Stratherrick Athletic Club

A new group formed for interested runners and joggers of ages and experience with a view to having regular meetings and outings.

There are already a number of individuals who run together and on their own using the great variety of the tracks, paths and minor roads in the South Loch Ness area and the group will provide an opportunity to meet each other for a regular outing and to exchange routes,views and ideas about their activity.

Anyone interested should contact Alex Sutherland on 01456 486711 or at errogiealex@yahoo.com. Overweight and unfit individuals or those who have become increasingly dependent upon their vehicles are welcome.

(webadministrator's comment: He would be far too modest to mention this himself but our congratulations go to Alex Sutherland on being the first home in the over 60s category of the Baxters Loch Ness 10k road race recently. Alex finished in 38 minutes 48 seconds.)

Stratherrick Athletic Running Club Outing on 12th. November 2010

A circular run to view the Aberchalder Falls swollen with recent heavy rain.
This familiar local landmark is always worth visiting either in summer when the distinctive slab is edged with hanging green moss and the pool beckons a cooling dip or as it is now a gushing foaming torrent but which again come January and February can be stilled to a frozen ice pillar after several weeks of freezing temperatures.

We took the familiar water works track to its high point then started to weave through the hill by grass corridors trying to avoid the longer heather which can make off road running so difficult if you are unused to it. The temperature was just right for light tracksuit type clothing plus hat and gloves to allow heat to dissipate yet provide a modicum of protection from the elements.

We contoured across the hill to reach the upper fall then jogged /scrambled down the steep slope to the pool under the main slide. A few minutes stop then a traverse out of the stream by the usual steep deer path through an area of minor land slide and a loop back to the water, cross by a log bridge and back through Easter Aberchalder to Wester Aberchalder Estate by the minor tarmac road.

In all a run of just under 2 hours with plentiful stops but what a trip to any distinctive land mark does is that next time you happen to glance up and catch sight of the distant feature you instantly get a pleasurable rerun of what it was like to be much closer to it on that day.

Stratherrick Athletic- Running numbers increase!

Sunday the 9th. of May dawned a beautiful morning and saw 5 of us meet at the Forest centre Inverfarigaig for a social run through Glenliath, a loop out to Trinloist then back to the centre via Lochan Torr an Tuill and the forest walks.

An easy route mainly off road and passing through the early display of primroses which this area is famous for. They have a particular pale yellow tint to them which legend says expresses their grief for the abduction of the runaway bride Deirdrie of the sorrows from her idyllic home on Dun Deardil the rocky outcrop above Inverfarigaig and Loch Ness. She was tragically dragged back to Ireland and her lover Naiste was done away with thus ending her happy sojourn at this spot.

We will try and hold regular monthly outings to include every standard of runner and jogger so go on surprise yourself and come and join us on one of them

Stratherrick Athletic (Strath Ath) outing on Saturday the 23rd. of January.
The Falls of Foyers Round.

This was the second organised meeting of the infant running club and we were able to report an increased attendance with our first lady Fiona still fresh with enthusiasm from her Loch Ness Monster 120k duathalon bravely showing we lesser men how to defy the treacherous early morning skin of black ice along the road and pavements of Foyers.

Thankfully the tracks to the mast on the Uachdach and down to the lower village and return by way of the falls paths had lost most of their packed snow and ice and it was delightful to run downhill over a layer of old pine needles again on forest tracks. As often happens when brains are provided with a jolt of oxygen and endorphins from labouring lungs and life support systems, conversation was great and covered everything from Burns’ poetry to haikus and the musical rhythms which many of us find our bodies running to.

Choice of music is hugely variable and can be inspirational at times allowing you flow across the ground in an almost effortless way. My own accompaniment is as likely to be a Shetland fiddle reel or pipe march and so we compared notes and banter between breaths and while running through great scenery. Running together can be a sociable experience unlike any others as well as dealing with this business of staying fit so you can have another 5 years in the old folk’s home!

Come and join us sometime,

Left to right are Ed Ley-Wilson, Graeme Ambrose, Fiona Kirkland and Alex Sutherland

Same people, different order!

The Inaugural Meeting of Stratherrick Athletic (Runners Club)

Saturday morning the 21^st. of November 2009.

This initial outing was attended by the locally determined and undistinguished sporting personalities of G. Ambrose, E. Ley-Wilson and A. Sutherland with apologies received from other well wishers who could not be present on the day but who wished to become involved. There was a notable absence of game keepers, shepherds, lairds, and anyone clad in lycra but they are all welcome to attend future events particularly the latter category!

We met at the forest track entrance between Trinloist and Glenliath at 8.30 on a pleasant and sunny morning before the sadly customary rain and dreichness of the last month rolled in from the west. This track has a delightful mixed forest road nature which then turns into a forest ride grass surface with the occasional tree root before a section of moss covered road drops into the Pass before we took the short cut into Allt na Goibhre and welcome cups of tea. The whole run is something over three miles with fairly easy ascent and descents (there are very few, if any, level running routes in our area).

As well as a forgiving surface this is also a location which is well sheltered from the elements and can be a good outing in the very worst of winter weather. There is a lot of advice out there about how you should treat your running body and probably one of the most important, alongside gradually warming up and warming down, is “Choose your running surface wisely”. Every running step can impose an impact of between three and eight times your body weight on your frame and all the support back up of joints, muscles and supporting systems so it can make an important difference to have a slightly yielding substance under foot!

Our intention is to remain as a very loosely organised group who enjoy running together and singly in the great variety of terrain which is available in Stratherrick and Foyers and to exchange light hearted ideas on new routes and running matters with anyone who might care to join us.