The sell-out annual West Highland Way Race will take place as a virtual event in 2020. The virtual event starts at midnight on Thursday June 11 and challenges people to run or walk 95 miles (155km) over 9.5 days, either individually, as a semi-competitive three-person team relay or as a multi-team fun relay.
Organisers are encouraging entrants to stay local by running from home and following government guidelines on social distancing for the period of the race.
Like all virtual events, it will rely on the honesty of walkers and runners. Entrants are asked to log their miles as accurately as they can and have some serious fun, too.
Unlike the traditional West Highland Way Race, which had to be cancelled due to the Covid-19 Lockdown, the organisers are actively discouraging anyone from covering 95 miles in one go.
Instead, you should run segments of your choosing, reaching the three checkpoint cut-offs and then uploading your details to an online platform run by SI systems.
Virtual WHW Race checkpoints
Leg 1: Inversnaid – Total 36 miles to be completed by midnight Monday June 15.
Leg 2: Victoria Bridge, by Loch Tulla: 27 miles to be completed by midnight Thursday June 18.
Leg 3: Fort William: 32 miles giving a total of 95 miles to be completed midday Sunday June 21.
Team strategy
Each runner or team decides a strategy according to their own ambitions and available time.
You could run longer single legs or break each leg into smaller (and possibly faster) stages.
Evening entertainment
On the evening of Saturday June 20, there will be a live podcast hosted by John Kynaston. He will chat with previous race winners and characters from earlier West Highland Way Races. There will be a quiz, too.
Full details are available on the ALTRA West Highland Way Race website.
Ian Beattie the Race director said: “While we are all disappointed that this year’s actual race had to be cancelled, we hope that the virtual ‘race’ and evening entertainment will provide a bit of fun for the Altra West Highland Way Race community.
“It should be a nice opportunity to let everyone involved in the race come together in the week prior to the race itself and over the traditional race weekend. Many thanks to Adrian Stott, John Kynaston and Keith Hughes for all their work in pulling everything together in a short space of time.”