Reflections on a Highland Ultra - Knoydart, Scotland May 2025

Beyond The Ultimate Highland Ultra is 125Km of trails and bogs and hills in the beautiful Knoydart peninsula in Scotland. With over 50 other adventurous people I set out last May to spend 3 days in a self sufficient race to the finish in the UK’s most remote pub - The Old Forge in Inverie. 

Having come down, from the mountains and figuratively back to regular life I tried to process the thoughts and feelings from the experience and put that into some words. 

The race is billed as one of the toughest in the UK, and with the terrain being the best and worst of Scotland's nature I can't disagree with that description. At least comparing it to some of the long runs I’ve done in Sweden I’d have to say that the Scottish mountains presented some unique opportunities to test resilience and strength, both physically and mentally. 

Knoydart is a special place, owned by the local community who are trying to rewild the area, bringing back natural forest and removing invasive species over time, protecting the area for future generations and building a semi self-sustaining community. Yes there were Amazon packages on the boat on the way over, but this community produces its own electricity, works their own land, and own their local pub together!

I trained pretty well for this race, at least I trained well in the conditions I had to train in. I was lucky that one of my triathlon coaches is an ultra running specialist. He built me a solid program of mixed endurance and quality running sessions over many weeks, complimenting my biking and swimming, to build me up and give me a confidence I’ve never really felt before in my running ability. 

There is a big contrast though to training on hard Swedish winter trails, still frozen or covered in light snow and ice, in a relatively flat local forest and taking on the deep bogs, rivers and hills of Knoydart.

At first like the novice I am bogs were avoided as much as possible, probably energy wasted trying to find semi dry ways around them, but after a while with feet soaked through anyway I realised that this was just how it is - wet! Thankfully not too cold, but there was little point to trying to stay dry. By day three on the homeward stretch I was running in a straight (ish) line through whatever was in front of me!

The group that ran together was a big part of the experience, mixed nationalities, mixed ages, mixed experience. From Ben and Ioana, the winners of the male and female race, to the first timers, some who had never completed a distance farther than a half marathon. Everyone was there to enjoy their own race, but also to experience it together and help each other along the way. I was running together with my old school friend Duncan but that didn’t stop us feeling part of the bigger group and meeting and sharing the ups and downs with other runners at all levels. 

As a first time multi-day runner there was a lot that was new to me. I learned that in these types of races people pace at different times in different ways, so you can overtake and be overtaken several times by an individual or a smaller pack within the group. In this way it becomes a shared experience, whether encouraging words are exchanged or simply nods given during passing it feels great to be connected to other people over the days.

After each day the camp provided a chance to get to know people even better although in my case tiredness won over and led me to early nights in the tent trying to rest, organise kit and food for the next day and eventually sleep in those beautiful locations by the Scottish sea. 

I learned too that I am happier going up a hill than down. Even if steep and tiring the upward parts give you some degree of sure footing and confidence in your steps that I find myself lacking on the downwards slopes. I chatted to Tom who came third overall about his ability to fly down the mountains and understood that a trust in his shoes and confidence from practice gave him the chance to really open up and find a good downhill pace. For me my downhills were more "ginger", protecting ankles and knees and trying to avoid a faceplant into the rocks. I’d like to improve this, find more bravery in the downhills and take advantage of gravity better next time. 

I also learned that I’m pretty good at taking each section as it comes, enjoying the faster sections when possible, one step after the other on the harder parts, stopping sometimes to pause and look around and appreciating the views, and that I can keep going longer than I thought when it gets hard.

On day one I rolled my ankle a bit, nothing serious but sore, soon after I started to feel intense pain in my hip stabilising muscles. Talking to Kris the race director at the end of the day he nodded wryly, the terrain being unlike my training had taken its toll on those small muscles. Stepping sideways, up and down and in and out of uneven bogs and on loose rocks had forced my body to new levels of control and the muscles were screaming at me for it.

I had doubts during the last 15 km or so of day one, not about my will or wish to continue, but questions as to my ability to endure that level of pain for another 75 or so kilometres over the next few days. Food and rest and sleep though are medicine in these moments and when I woke on day two I was happily surprised to feel good, or at least good enough to get going again.

Day 2 involved the most amount of climbing (and downhill) so was a mixed bag of hard uphill work and steady downhill progress, combined with some of the best scenery and views I’ve seen for a long time. We were blessed with dry, sunny weather and I had many moments in those hills that I didn’t want to end. Those moments helped eat up the kilometres, even as Duncan pointed out some of them were the slowest per km running pace that we had probably ever done! 

I think during the second day I also began to realise how much I loved the simplicity of all of this. There isn’t much (any) mobile signal in this area, so my phone was simply a camera for 3 days.

In the evenings tasks were important but simple, wash off legs in a river, let feet sit in the lovely cold water for a natural “ice bath” experience, change to dry clothes, hang up wet ones, prepare dinner (just add hot water!), eat, chat a bit with those around us, go to the tent, fix the gear into some kind of order for the next day, get into sleeping bag and murmur goodnight to Duncan in the next tent and then drop off to sleep.

No distractions, no unnecessary jobs, just focus on what was needed to be done.

It was only three days but that simplicity will stay with me a long time and I hope can help me back in regular life to remove some of the unneeded fuss of modern life. I had a note with me from my wife that became my bedtime reading, just a small card that took some seconds to read but that meant so much to me. I’ll carry that card for a long time. 

The last day I ran alone. This wasn’t planned but Duncan is a better runner than me and wanted to stretch his legs, and I enjoyed the chance to be with my own thoughts for the day.

It gave me time to think about what this had meant and a chance to take everything at my own pace.

I ran fast when I could, even some downhills. I stopped and laughed a few times at the slightly ridiculous amount of water I was travelling through. Running down one hill in a stream like a big kid was a great moment. It helped I knew I’d have dry shoes in a few hours! And when it flattened out about 7km from the end I put in my headphones for the first time in the race and ran along to some banging dance tunes. Feeling the wind and feeling brilliant, smiling all the way, crying briefly once or twice, not so much at the achievement but in gratitude for the opportunity to have taken part, to Karin and my kids for their support in allowing me all the time for training and travel. 

For me the race gave me a new set of experiences to add to memory, and it changed how I think about and manage long distance racing. I followed it up with an Ironman later in 2025 (I’ll write about that another time), and I know when I was digging deep during that race, part of my mind was in Scotland seeing Highland cows and enjoying the streams. Discomfort is just that, but it’s manageable when you don’t fight it and find something to smile about. 

The team behind the event - Beyond the Ultimate - were excellent. Supportive, organised and clearly wanting everyone to finish, and finish safely.

If you want a tough challenge in some amazing corner of the world, whether it’s in Scotland, or one of their other races, these guys will look after you and give you a great experience.

I have dreams about their Ice Ultra here in Sweden in a year or two. Maybe see you there in 2028.