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End of the road for the Cape Wrath Challenge


By Caroline McMorran

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A LINE has been drawn under the Cape Wrath Challenge - the running festival that has put north west Sutherland on the map.

The event was cancelled this year due to coronavirus but it had been hoped to celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2021 – although that was to have been the last challenge.

However, organisers Durness Active Health agreed at an extraordinary meeting last week that it should not now go ahead because the safety of runners could not be guaranteed.

Runners negotiate potholes on the Cape road during last year's challenge.
Runners negotiate potholes on the Cape road during last year's challenge.

The group posted on its social media page: “Indications are that the situation will not have substantially changed by next May and it has become increasingly apparent that, due to the extent of Covid-19 precautions required, it will not be possible to host either the running or social events with adequate safety.”

Traditionally held in May and comprising a week long series of runs and social events, culminating in the Cape Wrath Challenge, the festival was hugely popular amongst runners, regularly attracting an entry of up to 200.

And with runners usually accompanied by family members, it brought a welcome economic boost to the area.

But in March last year Scottish Athletics told organisers that the challenge could no longer be called a ‘road marathon’ because of the number of potholes on the Cape Wrath road.

It was felt that the number and depth of the potholes meant there was no continuous road surface. One runner said competitors would have to weave around the potholes so much that they would end up running more than the official 26-mile, 385 yard distance.

That difficulty, coupled with a lack of volunteers, led the trustees of Durness Active Health to vote unanimously that the 20th anniversary challenge in May next year would be the last.

The groups's post said the decision not to go ahead in 2021 as planned had not been made lightly.

It read: “Durness will miss what has become a very special week for the village. You have become an extended circle of friends and we hope that you will come and visit us in the future.

“We are hugely grateful to those runners who showed their support by carrying forward their registration from the cancelled 2020 event. We are in the process of arranging refunds to all runners.”

A statement issued by Cape Wrath Challenge’s honorary president Richard Haldane read: “It strikes me as more than a little tragic that, having been robbed of our first challenge in 2001 by foot and mouth disease, we should now be robbed of our 19th and 20th by this beastly Covid-19 pandemic.”

Mr Haldane thanked all those who had been involved in the organisation and delivery of the Cape Wrath Challenge over the two decades and wrote of the toll organising such a large event took on volunteers.

And he held out “the tiniest ray of hope” that the festival might be revived in years to come.

Mr Haldane said his daughter Sally and son-in-law Paul, a triathlon competitor who has run the Cape Wrath marathon, visited Durness two to three times a year with their young family.

“I venture the thought that one day they might become a hub around which a new Cape Wrath Challenge could emerge,” he said.

He asked anyone who would like to be involved in helping the organisation of a revived challenge to email him at rwh@cloan.co.uk with any relevant comments or information.

He added: “Farewell awhile’ – this is not a goodbye! – and thank you all. Without you runners there would never have been a Cape Wrath Challenge.”

Cape Wrath Challenge has run its course

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