Largs ladies take part in Scottish Islands Peaks Race

The participants Heloise Le Clanche, Kirsteen Woods ,Suzy Connor, Cat Riaz and Lizzie Goodfellow all took part in the adventure race for sailors and runners which is a test of endurance, sailing skills and fitness, and then some!

The race took 68 hours with the longest passage sitting at 22 hours, taking in the spectacular peaks of Ben More, Paps of Jura and Goatfell thrown in for good measure.

Kirsteen Woods, who is a marine and boatyard operative at Largs Yacht Haven, said it was a fantastic challenge.

She said: "It is most certainly not for the faint hearted with infamous tides, whirlpools, rocks and steep scree hills to navigate.

"All female teams are rare, with 12 boats dropping out during the race this year.

Prime position: Kirsteen Woods at the helm (Image: Kirsteen Woods)

"The notoriously tricky endurance race meant that the local ladies had to battle strong tides, whirlpools, thick fog, rocks, rowing against the tide when the wind drops, hill navigation, transitions for the runners from the boat to the shore and sleep depravation thrown in to test their focus."

The race started in Oban with a short hill run, then to Salen on Mull, run over Ben More, sail to Craighouse on Jura, run the Paps, sail to Arran, run Goatfell, then sail to Troon. 

The race takes three to four days. Each team usually consists of three sailors and two runners. 

There is also an all rounders class for sailors that can run or runners that can sail, and a class for youth with the assistance of a few adults.

Suzy Connor, who is originally from Fairlie, was interested in fielding a team for the event and noticed that there hadn’t been any female teams for over 30 years and decided to put an all-female team together. Suzy knew that she needed two strong, experienced sailors. 

She was told to get in touch with the previous years’ winners who then passed her on to Heloise Le Clanche and Kirsteen Woods who are both local girls.  

Kirsteen was the first female helm on Largs Lifeboat and was keen to support an all female entry, despite none of the team having done the race before.

Suzy then reached out to find Cat Riaz and Lizzie Goodfellow to run and the team was complete. 

In peak condition: Cat and Lizzie pictured in the Scottish Island Peaks Race (Image: Kirsteen Woods)

Muir Anderson was more than happy to lend his 38’ Jeanneau ‘Dipper’ to the team as he had done the race 11 times before with a few wins under his belt. He and his crew Hugh and Jimmy were keen to relive it all through the new team.

They set about getting her ready with a huge list of jobs to do while the runners trained hard over the winter, averaging 50 miles a week.  

The team also had a training weekend on the boat including man overboard exercises with a full size dummy, kayak transitions, running Goatfell from Lamlash and spinnaker drills.

In total the girls sailed 147.6 nautical miles with the longest passage sitting at 22 hours, adding up to 68 hours non-stop.

The team would like to thank the following people for making it all possible:  Largs Yacht Haven, DDZ Marine, Ocean safety, Largs Chandlers, Fairlie Riggers, Saturn Sails, The Catch at Fins, Muir Anderson, Hugh MacLean, Jimmy Fisher, Walter, Steven Carmichael, Linda and Tom Kennedy, Robert and Sally Blowing, Andy Gibb and Nic Le Clanche.