ACTIVE OUTDOORS: What it’s like to run through the night at the Loch Ness 24

Published: 18:30, 26 August 2024

Sleep? Who needs it? Well, after this, I’m in desperate need of some! The Loch Ness 24 took place for the third successive year at the weekend, and for the first time I had signed up to take part.

Not content with taking on the challenge of completing as many laps of the “gnarly” off-road circuit as possible in the time, Meg and I decided to join forces as a pair and take along the kids for a weekend of camping.

A brief chance for a catch-up as Meg and John meet in the transition area after a night-time lap.

That meant tag-teaming laps and looking after the children – although thankfully they were all very good at looking after us each time we returned, tired, from completing another lap.

This was the first time either of us had taken on this type of challenge, but endurance running is our forte more so than speed, so we felt we were reasonably prepared.

The four-and-a-bit mile route takes you from a field at Aldourie, over into the woods and then around a circuit of the trails there before dropping down to Dores beach.

A pebbly run that offers a unique challenge to tired legs is followed by a section that involves avoiding roots and rocks as it winds up and down along the shore of Loch Ness before climbing up to meet a track.

Meg's still smiling as she completes one of her laps.

Then there’s a bit of a slog along to Aldourie pier before climbing back up another rough trail to reach the fields for a grassy section back to the start/finish area.

• WATCH: This year’s Loch Ness 24 in pictures

People can enter the Loch Ness 24 as solo runners, in pairs, small teams of three to five or large teams of six to eight. The aim is to complete as many laps as you can in the 24 hours. For pairs or teams, the runner out on course carries a “baton” which is dibbed at the end of each lap and passed to a teammate when they are changing runners.

So, it’s all about strategy – and ours was to embrace the nature of the 24-hour event by trying to keep going throughout the night.

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That was a real challenge, but despite a little wobble when we had a conversation at around 2.30am about whether to just have a sleep, we did continue – walking a lap each in the night just to keep ticking them off, then back to what was little more than jogging by this point.

The event, which began at 10am on Saturday, started in sunny conditions as we followed Nessie at the start of the first lap. There was a great atmosphere and a busy course with every team out to make their mark – albeit very slowly. The phrase “it’s a marathon, not a sprint” might have been relevant here – except the distances involved were much greater.

And they're off! John gives a wave as he sets off on the first lap.

Meg and I were taking part in the mixed pairs category and completed 29 laps between us – a total distance of more than 200km or 120 miles. That was enough to give us a place on the podium, claiming second spot in the category, with the team in front completing 30 laps. We were also the third overall in the pairs, which included the men’s, women’s and mixed pairs.

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Winning things is an unusual experience for us, so we were delighted that we’d achieved this together, not only for Meg and me but with the children involved, too. They even got a mention at the prizegiving as the best support crew – which I think might have meant loudest!

John completes one of the early laps on the Saturday.

It wasn’t easy to achieve, though. Heading out into the pitch black forest in the middle of the night when all you want to do is sleep, to run another tough four-mile loop, requires a certain determination, resilience and downright questionable mindset. On one lap I was walking a long stretch and struggling to even keep my eyes open, never mind put one foot in front of the other.

But we persevered and kept going, even when things got mentally and physically really tough. We weren’t particularly fast, but we kept going for the whole 24 hours – and for us, that’s what the challenge was really about.

I managed to squeeze in about half-an-hour’s sleep in the whole night, and possibly the hardest part of the event was getting out of that sleeping bag to head back onto the course. But I’m glad I did – and now I’m off to bed.