An Irvine gym boss took on the gruelling 100km Peak District challenge last Saturday – and won.
Scott Brown forged ahead of the pack in the pouring rain, crossed 2km of jaggy nettles and beat the other runners by a whopping 90 minutes.
No stranger to mammoth fitness challenges, raising over £100,000 in 10 years for various charities, Scott actually took part in the event to support his pal and thought it would make for a good warm up for his upcoming six-day mountain race event in September.
Scott, owner of SBK Fitness and Bootcamp based near the town's beach park, told Ayrshire Live: "I was over the moon when I won, I really wasn't expecting it.
"I have a race team and one of the girls told me she wanted to do this race about six months ago and I said, 'I'll do it with you' because I wanted something to see where I was at with my training before my next race in September.
"I had been training hard for six to seven weeks but I was still a bit unsure because I've never ran in the Peak District before. I knew it would be quite hilly but I still didn't know what to expect.
"It was actually really nice with loads of countryside villages and vales."
The annual event was packed with keen runners raring to go after a long lockdown without competitions.
Scott explained how he won the 60-mile race in nine hours and 27 minutes.
He said: "There were a lot of people there and it was probably one of the first races of the post-Covid lockdown.
"I started off about 40 back and by the time I got through, I could see everyone was starting up a gradual hill and the front was about 1km away.
"I started making my way through the field slowly and when I got to the front of the group I wasn't even sure I was leading because we had taken a couple of corners. It wasn't until I reached the first bridge did someone tell me I was the leader.
"I felt good on the day and felt that my training and nutrition was on point. When I got to the 55km mark I was 50 minutes up and I never slowed down because I was really in the mood so I just kept pushing and running up the hills.
"By the time I got to the finish line I was an hour-and-a-half ahead of everybody. I was chuffed to bits."
Scott and his family arrived in Bakewell on the Friday with proud daughter Dakota, 3, at the event.
"Just seeing Dakota there are the checkpoints cheering on daddy and saying things like, 'my daddy runs fast,' was quite emotional," Scott said.
"My dog Belle was barking and trying to jump on the course with me. It was brilliant.
"Another nice part was around the 6km mark, running through a national park and I saw a herd of stags and I ran right past them only about five metres away from me. They were just looking at me like, 'what's this guy doing?' I had to stop and take a picture.
"The worst part was running through 2km of jaggy nettles at around the 85km mark. A guy was there with hedge clippers trying to cut them back; if only he was a day earlier.
"But it was all worth it at the end seeing my wife Kerri, daughter Dakota and dog Belle at the finish line waiting for me. When I got home, my legs were like wood!"
And Scott insisted: "I'm ready for my next one."
Scott is set to take on the 'toughest race' of his running career in just two weeks' time, The Montane Dragon's Back Race in Wales.
Known as the world's hardest mountain race, Scott will brave the elements on Friday, September 6 and run across 236 miles of rugged Welsh mountainside, climbing a staggering 57,087ft, alone in just six days.
Scott said: "This one coming up, I genuinely believe, will be the toughest race I'll ever do. I'll start off at Conwy Castle and follow the mountain peaks all the way down to the finish point at Cardiff Castle.
"We aren't allowed any help or support system to run alongside. It used to be a five-day event, but this is the first year they'll tack on another day. It's going to be brutal."
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