, wet and they had huge rocks at almost every corner. We had a few mechanical issues and a few falls off the bike, we were tired and losing concentration.

We eventually made it onto the moor, then my light finally lost power.

I had no spare light as it was at the bottom of the Tweed… and it was still dark. Luckily Dave had a spare and it gave me just enough light to follow the track over the moor as dawn on Monday morning started to come through.

The Adventure Racing news website is called Sleepmonsters. The name refers to the hallucinations you see when you are tired. I remember thinking, “I better watch out for that group of sheep” , then realised there was nothing there apart from grass tussocks, that happened a few times.

However, no matter how tired I may have been, Dave was still having to concentrate and was taking responsibility to navigate through the night, it was too easy to take for granted, hats off to him for that, Simon too who was Dave’s nav support through the event.

Finally we get to the three brethen, unfortunately, it didn’t look like this when we were there…they obviously got there earlier on Sunday night!

After what seemed endless undulations along the southern upland way, we finally began the descent towards Selkirk.

We started to recognise the paths from where we’d started, it seemed like a lifetime ago.

Finally, we could see the rugby club and felt the sense of relief to reach the finish line at 6.15am, 62 hours after we started.

A team hug & collection of the finishing medals. We finished 12th out of around 41 teams and 7th in our category.

We’d travelled 372km, The distance however was the least relevant factor as the terrain and weather were the biggest challenge

8400m of ascent, that’s not far off the height of Everest.

The weather on the Saturday & Sunday morning were not what you’d expect in July. It rained so hard it stung your face as you rode into it.

It was undoubtedly the hardest thing I’ve ever done, we all had our highs and lows, facing challenges of sleep deprivation, fuelling and keeping going.

The effort the team put in to get my bike and kit up that hill was humbling, but we started as a team, made our decisions as a team, stuck to them as a team and finished as a team.