Scottish runner finishes ultra-marathon two hours ahead of competitors

James DelaneyBBC Scotland NewsAnna RutherfordAnna Rutherford completed hours forward of the opposite 600 runners within the Bamburgh Fortress to Edinburgh Fortress raceA Scottish ultra-runner completed to this point forward in a 100-mile race that she was already house by the point the remainder of the sector crossed the road.Anna Rutherford ran the inaugural Rat Race between Bamburgh Fortress in Northumberland and Edinburgh Fortress in 17 hours and 23 minutes – greater than two hours forward of the closest male competitor.The mother-of-three informed how she sang Dolly Parton’s 9 to five to maintain herself going throughout the race and diverted to verify if a person flat on his again on a golf course was okay.Nevertheless, the lawyer, 43, nonetheless managed to complete quick sufficient that she was pushed again house to Peebles by her dad and mom when the opposite 600 rivals arrived within the early hours of Sunday.Anna, initially from Milngavie, close to Glasgow, started the race within the grounds of Bamburgh Fortress at about 07:00 on Saturday and crossed the end line simply after 00:30 on Sunday.The route adopted the east coast by way of Berwickshire, the Borders and East Lothian earlier than reaching the end on the Ross Bandstand in Edinburgh’s Princes Avenue Gardens.Anna mentioned she solely overtook the person main the race earlier than her about half-way by way of, that means she ran the ultimate 50 miles by herself and completed two hours forward of the fist male and 5 forward of the primary feminine.She mentioned she took to singing Dolly Parton’s nation hit as she ran up the Royal Mile in the direction of the end, earlier than heading house to sleep.”I used to be singing 9 to five operating up the Royal Mile and everybody was singing together with me,” she informed BBC Scotland Information.”As a result of the race completed in Princes Avenue Gardens, you could not make loads of noise, so I collected my medal and my dad and mom had waited on the end line for me.”It was past my wildest desires to run 100 miles in that point. However I simply went house and went straight to mattress.”Anna RutherfordAnna, who needed to put on a head-torch for a part of the race, crossed the end line in Princes Avenue Gardens after greater than 17 hoursAt one level, whereas she was passing a golf course close to Gullane in East Lothian, Anna noticed a person mendacity on his again and went to verify on him.”He mentioned he was simply ‘trying on the stars’ so I needed to crack on,” she mentioned.Anna mentioned she went by way of an intense coaching interval main as much as the race, which led to a hospital go to after she started experiencing complications and feeling faint.She mentioned she was operating about 120 miles (193km) every week on the peak of her coaching schedule.Inventory cubes, pretzels and ParisAnna beforehand shattered the ladies’s document for operating the Southern Upland Approach in 2021, finishing the 212-mile course from Portpatrick to Cockburnspath in 62 hours and 34 minutes.Again then, she credited consuming inventory cubes supplied by a assist van with serving to her to finish the cross-country route.This time, she mentioned she combined inventory powder with pretzels and took on gels and hydration at 10-mile stopping factors alongside the route.Nevertheless, she managed to overlook one feeding level, the place she had stashed some hydration gels and a notice of assist from her son.She mentioned she took inspiration from hero and Barkley Marathon finisher, Jasmine Paris, to beat the psychological blocks on the run.She mentioned: “It does not matter what the space is, about 70 or 80% of the way in which by way of, it’ll really feel actually onerous since you’ve accomplished the toughest bit, you might be getting drained, however there may be nonetheless an extended solution to go.”In a means, I simply embraced it. There’s loads of actually, actually good ultra-runners on the market, who speak in regards to the psychology of entering into this ache cave and simply realizing that and virtually trying ahead to it.”Somebody like Jasmine Paris, her saying ‘simply watch me’ earlier than she did the Barkley Marathons, I discovered that very humbling.”Anna RutherfordAnna mentioned she pushed by way of plenty of psychological blocks on the runAnna additionally praised the organisers, Rat Race Adventures, for creating female-specific provisions at every of the stopping level.She mentioned she hoped her race might assist show that ladies can “shut the hole” in terms of endurance sport.”I am 43, I am perimenopausal, I am on HRT, that massively impacts your hormones and that has an enormous affect,” she mentioned.”I received my interval on Friday and I used to be very conscious that I used to be sporting light-coloured leggings, however at each checkpoint, that they had female-specific bogs with sanitary merchandise.”I believe it simply reveals ladies do this stuff too. Girls are usually not simply little males. They’ve their very own particular wants, however they had been being catered to and I actually beloved that.”