Runner Finlay Wild has been quietly – but determinedly – ticking off a series of impressive Scottish mountain challenges. While the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions saw almost all races cancelled, at home and abroad last summer, the Lochaber GP turned his attentions instead to some classic circuits and traverses.
With each bid, he ran supremely fast times and set new records, sometimes beating his own previous best time.
“I’ve called 2020 my ‘Year of FKTs’ [Fastest known Times],” says Finlay, 36, who has lived in the Highlands town of Fort William almost all his life.
“With so many great mountains and routes on my doorstep and a lots of flexibility thanks to my locum work, I decided to see what I could achieve locally.”
A summer of running records
On June 27, he started with a nine-mile Ring of Steall traverse of five mountain summits. His FKT was a shade under two hours (1:57:34).
Three days later, he set another record when he completed a Lochaber Traverse, including the nine high summits of the Grey Corries and Aonachs, as well as Carn Mor Dearg and the UK’s tallest peak Ben Nevis. He ran the 16-mile route in three hours and 32 minutes.
With only a week of recovery, he found the energy to break his own 2017 record on the Mamores Round, a 22-mile traverse and total ascent of 11,150ft over 11 mountains. He was almost 30 minutes faster in four hours, 49 minutes.
Ramping up the distance and ascent, nine days later Finlay took on a Tranter’s Round, which combines ridge running in the Mamores with the Lochaber Traverse summits.
His 2016 record for the 36.5-mile route stood at 10 hours 15 minutes, which he smashed in a shade over nine hours.
A few weeks later, Finlay had another goal in mind, the less well-known Mullardoch Round. He set another record of seven hours, 40 minutes for the 34-mile route over 12 remote Munros (summits over 3000ft).
The ultimate: Record Ramsay Round
Then came the challenge that Finlay had long coveted, a Ramsay’s Round. On August 31 he set out, as he puts it, “ to see how fast I could go and for how long”.
Acclaimed as one of the toughest UK mountain routes, the Ramsay circuit is 58 miles of wild terrain, including 24 of the country’s highest summits and an ascent of 28,500ft. Ramsay’s is an extension of a Tranter’s Round. It would be 20 miles further than Finlay had ever run.
He says, “For a runner living in Fort William, Ramsay’s is one of the most obvious long-distance challenges. However, it took me a long time to feel ready to go the distance.
“I remember on the 2016 Tranter’s, looking east to the greater Ramsay’s route beyond and not being able to visualise running that far.
“It was only last summer that something clicked for me thanks to a combination of experience, confidence in my endurance and pacing and nutrition.”
Finlay set a blistering new record of 14 hours, 42 minutes, some 90 minutes faster than the previous record.
He was thrilled. Finlay says, “Ramsay’s was one of my most memorable long mountain days and it went almost exactly to plan. After so many years of building up and dreaming of this big circuit, it felt deeply satisfying to finish and in a fastest time.”
Finlay enjoys running solo
The talented runner completes most of his challenges solo and unsupported. He also does so with minimal fanfare.
He says, “I do like running with other people, including my partner Suzy Devey, but I prefer to do the long challenges on my own. There is less planning and organising of other people when going solo and therefore you can just set off when it suits you.
“On my own, I get into what I call a ‘flow state’ where I’m immersed in the moment.
“People ask how I can run so fast for so long but to me it feels just right; the perfect pace. I train hard and I’ve learned my mountain craft over decades so, for me, moving fast in remote and challenging terrain is quite natural. I feel free and it is almost relaxing.”
Finlay also holds an FKT for a Cuillin Ridge traverse on the Isle of Skye, completing the 7.5-mile highly technical crossing in under three hours.
An outdoors family
Given his heritage, it seems unsurprising that Finlay, who was born in Thurso, Caithness, before moving as a child to Fort William, is such an accomplished mountain runner.
His father Roger is a retired mountain guide and the family – his mother Fiona and brother Alex, who did 14 years ago – spent their summers in the French Alps.
Finlay says: “Some of my earliest memories are walking and skiing, both in Scotland and the Alps. It was always part of our family life.
“Dad gave me my first foot up into experiencing the mountains at higher altitude and mum was a keen hill runner.
“But as a teenager and a student in Aberdeen, I was more focused on climbing and mountaineering. It wasn’t until later I began running seriously. I realised I could get to summits faster and lighter if I could run.”
In 2005, aged 21, Finlay participated in his first Scottish hill racing event, the Ben Rinnes Race, Moray. He says, “I was 10th, which was okay. What I discovered was I liked the low-key and friendly atmosphere of the UK hill races – and also the cake and tea afterwards.”
In 2012, Finlay won the Rinnes race and over 15 years he has accumulated a string of Scottish hill racing successes, including records such as the Glamaig Hill Race, Jura Fell Race, Meall a’Bhuachaille, Creag Dhubh, Beinn Dubh and the Trotternish Ridge.
In 2015, he won the British Fell Running Championships and, the following year, he was third in the “Extreme” section of the Skyrunner World Series. He’s also a British Ski Mountaineering Champion and Scottish SkiMo series winner. Another notable triumph took place 2019, when Finlay broke a 31-year record in the Welsh 3000s Challenge.
The race that has arguably brought Finlay greatest fame is perhaps also the most pertinent. In total, he’s competed the Ben Nevis Race 13 times, winning it 10 times in a row.
The Lochaber Athletics Club runner had long been aware of the annual event, which challenges participants to be the fastest up and down the 4413ft mountain. Both his parents, and his grandfather John Hinde, competed in the historic contest.
He says, “Since childhood I’ve loved the up-beat atmosphere in the town when the race was on and how many people I knew that competed. It was an obvious race for me to do when I was old enough [entrants must be 18] and from the first time in 2006 I really enjoyed it.”
Finlay finished 13th, then fourth and fifth, until he started his winning streak in 2010.
He says, “I didn’t plan to do the race so many times in a row and there is always a degree of chance as to whether I will be free on the day, or without injury. Really, it’s a great race and it’s special because it is local. I have been fortunate to win it many times.
“In fact, I feel lucky and grateful to be as fit as I am so I can continue to set myself challenges in the mountains, such as my FKTs. I do like racing but it’s different to the big mountain days, which offer so many layers of experiences, feelings and sights.
“I will never get bored of the mountains and running in them creates the best version of me.”
- This article appeared in The Scots Magazine January 2021. See pdf link to download.