They’re all in!  Despite the best efforts of the Highland weather, all runners who started the race this morning have reached the finish line of the first-ever Highland UItra.  They’ve experienced all four seasons repeatedly over the last three days.  They’ve trudged through knee-deep bogs and up and down steep rocky hillsides all surrounded by some of Scotland’s most dramatic scenery.

We chose Knoydart for this race because it fits in with our ethos perfectly.  A uniquely stunning and remote place.  An area of natural beauty, well off the beaten path.  Knoydart lived up to and beyond all our expectations.  It is no exaggeration to describe the area as breathtaking and we have seen it at it’s most and least hospitable.

Behind the scenes, and for many of the runners, this event represented a return to racing.  A chance to get back to the events that we love after 18 months or more of disruption, and it’s been exactly the adventure we all needed.

Stage Three was the return to Inverie.  The decision was made early on that we wouldn’t be tackling the big climb we had planned for today, up the lofty Ladhar Bheinn.  With howling winds and driving rain forecast, we made a call for safety’s sake to keep them off the highest ground.  This turned out to be absolutely the right call as once the weather closed in around mid-afternoon the wind made standing upright a challenge and visibility dropped to almost nothing.  The fastest runners today saw some hard weather themselves though.  Nobody came in with dry feet today.

The fastest of those runners was John Shield who has led the race since Stage One.  He becomes the first-ever overall winner of the Highland Ultra.  John will be returning to BTU events next year when we head out to the Jungle Ultra and we look forward to seeing what he’s capable of in those conditions.  He has been indomitable.

Not far behind John Shield were Alex Green and Sam Collins.  Friends since their teens, they stuck together throughout pushing themselves and John Shield all the way.

The women’s podium has also been decided.  After another strong day on the course, and in her first ever multi-day race, Flora Beverly has clinched the top spot.  She beats Sheila Sanei into 2^nd position and Amy Sutherland into third.

At the time of typing, we’re all preparing to head back down to the beachside basecamp to drink and celebrate among the mountains with a ceilidh band to entertain us.  The loch will echo with the sounds of happy runners exchanging tails from the trail.  There may even be some stiff, shuffly dance moves under the stars (rain).

We’re all looking forward to coming back and doing it all again next April.

Thanks for following the event, it means the world to us and our runners.

BTU HQ

Stage Three Results:

Overall Standings