Hi,

As I wrote a fairly lengthy and descriptive blog about the Highland Cross on this site last year I won't repeat myself so refer you back to 2009 for any technical details about the race. Nevertheless it involves covering Scotland from coast to coast, with 20 miles running cross country followed by a 30 mile cycle. And all for some good causes!

This year I was in a team with Ishbel from last years shenanigans plus my old workmate Andy Cowell from Englandsville. Andy's wife Jayne also managed to get into Catriona Fraser's team along with Martin Morrison.

The weather was better than last year as we started near my birthplace just near Kintail. Managed the 1300 foot climb but after 10 miles took some very severe cramp which hampered the rest of the race. Had to do a fair bit of walking from 14 miles onwards. Fair play to Andy for sticking together with me as a team when he could have managed a faster time himself. Still he's young and there's always next year to beat my PB!

We crossed the line together in a time of 6 hours 20 minutes and 46 secs, finishing joint 364th out of 688 who completed the race. This was nearly an hour down on last years time, but when you get to the finish, it all seems worthwhile. It was good to meet up with John and Mairi Fraser at the finish plus other old acquaintances Alasdair and Marion MacSween and Catherine MacNab. After some refreshments at the village hall it was back to Andy and Jayne's camper for a nice tasty curry. Thanks Jayne!

Anyway, the headlines are:

Raised £1,204 for the Cross.

This is a fantastic total considering all my friends and family supported me to a four figure sum only last year. Thanks again for all your support and encouragement.

The Highland Cross raised a record £196,640 this year.

This breaks the previous record by over £20,000 and is an amazing tribute to all involved.

This leaves me with nothing else to do but announce my retirement from the Cross as promised. I will be sticking to half marathons and below from now on. I want to thank John Fraser for all his help and advice over the last two years. Everyone knows what a fantastic job he does in organising the event but it bears repeating. Also to my neighbour Mark for the loan of his bike once again.

At the time of writing I don't have our team total but I am sure it will not be far off £1500. I hope to add some photos taken during the race but haven't managed to secure these yet. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the ones I have posted up today. Thanks to Mairi for taking most of them.

All the best

Murdo