 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Finlay Wild |
| Nationality | British |
| Born | 8 September 1984 |
Finlay Wild (born 8 September 1984) is a Scottish runner and mountaineer who has been a British fell running champion. He has won the Ben Nevis Race twelve times.
| | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Finlay Wild |
| Nationality | British |
| Born | 8 September 1984 |
Finlay Wild (born 8 September 1984) is a Scottish runner and mountaineer who has been a British fell running champion. He has won the Ben Nevis Race twelve times.
Wild was born on 8 September 1984 in Thurso. [1] [2] He gained an affinity with the outdoors through his parents Roger Wild, a mountain guide, and Fiona (née Hinde), an accomplished hill runner who won the Three Peaks Race in 1981 and the Carnethy 5 in 1981 and 1982. [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] He was educated at Fort William primary school and Lochaber High School, then graduated with a medical degree from the University of Aberdeen. [8] [9] He works as a general practitioner in Lochaber. [10]
Wild first took part in a hill race at Ben Rinnes in 2005. [2] He came to prominence through the Ben Nevis Race which he first won in 2010. His tally of twelve Ben Nevis victories is higher than that of any other runner in the history of the event. [11] [12] [13] [14]
In 2012, he set a new course record for the Glamaig Hill Race, breaking the previous best set by Mark Rigby in 1997. [15] He improved the record by a further five seconds in 2018. [16] Wild's other wins include the Carnethy 5, [7] Goatfell races 2013–2015, [17] the Isle of Jura 2015-2017, [18] Stuc a' Chroin, [19] the Ennerdale Horseshoe [20] and the Langdale Horseshoe. [21] He won the British Fell Running Championships in 2015 [22] [23] and again in 2022. [24]
Wild has the fastest known time for the Cuillin Ridge traverse on the Isle of Skye, completing the crossing in 2:59:22 in 2013. [25] [26] In February 2016, Wild and Tim Gomersall made a winter crossing of the Cuillin Ridge in a time of 6:14. [27]
In 2016, Wild's results in the Tromsø SkyRace and the Glen Coe Skyline gave him third place in the Extreme section of the Skyrunner World Series. [28]
In October 2016, he set a record time of 10:15:30 for Tranter's Round in the mountains around Glen Nevis. [29] He further reduced the time to 9:00:05 in July 2020 [30] and then to 8:52 in July 2022, but the latter record only lasted one day until it was beaten by Jack Kuenzle with a time of 8:38. [31] Wild retook the record in June 2024 with a time of 8:27:53. [32]
In May 2019, Wild ran the Welsh 3000s in a time of 4:10:48 which broke the long-standing record of 4:19 held by Colin Donnelly since 1988. [33]
Wild set a record for the Ramsay Round in August 2020, completing the route solo and unsupported in a time of 14:42:40. [34] He also completed the Rigby Round of Munros in the Cairngorms in July 2021 in a record time of 16:40. [35]
In August 2021, Wild ran the Bob Graham Round in 12:59, just outside the record at the time of 12:52 held by Kilian Jornet. [36] Wild ran the Bob Graham Round again in January 2024, completing it between dusk and dawn in a time of 15:35, the fastest time achieved for a winter round. [37]
In April 2022, Wild completed the Paddy Buckley Round, solo and unsupported, in a time of 15:14, beating the previous record of 16:20 set by Kim Collison. [38]
Wild broke his own record in the Isle of Jura Fell Race in May 2022 with a time of 2:58:09, the first time any runner had completed the event in under three hours. [39] The following month, he set a new record of 30:39 at Buckden Pike, beating Colin Donnelly's previous best from 1988. [40]
In August 2022, Wild was victorious at both Matterhorn Ultraks [41] and Trofeo Kima. [42] He returned to Trofeo Kima in 2024, winning and setting a new course record of 6:05:04. [43]
Wild has also competed in ski mountaineering and was the British champion in that sport in 2016 as well as the Scottish Skimo series winner in the 2014/2015 and 2015/2016 seasons. [44] [45] [46]
Some of Wild's paintings were displayed as a solo exhibition at the John Muir Trust's Wild Space Gallery in Pitlochry for eight weeks in early 2016. [22] [47]
Ben Nevis is the highest mountain in Scotland, the United Kingdom, and the British Isles. The summit is 1,345 metres (4,413 ft) above sea level and is the highest land in any direction for 739 kilometres. Ben Nevis stands at the western end of the Grampian Mountains in the Highland region of Lochaber, close to the town of Fort William.
Fort William is a town in Lochaber in the Scottish Highlands, located on the eastern shore of Loch Linnhe. At the 2011 census, Fort William had a population of 15,757, making it the second-largest settlement both in the Highland council area and in the whole of the Scottish Highlands; only the city of Inverness has a larger population.
The Cuillin is a range of mostly jagged rocky mountains on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. The main Cuillin ridge is also called the Black Cuillin to distinguish it from the Red Cuillin, which lie to the east of Glen Sligachan.
Glamaig is the northernmost of the Red Hills on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. It lies immediately east of Sligachan. It is one of only two Corbetts on Skye.
Fell running, also sometimes known as hill running, is the sport of running and racing, off-road, over upland country where the gradient climbed is a significant component of the difficulty. The name arises from the origins of the English sport on the fells of northern Britain, especially those in the Lake District. It has elements of trail running, cross country and mountain running, but is also distinct from those disciplines.
The John Muir Trust (JMT) is a Scottish charity, established in 1983 to conserve wild land and wild places for the benefit of all. The Trust runs an environmental award scheme, manages several estates, mainly in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland and campaigns for better protection of wild land. In 2017, it took on a lease to manage Glenridding Common in the English Lake District.
Scotland is the mountainous country in the United Kingdom. Scotland's mountain ranges can be divided in a roughly north to south direction into: the Scottish Highlands, the Central Belt and the Southern Uplands, the latter two primarily belonging to the Scottish Lowlands. The highlands eponymously contains the country's main mountain ranges, but hills and mountains are to be found south of these as well. The below lists are not exhaustive; there are countless subranges throughout the country.
Angela Mudge is a Scottish champion hill runner and skyrunner. Despite being born with birth defects in both legs, and finding track athletics not to her liking, she discovered her sport while a postgraduate student in Scotland in the mid-1990s, and developed rapidly.
The Ramsay Round, also known as the Charlie Ramsay Round, is a long distance hill running challenge near Fort William, Scotland. The route is a circuit of roughly 58 miles, taking in 24 summits with a total climb of around 28,500 feet. Ben Nevis, Great Britain's highest peak, is included in the route along with 22 other Munros. Originally, all 24 summits on the Ramsay Round were Munros, but Sgurr an Iubhair was declassified as a Munro in 1997. The route was devised by Charlie Ramsay as an extension to Tranter’s Round, an existing 24-hour walking route, and first completed by Ramsay on 8-9 July 1978.
Kenny Stuart is a former fell and road runner from Threlkeld in the Lake District.
Colin Kerr Donnelly is a Scottish runner who was the British fell running champion three times and finished second in the World Mountain Running Trophy.
John Richard Wild is a male English former runner who competed in cross country, fell running, and the 3000m steeplechase.
Ros Evans is a British athlete who competed in fell running, orienteering, ski-orienteering and cross-country skiing. She is also mother to British track cyclist, Neah Evans.
Victoria Wilkinson is an English runner and cyclo-cross rider who was a world mountain running champion at junior level and who has several times been a national fell running champion as a senior athlete.
The Ben Nevis Race is a mountain race that takes place annually, from the foot of Ben Nevis to the top, then back again. The course is 14 km long and includes around 1,340 metres of ascent. Up to six hundred people may compete in the event.
Skyline Scotland is a set of annual skyrunning races which take place on consecutive days in the mountains around Kinlochleven in Lochaber. The main races are the Mamores VK, the Ring of Steall Skyrace, the Ben Nevis Ultra and the Glen Coe Skyline.
Jasmin Karina Paris is a British runner who has been a national fell running champion and who has set records for the Bob Graham Round and the Ramsay Round. In 2024, she became the first woman to successfully complete the Barkley Marathons.
The Isle of Jura Fell Race is an annual fell race held in May, starting and finishing at Craighouse on the Scottish island of Jura. The course loops west and north over several hills including the Paps of Jura. After the last climb to Corra Bheinn, a boggy descent takes the runners down to the tarmac coastal road which is followed for the final three miles to the finish. The route is approximately 17 miles (27 km) in length, with around 2,350 metres (7,710 ft) of ascent. As well as being known for the very difficult rocky and boggy terrain involved, the race is notable for its remoteness. The journey to the start of the race typically involves a ferry journey from the Scottish mainland to Islay, followed by another ferry to Jura and then several miles by bicycle, by bus or on foot to Craighouse.
Mark Alan Rigby is a British runner who was a national hill running champion and who represented Scotland in the World Mountain Running Trophy.
Beverley Redfern is a British mountain runner who won the 1990 World Mountain Running Championships.
