The West Highland Way has long been the focus of ultra running challenges with many record times set, including supported, self-supported and unsupported during summertime. This month Angus Irvine, from Motherwell, Lanarkshire, claimed a new unsupported winter FKT on the 96-mile route from Milngavie to Fort William in a time of 18 hours, 9 minutes and 5 seconds.
- There is sparse official information about winter FKTs but it’s reported that the previous winter FKT had been held since December 2016 by Neil McNicol. He also revealed the history of the winter WHW FKT’s in his blog.
- The female unsupported winter FKT on the WHW is held by Keri Wallace after her run in December 2024.
- Meanwhile, the summer unsupported FKT was set by Pawel Cymbalista in 17 hours 53 minutes.
Angus Irvine’s winter WHW FKT
Angus, 43 is part of Pyllon Ultra and coached by John Connolly. He has been running ultra races for about six years and has completed the West Highland Way Race and also the West Highland Way Challenge Race.
He won the Jedburgh Three Peaks Ultra in 2024 and was fourth in the Lakeland 100. He has an entry for this year’s West Highland Way Race and also hopes to complete the “triple crown” of The Fling and Devil o’ the Highlands, too.
He reveals why he wanted to try the West Highland Way FKT. He says: “First of all, the idea of running the West Highland Way unsupported excited me. I had also been wondering for a while if it would be a helpful training technique to do a long-distance run earlier in the year and before the West Highland Way Race.
“I know other ultra runners who get more miles in their legs in the months before a big race and I’d not done this before.
“Time will tell if this has been a good idea or not.”
The date for the WHW FKT had been pencilled into his diary since October and, on the day, Angus was very lucky with the weather.
He says: “After a very cold week, the day turned out to be fantastic conditions. It was still cold but not as cold as the week before and it was dry. There was a bit of wind at some of the higher points but nothing too bad.”
Running unsupported means you need to carry all your own kit, food and water. Runners can’t make use of support, such as shops or drop bags, for the entire route. Only water stops are allowed.
Angus set off from Milngavie at 8pm on Friday January 17 with a pack weighing 8.4kg. He says: “This was actually my biggest error because I had not trained with my pack weighing so much.
“Normally, my running packs weighs around 2.1kg with clothing and safety kit but the gels and water added more than 6kgs extra.
“I knew from the start the the pack was going to cause me problems and it ended up making my shoulders sore and rubbed my skin on my back. I felt really stupid because I had not trained with this weight of pack.
“However, thankfully by halfway, I’d consumed a lot of the gels and so the pack became lighter.”
Unfortunately, a new pain came in the way of blisters on the base of his feet. Angus says: “I was wearing my usual shoes, adidas Terrex Agravic trail shoes, and it was the first time I’d experienced this kind of blister pain on the soles of my feet. Every step was painful and especially when I stepped on rocks and stones.
“I had to do a lot of talking to myself and I was very sweary.”
His other issue during the run was finding water to drink. Having mapped out potential water stations he discovered that several were closed, including one at Balmaha, and he had to rely on stream water. He says: “It was mentally tiring because I was worrying about where I would find enough water.”
The run took place in 12 hours of darkness and six hours of daylight. Angus reveals that he spent a lot of time thinking about the details of the run, such as where he was going, what he would eat next and where the next water stop might be.
He says: “It’s strange when you think back over longer runs because I don’t think about anything in particular. I didn’t listen to music or podcasts, I was just focusing on what I was doing.”
Angus recalls that there were some great highlights of the long run. He says: ”When daylight came it was so beautiful. This happened between Bridge of Orchy and Glencoe.
“It was nice to switch off my head torch and be able to see the trail and views ahead.
“At the Kingshouse Hotel I found a water stop and I watched as deer roamed about the car park. It was a great reminder of where I was and in such a wild landscape.”
The biggest highlight of all was seeing his family as he ran into Fort William. Angus says: “My wife and two kids were there. They had seen me off the start and then driven north. They are always such great supporters of my long-distance runs and it was so good to have them there at the end.
“I am really happy to have set a winter FKT unsupported on the West Highland Way.”