Hi there

Hope you are well and enjoying your running!

Our training weekends have gained quite a reputation for providing a really enjoyable mix of fabulous guided runs on scenic trails, inspirational advice from leading experts from the world of running & fitness and loads of practical stuff like Pilates, massage and nutrition.
As you probably already know we are using two main bases for our training weekends – Balmoral Castle Estate and Douneside House Estate, both of which are set in fabulous scenery and provide excellent, comfortable accommodation to relax in.

Our next training weekends are: 

26th-28th October, Douneside House. Special guests include Don Macgregor, 8th in the 1972 Olympic Marathon and ex World Veteran Marathon Champion and Jeff Wallace, Sports Physiotherapist.

23rd-25th November, Balmoral. Special guests include Gerard Hartmann, Physical Therapist to the stars! He worked with the USA Olympic Team in 1992, Irish Olympic Team in 1996 and the Great Britain & N. Ireland Olympic Team in 2000 and 2004. He has treated and worked with Paula Radcliffe, Michael Johnson, Colin Jackson, Carl Lewis and Lance Armstrong amongst very many others from all over the world - a total of 53 Olympic medal winners and 34 World Champions and world record holders. We are absolutely delighted that he will be coming to Balmoral from his base in Limerick.

 29th Feb-2nd March 2008, Balmoral. This is a ‘Body and Sole’ Weekend designed for relative newcomers to running. or those who want to enjoy Yoga, Pilates, Sports Massage, Gait Analysis as well as Guided Runs and talks/ demonstrations.

7th-9th March 2008, Balmoral. The Mad March Marathon Training Weekend - designed for those who have a marathon planned in 2008. Special guests include John Bryant, author of ‘The London Marathon – The History of the Greatest Race on Earth’ and ‘3:59.4: The Quest to Break the 4-Minute Mile’. John, a lifelong athlete and a veteran of marathons around the world, has been involved in the London Marathon for 27 years - running in almost all of them. He has had a career as a journalist, most recently working as Editor-in-Chief of The Telegraph Group. The weekend will provide advice and inspiration for marathoners but please note that non marathoners are also welcome!

11th-13th April 2008, Douneside House. Special guests have yet to be confirmed but are likely to include one of the fastest UK marathon runners of all time. 

For those of you who have not been on our training weekends before, please note that Dr. Chris Fenn, our sports nutritionist, works with the chefs at both Balmoral and Douneside to ensure that not only is the food good for running fitness but it is also incredibly tasty (and almost entirely locally sourced - such as the Balmoral salmon and venison!).

Our short break race packages are also available. These provide the opportunity to participate in some of the best Highlands race events without the hassle (leave that to us!). Events coming up include:

The Ballater 10 mile race on 29th July
Moray Marathon, Half Marathon and 10k in Elgin on 2nd September
Loch Ness Marathon, 10k and 5k on 7th October
Lumphanan Detox 10k on 2nd January 2008 on Deeside (we offer a special 5 night package including a Highlands Hogmanay Ceilidh [dance] on New Year’s Eve)  

Please don’t forget that we provide all year round bespoke running holidays – for as long or as short a period as you have available. These holidays offer the opportunity to run on a much wider variety of trails than is possible on a training weekend.

Further details can be found on our website - www.runningthehighlands.com - or by calling us and chatting more on 08451-577422 or 07768-378012.

We look forward to seeing and running with you soon!

The RTH Team