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David
Shepherd Memorial Glamaig Hill Race
4.5
miles, 2500 feet
From Sligachan Hotel, Skye
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The next race is 5th July 2008 |
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Course
Records: |
Results
of all Glamaig races here |
The race
is organised by |
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Race
History
Norman Collie first visited Skye in
1886 when most Alpine mountaineers considered the British mountains hardly
worthy of their attention. From then until his death in the Sligachan Inn
in 1942 the island was his spiritual home. He had a distinguished career as
a chemist and biochemist at University College London, but the mountains were
his first and last love. With John Mackenzie of Sconsor he embarked on an
exploration of the Cuillins which revealed the wild inaccuracies of the 1885
one inch Ordnance Survey map. Following the Pilkington brothers' first ascent
of the Inaccessible Pinnacle in 1880 bits longer east ridge, Collie and Mackenzie
climbed the west ridge in 1888.
In the summer of 1899 General Bruce brought Gurkha Harkbir on
leave with him from the Himalaya and explored the Alps along
with Collie. They climbed
Mont
Blanc and Monte Rosa. Then Collie took them to Skye, where Harkbir
hauled them up many climbs on Sgurr Alasdair. It was during their
exploration of
Coire Lagan that Collie noticed an enormous shadow on the face
of Sron na Ciche. It was seven years before he was able to return
and identify what
was
projecting the shadow – "It was a climb full of excitement - - suddenly
it came into view and we found ourselves on the end of the knife edge. We
sat down on that knife edge and slowly made our way on to the great rock tower
at its end, up this we climbed, and John and I were mightily pleased with
our climb." It was Mackenzie who named the tower the Cioch
and Collie who gave the name Sron na Ciche to the great face
looking down on Coire Lagan.
The estate owner, McLeod of McLeod, heard of an extraordinary run that Gurkha
Harkbir had done from the Sligachan to the summit of Glamaig and back in one
and a quarter hours. He refused to believe it and had a heated argument with
some local gillies (who presumably had witnessed the ascent). Bruce offered
to resolve the dispute and asked Harkbir to do it again. He did, and knocked
twenty minutes off the alleged one and a quarter hours. It is recorded that
he did it in bare feet, which seems implausible. Surely a sensible Gurkha
who had already explored the local hills would have worn sandals.
Climbers of the 1930's were familiar with Collie commuting between
the Sligachan and other parts of the island in the yellow Sligachan
Rolls Royce. In October
1942 at the age of 83 Collie fell and received a drenching while
fishing in
Loch Storr. This led to rapid deterioration of his health and
he died a few months later. He is buried in Struan Free Presbyterian
churchyard alongside
John Mackenzie (in fact the graves are line astern, probably
in recognition of their climbing relationship) – a delightful
spot with views across to the Cuillins. The place is worth a
pilgrimage on a summer evening.
Almost simultaneously in 1987 the Campbell Family, owners of
the Sligachan Hotel, with the loss of the Hotel visotprs' book
&
records, and David Shepherd (a member of Carnethy Hill Running
Club) had the inspired
idea
to
commemorate
Gurkha
Harkbir's
run
with
the
race
as it is now. David was tragically
killed in an accident on the family farm near Fochaber, Morayshire,
before his idea was known. The race is also a fitting commemoration
of David. The Shepherd family
have
maintained
a
link with the
race through David's
brother Andrew competing almost every year.
In 1995 a Gurkha team took the winning place in the race and
were the fastest team and the record is now a staggering 44mins
41secs by Mark Rigby set in 1997 (wearing shoes ! ), who descended
from the summit to the hotel in approx 13 mins (a descent time
that was equalled by Brian Marshall in winning the 2005 race).
Bibliography; "Norman Collie, A Life in Two Worlds" Christine
Mill, Aberdeen University Press.
by Keith Burns