Updates: Finlay Wild 4:49:58, 8th July 2020; Finlay Wild 4:38:25, 16th August 2023; Holly Page 6:03:48, 6th September 2020 (pending incorporation into main text below).

While the original text of this page was mysteriously lost sometime prior to 31st August 2014 when your Long-Distance editor discovered it missing, memory had the fastest known time for a Mamores round as belonging to Colin Donnelly. So, with word reaching us of Finlay Wild's significantly faster time of 8th April 2017 and a subsequent opportunity to verify the details of Colin's round, we could be fairly confident that we'd got things back as they should be for male runners at least. For what we now have (June 2020) on female times, please see further down.

From old Lochaber Athletic Club Newsletters, Noel Williams has unearthed the following list of times:

• 17th July 1978 Boswell & McConnachie 9 hours 15 minutes
• 25th May 1980 Shields, McConnachie & Boswell 8 hours 4 minutes
• 2nd July 1980 Donnelly 7 hours 2 minutes
• 14th March 1981 Boswell & [Roger] Wild 7 hours 9 minutes (McConnachie 7 hours 32 minutes, Bolton 7 hours 34 minutes)

While these are not necessarily all FKTs or outright records, there looks to be a strong competitive element there with top local runners and visitors clearly attacking times they knew about. What we can be certain of from Colin Donnelly's extended LAC Newsletter account of his 1980 run is that his schedule 'was based on a previous run by some Lochaber runners over the Mamore Munros (in slightly over eight hours)', i.e. the recent Shields, McConnachie & Boswell run, he ran from Achriabhach (the Lower Falls), included all Munro Tops as well as full Munros (an aesthetically logical thing to do for a Mamores round), started with sub-8-hours in mind, but set himself the new target of sub-7 late on and finished just outside that after a 56-minute dash from the summit of Binnein Beag back to Achriabhach.

So, despite a clear attempt by a strong team to better it the following year, Colin's 7 hours 2 minutes remained the gold standard (unless anyone can tell us otherwise?) for nearly 37 years till Finlay Wild's off-the-scale 5 hours 18 minutes 38 seconds of 8th April 2017 (Ref: Finlay's blog account). Interesting that Fin states 'Previously I'd clocked in at just over 7hrs' (effectively the Donnelly time) 'so was fairly sure I could get it under that.' Also that he ran clockwise (as opposed to Colin's anticlockwise) to get 'the long runnable section done on fresh legs', taking c. 1 hour 12 minutes up to Binnein Beag compared to Colin's 56 minutes down from it. While he didn't take in all subsidiary Tops (Munros and Sgor an Iubhair are what he's specified), that shouldn't make much difference to time with Sgor Eilde Beag the only 'outlier' you'd be likely to skip.

Without wanting to lay down the law on required route, it seems sensible to regard the required peaks as the 10 Munros + Sgor an Iubhair also required for Tranter's and Ramsay's Rounds, with Achriabhach being the logical start/finish point used by both Donnelly and Wild, and direction (clockwise or anticlockwise) the runner's choice. If you do choose to take in all Tops (as Donnelly did) and run faster, we'll record that too!

Now, this next bit used to read 'If anyone can add to the story, and especially help us establish a female FKT, please let us know!' But we've now heard from local runners Keri Wallace and Sarah MacDonald, who've benefitted from proximity to these hills as Covid-19 restrictions start to be relaxed in chasing first the challenge and then each other with Keri recording 9 hours 15 minutes on 18th June 2020 and Sarah knocking 75 minutes off this two days later to record 7 hours 59 minutes 58 seconds on 20th June. Both ran solo and clockwise starting early in the morning on warm, dry days. (Refs: personal communication and Sarah's Strava.) And, while we can't categorically define Sarah's time as a record any more than Finlay's, we can point out that it's faster than the very able 1980 men's time of Shields, McConnachie & Boswell, congratulate both her and Keri on two impressive efforts, and suggest that's what the ladies should now be chasing. Just please wait for further relaxations of travel/access restrictions if you don't live in the area.

Page updated 23rd June 2020