Ultra gold for Whiting Bay’s Robbie Millar

The 23 year old runner was the men’s open winner, and the overall gold medal winner, and finished the race with a time of 11 hours, 39 minutes and 39 seconds.

Competitors set off from Queen Park Stadium, Inverness, at 7am on a Saturday morning to tackle the ultra marathon route that circumnavigated Loch Ness anticlockwise before finishing at Dores on the north eastern shore. The route takes in 3,500 metres of elevation gain along the forest and mountain tracks.

Robbie was the first to cross the line at Dores just after 6.30pm, completing the route at an average rate of 9.43 minutes per kilometre. Robbie was considerably in front of his nearest rival, American, George Boyd, who took a further 15 minutes to make it to the finish. The fastest lady was Sheila Sanei from Sweden, who took 15 hours, 7 minutes and 56 seconds to finish.

Of the 145 starters there were 104 finishers who completed the race with an average finishing time of 20 hours.

It was the first occasion the race has been offered as a single stage race. Competitors also had the option of running the route over two days with the option to camp half way round. Over 1,100 people from 42 countries signed up to tackle the event that included 60, 50, 25 and 12km races in addition to the single stage and two day races, making it the biggest ultra event in Scotland.

The event was so popular that entries for next year will be selected by ballot, similar to the London marathon.

Robbie, who has previously completed six ultra marathons, said it was only the second time he had tried for a podium performance. He said: “I train by running five times a week and cycling another day, with one day of rest. I strength train three to four times a week to prevent injury and stay strong.

“My running is mostly easy, at a lower heart rate, but I have a day each week for working on speed and another with steep hills.

“I am feeling amazing and itching to go again. It feels like my hard work is finally coming together and paying off.”

His next challenge will be the Ultra X race in Wales in July. Also in his sights is the Skyline Scotland 100 mile race in the Nevis range in September.