FANCY a gentle run this weekend? Jog on – this one's not for you.
In fact, the Cape Wrath Ultra's not for many.
Fewer than 200 souls have been brave enough to take on the tough race this year, which is billed as Scotland's answer to the gruelling desert challenge Marathon Des Sables.
I COULD TAKE IT
COULD you?
This is just the second year that the eight-day expedition race has been staged, and the winner of the inaugural event in 2016, Ita Emanuela Marzotto – a Tuscan who has competed all over the world – called it "the hardest thing" she'd ever taken on.
Of the final push to the finish line, she said: "I had no energy, nothing, but I kept thinking of my son Ettoro who was waiting at the finish and that helped. Everybody was so supportive, so encouraging, that I couldn’t give in to exhaustion even though I fell on the road right at the end.
"This race is the hardest thing I’ve done, harder than the ten day race in Australia or the Marathon Des Sables.”
WELL, I COULD GIVE IT A GO
REALLY?
Based on the long distance Cape Wrath Trail, which takes hikers from Fort William to the northernmost point of the UK mainland, the event covers more than 400km and includes some of the Highlands' wildest terrain.
While ramblers routinely take three weeks to cover the trail's length, strict cut off times for each stage of the Ultra mean competitors cannot adopt a leisurely pace.
Last time round 40 per cent of the 90-odd runners who started it failed to finish at the coastal cliffs on May 27.
This year the enlarged field of participants features around 200 folk, all of whom have been warned about what they are taking on.
SUCH AS?
PEAT bogs, tussocks and areas with no visible path. Estate roads, glens and gravel.
The route includes a total ascent of 11,200m, and the first stage alone, which ends at Glenfinnan, covers more than 33km.
Runners will have to cross more than 100 rivers, many of which could be in spate.
Organisers Ourea Events – the same people who put together the unforgiving mountain-running contest Glen Coe Skyline, and associated races – are at pains to warn competitors about the dangers to their feet, with special guidance issued ahead of time by race medics.
I'VE DONE A 5K THOUGH
THAT'S great, but in nowhere near the same league.
Entrants this year will travel from 23 countries worldwide, with 21 Scots also lining up at the start on Sunday.
According to race director Shane Ohly, of Ourea Events, making it to the end will take training, endurance, self-reliance, navigational skills, confidence and self-belief.
He said: “The Cape Wrath Ultra is an extreme challenge with runners crossing some of the wildest and remotest terrain in the UK.
“It’s not a route designed to cross or climb mountains but to take the natural line through the mountains. We have created a logical route dating back to ancient times.
“I can’t wait to welcome the 2018 runners to Fort William this weekend.”
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