A group of 15 Oban squash players tackled another arduous edition of their club’s annual bootcamp last month, with one of Scotland’s top female players joining them.
The fourth edition of the Oban Ravens weekend was held on September 9 and 10, with a gruelling 10 kilometre long race taking place near Musdale Farm on Saturday September 9.
Four teams of four had to carry a 25kg bag, a plastic bucket, a heavy bag of kindling and roll an Arctic tyre for a section between them, with a marshall traversing the course with each team to check there was no cheating.
When the bootcamp first started in 2018, it was held at Ganavan Sands beach, but the hilly and unforgiving landscape at Musdale poses an even tougher challenge for the Ravens.
Ravens coach Colin MacNiven said: “It was an absolutely incredible weekend and it takes the ladies way out of their comfort zones. We tend to try and use the natural hillside because it’s so spectacular and treacherous and even though a lot of the ladies moan about it, they’ve all loved the experience afterwards.”
Scottish national women’s player and former Scottish junior squash champion Kirsty Lobban joined the Ravens on the Saturday after being impressed by what she had heard about the event.
“She was so impressed by our publicity and organisation that she wanted to do it on the Saturday, which is a huge endorsement of our team because she is well-known and well respected,” explained Colin.
The top squash player is now wearing the Ravens new kit at events, with their sponsored and nominated charities featuring prominently on their t-shirts and vests that were given away in goodie bags at the end of the event.
These include Argyll Engineers, Lorna Macleod Sports and Massage Therapy and Diabetes UK, which the Ravens support as their nominated charity.
Nicola Morgan, who was on the winning team, said: “With 16 women of varying ages and fitness taking part, it is difficult to pull together four equal teams, but there was only a matter of seconds in some cases between the teams and it turned out very even.”
Alongside the other challenges, the Ravens were treated to a surprise sack race at the halfway point, which was undoubtedly met by mixed reactions after 2.5 hours of hard racing.
Ravens player Megan Calvert said: “It was amazing fun, but really difficult and intense, with the whole experience bringing us closer together as a team. It was also a bit of a laugh and the sack race halfway through was tough because I went fully over in the mud.”
Another Raven, Julie MacLennan, added: “It was similar to SAS training for middle aged women because it was mainly ladies in their 30s and 40s that were taking part. The weather was very wet, but the course was beautiful.”
Denise MacMillan won Raven of the Day.
Saturday’s endurance test was followed by a more relaxed day involving yoga, a barbecue, squash training sessions and a medal ceremony to round off the weekend.
Colin added: “Thanks to the Dickie family at Musdale Farm for giving us access to their land and Argyll Agricultural Engineers and Lorna Macleod for their sponsorship.”
The next event for the Ravens is their handicap competition on Saturday November 4, with their next Women in Scotland Playing Squash competition at Whitecraigs in Glasgow on November 25.