Finlay Wild


Finlay Wild is a Scottish runner and mountaineer who was a British fell running champion. He has won the Ben Nevis Race ten times.

Early life and professional career

Wild was born on 8 September 1984 in Thurso. He gained an affinity with the outdoors through his parents Roger Wild, a mountain guide, and Fiona, 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. He works as a general practitioner in Lochaber.

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. He has won the race every year since and his tally of ten 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 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 2015-2017, Stuc a' Chroin, the Ennerdale Horseshoe and the Langdale Horseshoe. He won the British Fell Running Championships in 2015.
Wild has the fastest known time for the Cuillin Ridge traverse on the Isle of Skye, 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. He further reduced the record to 9:00:05 in July 2020.
In May 2019, Wild ran the Welsh 3000s in a time of 4:10:48 which broke the long-standing record of 4:19 held by Colin Donnelly since 1988.
Wild has also competed in ski mountaineering 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's Wild Space Gallery in Pitlochry for eight weeks in early 2016.