I caught up with Rowan Boswood, Highland Fling Champion after his incredible run at the 53 mile Highland Fling Race last weekend. He won with a time of 6:50:46, the second-fastest time on the course. Only Rob Sinclair, in 2017, with his 6:41:13,  has run faster. The course covers the first half of the full West Highland Way starting in Milngavie, just north of Glasgow. It then makes its way via Drymen and Conic Hill to Balmaha and Loch Lomond, before snaking up the Eastern  loch side to Beinglas, continuing through Glen Falloch to Crianlarich and finishing in Tyndrum.

AS. For those that don’t know you, briefly describe how you got into running and your cycling background, besides being an ultra runner. 

RB. I was previously a cyclist. When I was 14, I got into mountain biking. Then into road racing latterly after that. I was a member of the Mid Devon Cycling Club for eight years. I also spent time racing at a national level in the UK. At the time, I thought I was okay, and I was finishing in the top 10 in national races.  Then you look at the guys who I was competing against now. The likes of Geraint Thomas. I think everyone would have heard of Geraint. But also cyclists like Ian Stannard, and Dan Martin. Guys who did pretty well in cycling. I spent a couple of seasons in Spain racing in The Basque Country, where they really love their cycling. After a while, I felt I wasn’t getting everything I wanted from my racing career and decided to go to uni instead and pretty much stopped all forms of competitive sport for 12 years. Then after a while, I spoke to a friend who said, “There’s a race that goes through the Cairngorms via the Lharig Ghru, and I thought, “Oh! That sounds like a good idea.” I hadn’t run more than 10 miles in my entire life. I thought, you know, “It’s only three hours on your feet. I can do that.” I was very naive and set off very fast. That was my entry into hill, trail running and ultra running. Running in general is quite a different mindset to cycling. It’s a more individual sport. Quite free and being out in the mountains, spending time on your feet, enjoying yourself. That’s how I got into running. That’s where I am now still, Ten years later.

Note. The Lharig Grhu race goes from Braemar to Aviemore through the famous Lharig Ghru pass. A distance of approximately 27 miles. 

 AS. So long story short, you enjoy running further. Your history speaks for itself. Looking at your DUV entry is probably the most impressive. 

I think there are six races listed there, and there’s a number one against all of them. 

RB. Yes. I have won every Ultra, that I have ever entered, apart from the Lharig Ghru, if you count that as an Ultra. I’m still not sure how I will react if I don’t win an Ultra I enter.

 AS. Well. There’s plenty of time yet. It will happen one day, I’m sure. 

 You ran the Fling in 2022 and won it in 7 hours 15 minutes. Fast forward a couple of years, and you’re knocking 25 minutes off that. What are the key things you have done in those two years to find that 25 minutes?

 RB. That’s a really good question. So, in the 2022 fling, someone went off very quickly, and I went with them and I thought by the Beech Tree, “This is my race over.” This year, I don’t think my time to Balmaha was particularly different, but I think my time to Beech Tree and Drymen would have been probably one or two minutes slower than in 22. 

That made a huge difference because, in 2022, I was crawling from Benglas to the finish and couldn’t wait for it to be over, whereas this time, I felt like I had a lot of strength on that last stretch. I felt a bit sick towards the end, but I managed to power through that. 

I’m also a bit lighter than 2022, but not sure how much difference that made. 

In 2022, I was training for at least 12 hours a week and would be running probably 120 to 140k, with 3000m of vert, week in and week out. I thought specificity was the key, but a second child came along, and I couldn’t spend as much time training. Maybe it’s luck, and maybe it’s a little bit of practical know-how in how I train. I thought I could train my weakness, which is speed. I’m not a particularly fast runner, so this year I’ve been doing a lot more speed work around improving my 10K pace.  Trying to increase my cruising speed and hoping that towards the back end of an ultra, I could carry on and be bloody-minded enough to get to the finish, which seemed to work this time. So hopefully, I can continue working on that and bring my 5k time down to make me run a little faster on these longer races.

 AS. Couple of things from that. You race sparingly. Is that deliberate? You tend to pick one or two races a year to major in, and the rest is almost a luxury in between, enjoying training. 

 RB. It’s more that there are a lot of family commitments. It’s quite a big ask to go away for the day, and then obviously the next day, I’m fairly useless at anything. I am sure in the future when my kids are a bit more grown up and take up a bit less of my time, I will be racing a bit more. I hope so, as I do love it. 

AS Just going back to the training. You’ve identified this raw speed as an improvement. You’re also from the school of thought that doing high mileage and training for ultras, shouldn’t make you lose your speed. You can still work on your speed, especially at the elite end of the field. Are you coached or self-coached? Do you just bounce ideas off people? Tell us how you put your training together. Yes.

RB. I am self-coached. When I was a cyclist, I raced with quite a good cycling club where there were a few old-school guys. They were fairly hardcore, with the amount of time and energy they would spend on a bike, and you get a pretty good feel of what works for you and what’s right. It’s a funny one. I grew up in Devon, and the hills are between three and five minutes long, most of the time. So there’s a lot of very fast aerobic stuff where it’s lung-bursting, and then you get a bit of a rest. I don’t know how much I was suited to those hills, or whether the rolling hills that Devon made me the person I am as I still like the rolling stuff when I run. 

I think if anyone out there wants to coach me, but they’re happy to listen to my ideas, I am more than happy to have a second opinion on what I’m doing. I think probably after the 2022 fling, I could have done with one. At the moment, things seem to be going quite well.

 AS. Okay, that’s an open invite for someone that could go either way. We’ll await developments on that one. 

You’re certainly doing something right, is all I’ll say.

 Have you got one or two key sessions within training, that you feel are the keys to being successful over the 50-mile or even 100-mile distance?

 RB. That’s a really tough one. I think if you’d asked me a couple of years ago, I would have said the back-to-back weekend runs. Maybe I’ve done enough of them to have taken that on board. The two sessions I would say that I’ve focused on most this time were relatively long threshold runs. The second session is a hill sprint session. There’s a 50-meter-long set of steps that come from the Water of Leith near my house, with about 20 meters of vertical gain. I have been doing that as a second session of the day. So, running that tired, sometimes, running it with a bit of weight on my back.

Some might say that’s a bit of a cheat. Ideally, I’d probably be out spending some time in the hills and getting the leg endurance that way. But because I don’t have the time to go and sprint up some hill,  I sprint up steps instead.

 AS. It sounds like you’re using the “state-of-the-art gym” on your doorstep.

 For those that don’t know, you live in Edinburgh now. You’ve transmuted from Devon. Tell us about your little playground, where you go training most, just south of Edinburgh.

RB. Depending on where you say the Pentlands start, I’d say I’m in the Pentlands every single day, as they are probably about a kilometre away from my house. Capelaw is probably the closest one to me, but I would say Allermuir is my favourite hill. The Water of Leith is right on my doorstep too, so beautiful scenery around there with some slightly rolling trails.

That’s where I spend most of my time. I never try to run on the flat as it doesn’t suit me. I’m no good at it.

 AS. You’re a member of the Carnethy Club, a famous Scottish club. How involved are you with the club? With family commitments, do you have time to get to training sessions with them?

 RB. Sadly not. I am not as involved as I would like to be. They’ve started doing kids’ training sessions. I’ve taken my boy along to a couple of those. It’s good to be part of a club like Carnethy where there are probably ten or more guys in that club who are faster than me up a hill, so I am always chasing someone, always got someone to look to like Sasha (Sasha Chepelin) who’s doing the West Highland way this year. I’ll be looking forward to seeing what he’s going to pull out. 

The 2024 Race

AS. Looking at the Fling race itself. Compared with two years ago when you did the race, did you have any different strategies going into the race other than not burning it up to the Beech Tree Inn as before?

 RB. My strategy this time was, to get to Beinglass feeling ok as then it gets harder. It’s funny because I’ve run that section twice in the West Highland Way. I never thought Beinglass to Glencoe was particularly difficult. I don’t remember the big hills there. But then, when I ran it in 2022 and I came out of Benglass, I just remember looking up and seeing the trail rise before me and thinking, how am I going to get myself over this thing? So this time, I thought there would be some fast guys with me to the bottom of Conic Hill. I aimed to get to the bottom of Conic without struggling, not worrying where I was in the race and just racing my speed and tempo. Then, run through to Rowardennan, pushing it hard but not too hard. Get to Beinglas feeling ok, because I love that loch side section. I didn’t run it as fast as I could have done but I ran it well. I enjoyed it, and then I tried to put the hammer down after Beinglass.  I felt a bit sick after a few kilometres, so eased off on the roller coaster above Crianlarich. I’ve never run the roller coaster well. I don’t know if anyone has, or if they have any secrets to it, but I’ve never run it well.

AS. I think it’s where it comes in the race is key. It comes at that stage where you’re just getting a bit tired, and you think, can I push through this section and still be able to do that last 7 or 8 km to Tyndrum at a good pace?

  RB. Yes, and if your quads are starting to go as well, you always feel that it’s more up and down. They are not really hills, just three or four ups and downs in quick succession.

 AS. Actually, you slowed a little on that stretch. I don’t know if you realized, but at one point, you were almost neck and neck with Rob’s record.

RB. I didn’t realise. Maybe, if someone had told me that, I might have pushed on more.

 AS. You were within a minute or two of it, almost up the lochside, Then from Inversnaid onwards, you faded a little bit from it, but not by much. You were only 10 minutes down at the end. It was really just the last two sections from Beinglass you slowed from Rob’s time but your overall spilt from that section was one of the all-time fastest.

 RB. It’s strange to be reminded of that because I mean, I obviously have looked at Rob’s records over all three races and I honestly thought he must have got on a bike at some point. I just had no idea how he could have run that fast, so to even be that close, I’m delighted with my time.

Home Made Nutrition

 AS. We’ve touched on your training a bit, and how you’ve approached that. How fixated are you on nutrition? Do you plan well, or are you pretty spontaneous? Do you look at carbs per hour and get really detailed, or just go with the flow in an event?

 RB.  Improving my nutrition has been another revelation to me. I looked at the ingredients of an energy gel, and I heard that people were making them themselves. I thought I would give that a go. This time, I  tried to get in as many carbs per hour. I was aiming for 100 grams of carbs per hour in a glucose and fructose mix, I had some homemade energy gels which I think helped keep me strong towards the end.

 Maybe when I pushed it a little bit harder than I wanted to, I felt a little bit sick. But yes, this time, I was a bit more fixated on my nutrition. I can’t seem to eat very much solid food during races, which is why the West Highland Way is probably a bit long for me when you think of how many gels you have to consume to get through a race like that!

 AS. Without giving away any Coca-Cola-like ingredients secrets? Is there a secret ingredient in your homemade gels compared with the ones you buy off the shelf?

 RB. Nutella. A spoon of Nutella. So, I have a Fructose and glucose mix, almost 50-50, then just add the Nutella. I think the ones I make are much more watery than what you buy off the shelf. Most off-the-shelf gels are quite concentrated, but if you make them yourself, you can dilute them quite a lot. So it tastes a lot nicer, and it’s a lot easier on the stomach. 

 AS. I’m going to put out another call here. You put out a call for a coach to get in touch. I think there might be a nutrition company that could get in touch and develop some new ideas.

 AS. I know your time is precious, so I’ve just got a couple of other questions. Number one, just following from that. You’ve finished, and you know you’ve done a better time than 2022 and your Scottish ultra trail champion.

 What are your immediate feelings when you come down that red carpet that John lays out so spectacularly at the finish at Tyndrum?

 You’ve been practically alone and “in the boonies” for the last few hours. Then, all of a sudden, you hit civilization again, and there’s a piper and a red carpet and flags and lots of people cheering and clapping. 

Try and sum up the end of the Fing for anyone who has never been there.

 RB. So, probably, the end of that Crianlarich roller coaster when you cross the A82. You’re running that last 6/7 km, and it’s quite flat, and I was starting to realise that the time I’d done was way beyond my expectations. I was just over the moon and delighted. Smiling ear to ear in the last five kilometres or so. I just felt so happy and overjoyed. Then you come through a gate into the woods, and you can hear the bagpipes for a while.  I’m not usually particularly emotional, but yes, I was definitely welling up on the inside a little bit. I  just felt absolutely elated for the last couple of kilometres.

 Then you turn the corner and you see the red carpet with everyone holding their hands out, and all the flags are waving. I think you can see a picture of me. I haven’t had a bigger smile in a very long time.  There’s a few people there that you know, and my mum was also there at the finish line. It was the first time she had ever seen me run an ultra.

 So I think it was a very special, really special feeling. It is just an incredibly well-organised and fun event. I mean, because it’s such a long distance as well. I think it all just culminates and comes together to be such an incredible, special time. 

If anyone has never done it before, I don’t think there’s a better-organised event out there in Scotland.

 AS Great. John and Noanie will be delighted to hear this.

Future Plans

 Briefly, looking ahead, what’s next for you? I know you mentioned you’re going back to the Lharig Ghru again, possibly?

 RB. Yes.  I’m on the waiting list for the Lharig Ghru, so we’ll see if I get a place. That will be the next one. I don’t have anything else on the calendar. I have got to negotiate it with the family commitments.

 Rob Sinclair is on the start list there, which could be fun if I get there. So it’ll be competitive if I do get to the start.

 AS. I know we’ve spoken about this in the past, but somewhere down the lines, the big rounds fascinate you as a challenge as well. Are you any closer to attempting one? Or are the family commitments ruling out any attempts at Bob Graham’s or Ramsey’s in the foreseeable future?

RB.  Yeah, I still would really like to do one of the rounds, but it’s tricky just now. Probably a Tranter’s is manageable to start with. Start smaller, as it involves less time.  

It’s a bit more difficult because, with a race, you can say, “It’s on this day. It’s in the calendar.” You’re going to do it, and the family know that. Whereas with a round, I’d want to do it fast. So you have to juggle form, weather and family and the timing for a round is a little more fluid and flexible to get the weather window. That doesn’t work too well when you have family commitments. I haven’t quite got around to it yet, but hopefully, I will. It’s still on the wish list. 

NOTE. Tranters Round is a circuit of 18 Munro’s ( and 1 delisted munro)in the Lochaber Hills, starting and finishing in Glen Nevis. It is approximately 59km long with 5,400 metres of climb and takes in the Mamores(10), the Grey Corries(4), the Aonachs(2), Carn Mor Dearg and Ben Nevis. Philip Tranter first completed it in 1964.

Any plans for European races?

AS. Obviously, you’ve run well in Great Britain and got all these number ones and first places against your name. Does the thought of going abroad and testing yourself against some of the top French, Italian or Spanish runners appeal to you? Almost to keep you grounded, should we say? Are you keen to see how you would fare against them in some of the big European races?

 RB. Not particularly really.  To be honest, what keeps me grounded is when I ran the Fling, you’d know where you are on the all-time list So you can compare yourself to some top guys that way. Rob Sinclair’s record will always keep me grounded, you know. If I really want to know how fast I am I can also go and run the West Highland Way again and find out how slow I am compared to Rob’s spectacular record time. 

Also, when I race, I like to feel it’s a bit more than just a run. I get a connection with the course and the surroundings. I also love the West Highland Way and I do enjoy running in Scotland. 

 I’ve always looked at it and thought Paul Giblin’s times were really good, and he finished highly in the Western States. Rob Sinclair is over half an hour quicker than that, maybe even more. So, you think if that transferred across, he would be well up there at the Western States, as well.  I am happy to compare myself with those guys. I don’t know why you would need anything else.

 AS. You’ve no thoughts of going to something like the Western States yourself to see  how you compare against the “Full-time pro trail runners?”

 RB. Not really. I guess because I spent a lot of time cycling. It was semi-professional or top amateur, not sure what you want to call it as a cyclist. So, I feel like I’ve gone down that route and done that with my life. 

For me now, I am at a different stage in my life. It’s much more personal running the Fling or running the West Highland Way. If you’d given me a choice two days ago at the Fling to finish under Rob’s time, finish tenth, or finish in my time and win it, I definitely would have taken running faster than Rob’s record time and finishing 10th without a doubt. 

AS. That’s an interesting perspective. Finally, I had an interesting chat with Dougie Selman, who won the 100k at Perth. A race you went to watch at the North Inch

 RB Yes, I was there with the family.

 AS. I am not trying to talk you into running 100K on the road. I plead guilty as charged, to persuading others, but I don’t think I would get very far trying to persuade you! However, Dougie’s approach is to stay focused during a race and just keep himself grounded and constantly observe and feel what’s going on with his body and mind. Do you have any strategies that you put into place, just to keep you in the moment and focused?

 RB. I usually use music. I have a very particular playlist that has to be played in a certain order. I would start with very slow, like reggae or folk music, over the first third of the race. So I am listening to it.

 I’m like, “Okay, I’m in that stage of the race. I’m meant to be running comfortably.” Then, the second third, more dance music, a bit more upbeat. Then in the last third, anything goes, just crazy music, give it everything. That’s what I use to get me through a race.

Usually, I’m pretty focused on moving forward, but you know yourself with ultras, it’s trying not to start too fast. So the other thing I use is breathing through the nose. I always think if I can’t breathe through my nose. I’m probably going a bit too fast.

 AS. Fascinating. Final question I usually ask people is, either in the running world or in life in general, do you have anyone who has been a total inspiration over the years? Either in the sporting world or the wider world?

 Your family is excluded, because everyone’s family is taken for granted that you look up to them as inspiring you.

 RB. There were a few cyclists I used to race with. One was called Colin Lewis. He raced at GB level and was in the Mid-Devon Road Race Team as well. He sadly passed away a couple of years ago. He brought a lot to the club. He raced in the Tour de France the same year as Tom Simpson. I’m dropping all these cyclist names, but he was probably the most famous British cyclist pre-Chris Boardman. So he had, like I said, quite a unique training style and approach to life. Cycling now is very much around the accumulation of marginal gains, and everyone is very specific in their training. He was much more. “If you want to ride fast uphills, go and ride uphills fast.” That was it. You know, put it in a bigger gear, go faster, stop complaining. So I think that’s kind of rubbed off in my running a little bit. You know, I’m not too technical in training when it comes to three minutes on, two off, or four minutes on, three off, and all that. Just go and run hard, and you’ll probably get a bit faster! 

 Then I guess, the person that someone would know would be Alex Honnold, the Free -solo climber. I think just to be able to have the confidence to do the things he does and enjoy the things he does, and put it on camera, put it out there for the world. I think that level of being able to take risks but knowing your body is quite inspirational. Then obviously my whole family, my wife, son and daughter.

 AS. Family is always the right answer!

 Anyway. That’s our half hour. You need to go and get some lunch before cracking on with your day job.

I’m sure we could talk for hours, and there’ll be other opportunities, but thanks for your time.

 RB.No problem at all, Adrian. Lovely to speak to you.

 In an age of global travel to heavily promoted events,it is totally refreshing to find a top class runner, happy training in his local Pentland Hills and, so far, not racing outside Scotland. In finding a work, life, family balance he seems to be able to find challenges to push himself further, both in training and racing.

Full Results of the 2024 Fling Race are HERE

Read our preview of this years race HERE

Full details of the Fling race HERE

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Adrian Tarit Stott.

The author is a former GB 24 hour ultra international with over 100 ultra race completions.  He has also been involved organising ultra distance races for over 30 years.  Still an active recreational runner, he is currently a member of UKA’s Ultra Running Advisory Group (URAG) and part of the selection and team management for both Scottish and GB ultra teams.He is also a freelance writer in his spare time, contributing articles and reports to several websites and magazines including Athletics Weekly and Irunfar.