Laura O Driscoll

CWU had been on the bucket list for quite a while. The remote, rugged, magical Scottish landscape – what is not to love?

Initially my other half Johnny had signed up to the event in 2020. I had signed up to The Himal 2020, a multistage race over the Himalayas.

After the Himal was postponed, I seized the opportunity to join this epic race.

I had already been training toward The Himal, but developed plantar fasciitis in 2021, which did not clear until late November. A lot of my endurance training was on the road bike, only gradually coming back to longer run miles. I was a little concerned as to the lack of run miles, but I knew the fitness and the head were there. I suffered a meniscus tear in my knee a few years ago from a car accident and of course it decided to surface it’s ugly head 6 weeks out. This was a concern, but as fate would have it, the knee was grand, the ankles on the other hand...

The bogs provided a fun challenge ©No Limits Photography

The Race

The first few days I was absolutely buzzing. Feeling very comfortable with the pace, enjoying the banter, the amazing scenery. I remember a few rolling descents, the ones that make you feel like you are levitating over the terrain, and yelping with joy as they continued for miles.

After rolling my ankle 30k into day 3, to be honest, the rest of the race, getting through each day physically and mentally, was a real challenge. Sense told me I should stop. Grit told me to harden up. Sense told me you could end up really damaging yourself. Grit told me - sure it is only a few hundred km. Grit roared louder!

I nearly pulled out so many times, but then somebody would distract me on the trail, or I would remember how lucky I was to be where I was, and also how I would feel if I stopped. As well, as the days got more challenging, I could not imagine doing it again if I had business left unfinished. 

One of my toughest moments was at the of day 6 when I met Johnny fully dressed and rested at the finish line and realised he had pulled out. He had been taken by a river and was saturated, along with his spares, with 15k to go to his next checkpoint. I was devastated. It had been one of my hardest days and I had pretty much resigned to my race being over. Now that Johnny was out, I was even more determined to finish.

What I learnt from the experience

I learned that sometimes the mind can push the body through the pain, which is often good but sometimes bad. My ankles are still not 100% but at least Johnny has stopped calling me Fiona from Shrek! I learned that I really do not enjoy running bogs!!

I learned that everybody has their own reasons for doing these epics, their own journey, and I learned so much from my new trail hero friends.

Tips for those looking to sign up

My advice to others  looking to complete  CWU, would be to work on lower leg and ankle strength and stability. Train on a variety of surfaces  never getting too comfortable with one. Bring extra gear. Lots of it! Bring waterproof, cosy footwear for the evening, your feet will thank you forever. 

Enjoy the journey!

Laura powered through to become first woman ©No Limits Photography