Part of the Glencoe course in Loch Leven

Several of my friends from Wild West Swimmers had swam at Glencoe in the summer of 2015 and thoroughly enjoyed it. So when the summer schedule was up, and the swim had avoided a clash with the Great Scottish Swim I thought I would have to do the event. For those of you with knowledge of Scottish history, you will be aware that Glencoe is infamous for a massacre by Clan Campbell in the later 18th century. That was high up in the hills through which the A82 road from Glasgow to Fort William runs, and whenever I drive that road I feel the brooding atmosphere of those hills pressing down.

The event was being held in a sea loch called Loch Leven at a place called Ballachulish. Despite having lived here for a couple of years I still struggle with some of the place names, but I have learned you just make a sound like you are clearing your throat and that is close enough.

A group of four of us drove for two hours north from Glasgow on a typical Scottish summer day with rain and wind forecast, and low clouds. The A82 took us up the side of Loch Lomond and I was able to look at the loch from the road, and compare it to the view from the water when I had swum it over the two previous weekends. It really was a long way to swim.

Competitors at the start of one of the earlier races

I had entered the 5km event in the afternoon, and we arrived early enough to register and watch the morning 5km event. The course was out to the left hand side of the island, turn right, then turn right again to return to the cove, and do that for three laps, with the last lap requiring a short swim out to the head of the cove and back to the start line. We watched the swimmers as they headed for the island, and I had already noticed that there was a strong current out near the island going from left to right. A number of the swimmers mis-judged this current and had to swim against it to get to the first turning mark. I made a note of this for my event.

The turn point inside the cove

I managed to catch up with lots of friends doing some of the other distances and took advice from them on the conditions. They had told me that swimming along the island with the current was fun, but that the current was pushing you towards the island and away from the second marker. Good to know.

We were marshalled for our event and as we entered the water for the in-water start I took note of the conditions. I planned to swim along the left of the course to wards the island, aiming for the left of the first marker, as it would push  in the right direction. It was good to do an event again when you had to think about some tactics as the straight line route would not be the quickest.

The hooter sounded and off we went in the normal splash of arms and legs. I was up towards the front of the pack and could see the van man and the not so slow one just ahead of me. My tactics were working well, and I went around the first marker on an excellent line and did not have to swim against the current. There were a group of four swimmers just ahead of me, and I swam behind them as we headed for the second marker, getting a big push from the current and wind. I had picked out the marker by using the peaks of the hills behind, and soon noticed that this small pack were not heading for the marker. That decision time, use the drag and swim further, or swim shorter by myself. I chose the latter, and when I turned at the second marker this group were 10 behind me.

Now this third leg was back into the wind and chop, and while it was easy to sight by the hotel behind the starting line, it was not an easy leg. But I was enjoying the challenge, and by the time I hit the third marker at the end of my first lap I was 50m in front of the group. Though I had seen the van man and the not so slow one ahead of me.

Lap two was a repeat of lap one, except the cloud had descended over the hill I had used for sighting. Luckily one of the rescue craft had positioned themselves in line with the marker to assist with navigation as the rain started to fall.

Third lap was the best as I was loving the challenge of swimming in the chop and current, and getting further ahead of the group behind me, though not any closer to those in front either.

I felt nice and strong throughout the race and even started to think that 5km was rather short after my swims of the previous couple of weekends. I crossed the line in a  good time of 1 hour 21 minutes, which was about 15 minutes quicker than the 5km race I had swum in Croatia at the end of June. not all of that was down to the wetsuit I am sure.

Swimmers gather for the briefing before their race

The event is very well organised and the setting is quite stunning. They have been unlucky with the weather the last two years, and maybe next year we will be able to swim around the back of the island.

It was a great place to have my 90th race, and we had fun sampling some fine food and whisky in one of the pubs in Glencoe on the return trip home. It was worth it just for that stunning drive.