Forres mums take on the Beast
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TWO super fit Forres mums beasted themselves over a 10k obstacle race
near Loch Ness.
Steph Finlayson and Claire Hester took part in the Prime Four Beast Race as a personal challenge, over rough terrain, dirt tracks and forest on the Aldourie Castle Estate.
The trail was dotted with more than 20 obstacles including hay bales, skips full of iced water, high walls, cargo nets, barbed wire, tunnels, bogs and mud.
All of the participants helped each other get through the event, creating a friendly atmosphere.
“I wanted to do it as I love all kind of outdoor adventure races,” said Claire. “I like the fact that it’s not just a straightforward race but other challenges are involved!”
Ahead of the event, Steph ran 6-8k three times-a-week with classes at Life and Sole Gym in between. Claire did, and still does, kettle bell classes twice-a-week with the odd run.
However, the obstacle course turned out to be far more beastly than their training programmes.
Steph found scaling a 13ft wall most difficult, ahead of a dip in the freezing cold waters of Loch Ness.
“We enlisted two nice lads from the group behind to give us a hand up,” she said. “Otherwise we would have had to go have gone round.
“I loved the slide and swim in Loch Ness – it cooled us down at the 6k point!”
Claire found the running and stop-starting tough on her legs but surprisingly enjoyable.
“The obstacle I was most nervous about turned out to be my favourite,” agreed Claire. “I’m not a fan of cold water but the slide and dunk felt exhilarating!”
The friends encouraged each other all the way round, crossing the finish line together in front of family.
“It was quite a warm day and there were quite a lot of climbs but we managed the run fairly well considering,” said Steph.
“Apart from queues for obstacles, we ran the entire 10k and got a respectable time.
“We didn’t do it with times in mind but were pleasantly surprised with our results.”
Both finished on 1hr 47min as 98th females and 327th from a total of 1100 entrants.
“It was nice to see our kids Brodie (7) and Jess (2) at the finish line,” said Steph.
“Who knows what’s next ... Tough Mudder perhaps? Watch this space!”
Claire felt “wiped out” afterwards and was asleep by 8pm.
“My legs were pretty sore two days later,” she said. “Doing Beast Race with Steph definitely helped, we kept each other going by chatting and she pretty much pulled me around the course! “I have nothing booked in for my next challenge but I’d like to do some more 10kms - ideally off road!”
