Finlay Wild (born 8 September 1984) is a Scottish runner and mountaineer who has been a British

fell running Fell running, also sometimes known as hill running, is the sport of running and racing, off-road, over upland country where the gradient climbed is a significant component of the difficulty. The name arises from the origins of the English sport o ...

champion. He has won the Ben Nevis Race twelve times.

Early life and professional career

Wild was born on 8 September 1984 in

Thurso Thurso (pronounced ; , ) is a town and former burgh on the north coast of the Highland council area of Scotland. Situated in the historical County of Caithness, it is the northernmost town on the island of Great Britain. From a latitudinal s ...

.Jonny Muir, "The Monarch of the Glen", ''The Mountains are Calling'' (Dingwall, 2018). He gained an affinity with the outdoors through his parents Roger Wild, a mountain guide, and Fiona (née Hinde), an accomplished hill runner who won the Three Peaks Race in 1981 and the Carnethy 5 in 1981 and 1982. He was educated at Fort William primary school and Lochaber High School, then graduated with a medical degree from the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; ) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bis ...

. He works as a

general practitioner A general practitioner (GP) is a doctor who is a Consultant (medicine), consultant in general practice. GPs have distinct expertise and experience in providing whole person medical care, whilst managing the complexity, uncertainty and risk ass ...

Lochaber Lochaber ( ; ) is a name applied to a part of the Scottish Highlands. Historically, it was a provincial lordship consisting of the parishes of Kilmallie and Kilmonivaig. Lochaber once extended from the Northern shore of Loch Leven, a distric ...

Sporting career

Wild first took part in a hill race at Ben Rinnes in 2005. He came to prominence through the Ben Nevis Race which he first won in 2010. His tally of twelve Ben Nevis victories is higher than that of any other runner in the history of the event. In 2012, he set a new course record for the

Glamaig Glamaig () is the northernmost of the Red Hills on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. It lies immediately east of Sligachan. It is one of only two Corbetts on Skye. From many angles the hill resembles a perfect cone of scree, though it is li ...

Hill Race, breaking the previous best set by Mark Rigby in 1997. He improved the record by a further five seconds in 2018. Wild's other wins include the Carnethy 5, Goatfell races 2013–2015, the

Isle of Jura An isle is an island, land surrounded by water. The term is very common in British English. However, there is no clear agreement on what makes an island an isle or its difference, so they are considered synonyms. Isle may refer to: Geography * I ...

2015-2017, Stuc a' Chroin, the Ennerdale Horseshoe and the Langdale Horseshoe. He won the

British Fell Running Championships The first British Fell Running Championships, then known as Fell Runner of the Year, were held in 1972 and the scoring was based on results in all fell running, fell races. In 1976 this was changed to the runner's best ten category A races and furt ...

in 2015 and again in 2022. Wild has the fastest known time for the

Cuillin The Cuillin () is a range of mostly jagged rocky mountains on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. The main Cuillin ridge is also called the Black Cuillin to distinguish it from the Red Cuillin ('), which lie to the east of Glen Sligachan.R. Anderson & ...

Ridge traverse on the

Isle of Skye The Isle of Skye, or simply Skye, is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate from a mountainous hub dominated by the Cuillin, the rocky slopes of which provide some of ...

, completing the crossing in 2:59:22 in 2013. In February 2016, Wild and Tim Gomersall made a winter crossing of the Cuillin Ridge in a time of 6:14. In 2016, Wild's results in the Tromsø SkyRace and the Glen Coe Skyline gave him third place in the Extreme section of the Skyrunner World Series. In October 2016, he set a record time of 10:15:30 for Tranter's Round in the mountains around

Glen Nevis Glen Nevis () is a glen in Lochaber, Highland, Scotland, with Fort William at its foot. It is bordered to the south by the Mamore range, and to the north by the highest mountains in the British Isles: Ben Nevis, Càrn Mor Dearg, Aonach M� ...

. He further reduced the time to 9:00:05 in July 2020 and then to 8:52 in July 2022, but the latter record only lasted one day until it was beaten by Jack Kuenzle with a time of 8:38. Wild retook the record in June 2024 with a time of 8:27:53. In May 2019, Wild ran the

Welsh 3000s The Welsh 3000s are the 15 Welsh Munros. These are mountains in Wales that are over . Geographically they fall within three ranges (the Snowdon Massif, the Glyderau, and the Carneddau), but close enough to make it possible to reach all 15 s ...

in a time of 4:10:48 which broke the long-standing record of 4:19 held by Colin Donnelly since 1988. Wild set a record for the Ramsay Round in August 2020, completing the route solo and unsupported in a time of 14:42:40. He also completed the Rigby Round of

Munros A Munro (; ) is defined as a mountain in Scotland with a height over , and which is on the Scottish Mountaineering Club (SMC) official list of Munros; there is no explicit topographical prominence requirement. The best known Munro is Ben Nevi ...

in the

Cairngorms The Cairngorms () are a mountain range in the eastern Scottish Highlands, Highlands of Scotland closely associated with the mountain Cairn Gorm. The Cairngorms became part of Scotland's second national parks of Scotland, national park (the Cairn ...

in July 2021 in a record time of 16:40. In August 2021, Wild ran the Bob Graham Round in 12:59, just outside the record at the time of 12:52 held by Kilian Jornet. Wild ran the Bob Graham Round again in January 2024, completing it between dusk and dawn in a time of 15:35, the fastest time achieved for a winter round. In April 2022, Wild completed the Paddy Buckley Round, solo and unsupported, in a time of 15:14, beating the previous record of 16:20 set by Kim Collison. Wild broke his own record in the Isle of Jura Fell Race in May 2022 with a time of 2:58:09, the first time any runner had completed the event in under three hours. The following month, he set a new record of 30:39 at

Buckden Pike Buckden Pike is a fell at the head of Wharfedale, a valley in the Yorkshire Dales, that stands above the village of Buckden, North Yorkshire, Buckden, England. At , it narrowly misses out on being the highest peak in the area, the title instead ...

, beating Colin Donnelly's previous best from 1988. In August 2022, Wild was victorious at both Matterhorn Ultraks and Trofeo Kima. He returned to Trofeo Kima in 2024, winning and setting a new course record of 6:05:04. Wild has also competed in

ski mountaineering Ski mountaineering (abbreviated to skimo) is a skiing discipline that involves climbing mountains either on skis or carrying them, depending on the steepness of the ascent, and then descending on skis. There are two major categories of equipment ...

and was the British champion in that sport in 2016 as well as the Scottish Skimo series winner in the 2014/2015 and 2015/2016 seasons.

Artwork

Some of Wild's paintings were displayed as a solo exhibition at the

John Muir Trust The John Muir Trust (JMT) is a Scottish charity, established in 1983 to conserve wild land and wild places for the benefit of all. The Trust runs an environmental award scheme, manages several estates, mainly in the Highlands and Islands of Scot ...

's Wild Space Gallery in Pitlochry for eight weeks in early 2016.

References

External links

Wild's blog
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wild, Finlay British fell runners British sky runners Scottish male ski mountaineers Scottish male long-distance runners British male long-distance runners People educated at Lochaber High School Alumni of the University of Aberdeen Scottish general practitioners Living people People from Fort William, Highland 1984 births Scottish male skiers 21st-century Scottish sportsmen