 There's something about the mountains in Scotland that keeps drawing me back. Having recently run UTMB for the first time, followed by a week with Covid, I had no right to be lining up at the start of the Ring of Steel at the Skyline Scotland weekend in Kinloch-Leven. But having been here for the past four years, I felt I had to be here for what was to be the final event. As race director Shane Olly told me, We've maxed out Kinloch-Leven as a village. If we want to be ambitious and think about the future of the event, we're going to need a different venue. Having completed the Ben Nevis Ultra last year, and not being anywhere near qualified to run the Glencoe Skyline, I decided to have a go at the Ring of Steel. Welcome to film our run, we are in Kinloch-Leven. It's my fourth year here, three years doing the Ben Nevis Ultra, we're taking a break this year. It's the last year of the Skyline Scotland and we're going to do the Ring of Steel, 2,500 meters of elevation, a couple of nice ridges to go over, should be an absolutely gorgeous day out because it's beautiful today, so let's see how we get on. The Ring of Steel is only 29 kilometres, but it packs a lot of climbing into a short distance, and I was under no illusions as to how difficult this was likely to be. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, off the go! The race starts with a short run through the village and then up onto the West Highland Way. Cowbells are now a prerequisite for any supporter worth their salt in a mountain race. Before you know it, you've turned off the groomed path and onto the rocky, bracken, strewn 1,000 meter ascent to Devils Ridge. One hour, 13 minutes into the Ring of Steel, we've done 6 kilometres, 900 meters of elevation. We're kind of at the top, but we've just got this little bit to climb to get up to the ridge. Good job. Come on boys and girls. The Ring of Steel is a classic Scottish hiking route, taking in four Munroes, the first of which, Scouravane, comes just after traversing the Devils Ridge, and is followed by a very steep technical descent down to Glennevis. I think I have to accept that because of all the 100-mile races I've done this year, I must be physically drained, and whilst I felt relatively good in myself, I was being passed by other runners both on the uphills and the downhills. I was trying to race, but I felt very tentative going over the technical ground and quite breathless when climbing the hills. Two hours into the Ring of Steel, we've climbed 1,263 meters, we're on the way down to the Glennevis aid station, nine kilometres in in terms of distance. The Skyline Scotland event has races on both Saturday and Sunday. Thankfully, I was racing on the Saturday, which was warm and sunny. Sunday turned out to be wet, cold and windy. Hiya. Thank you. Just hit the three-hour mark in the Ring of Steel. 14 kilometres done, 1,400 metres of elevation gain. We're on a tarmac section now. This is actually the Glennevis Ultra route as well. Hi, guys. Thank you. So we're now heading to the river, to the river crossing, and then we've got one more 1,000-metre climb up over a couple of other ridges and down to the finish. So thank you. So that's Steel Falls. This is our river crossing. And what a beautiful, beautiful day. This is what it's all about. No point in trying to keep your feet dry. It's just impossible. So nice, cold, wet feet now. And now we start another big 1,000-metre climb. And then down to the finish. But it's a long, long way, so there's at least 12, 13 kilometres. I mean, that doesn't seem like a long way, does it? But when you're going most of the way uphill, it is. 18 kilometres done and four hours, almost exactly four hours. So we're on the final climb, although it's a final climb with lots of false summits and two extra little moon rows just to give you a bit of an extra thrill at the end. It's a really tough climb. Switch back after switch back. I don't know if you can see. Down the mountain there, people. Climbing up in zigzags, and then we've still got a ton of a way to go as well. Up the hill. When we get to 2,000 metres total climb, I promise myself I can have the red bull that's in my bag. I've also got a Snickers bar, which I might start munching on in a minute. Only that, and then another couple of them to go. So we've now got the reach to do, and then two moon rows. And then down to the finish, we've got about 89,000 left. 9,000. I've promised myself my red bull. We've done 2,300 metres. So this is our lovely ridge that we've got to go across. It's not quite as bad as the CMD O'Ret, but it's quite airy. OK, penultimate moon row. Well done. There's cannot leave them down there. That is the ridge that we've just come along. You might still go to see runners. They're very small, but... And we're following the orange flags down this side. And then up that final one, and down to the finish. So five hours, 18 minutes in, 21 and a bit kilometres, 8,000 to go. The final moon row on our journey was Ambodak, and it was arguably the most difficult climb of the race at just over 1,000 metres. It's incredibly steep with loose rock and tricky scrambling on very narrow switchbacks. A fall here would almost certainly have serious consequences. So this is the steepest, gnarliest part of the final bit of the final climb. We're over 2,600 metres in now, so there's really not a lot of elevation left to do, but it is pretty gruesome. I can't believe I did that in the Ben Nevis Ultra. That's a ridiculous climb. So we've done about 22K, we've got about 7 to go. Down there, and there's a marshal down there, and then we head down the hill. So, 5 hours 52 for me. So, you know, if we can get down the hill quick, we could get there in 7 hours. But let's see what happens. Once again, there were some uncomfortable sections to negotiate on the descent. And I'm not afraid to say there was some bum sliding involved. We are just coming up to the turn to go down the hill into Kinlock-Leven. Here's our lovely volunteer. Have you had a nice day? How's your day, David? Yeah, it's been good. Looking fresh. Thank you very much. See you. Right, here we go, down the hill. It's still just as gnarly as everything else, but at least we are now heading down into Kinlock-Leven. So, Mark, so how's it gone? At the moment, terrible. The legs have gone on, having to use my poles to get down the bloody hill that I ran down in the half-light in the ultra last year with Stephen. So, about 5k to go to the bottom of the hill. 6 hours 15 minutes. At the start of the race, I was hopeful of placing relatively well in my age category. But try as I might. I simply couldn't move fast enough over the ground. I tried as best I could on the final descent to make up some time, or at least to run as much of it as possible. On technical descents, it's important to relax and let gravity take you. But the fear of face planting or breaking an ankle definitely held me back. Just coming to the end of the gnarly bit down the hill and then we'll get onto a nice half-in-a-minute. Once the ground became a little more forgiving, I was able to push a bit harder. But my eyes were still glued to the ground, watching for every rock or root that could potentially end my race even now. I can hear the announcer on the finish line. We are no more than a mile away. No, mile of your life. Ha-ha. It was a great feeling to finally hit the tarmac of Kinlopleven. Even though I was passed by yet another runner in my age category as we ran into town, I was absolutely delighted to hear the cowbells and the cheering as I approached the finish. You've got down the hill quicker than me. Marcus is a bit of a leap on there. I think I'll probably do it tomorrow. But today is all good because the sun is out and we're ready to finish the line. So well done to you. Might have to sit down for five minutes before I make sausage drop. Thank you, don't worry. You take one away and then you can do it. OK, we'll be OK. Thank you. More of these dealers coming in here. There we are, Rengar's field. First. First, OK. 29, 30, OK. Perfect. Love me. Very tired. Really technical, but great. On my second latte now. Marcus bought me my first one. Hi, everybody. Marcus is running the Ben Nevers Ultra tomorrow and he is going to finish. It's gorgeous here. It's such a shame that this is the last one because it's such a lovely day. Everyone's out. Enjoying the runner's company. Lovely atmosphere. It's 5x7 and that means cut off time for the Ring of Steel. So anyone who arrives now, unfortunately, they won't get an official result. But they are all getting a medal, which is nice to see. It was tough out there. Two enormous hills, which are very technical. Got it done in seven hours and eight minutes. So I think after UTMB and being ill last week, I've got to be pleased with that. And we will see you on the start line for the next one next time. Take care, everyone. Bye-bye.