Thurso ultra-runner wins Loch Ness 24 - after entering just days before event
A Thurso ultra-runner regained her 24-hour title at Loch Ness at the weekend – after a last-minute decision to enter the race for a third time.
Angela Davidson was the inaugural female solo winner at the Loch Ness 24 in 2022, but was beaten into second place at last year’s event.
However, she returned to the event at Dores on Saturday after a late call on whether to take part once again.
“I only signed up on Tuesday night, so I wasn’t actually sure I was going to do it,” she said. “Then in my head I was thinking it is one of those ones, it’s two hours away, you don’t need a support crew or anything like that, you can just turn up and run it.
“I just have my car, I don’t have anybody with me, and when I’m finished I can just drive home, so there’s no stress on anybody really!
“You don’t need to worry about checkpoint bags or what you’ve got in them – you can have as much as you like or as little as you like in the car, so I think that’s one of the driving reasons for doing it, it’s convenient.”
The 50-year-old athlete completed 24 laps of the four-mile course in 23 hours, 33 minutes and 14 seconds – her fastest time yet – to win the 2024 Loch Ness 24.
But the Scrabster coastguard volunteer, who works as a customer insight manager for BT, revealed that it wasn’t all plain sailing on the gnarly course on the shores of Loch Ness, which includes tricky sections of tree roots that can present a trip hazard.
She said: “I’ve done it twice before so I’ve already done that lap so many times that the thought of doing it another 24 times is a bit ‘ohhh’! But it was half decent weather and last year it was horrendous so I was quite pleased with that.
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“I didn’t know how I was doing throughout the race until about halfway when it was getting dark and they shouted it over the mic.”
Angela has competed in the West Highland Way Race previously and admits a point-to-point event like that is more her thing.
“For laps, I think you need as much mental strength as you do physical capability,” she said.
“I like running in the night – that’s probably the bit I enjoy the most because you can’t see where you’re going! In my eyes you could be going through any terrain, so it’s not the same all the time.
“But with those tree roots I took a fall on about lap 18, right in the middle of the night. Things can change so quickly in a race like that. You can go from being okay to being out.”
Angela hopes her endeavours might inspire others, especially women, to take part in similar events.
“I think what was fantastic was there seemed to be more solo runners and a lot more females, which is really nice,” she said. “So often in some of these races, there’s a lot more male participants than female, and I think there was a bit more balance this year here.
“There’s so many people going round at different paces doing different things, and if you end up speaking to people you find out a lot more about all the charities that are being supported as well.”
