2024 Cape Wrath Ultra® Event Director Report
By Shane Ohly
I never cease to be amazed at the tenacity, grit, and determination participants show. Often, an event is memorable for something out of the ordinary. The 2022 edition of the Cape Wrath Ultra® will, of course, be remembered for the very poor wet and windy weather, and the 2023 Dragon’s Back Race® for the extreme heat. No doubt this edition of the Cape Wrath Ultra® will be remembered for the vomiting bug. Despite all the challenges of simply completing the event under normal conditions, the challenge of the 2024 edition was significantly compounded by this illness. Please understand just how impressed I am by all the participants who adapted to this additional challenge, and the Event Team who stepped up and ensured that the show stayed on the road. There will be more on this later.
The runners who completed the full Ultra course have achieved an extraordinary feat of endurance, earning our respect for their determination and perseverance. However, I would also like to congratulate those who finished the Explorer Course.
From our discussions with participants, it is evident that the Explorer continues to be immensely successful. Numerous accounts of participants enjoying a leisurely start to the day at a local café, a shorter, more achievable day on the trail, and the opportunity to develop new friendships confirm the importance of having this option embedded equally into the event. Astonishingly, participants in the Explorer option could easily cover over 250 km, a truly outstanding achievement in its own right.
This year, I was particularly moved by the atmosphere at the Overnight Camps and witnessing the growing sense of community and camaraderie each day. This was a tangible experience for the participants and for me to witness. It feels very special to see these friendships develop and bonds grow one day to the next. Walking around each Overnight Camp was an uplifting experience, listening to participants exchanging stories of their adventures on the trail each day.
A wonderful 8 days ©No Limits Photography
Finish Rate
Seeing how much joy the Explorer option brings to the event is incredibly satisfying. For those unlucky to get injured or suffer from illness, or those who want a fantastic running holiday in Scotland, the Cape Wrath Explorer™ is the answer. This year, the number of Ultra finishers has fallen, as has the overall number of completions of the Ultra and Explorer. Still, this year was unusual because of the Norovirus and how this impacted several runners’ events (more on this later). The bottom line is that I remain delighted that the Explorer option can sit alongside the Ultra and enable choices and opportunities that might not have been previously available. In context to the previous editions, the statistics are:
2024 – Starters 172, Ultra Finishers 57 (33%), Explorer Finishers 68 (39%), Overall Completions 125 (72%)
2023 - Starters 172, Ultra Finishers 88 (51%), Explorer Finishers 48 (28%), Overall Completions 136 (79%)
2022 - Starters 270, Ultra Finishers 104 (38%)
2021 - Starters 86, Ultra Finishers 52 (60%)
2018 - Starters 177, Ultra Finishers 110 (62%)
2016 - Starters 95, Ultra Finishers 59 (62%)
A fantastic day in Knoydart ©No Limits Photography
Some Race Statistics
As mentioned above, a fantastic 72% of those who started finished either the Ultra or Explorer version of the event. Here are some more statistics that you may find interesting:
Out of 172 starters, 122 (71%) of these were male, 50 (29%) of these were female
Of these starters, 20 nationalities were represented
There were 41 men who finished the Ultra, and 45 who finished the Explorer
There were 16 women who finished the Ultra, and 22 who finished the Explorer
The oldest Ultra finisher was 64 years old
The youngest Ultra finisher was 25 years old
Whether you were on the Ultra or Explorer, this is a huge achievement ©No Limits Photography
Thanks to the Event Team
Another post event report, and another outstanding group of people to thank. I wonder whether I can find some original words – perhaps it doesn’t matter! I would certainly like to extend my heartfelt thanks to the entire Event Team for their extraordinary support, sense of purpose, experience and enthusiasm they all brought to the event. Each one of the Event Team made a hugely valuable contribution to the success of the event and, on behalf of myself and the participants, I am deeply grateful and appreciative of everyone’s help. I truly believe that if I surround myself with great people, then great things will happen, and this year’s Cape Wrath Ultra® is a perfect example of this. Wow. Just thank you.
Camp team
Anne Johnson
Bev Jackson
Colin Young
David Dewhurst
David Forestell
David Parrish
Duncan Anderson
Fiona Culleton
Fiona Mackenzie
Gary Dempsey
Gilly Marshall
Ieuan Belshaw
Jan Bruwer
Jim Parker
John Taylor
Liza Bradshaw
Louise Hopper
Marc Ward
Marie Fallon
Michael White
Ouns Kissiyar
Patricia Lyon
Richard Ballantine
Steve Hurren
Tim Miller
The camp team learning how to build blue tents ©No Limits Photography
Catering
Alan Davies
Belinda Hoffmann
Jacqueline Lee
Michael Burke
Peter Huzan
Catheryn Lowe
Chris Taylor
Eleanor Smith
Emma Hadley
Fiona Massey
Graeme Braid
Hilary Malyon
Laura Smith
Nicola McNally
Paul Hadley
Paul Hughes
Tammy Ruvino
Tim Glasby
The wonderful catering team kept us all well fed ©No Limits Photography
Course Operations
Joe Faulkner
Bill Johnson
Derek Allison
Susan Nicol
Tim Laney
Info Point
Andy Norman
Sarah Norman
Siwan Glyn
Tara John
Marquee Team
Alex Chesters
Antony Fleming-Williams
Archie Perris
Arthur Bramwell
Jessica Byrne
Kieran O'Sullivan
Matthew Parry
Mike Schneider
Seb Boulton Oliver
Suzy Slaughter
Timothy Exley
Tom Jobling
Zakius Benaton
The marquee crew were hard at work this week ©No Limits Photography
Media Team
Christiaan Le Roux
Debbie McCart
Elaine Bisson
Harriet D'Alessio
Reuben Tabner
Stephen Ashworth
Elaine Bisson paints the landscape ©No Limits Photography
Medical team
Natalya Kennedy
Alex Moreman
David Lewis
Debbie Simpson
Harry Batty
Isobel Robertson
Jackie Gibb
Marion Head
Morag Bowie
Patricia Littlechild
Zoe Mitchell
The medical team had a tough 8 days and we are very grateful to them ©No Limits Photography
Ourea Management
Charlie Williamson
Charlotte Eccles
Darren Graham
Eleanor Claringbold-Driscoll
Greg Mickelborough
Jen Edson
Jo Moore
Lorna McBride
Neil Davies
Shane Ohly
The Senior Event Team gather for a meeting ©No Limits Photography
Race Control
Abbi Forsyth
Chris Plant
Response Team
Dave Howarth
Jurgen Dissmann
Rich Griffiths
Sarah Graham
Simon Verspeak
Soraya Cherry
The Response team and course ops team at Sandwood Bay ©No Limits Photography
Roadside Checkpoint & Transport Team
Andrew Hastie
Andy Warner
Liz Warner
Sam Harvey
Start/Finish Team
Ailsa Janzen
Ane Bruwer
Geoff Osbaldestin
Gillian Lindsey
Ian Hewitt
Jenny Yeo
Pam Nix
Robert Campbell
Robin Qubty
Thomas Tatum
The start/finish team cheered on all our runners ©No Limits Photography
Technical Services Team
Iain Bethune
Ian Cowie
Kevin Nairn
Steven Fairbairn
Philip Sturgeon
Tom Rouse
The tech services team working hard behind the scenes ©No Limits Photography
Timing & Tracking
Daniel Carrivick
James Thurlow
Results
Huge congratulations to this year’s winners, Danny Smith and Bridget Glaister. Both Danny and Bridget had incredible races, both getting stronger as the race went on.
You can view the full race results here:
The 2024 Cape Wrath Ultra® podium ©No Limits Photography
Medal Ceremony Poetry
Danny Smith delighted us all with his reimagining of Shores by Sorley MacLean reading to assembled runners and Event Team at the medal ceremony the following. It was a fantastic and memorable way to round off the evenings celebrations:
If we were in Fort William on the shore
where the great white ferry boat
takes us between two hard jaws,
The football club and Trislaig pier,
I would stand beside the sea
Thinking about bogs, chips, and dips in the river,
while the ocean was filling
Fort William bay forever:
I would stand there
on the bareness of the shore
until the 10pm cut off reared its ugly head.
And if we were together on the shore of Loch Hourn in Knoydart,
between Kintail and the sea,
between King Shane and his incredible team,
I would stay there in the (cleanest ever - thank you so much!) portaloo queue,
Or be having my legs plucked, tick by tick, by the wonderful medic team,
and in Torridon, on the shore of Loch Maree
Being treated to endless, smiling cups of tea,
I would wait there forever (much like the race controllers, starters, finishers, tent squad, caterers and overall incredible volunteers - thank you so so much),
for the last of the delicious soup draining drop by drop.
(So on behalf of all participants, can we please have another huge hand for the incredible event team and volunteers!)
And now I’m at the lighthouse with you Cape Wrath 2024 participants: ultras, explorers, all,
for whom my care is new,
From amazing champions like Bridget, Elsa, Charlotte, Gabriella, Susha,
To Lewis, Ludwig and others who have sadly fallen along the way.
And when we’re back in Norfolk (where Adam, Henry and I all hail from!)
The flattest county in the land,
we’ll tell them tales about these things called hills,
And give thanks to one and all,
For Cape Wrath Ultra 2024.
Danny Smith gifted a painting from Debs McCart ©No Limits Photography
Norovirus
Our Medical Director, Dr Natalya Kennedy, alerted me to the first case of gastroenteritis distress, explaining that she felt nervous about the pattern of symptoms and warning about the risk of viral infection. We always ‘isolate’ participants and crew with gastro symptoms, but as the instances of illness increased over the next 24 hours, it was clear that we had a viral infection at the event.
It is a nightmare scenario for an event with limited opportunity to truly isolate sick people due to shared facilities like portable toilets and washing sinks, whilst also living in close proximity in shared tents and with limited washing facilities.
We instigated several procedures immediately to try and minimise the spread of the illness, and some of these measures included:
1. All the participants received candid, open, and honest briefings about Norovirus in the communal marque and at the finish line to share information about how to mitigate risk to themselves and fellow participants. This included the crucial importance of washing hands with soap and water after using the portable toilets and before entering the catering tent.
2. We moved any participants with symptoms to Eyam (the name we gave to the collection of isolation tents—read about the history of Eyam HERE), where they had to stay until 48 hours after their last symptoms. There were also dedicated portable toilets for these participants.
3. Only allowing medics who’d already been exposed to the illness to treat participants and Event Team members who became ill.
4. We introduced a strict requirement to sanitise hands before entering the Catering Tent, including having a member of the Event Team monitoring everyone coming into the Catering Tent to ensure this actually happened.
5. We introduced a member of the Catering Team to the Crew Tent, who handed food to the Event Team, so there was no risk of the Event Team handling food directly whilst self-servicing.
6. Decontaminating the Medical Tent each morning and the communal sinks and portable toilets each evening with a chlorine spray.
Unfortunately, despite all the measures, many participants and Event Team became ill. Since I shared some initial numbers at the medal ceremony, there has been one more participant who became ill on Sunday evening and one member of the Event Team who became unwell whilst travelling home (we consider this return journey part of the event, hence why we include it). We are aware of a few additional participants who have become unwell after leaving the event, but we are not including these numbers as the event had ended by this point. In summary:
Participants: 33 +/- 1
Event Team: 9
Total infections: 42
Total number of personnel: (participants (172) + Event Team (125)) 297
Infection rate: 14.1%
The medical team suffered disproportionately, with seven of the nine Event Team illnesses manifesting in those who had the closest contact whilst caring for unwell participants. We all owe the medical team a massive thanks.
We made a considerable effort during the event to understand this viral illness's epidemiology. First, we assume it is Norovirus because of the classic presentation of symptoms, but laboratory testing has not confirmed this. All the illnesses followed a similar pattern: a short period of feeling unwell, followed by rapid onset vomiting and often diarrhoea, ~12 hours of feeling poorly, and a further ~24 hours of recovery. We tracked the people who became sick, but we could not find a commonality between them, such as shared transport, shared tent, or groups of friends.
Several landowners recounted stories of walkers on the Cape Wrath Trail becoming ill recently, and a group of hikers we met explained that they had all become sick with a vomiting bug during the event. Therefore, we hypothesised that Norovirus was introduced to the event from the trail, possibly from a contaminated water source or from a gate or stile, as Norovirus can survive on a surface for up to two weeks. This hypothesis seems more likely post-event, with various online accounts indicating that Cape Wrath Trail walkers have been getting ill, possibly from contaminated water near a bothy.
This illness ended the race for a few participants who left the event unable to continue. Most who got the sickness switched to the Explorer, and a remarkable few finished the entire course despite running on empty.
I would like to thank everyone at the event sincerely – both participants and the Event Team – who recognised the crucial importance of our mitigations and cooperated fully with us to limit the spread.
We owe a great deal of thanks to our Medical Director Natalya Kennedy ©No Limits Photography
Wrath Dragon Finishers
The challenge of completing both the Cape Wrath Ultra® and the Dragon’s Back Race® in one year is yet to be accomplished by anyone. Last year four people attempted it, first completing Cape Wrath Ultra® in May and then attempting the Dragon’s Back Race® in September. It’ll be interesting to see if anyone will try this remarkable feat in 2024. If you think this could be you, there are still some entries open for the Dragon’s Back Race® this September.
Donations to Mountain Rescue in Scotland
When participants entered this year's Cape Wrath Ultra®, we asked if they’d like to make a voluntary donation to Mountain Rescue. We are delighted to have raised £1,500.00 We will share this equally amongst the six Mountain Rescue teams whose areas the race route passes through. This includes:
Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team
Glenelg Mountain Rescue Team
Kintail Mountain Rescue Team
Torridon Mountain Rescue Team
Dundonnell Mountain Rescue Team
Assynt Mountain Rescue Team
Mountain Rescue teams collecting their cheques ©No Limits Photography
ONGOING HEALTH
Rest and Recovery
Whether you completed the full course or not, every participant’s body has taken a significant battering. We highly recommend an extended period of recovery now. Anecdotally, four weeks of rest, followed by around ten weeks of light exercise, works well. We have often seen participants in our expedition-length races return to regular training too early and end up with chronic fatigue and/or injury problems. Take the time to let your bodies heal!
Lyme Disease
We would also like to reiterate the danger of Lyme Disease from tick bites. Whilst this is unlikely, if you develop a ‘bulls-eye’ rash around a tick bite or experience flu-like symptoms in the next 30 days, we advise a trip to the doctor. Ensure that you explain you have been bitten by a tick. More information is available on the Lyme Disease Action website.
One of our Medical Directors, Nikki Sommers, has written more detailed medical guidance. I’d recommend having a good read of this:
Ultra Mail™
As expected, ‘Ultra Mail™’ proved extremely popular, with 7,987 messages of support sent to the participants (and Event Team) during the event. We love this component of the event, and it is an obvious boost for participants at the end of a long day. We heard from many participants that the Ultra Mail™ was a real motivator for them when the going was tough.
Event Coverage
We trust that your friends, family, and colleagues watching from home enjoyed our event reporting from our brilliant media team. Dot watching can be pretty addictive, and we regularly spend many hours watching the runners gradually head north on the GPS Tracker page. There is a whole load of outstanding media coverage from the event, and we hope you enjoy catching up on this as you rest up and recover from the event.
Daily Highlight Films
Each day, Steve Ashworth was out of the course, running many, many miles before rushing into the next Overnight Camp and editing intensely so that he could publish a daily recap film. You can find these brilliant daily updates on our Youtube Channel.
Wilderness Unbound Films
Perhaps you have a friend who is erring on whether to take the plunge and enter the Cape Wrath Ultra®? Well with this person in mind, I recorded the following eight very short films (ok… we should call them adverts!) over the course of the event. I hope that they inspire future participants to come to Scotland and take on the adventure of a lifetime.
Photos
No Limits Photography were on the ground every day capturing some amazing shots for the official event photography – you can view some of these on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, on our website, and in the press.
Reuben Tabner from Bib Number Photography was also in attendance, taking some excellent shots of each participant, every day on their journey. These photos are now available to view and purchase!
View photos of your personal journey ©No Limits Photography
Event blogs
The daily event blogs in the news section of our website give a great insight into how the journey unfolded for all participants – those at the back of the race and also those leading the way. It’s full of quotes from participants, so it’s definitely worth a read to see if you can spot yourself!
A wonderful journey ©No Limits Photography
GPS Tracking
All the participants' routes over the 8 days are public and available for everyone to view. You can use your (non-mobile/tablet) laptop or desktop computer to head to the GPS tracking page. There, you'll find a replay icon in the top left corner, which launches the replay scrubber. You can also view just a few names (instead of the entire field) using the favourites function.
There were 7,987 Ultra Mail™ messages during the event. This is an almost identical number to 2023 (no surprise, given the same 172 starters), and this represents almost one message per minute.
Wilderness Unbound Journal
We will publish a very limited edition and high-quality journal to celebrate the 2024 edition of the Cape Wrath Ultra®. It will be similar to the ‘In the Footsteps of Legends’ journal we published to mark the Dragon’s Back Race® last year, but bigger and with a greater focus on photography. We’ll send all the participants and Event Team a copy by default, but if you think a running buddy would like a copy, please encourage them to request a copy ASAP.
Artist in Residence Paintings
This year we were very lucky to have both Debs McCart and Elaine Bisson taking inspiration from the Cape Wrath Ultra® and producing some original artwork. Both Elaine and Debs are previous participants of the event, and they really understand the spirit of the Cape Wrath Ultra® and you can see this shining through in their brilliant artwork. You can purchase their pictures directly:
RaceCheck Review and Feedback
We would love to hear about your experience at the Cape Wrath Ultra! Please leave us a review via Racecheck. After you post your public review there is also an option to leave private feedback. If you have any specific feedback you would rather send directly to us, please e-mail us at [email protected].
Feedback is very important to us. We are always really keen to hear your thoughts. Whilst we don’t promise to incorporate every piece of feedback received, we do promise to read and consider it carefully. Participant feedback has helped refine and improve the event from one edition to the next and has been instrumental in planning our events in the future.
The end of a brilliant adventure ©No Limits Photography
Event Merchandise
We are delighted that Cape Wrath Ultra® and Cape Wrath Explorer hoodies are now available to order! Please pre-order these by 7th June for a wonderful memento of your adventure.
What’s next?
Dragon’s Back Race – last few spaces remaining
Enter our sister event the Montane Dragon’s Back Race®. Join us for six epic days of mountain running through stunning Wales! The 2024 Dragon’s Back Race® starts from Conwy Castle and runs the length of Wales, linking many of the country’s iconic mountain summits, to finish in Cardiff Castle on the South coast of Wales.
Join us in Wales ©No Limits Photography
Salomon Buttermere Skyline 2024
Fancying a shorter, sharper trail running challenge?
Then you need to be on the start line of the Salomon Buttermere Skyline on Saturday 14th September 2024! Enjoy the stunning views of the Southern Lake District fells while running along the tops in Buttermere! Entries are OPEN - click the link below to enter.
NORTHERN, LAKES, DALES AND MOORS TRAVERSES!
You’ve tried a multi-day adventure, perhaps a continuous race is next? Entries for the Traverses are OPEN! There are four events to choose from ranging from 55km to 300km - choose your Traverse and enter for 2025!
Join the waiting list for The Northern Traverse and be notified when a place becomes available. Start planning for your journey across the North of England!
Join us on the Northern Traverse ©No Limits Photography
SCARPA GREAT LAkELAND 3 DAY
Enjoy 3 days of running, navigation and camping surrounded by stunning Lake District views. With 6 different course options to choose from, this is our friendliest event and not one to be missed!
Final Words
I hope that you are all incredibly proud of your amazing achievements at the Cape Wrath Ultra® and have left the event with those life-affirming memories that have been truly earnt the hard way! Do get some well-deserved rest, and we hope to see you again in the future for another exciting adventure.
We hope to see you again next year ©No Limits Photography