Fife Coastal Path FKT – James Stewart

“There is a chill in the air as the winds come in from the North East. Gloves and arm sleeves are required, or it’ll be cold digits and goosebumps a’ plenty! The only sounds, bar our own voices, come from the occasional passing car or truck. Varied birdsongs begin to fill the air as a handful of blokes nervously, jump up and down on the spot, whilst the seconds counted down until I start.”

Friday April 30^th 4 AM and I am on the start line of the Fife Coastal Path. The aim is to reach the end of it by midnight. I want to cross the finish line in under 20 hours, breaking Nicola Duncan’s 2020 FKT of 23 hours and 17 minutes. It will take luck, strength, and guts to do it!  Far more of the latter than I had anticipated, come the end.

Conditions were forecast to be perfect! Martin Butcher had offered to start with me, which was a great commitment from someone that I had never actually met before, but there he was at the CO-OP in Kincardine at 3.45 AM waiting to meet me! Martin guided us to the famous archway starting point, where Andy and Skoosh (the Batman and Robin of crewing) counted me down from ten!

As Gregg Stevenson cheered us off, Martin and I leapt into action. Unfortunately, due to recent treatments, Gregg was unable to run with us but that would not stop him from popping up in various places, along the first 40 miles or so.

With Martin by my side, I felt as though I had my own personal podcast! He is so full of energy, and he knew every step of the first leg. Martin is also pretty loud and so I am sure that everyone from Kincardine through to Limekilns got an early wake up call! He was brilliant company and a fantastic way to get the day off and running!

Robert Turner took over from Martin, guiding me a few miles from Burntisland. I could run with Rob every single day and never get bored in his company. He is an incredible runner and an awesome human, with whom I share many of the same ideas. His only downfall; his intimidating handsomeness!

This is a publication all about Ultrarunning after all, and so I will insert an obligatory Adrian Scott mention here. The man is a muse, a magician, and a one-man encouragement machine! Adrian appeared at daft o’clock in the morning to shout, ‘Hi!’, giving Rob and I a huge boost of enthusiasm!