Top Scottish runner Finlay Wild has broken his own record for competing the Tranter’s Round in Scotland. He finished on Jul 17, 2020, in nine hours and five seconds, compared to 10 hours 15 minutes in 2016.
What is the Tranter’s Round?
Tranter’s Round is named after Philip Tranter, who first completed it in 1964. It is acclaimed as Scotland’s original 24-hour challenge, before being extended by Charlie Ramsay in 1978 to become the Ramsay Round.
The Tranter Round extends to around 58km (36 miles) and has more than 6100m (20,000ft) of ascent taking in 18 Munros (and a Munro Top, Sgurr an Lubhair), including all of the Mamores, the Grey Corries, the Aonachs and then Carn Mor Dearg and Ben Nevis, which is Britain’s highest mountain. The start and finish are at Glen Nevis.
Who is Finlay Wild?
Finlay, 35, from Fort William, is a Scottish hill runner and mountaineer well known for his 10-in-a-row wins at the Ben Nevis Race. He also set a Cuillin Ridge Traverse record in 2013 and he is a former British Fell Running Champion title.
In 2016, his results in the Tromsø Skyrace and the Glen Coe Skyline gave him third place in the Extreme section of the Skyrunner World Series.
- I wrote about Finlay in 2013 when he broke the Cuillin Ridge Traverse record.
Finlay’s new Tranter record run
Finlay said that the record-breaking round “went pretty smoothly”. He added: “I had my previous split times and I had planned to just try to chip away at these on each leg of the round.
“I wanted to do the round again because it really is such a great high-level route and I knew I was running stronger and with better endurance than in 2016. During that run, I think I faded towards the end so I was keen to go back and finish in under 10 hours.
“Having taking almost 30 mins off my own Mamores round record – now four hours, 50 mins – a few weeks ago, I wondered if I could take a big chunk off the Tranter.”
Finlay revealed some of the reasons why he was faster this time. He said: “It was due to lots of small cumulative factors. I know the route really well, I’ve been racing highly competitive long races (up to marathon distance) in Europe over the past few years and I have learnt how much I can push myself hard over a long effort, for example, Zegama and Buff Epic, which are both 42km. Also, I’m better on plans for training, nutrition, recovery and sleep.”
Finlay ran the Tranter’s Round solo and unsupported. He said: “Only a few people knew I was out for a record attempt against myself, so there didn’t feel like there was much pressure. This keeps stress levels low and makes it just an enjoyable big day out in the hills.”
Finlay thoroughly enjoyed the run, He said: “It was a high watching the weather improve into the afternoon, just as I had hoped it would from an optimistic interpretation of the forecast.
“It was great to take an hour and 15 minutes off my previous record, too. Even missing a sub-nine-hours wasn’t disappointing because I feel I made a concerted push to try for it over many hours, so I ran as well as I could have hoped.”
Finlay has some of the Scottish classic long runs, from Torridon to Mullardoch to the Cairngorms, on his radar for possible next goals.
See Go Mountain Goats for more info on Finlay.