8 October 2012

Glencoe Marathon gets off to a flying start

150 trail runners took on the first Glencoe Marathon on Sunday. Billed as the UK’s toughest marathon, the 26-mile trail run ascended a total of 1,608 metres though some of Scotland’s most spectacular landscapes to end at the base of Ben Nevis.

Luckily the weather was forgiving on the participants with plenty of sunshine and very little wind resulting in 144 of the 150 starters finishing the course. Matt Witco set a blistering record of three hours and fifty minutes and Sharon Daw was the fastest woman with a finishing time of four hours and thirty-three minutes.

On crossing the finishing line Matt Witco, based in Salisbury with the Royal Engineers, commented that: “The setting of Glencoe makes this a truly awesome route and the event was brilliantly organised with loads of food and water stops along the way.”

Organised by the Highland Perthshire based outdoor challenge company WildFox Events, the route snaked through the pass of Glencoe and up and over the fearsome Devil’s Staircase to Kinlochleven. Runners then climbed through the Mamores, ending with a steep descent into Glen Nevis.

Glencoe Marathon is being championed by Bruce Duncan, adventure athlete for the Adidas TERREX Adventure Race Team in multi-day events all around the world. Bruce, who trialed the route in a blizzard in March, said; “this is my ideal challenge, an off road route through a truly wild area that is guaranteed to test even the hardiest of souls to the limit.”

Everyone who ran the Glencoe Marathon raised money for the inspirational new youth development initiative called Project Northern Lights. Run by the Muirhouse Youth Development Group (MYDG), the project puts young people through a programme of challenging adventure activities and personal development to help them into employment, education and training.

“The Glencoe Marathon is a fantastic event because it has heart as well as grit,” commented David Fox Pitt, Director of WildFox Events. “Money raised for the Northern Lights Project will help young people from tough backgrounds to shine.”

Photo by Ed Smith of a runner enjoying views towards Blackwater Reservoir