A TEAM of ultra runners has completed the 536-mile Scottish National Trail in just four days in what is thought to be a new record.
The route, launched by hiker and author Cameron McNeish in 2012, takes users along the length of the country from Kirk Yetholm in the Borders to Cape Wrath in Sutherland.
Estimates suggest it would take around 40 days to trek it.
But the Pyllon Racing team completed the feat in one tenth of that, and in challenging winter conditions.
All experienced athletes, the nine – Paul Giblin, Kaz Williams, Robert Turner, Chris Cowley, Graham Connolly, John Connolly, Grant MacDonald, Marco Consani and James Stewart – were on the go for up to 18 hours at a time to reach the finish line within 100 hours.
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Each person covered a minimum of 82 miles and raced across burns and up and down hills.
The terrain in some sections was so treacherous that they ran in pairs for safety reasons and sleep was limited to as little as two hours at a time.
The feat generated almost £6300 for mental health charity Scottish Association for Mental Health (SAMH) and set what is believed to be a new winter record.
Stewart, from Croy, told The National: “We’d love someone else to challenge it.”
The 43-year-old remembered how he’d gone 13 hours on the track without seeing another person: “We all had it tough. Everyone did a huge slog of miles and it was extremely difficult.
“You don’t appreciate the vastness of the country, the sheer scale of it and how wild it is. That really came to the fore. It’s a much bigger country than you think.
“It’s about what keeps you going. Knowing someone is waiting a few miles down the track for you does that.”
The team chose to support SAMH after mental health issues affected their own lives. Stewart, who works for broadcasting giant Sky, lost friends to suicide and the team hopes its achievement can help inspire anyone with personal struggles to keep going. He said: “A few of the team have had their own challenges with mental health and we all know people who have been affected by it.”
SAMH congratulated the team for their achievement when they completed the trail on Monday.
READ MORE: Robbie Simpson running into the unknown in first ultra marathon
Now McNeish has added his praise for the nine, calling their 100-hour rush “quite amazing”. He said: “What is astonishing is they completed this remarkable achievement in one of the wettest and windiest winters I can remember over wild, rough country – the ground must have been like a great soggy mattress.
“To squelch your way through that must have been soul-destroying.
“But the trail helps you begin to appreciate what a fantastic landscape we have in Scotland. There’s nowhere else quite like it.”
For Stewart, Cape Wrath was both the best and worst part of the challenge. He said: “It was muddy and wet and boggy, but that’s where most of the memories will come from.
“It’s a special place where very few people tread each year. I ran for 13 hours and never saw a single other person on the trail, apart from my running partner. That shows how wild it is – you don’t get that in the Central Belt.”
To donate, visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/pyllonendeavour2
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