Seeking asylum in the hills & transcendence on the trails

Posts tagged “#WHWrace

Not the West Highland Way – Race Report (June 2015)

It’s been a while.

It was a race I hadn’t really planned to do with the IAU WorldTrail Champs being only a few weeks earlier. Lots of sensible reasons not to. But racing isn’t as cold as that for me. Things aren’t black and white.

I don’t race to strict heart rate zones. Sometimes I run sections hard because it feels good. Sometimes I slow because I feel like it, and I can (or simply that I have to). Sometimes I make mistakes. Other times it comes good. It’s a race. Not a time trial. And sometimes you make racing decisions that you’ll live with, good or bad. (more…)


West Highland Way 2013 – race report

Photo courtesy of Thomas Loehndorf

There are loads of great blogs written already about this year’s race and hundreds more from earlier races so rather than cover most of the same I thought I’d be better just trying to answer the actual questions I’ve been asked most often since I made it to Fort William……..and…….won the WHW race (still feel slightly awkward saying that). The other bit is even more awkward! (more…)


West Highland Way Race Report – 2012

The ‘Big One’

Can’t believe I’m writing my report already. It’s done. It’s gone for another year and already I’m dreading the long wait for its return. I love the West Highland Way race. There, I said it. There is always a drama, there are times when you’d choose to be anywhere else in the world but for now at least, it feels like a home-race.

I won’t go in to all the details – there are a lot of other reports for you to get through and you’ve probably heard most of the same stuff from me for a while. In short, training had been good, taper was pretty straightforward and I was more organised than the year before thanks to all we had learned on my first WHW race. I arrived in Milngavie feeling good but perhaps not as confident as I had hoped having pulled out of the Cateran Ultra after 20 miles or so due to stomach problems. It was an emotional exit having won it the year before and had been extra stoked by the fantastic line-up of talent on the day. It wasn’t to be though – so had to try to put it to the back of my mind.

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