Beacon Ultra's Balmaha Day - 7 February 2026

Those club members who are part of the WhatsApp community will know that there are several groups available to join… the newest of them is the Beacon Ultras. As you might imagine it’s a group for the long distance runners - the people who have done ultra distance races, the people signed up for one and the ultramarathon-curious!

At time of writing there are seven club members signed up to run the Devil o’ the Highlands in April - El, Freddy, Laura, Lindsey, Rory, Shelagh and Simon. It’s a 42 mile race on the West Highland Way starting in Tyndrum finishing at the end of the Way in Fort William.

And so it came to be that El proposed and organised a day trip out to run some of the West Highland Way route so people could get a feel for the type of trail the Devil will be on. Unfortunately Lindsey was unwell on the day and had to miss the trip but all six of the others were in attendance! Joined by Debi, Wendy and El’s friend and honorary Beaconer for the day - Adam.

Though the weather wasn’t perfect it wasn’t as bad as expected so, although all in rain jackets, we set off around 9.45 to pretty good conditions and a plan to run for 3 hours.

We quickly fell into a groove with the girls all together and leading the way and boys in smaller groups behind.

Each group made its own decision on when to turn back. Some turned ahead of the 1h 30m half way point and some continued on in, what turned out to be the mistaken, belief they could reach Rowardennan.

The weather was decent, the trails were lovely and the company was excellent. Distances ran ranged from 12 - 14 miles and the day was capped off with a great lunch in the Oak Tree Inn.

Huge thanks to El for his planning, and to him and Debi for taking on the driving duties. A very successful first trip out for the Ultras... but definitely not the last!