Ring of Inverpolly

This is the most northerly round to be documented so far, a 37 mile (15,400 feet of ascent) circuit of seven summits in the wilds of Assynt. Starting and finishing in Elphin, the route includes (in this order) Cul Mor, Cul Beag, Beinn Mor Coigach, Sgurr an Fhidleir, Stac Pollaidh, Suilven, and Canisp. The culprit was Alec Keith in a time of 13 hours and 12 mins on 30th August 1998 [pers comm. AK].

It wasn't until 2020 that a second attempt at this route was recorded. Cut from a similar cloth as Mr Keith, Francisco Javier Cabrera Valdes was the first masochist to repeat the loop in a time of 14hrs 12 minutes. As if once wasn't enough, he went back again on the 23rd April 2022 with club mate Luke Taylor in tow for another attempt. The pair ran unsupported in a time of 11 hours 41 minutes 8 seconds.

"At 5.57am on the 23rd of April, myself and Javi set out on an unsupported attempt at the record (this extended to each being self-sufficient, with no sharing of supplies, despite Javi eyeing up my Snickers). The day started off cold, with thick low cloud, however as we reached the summit of Cul Mor we were treated to an excellent cloud inversion. The skies cleared at around midday, and the cool of the morning gave way to a warm day, particularly as much of the route is at sea level. The bog was in great condition given the recent dry spell, and the major river crossings were knee high at worst. We arrived back at the Community Hall sign in Elphin at 17.38pm absolutely burst, but delighted to have repeated Alec's route."

After the 12 year wait for a second attempt, the "floodgates" have been opened, with a number of completions recorded in recent years.

In April 2023, Arron Sparks ran a solo, unsupported time of 16 hours 22 minutes and recounted his run in the 2023 Scottish Hill Running Journal. In the May of the same year, Dan Rowe-Leete ran an excellent 14hrs 33 minutes.

The route has been written about by Will Herman in his fantastic book 'Northern Horizons' published by the Scottish Mountaineering Press, with the chapter also featuring in the FRAs 'Fellrunner' magazine (Summer Issue #142) and the 50th Edition of 'Like the Wind' magazine. A quote from Will sums up this route perfectly:

"Without question, it's a route for the connoisseur. Or perhaps simply those so afflicted that the suffering passes for the norm."

Taking this suffering to new heights were Harry Pulham and Barney Nikolich, who in late March 2026 ran an incredibly impressive 12 hours 57 minutes and 36 seconds to set a winter benchmark in very challenging conditions.

Who will be next to add their name to this list of questionable culprits?