At the weekend, PH’s Andy Davis took on the Moray Way 100 mile race to celebrate his 50th birthday. This race was supposed to start and finish in Forres but things didn’t quite work out that way and he got a lot more than he bargained for. Over to Andy to explain in his own words:

“I took the race on from the start, enjoying a ferocious tailwind to Spey Bay, then battled hard up the Speyside Way against the headwind. Turning down the Dava Way, there was no tailwind but a tricky cross wind, and I ran through some wildfire smoke. I got to Dava and started to run through increasingly dense smoke, passing a cottage where people were hastily packing pets and an old lady into cars. There was more thick smoke, heat and ash then suddenly a small break in the smoke where the trees either side of the Dava Way were on fire! I got safely to the road which the police and fire brigade were closing as the fire had only just taken hold.

“As I was first runner I coordinated between the police and race director and we had to stop the race. Finish was Grantown which is about 120km into the planned route. I had done 138km, so was awarded first place. Not my 100 miles for my 50th but a story that will outlive any race result.

“Finally, it’s extremely scary that if I had been a little bit earlier I would have just been ahead of the wildfire- so it would be behind me with 50mph winds pushing it along towards me and no escape routes, horrible.”

Congratulations (and happy birthday) to Andy on his race win and also having the presence of mind to assist the emergency services and organisers as he did after running for over 14 hours. Thanks also to them for keeping everyone safe and to Ray Liversidge for the race photo.