Scott Brown sets new Double West Highland Way FKT.
On one of the hottest weekends of the year, Ayrshire ultra runner Scott Brown has set a new FKT, (Fastest Known Time) for running Scotland’s iconic West Highland Way trail in both directions.
According to the official West Highland Way website, the route is 96 miles or 154km, with 4,735 Metres of climb.
Brown says the time he recorded for the complete 192-mile journey was 44 hours and 40 minutes.
According to the tracker Brown used, the outward journey from Milngavie to Fort William took him 19 hours 43 minutes 20 seconds.
The return journey from Fort William to Milngavie took 24:56:40
( all times to be confirmed)
The previous FKT for the route was set by Keith Hughes in 2016, at 64 hours, 15 minutes and 15 seconds.
Brown, a gym owner and fitness instructor from Ayrshire, set off from Milngavie at 4 pm on Friday, 11th July. Having reached Fort William around lunchtime on Saturday 12th, he turned around and headed back down the trail reaching Milngavie early on Sunday July 13th.
Why run a double West Highland Way?
Asked how the idea of attempting the double had begun to take root in his thoughts, he said it was an off-the-cuff remark from his good friend Chris Saunderson, who was helping him as one of his main crew support.
“A few years ago, we were on a journey travelling north on the A 82, which follows close to the trail in several places, and Chris, just talking aloud, wondered if anyone had even done back-to-back West Highland Ways” The car fell silent, and then Chris said, “I have got you thinking about this now haven’t I?” And he was right.
“I had a few races that I had pencilled in and wanted to do like the Spine (265 Miles on the Pennine Way) and the Race Across Scotland (215 miles along the Southern Upland Way.) but slowly the idea of the double West Highland Way started to take centre stage.
I don’t race very often. I spread my races out so I can prepare well for them. I didn’t plan any races this year and just had the double as a focus. I got in touch with Ian Beattie, the director of the West Highland Way Race, asking if he knew of anyone who had ever achieved the double. He put me in touch with you as well for information. That’s when I found out Keith Hughes had the FKT ( FASTEST KNOWN TIME) for the double. He had put down a good marker of 64 hours, which was a great effort that I thought, all being well, I should be able to get under. You never know for sure, as anything can happen in such a long adventure. Keith got in touch to wish me luck, and you, Ian and everyone else were so supportive in encouraging me to go for it.”
Brown, apart from brief stops at prearranged meeting points, was on the move the whole time, running most of the outward route. He walked a little more on the return journey but didn’t sleep at all for the entire 44 hours,
“ I got up around 8 am on Friday and didn’t sleep again until after the finish at Milngavie on Sunday afternoon. So, I was awake for well over 48 hours. Having done other multi-day races, it didn’t seem that strange. It’s what you train for. I also decided not to stop at Fort William, except for maybe a minute to have my picture taken. It was a bit surreal being in Fort William at Saturday lunchtime, with a busy high street. No one had any real idea of what you were up to. I cracked straight on back to the edge of town to meet my main crew for the next wee feed stop as I wanted to keep the momentum going.”
Asked if there were any high or low points on the run he said.
“ I had a couple of lows physically. Once, mainly due to the heat, I threw up when I was running along. Full-on projectile spewing! It quite shocked the person I was running with at the time I think. In another spell, I just felt I was getting bloated in my stomach which was quite uncomfortable. It was hard in the heat trying to get the drinking right. I just eased back on my fluid intake for an hour or so to let things settle. The heat was noticeable but I seemed to cope pretty well. My crew had plenty of ice at meeting points to help keep me cool, and I got the odd ice lolly as a treat. In long races or challenges, you are always going to have things crop up. You’re basically problem-solving on the run. You try and identify what’s happening and deal with it, but keep cracking on.”
“I had two low points or difficult stretches, both on the return journey. The long climb from sea level at Kinlochleven, around 113 miles, where you climb up to the top of the “Pipeline” and then over to the Devil’s Staircase and Glencoe, was difficult. It’s a really steep climb up for 2-3 miles, then pretty stony going right over to “The Devil.” My feet were a bit sore by now. The second low point was further down the trail on Loch Lomondside. That 3-4 mile stretch heading down to Inversnaid seemed like it went on forever. It’s a tough section even when you are fresh, as the terrain is quite technical. It is very hard to keep a steady rhythm going. covering that stretch when you are tired and have already covered around 150-odd miles was hard. “
As for high points.
“ It was great to meet my crew at our meeting points and great having Chris as my main support. (Chris Saunderson mentioned earlier and who is certainly responsible for the whole idea anyway.) It was also great to see my wife, Keri, and my daughter, Dakota regularly. That really gave me a lift each time. Dakota was upset when she missed me once as she was fast asleep!
Several runners met me on the way, running a few miles. Many from my running group down in Ayrshire joined at various stages for some miles, and Keith Hughes himself appeared somewhere around Blanefield, maybe when I had about 10 miles to go. He asked me if I would like some watermelon, and said he would have it ready at the next road crossing a few miles down the road. He is an amazing guy and seemed so happy someone was actually beating his time. “
Keith’s time was 64 hours 15 minutes 15 seconds from June 2016, so Scott was almost 20 hours faster.
Pausing at the John Kynaston Bridge
A special moment for Scott was when he paused at the “The John Kynaston Bridge” in Glen Falloch, near Derrydarroch Farm, on the return journey. John was a former committee member of the WHW race, and was an inspiration and help to many ultra runners over the years, incuding Scott, in his early running. John passed away in 2020, and funds were raised to establish a new bridge on the trail to replace the older one, washed away in winter storms. There is a small plaque on the bridge to John.
Did he ever have any doubts that he might not make the double?
“ NO. You know that for some races, your training doesn’t quite go to plan and is interrupted with niggles, or you might get a cold or something a few days before that just takes your edge off.
This year, everything was good in the build-up to this, and I came into it with a good feeling. After the start, when I was going up over Conic Hill around 18 miles in, I felt so good I knew I was going to have a good one.
The Finish.
“When I was getting close to the finish in Milngavie, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but in the end, a small crowd were waiting. It was quite emotional being greeted after such a huge effort and sharing the moment with family and friends.
I was very tired, and my feet were sore and a litle swollen from the pounding and the heat. I have a couple of blisters, which bothered me a bit as I am not usually troubled by them. “
Asked what he was planning to do next.
“I will have some easy weeks. I have nothing major planned. That was the big goal for the year.
With some friends, we have an entry as a relay team for the River Ayr Way (40 miles) in late September, and that will be fun. As a fitness instructor, I am also into Hyrox competitions, and so is Keri, my wife. We plan to go to the Hyrox in Oslo in early September and do the mixed-pair competition. I have a few ideas for other challenges next year, and running the West Highland Way race could be one of them. I ran it in 2019 when I was a relatively newbie ultra runner. It will be good to see what I can run now, just one way, with a few years of solid training behind me.”
The achievement, although appearing extreme by most standards, is all relative. Talking with Scott, it sounds like he was just enjoying “Another good weekend on the trails”. The reality is, several years of training and experience in long races have got Scott to a level of fitness and preparedness that have enabled him to take the Double West Highland Way in his stride, as it were. A challenge he knew full well he was capable of finishing, and in the end, well inside his target of 48 hours.
Like Keith Hughes before him, he has put down another marker. It will take a very good effort to surpass it, but the nature of life is such that someone out there, possibly reading this, will be thinking, “I would like to have a go at that!”
Scott is also raising money for Circle, a charity that provides whole-family support services, helpping children and families facing multiple disadvantages due to poverty and structural inequality.
“I am blown away with the response so far. Apparently we passed our target while I was on the run at the weekend, and the figure keeps going up so please keep giving. “
You can donate HERE
You can read a preview of Scott’s FKT HERE
Full details of all registered Fastest Known Times or FKT’s 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 in organising ultra-distance races for over 30 years. Still an active recreational runner, he is currently a volunteer member of UKA’s Ultra Running Advisory Group (URAG) and the Mountain and Trail Advisory Group. He also contributes as both a selector and team manager for both Scottish and GB ultra teams. A freelance writer in his spare time, he contributes articles and reports to several websites and magazines including Athletics Weekly and Irunfar.
