Top two tips to start ( bold assumption that you have trained well) 1 RTFM this is oddly something lots of idiots dont do. It really is very comprehensive so read it, make your crew read it then read it again. 2 Get yourself a support crew who already know the event. So that means @Ewa Pisarczyk @Karianne Lancee and @George Noble are sorted for sure. Anyone else its worth doing 1 and have a look at some small things that arent in the manual. Travelling up. Torridon is quite remote but if you fill up in Inverness or Dingwall you have enough fuel to get round and back to Inverness. Inverness is also a good stop for supplies..Big supermarkets and Tiso ( sell all the kit needed for the mountain safety bag). You MUST register on the Friday.. or at least 2 people with 2 sets of kit need to register. If you have someone coming say after work just make sure you have their kit and someone other than you to register it. The briefing whilst it can be tedious is useful..even if you think you know it all. There can be last minute changes so dont get caught out by dodging the briefing. Social swim on Friday is great fun if you are up early enough. Make sure you have the means to dry your wetsuit after or bring a spare as at 0300 sat putting on a damp suit will be erm sub optimal. Start your fuelling up on Thrusday and try and stay as close to normal eating as possible on Friday. Anything heavy or high in fibre you may have to join the sheep to get rid of it on the course. Get to bed early Thursday as you will be lucky to get much, if any sleep on Friday night. The buses leave at 0400 sharp. Don't be the dick that isn't there. The finest you can cut it probably is arrive 0315 to set up T1 and pick up the tracker. So depending on how far you are staying from Sheildaig can mean as early as a 0130 start. You have one supporter designated for T1. Make sure you have a plan for how this will run and they know exactly how it goes. The tracker needs to go on the athlete rather than the bike to lessen the risk of leaving it in T2. Since there is no support after T1 until KLE..the athlete should have food and fuel for at least 90 mins with them on the bike. Unless you are out and away in the top 10 to 20 people your support car will get held up and it can be 2 hours before you make contact again.

I’ve been using PF90 gels successfully for the past few months and have managed to reverse engineer their formula (not difficult) into a home made equivalent that costs pennies to make and works just as well. Can share if anyone wants it.

Dog walk musings. Today there are a plethora of races and formats to play with. Back in the early 90s there were much fewer opportunities to have organised fun. The race brochure for the first M dot race in the UK profiled all 5 IM races on the go. Yes 5. No Challenge, No PT100..no social media nada. So what's your favourite race format?

I was just listening to the radio, and heard something interesting that feels applicable to pretty much any sport. Anton du Bec, of all people, the ballroom dancer guy from Strictly… “When you perform, that mustn’t be your best or hardest effort. The hardest effort must be the one you’ve done in training, the one you know you’ve done before”. I thought that was a great insight- it’s something I used to coach in kayaking, and it seems to me it works for most endurance sports too. So- what’re the quotes you carry around with you?

Interesting invite for us to partner with Scurry events at the Loch Ore off road tri. We have been advocating for more off road races for many years and last year we helped design the bike course at the Restless Gravel tri. That one is a real beast but we are thinking Loch Ore is a more accessible style of race. Does off road tri floats peoples boats?