It’s time to get your credit cards out and fingers hovering over the keyboard if you want to get a place in Salomon Skyline Scotland 2019 taking place between 20-22 September. The festival consists of four races over three days: Salomon Ben Nevis Ultra, Salomon Mamores VK, Salomon Ring of Steall Skyrace and the Salomon Glen Coe Skyline on the final day.
Entries for three of the races open on 5th February, but if you’re not already entered for the flagship Glen Coe Skyline then its already too late. Entries opened for a week during January and have since been vetted and places are confirmed on 1st February.
Photo credit: No Limits Photography
There’s something here for everyone, by everyone, I mean people who like running up mountains. The Ben Nevis Ultra (unsurprisingly) takes in the summit of Ben Nevis racking up 4000m of accent over 52km and includes the Carn Mor Dearg Arete ridge leading to the summit.
Sounds a bit too far? How about the Mamores VK which covers just 5km. I should mention that runners will take on 1000m of climbing over the short distance to get to the summit of Na Gruagaichean.
The Ring of Steall Skyrace follows a ridge link-up set within the Mamores mountain range (29km with 2500m of accent). The festival closes on the Sunday with the Glen Coe Skyline (52km with 4750m of accent). A familiar name has taken the top spot for the last two years, Kilian Jornet, who holds the course record of 6hr 25min (2017).
Photo credit: No Limits Photography
Emelie Forsberg holds the ladies record of 7hrs 53mins. The race in 2018 had to change to a bad weather route reducing the distance to 32km and whilst Kilian took the top spot in the men’s race, it was a closely fought battle between Hillary Gerardi just 7 seconds ahead of Jasmin Paris – we all love a sprint finish at an ultra, don’t we?
Photo credit: No Limits Photography
More and more of my running friends are starting to look further northwards in the UK for races and with such stunning scenery, the magnificent mountains and races such as these dragging in the big names, who can blame them. Get in there if you don’t want to miss out!
Entires Open on the 5th February at www.skylinescotland.com
