Usually the only way people get updates regarding the Highland March, there's a small 'signature' on my posts or people find out through word of mouth. This time, I've decided to update people on the main forum fully.

Highland March - created by fans of this very website - has seen the 8th annual event come and go, and what an event it was.

FULL photo gallery and a new Diary of the HM8 goings on, are now available on the Highland March website

We're already looking at possible routes for HM9, and with 'splitus daftus' (the SPL Split) coming back to haunt us, we'll have no idea where we're going until March

We also have 1 new recruit already on board for HM9, so a huge welcome to 'BA' - he also completed his first 14 mile training-jaunt without side effects just the other day.

Have a look at the website. There's photos and diaries for every Highland March. There's a brief history page also, as well as training tips supplied by Gringo and Yompa.

Well - it's about time i updated everyone on how preparations have gone since September. We are after all LESS THAT 4 MONTHS away from HIGHLAND MARCH 9... (Can you believe that???)

As you can see from post#1, we already have one new recruit in the form of 'BA'. Since the walk to Nairn and back in September, BA has completed another couple of walks (each exceeding 11-miles). I'll be joining him a couple of days this week to see if we can get him past the 20-mile-a-day stage.

Yompa and Gringo are doing well with their training, and i have joined them in trying out 'the zone diet' to try and shead a few pounds before the off (I have already lost half a stone since the turn of the year, and exceeded 40 walking miles of training). Carrying extra weight can only be a bad thing after all :eat:

We also think we are looking at another VERY difficult jaunt. As if Kilmarnock (HM7) and Ayr (HM8) in successive years wasn't enough, try Hamilton or Motherwell in 2.5 days :aghast: Having the SPL Split with us again, we as yet have no confirmed destination until the month of March, when obviously, the league splits. The SPL has also thrown us a mid-week fixture as our penultimate match, meaning any chance of keeping with tradition will see a wednesday to saturday event (Sunday if we finish top 6)

Here's a possible breakdown, should we get Hamilton/Motherwell...

Wed 10pm Depart TCS

Thu 2.30am Slochd

Thu 8am Kincraig

Thu 9am Tromie Bridge

Thu 4pm Dalnacardoch

Thu 6pm Trinafour

Thu 8pm Tummel Bridge

Thu 11pm Kenmore

Fri 2am Amulree (Stop for sleep)

Fri 7am Depart Amulree

Fri 12pm Crieff

Fri 3pm Greenloaning

Fri 6pm Stirling

Fri 8pm Carron Bridge

Fri 10pm Broadwood (stop for sleep)

Sat 7am Depart Broadwood

Sat 9am Airdrie

Sat 11am Hamilton

It would be great to have a wee-er walk to St Johnstone or Aberdeen (which is obviously still possible) as the last 2 HM's have been very very hard. Still - the show must go on.

More updates soon

Far more likely to be going to Tynie, ibrox, parkhead or Killie IMHO.

United top six may be handy then, Dundee, Kirrie,clova,jocks road,Braemar,Lairig Ghru,Aviemore and North.

Ibrox is unlikely, as we would have been there twice pre-split. If we were to land top-6, we should have Rangers up here.

Being as we will have also played twice at Tanadise, Rugby Park, Easter Road, New St Mirren Park and MacDirmid Park come the split, this should leave us with Hamilton, Celtic, Aberdeen, Motherwell and Hearts as our away destinations. (but this is the SPL, and it has been known for teams to play 1 H and 3 A against the same team in order to level out the home:away ratio over the season).

Hamilton, therefore, is obviously our 'worst case scenario' and to see that mid-week penultimate fixture makes HM9 a potentially difficult one.

Personally, I would love Aberdeen (For the short distance) or Tynecastle (as I've never been, and hear it's the best away day)

END OF MONTH REPORT: Januray

Training has been going well for some of the troops, with new recruit 'BA' surpassing 100 training miles just yesterday.

Gringo also passed the 100 mile marker before the month was out (I'm unsure of exact) , whereas Yompa has exceeded 200 (217 ) and I have managed 167 since New Year's Eve (without doubt my best ever year so far in terms of training)

One injury has already occured in training for one of the HMers, as Yompa has hurt his back (no doubt trying to pick up some loose change for 'Trash Cash' ) and has been walking through the pain barrier to get in some much needed training. This guy has already done Highland Marches after operations and knee surgery, as well as completing other events after suffering major injuries and broken bones. He should have no worries about adding HM9 to his list of ene-to-end events

Speaking of 'Trash Cash', The field is spread wide open for findings within the group. January alone saw a personal best month of almost ?10 for myself, with ?2.21 found just yesterday when on a training jaunt with BA. A 20-Krona coin was also found . BA has got the bug for this wee game too, and had even managed ?1.25 on a night about town.

Gringo, at the lower end of the spectrum, has found only pennies throughout the month of Jan - judging by his texts of "14 moils and 0p :-(" after any of his training days are over.

All in all, things are going well. We just wish this 'Split' would hurry up so we know where the heck we're going

The 100 mile post was crossed on the 19th and I've recorded 167 in total for January. In comparison to last year that is 33 miles fewer. All in all am feeling fit and enjoying the training. :walking:

I'm enjoying the Facebook update Jnr ;-)

I forgot to mention

98 days to go

10 WEEKS UNTIL THE OFF!!!

END OF MONTH REPORT: February

As you can see, there are only 10 weeks to go until we set off for the 9th annual Highland March. (Roll on the Split because we STILL have no idea where we're going!)

Training this year has seen many surprises, not to mention I've actually done some this year

380 miles since New Years Eve to be exact, and I have closed the gap on Yompa's training miles (460) from 120 miles, to just 80.

BA - Who is yet to be officially renamed Flymo - missed out on hitting 200 miles by the months end, but did indeed do so on March 1st. A fantastic effort, of which has been deserving of an unofficial promotion in HM Rank to 'Honourary Cadet'

Flymo and myself have been entertaining outselves on the road with the invention of a new game called 'Car-Car' - a simple game that can become extremely competetive, especially along the main roads around the back of Culloden, the A96 and Nairn.

(Details of the game and rules on how to play may appear shortly - once we confirm the scoring system )

'Trash Cash' has seen varied fortunes amongst the troops, although Yompa seems to be extending his lead after striking 'gold' on more than 1 occasion. Gringo is still struggling at the back of the pack, and even a trip to Inverness saw a weekend haul of only 8p

Roll on further training miles in March, and who knows, we may even have some news on the fundraising side of things shortly too

Brigadier GringoJnr :salute:

INVERNESS to HAMILTON

May 11th to May 14th 2011

Well, there we have it folks. We thought Highland March 7 would be tough from Kilmarnock to Inverness (184 miles). We thought that Highland March 8 was tougher from Ayr to Inverness (203 miles - the first EVER Highland March to break 200 miles)

It looks like this year has just become the toughest... With approximately 175 miles to cover in just 2 and a half days!!!!

On a presonal note, I just want to get going now. I've been training hard since New Year having covered over 520 miles in that time, and with a planned overnight 12-hour jaunt tomorrow, i hope to be putting the finer touches into my training. BRING IT ON

For the past few weeks since my last update, there has been alot of headway with regards to individual training.

4 of the Highland Marchers took part in an overnight 'fact finding' exercise at the back end of last month. With Gringo walking around Coventry, Yompa in Ayrshire, Chumba in Edinburgh and myself in Inverness, we all synchronised watches and set off into the night. Despite an early bath for Chumba (persistant foot problems), Yompa bailing out shortly afterward (recovering from calf starin) and Gringo smacking his face off a kerb stone (see illustration below), we believe it was a positive exercise. We found out not only how better we could prepare, but also what equipment was an wasnt essential, as well as how best to fuel our bodies for the long lonley night. As mentioned previously, this 'fact finding' exercise will take place again tomorrow in an effort to iron out those late-march niggles.

All in all, training has been good for the majority, and I took a wee de-tour in front of the Traffic Scotland Webcam, just to prove that A) I was indeed out for a jaunt that particular day, and B) I am an idiot.

I am happy to say there has been progress on the fundraising front also.

The CLAN Supporters (Facebook link) will be looking to raise funds off the back of the Highland March this year, leaving the Marchers to get on with the task in hand, whilst much needed funds are raised to provide our disabled fan-base with a better match day experience, home and away.

Less than 4 WEEKS to go until we set off, and although some routes have already been discussed with anticpation of various possible post-split scenarios, nothing as yet is final. The chances are it'll be predominently OFF-ROAD in an effort to knock off a few miles from the curvature of the A9 and Cycle Route 7. There's the support vehicle, accommodation and other bits and bobs to arrange, so for now it's off to get the maps out, make a few calls, and let these next couple of weeks fly by...

BRING IT ON

Just a suggestion but would it not be reasonable to make it a team relay event? I'm confident sponsors wouldn't think any less of you and you'd be a lot fitter to enjoy the game and post match drinks.

It's funny you should say that PMF, because thats just what we're discussing.

Past years saw 2 teams - Team Yompa and Team Gringo.

Team Gringo took the more relaxed approach to ensure the End-to-End was completed, whereas the slightly more insane bunch went with Team Yompa and hikes up Mountains or over fast-flowing rivers.

It looks like this is the most likely out-come this year also, with TY attempting a full End-to-End, and TG doing it as a relay.

Edited April 14, 201115 yr by Gringo

It's funny you should say that PMF, because thats just what we're discussing.

Past years saw 2 teams - Team Yompa and Team Gringo.

Team Gringo took the more relaxed approach to ensure the End-to-End was completed, whereas the slightly more insane bunch went with Team Yompa and hikes up Mountains or over fast-flowing rivers.

It looks like this is the most likely out-come this year also, with TY attempting a full End-to-End, and TG doing it as a relay.

Good luck either way, can't say I envy you though.

THE ROUTE

We appear to have our route finally sorted for the forthcoming Highland March, and the re-introduction of the 'teams' format.

Setting off from TCS after our final home game of the season, the route takes us approximately 20 miles to the Slochd Summit, where we aim to aquire some rest (by some, i mean a couple of hour maximum )

It'll be early doors on Thursday morning as we aim to cover nearly 57 miles to Keltneyburn, just ourside Kenmore - a route that will take us over the mountains to Kincraig and along that Highland March favorite, The Pass of Glen Tromie.

After a few hours shut-eye (again only a couple of hours) we'll be heading out over Sheriffmuir toward Stirling for another 60-mile day, which should in turn leave us with 20 miles to finish before Kick-off against Hamilton.

Those in Team Yompa will be aiming for a complete end-to-end, using only the rest-stops allocated between stages.

Team Gringo will be taking the route in a relay format, where a different member of the team will walk for a designated time, before swapping with someone else in the team to get rest.

FACEBOOK / TWITTER

Although we have the main website (www.highlandmarch.co.uk) we now have a facebook page and twitter account, to allow us more regular updates during the event. HM - Facebook & HM - Twitter

ONE DAY TO GO and none of us can wait.

Our Support Driver is safely in Ayrshire and will travel North with Yompa tomorrow.

Gringo is currently on his final train for Inverness after leaving Coventry earlier this morning.

All the troops will be at the stadium in good enough time for kick off, and will be setting off as soon as the final whistle goes tomorrow night.

The aferomentioned route is the plan we are looking at. It's one hell of a challenge, but one we are all waiting to get on with - we're like kids at christmas.

There will be a collection at the stadium tomorrow for the new Club Link for Additional Needs (CLAN) Supporters tomorrow pre-match.

This is a fantastic cause that hopes to improve matchday experiences for our disabled fanbase, and it's great that they get to benefit off the back of Highland March. Please donate generously

If you haven't already done so, and you have a facebook and/or twitter account, there will be regular updates on these services throughout HM9. Highland March Facebook Link

Finally I'd like to thank everyone that has offered their support and words of encouragement already for this years event, and we'll see you all in Hamilton

Good luck. You will need it!

Unless "luck" involves the match being postponed 24 hours then it's not going to do them much good on this one. Sheer determination and the ability to ignore the pain is what they are going to need.

I probably know these guys about as well as they know themselves and failure won't be an option, even if they have to crawl to the end.

Best we can hope for them is that the conditions stay favourable and the blisters are kind.

Is it a relay/tag-team for this one or is one person doing 127 miles in 2 and a half days?

Unless "luck" involves the match being postponed 24 hours then it's not going to do them much good on this one. Sheer determination and the ability to ignore the pain is what they are going to need.

I probably know these guys about as well as they know themselves and failure won't be an option, even if they have to crawl to the end.

Best we can hope for them is that the conditions stay favourable and the blisters are kind.

Freak rainstorms have been known to postpone matches ;)

Usually the only way people get updates regarding the Highland March, there's a small 'signature' on my posts or people find out through word of mouth. This time, I've decided to update people on the main forum fully.

You going to be using Twitter during the march ? I am sure we can find a way to display a feed if you want ?

All the best guys

Is it a relay/tag-team for this one or is one person doing 127 miles in 2 and a half days?

There will be 2 'teams' this year.

Team Yompa will be attempting the whole distance as one (i.e. each individual in the team will plan to complete the whole distance), whilst Team Gringo will be breaking the route into relay stages to ensure other members of their team gets adequate rest, and the route is completed as a group.

Overall, we are all a team, and both TY and TG will work as one to make sure everyone does the absolute best we can do.

There are 7 of us taking part in this challenge, and it really will test us to both our mental and physical limits.

Scotty:

I've got twitter set up on my mobile, and it's linked to facebook to update them both simultaniously. If you are able to link it on CTO too, that'd be excellent... not sure how it's done mind!

whats the twitter name ? thats all we need.

Think its Highland March but link is on HM web site...hope that helps.

HM updates can now be seen on the sidebar at http://caleythistleonline.com/ (homepage of main site)

edit: now also available on main index of forum too. http://community.caleythistleonline.com/

Edited May 11, 201115 yr by Scotty
more info ....