Taking on the Southern Upland Way – Anna Rutherford

Just nine months after giving birth, 38 year old Anna Rutherford took on the Southern Upland Way fastest known time (FKT), an official long-distance coast to coast route in Scotland, which is a staggering 214 miles long. Anna Rutherford is a wife and mother of two who is currently on maternity leave from her job as a lawyer and a seasoned long distance endurance runner. 

Ultrarunner Magazine caught up with Anna to find out all about the FKT and how it feels to hold the women’s record for the route.

This isn’t the first time that you’ve ventured into ultra-marathons, you’ve got a long history of endurance and taking on these kinds of challenges.  Tell us a bit about your previous history.

I did my first ultra in 2010 and from there I did a couple of long-distance races a year, but I wasn’t a very savvy runner, I didn’t do any strength work or anything else and so I was injuring myself a lot which was frustrating.

“I had a spell of five years where I did Ironman’s instead, that gave me some good habits, adding in gym work, pilates, rest-time and working to a training schedule.  I picked up periodisation training and since then it’s kept injuries at bay, so it makes a huge difference.”

And then, a few years ago, I did Deadwater which is multiday event running from Scotland to Wales, I won that although there were only two women that finished it, there were more that started it, but the weather was terrible and so quite a few people pulled out.  I’ve also won some local races like the Glentress Trail Marathon and the Tweed Valley Ultra.