Ben Nevis

Great weather for the Ben Nevis race in Fort William on Saturday, hot in the valley but a nice cool breeze on top. This is a very tough route, there is no respite from the climbing and descending and the ground is very rough. A good turnout for NFR with Phil Green, Chris Rowe, Katherine Davis, Dave Wiseman, Dave Johnson, Graham Bingham, Dexter, Chris Little and myself.

There were no shortage of supporters along the way who shouted and clapped (albeit with bemused looks of pity on their faces ) which helped especially on the way down where my legs turned to jelly. The final road section was torture because I was looking at my watch and realising how close to breaking my target time of 2 hours I was, I could see it slipping away but I had no more energy to speed up. The lap of the playing field at the end was the final straw and I finished in 2 hours and 6 seconds. It was hard to be disappointed because I enjoyed it so much, a real challenge to get your teeth stuck into. I cannot recommend this race highly enough to anyone who hasn't done it, the essence of our sport distilled into 1 race.

Phil and Scott

Scott in the Glen

We had a well-earned meal in the Ben Nevis Inn afterwards followed by an earsplitting rock band who were supposed to doing a Ceilidh! Many pints of ale were consumed to aid rehydration. It is now tuesday and my quads are far from recovered. Bring on next year, can't wait! Most amazing of all the feats this weekend was undoubtedly my wife camping, anyway, I'm glad she endured it to support me and be NFR photographer for the day!

more photos from Sarah Gibson

Scott Gibson

results on FRA site

other photos from Michael Scott

other photos from James Green