Ewan Brown claimed a new record time in the 40th anniversary edition of the Highland Cross, shaving 18 seconds off the previous record. The 37-year-old athlete from Edinburgh completed the 50-mile duathlon – 20 miles on foot and 30 miles on bike – that traverses the Scottish Highlands coast to coast, in 3 hours, 13 minutes and 13 seconds. He took the record from Keith Murray, which he set in 1993 despite going the wrong way at one stage in the race.
Ewan told an interviewer from the Inverness Courier at the finish line: “ I am very chuffed. I did have a time in mind of me to finish and I knew I would need to push hard.
“I knew it would need to be a fine mix of running hard but leaving enough in the legs for the bike, which I did fortunately.”
In second place was Gordon Lennox with a time of 3:35:35, while the third placed runner was James Taylor in 3:36:17.
Cat holds on to Highland Cross title
In the female race, Cat Graves, of Inverness, who is a member of Highland Hill Runners, held on to her Highland Cross title and ran some eight minutes fast than 2023. The 27-year-old finished the race that heads west to east from Kintail through Glen Affric and Strathglass to Beauly, in 3:54:57.
She told me: “The race went well and I’m very happy to retain my title and also to finish faster than last year.
“The run was as hard as last year, but the cycle was massively helped by a tailwind.”
Cat was 18th overall and she was two seconds inside second fastest place women’s time ever. The female record holder in the Highland Cross was set in 2007 by Angela Mudge in 3:48:09.
In second and third place in the Highland Cross female race were Katie Bain in 4:06:33 and Sally Wallis in 4:08:37 respectively.
Cat is on a roll of recent podiums. She also retained her title in the Trotternish Ridge Race and won the Jura Fell Race.
In 2021, Ewan Brown set a new record time in the Celtman! Extreme Triathlon. His time of 10:56:37 was beaten this year by Ross Creber.
The Highland Cross, which launched in 1983, exists to raise money for causes that benefit the people of Highland, disadvantaged by disability, ill health or social need.