Pawel Cymbalista is well known for his quest to set Fastest Known Times (FKTs) for many of Scotland’s long distance trails. His latest achievement is an FKT for The Skye Trail. He ran the route of 129km, with 4250m of ascent, in 17 hours, 18 minutes and 21 seconds and unsupported. This is faster than both the previous unsupported and the supported times for the route.
According to the Fastest Known Time website, the unsupported record for the Skye Trail was Hunter Leininger’s 23:11:18 set in 2023. The FKT supported record was run by Jacob Snochowski in 17:49:20 in March 2025, while the female supported record is 30:05:30 and held by Zoe Scott-Green in 2022.
What is the Skye Trail?
The Skye Trail journeys north to south on the Scottish island, starting at Rubha Hunish and finishing at Broadford. It takes in much of the Trotternish Ridge, passes through the heart of the Cuillin mountains and heads along a section of rugged coastline. It is not a waymarked route.
Pawel’s Skye Trail FKT
Ultra runner Pawel can see the Isle of Skye from his home in Mallaig and he has long dreamed of running the island’s trail. He completed the route unsupported, which means he carried everything he needed from start to finish and did not have any external help. Pawel said: “The whole day was good. I arrived in the north of Skye the night before, slept in the van and set off at 7am the next day.
“The weather improved with every minute, although the wind picked up for a good few hours. I was on the highest tops of the Trotternish Ridge when the wind and low cloud made things harder for me. It was very cold and all I could think of was to go faster and finish the ridge as quickly as I could to get out of the wind and warm up on lower terrain.”
The difficult conditions were forgotten as Pawel reached the impressive geological feature, the Old Man of Storr, at the southern end of the Trotternish Ridge and it was then that the sun also appeared.
Next came a 56km section to the town of Portree. Pawel said: “It was very hard going with around 2500m of elevation and a lot of wet and saturated ground. Every step was a splash, which was energy sapping.
“Along to the coast, the paths were very narrow, rocky and slippery. There were places where I couldn’t put my two feet next to each other because it was so narrow. There were a lot of times I looked down over a steep drop to the ocean.”
Pawel reveals that there were more hard times to come due to the heat. He said: “I kept drinking and eating plenty. I found the
the southern cliffs around Elgol testing and I lost quite a lot of time here but I had slow down to be safe.
“The final 30km was a sprint finish to the end. I knew I could get the record, but I just had to keep on keeping on.”
Pawel, who is the founder of My Mountain Lab Coaching, reports the Skye Trail is a route he will never forget. He said: “It’s such a great trail with many challenges but it’s one I have wanted to do for a long time and it is great to have set a new FKT.”
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