E85. Highland Ultra Special | Racing and Legacy Building in Knoydart

05/23/23 • 166 min

Knoydart is a perfect backdrop for the Highland Ultra in so many ways. As well as being the ideal place to build a course for a 3-day, 125km race, full of technical climbs, breath-taking views and tranquillity, it is home to a positive and inspiring group of people working together to improve their community and the environment around them. We are proud to support that work through the Highland Ultra and also to be able to give these fantastic people a chance to talk to you via this podcast.

In this episode, we will talk to the winners of the 2023 race in April. Lauren Gregory, Axel Jannson and Fredrik Pettersen speak about their training, their experiences on the course, what did and didn't work as they prepared for this race and, in the case of our duo of Scandinavian winners, their unconventional route to the podium.

We then go into interviews with Lorna Schofield of the Knoydart Forest Trust and Finlay Greig of the Knoydart Ranger Service where we unpack some of the massive conservation projects being undertaken by members of the Knoydart Community and how the Highland Ultra supports them through donations from race fees, trees planted for t-shirts, and more.

Enter Highland Ultra 2024 here: https://www.beyondtheultimate.co.uk/race/highland-ultra

Learn more about the Knoydart Forest Trust and the Rangers from the links below:

Knoydart Forest Trust: https://www.knoydartforesttrust.org

Knoydart Ranger Service: https://knoydart.org/ranger

Time Stamps

Axel Jansson: 14:45

Fredrik Pettersen: 34:55

Lauren Gregory: 1:05:55

Lorna Schofield: 1:47:50

Finlay Greig: 2:07:55

Adam Kimble: 2:40:30

Enter Highland Ultra 2024 here: https://www.beyondtheultimate.co.uk/race/highland-ultra

Learn more about the Knoydart Forest Trust and the Rangers from the links below:

Knoydart Forest Trust: https://www.knoydartforesttrust.org

Knoydart Ranger Service: https://knoydart.org/ranger

Time Stamps

Axel Jansson: 14:45

Fredrik Pettersen: 34:55

Lauren Gregory: 1:05:55

Lorna Schofield: 1:47:50

Finlay Greig: 2:07:55

Adam Kimble: 2:40:30

Previous Episode

E84. Barkley Special with Jasmin Paris, Damian Hall, John Kelly and Keith Dunn

Each year since 1986, in Frozen Head State Park Tenessee, a race has taken place that teeters on the brink of being impossible to finish. An enigma of an event that eschews marketing, GPS tracking, and largely even race fees, and has a reputation as a serious contender for the title of toughest race on Earth.

In this episode, we talk to 3 runners who recently put in outstanding performances at the event. John Kelly was already one of the tiny group of people to ever finish the race and this year joined the even smaller group of those to finish it 2 times or more. Jasmin Paris put in the best performance by any female athlete in the history of the race, and Damian Hall managed to get all the way out onto loop 4 in his first-ever Barkley.

We also have Keith Dunn, master of Barkley Twitter, the only link between the race organisation and the outside world, chatting with Will about how he came to be such a big part of the event.

If that was somehow not enough, we also have another Radness Update from Adam Kimble, our man in America, who is here to talk us through some of the bigger US races and his journey to running the Badwater 135 in 2024.

Learn more about the Barkley Marathons by listening to our interview with Barkley Marathons creator and Race Director Gary Cantrell aka Lazarus Lake: https://bit.ly/EE36_LazLake

Image of Keith courtesy of Alexis Berg

Next Episode

E86. Mountain Ultra Special | Racing among the Tian Shan Mountains of Kyrgyzstan

In this brand new episode, Will Roberts chats to Jon Shield and Kristina Madsen. Hear all about how they went about winning the recent Mountain Ultra, Beyond the Ultimate's inaugural race through the remote and beautiful Tian Shan Mountains of Kyrgyzstan.

You'll also hear from Race Director Kris King about his experience of creating and directing one of the toughest races in the BTU Global Race Series.

This race saw a first batch of pioneering runners take on 200km of technical trail with more than 10,500m of climbing over 5 gruelling days, all against the stunning backdrop of the breath-taking Tian Shan Mountain Range. Our winners will talk you through their time among those stunning peaks.

For anybody considering the Mountain Ultra - this is a must-listen. You'll hear some excellent advice on how best to prepare and plan for an adventure among the summits.

You'll also sample the winning mindsets of these two exceptionally driven runners as they reflect on the massive goals they've reached in their relatively short careers in ultra-running so far.

Enter Mountain Ultra 2024 here: https://www.beyondtheultimate.co.uk/race/mountain-ultra/

*Please note - Jon Shield's audio is occasionally lower quality due to signal problems when recording.

Time Stamps:

Kris King: 0:08:29

Jon Shield: 0:40:29

Kristina Madsen: 1:25:55