Finlay Wild has just completed the Paddy Buckley Round, solo and unsupported, in a time of 15h14m45s, convincingly breaking Kim Collison's record of 16:20:40.
© Rachael Crewesmith
For anyone that follows Finlay on Strava, he's spent the last week or two down in Wales, not-so-subtly recceying each leg of the Paddy Buckley, which caused many to speculate on an up and coming attempt. It didn't escape the attention of Kim Collison either, who had recently posted a celebration of the anniversary of his own record breaking round; however, when alerted to Finlay's activity he followed up with the humorous retort of "I heard there is a good skatepark in Bangor" - referring back to last year, when Finlay broke his arm whilst skateboarding, which led to him having to postpone his Bob Graham record attempt.
I heard there is a good skatepark in Bangor 😬 pic.twitter.com/2zd3V73IMh
— Kim Collison (@CollisonKim) April 20, 2022
Unfortunately for Kim, Finlay managed to abstain from the skateboarding, and used the fine form that saw him finish 12 minutes ahead of his nearest competitor in the recent Mourne Mountains British Championships Fell Race (where he also broke Kim's course record), to smash the previous Paddy Buckley Record too, in spite of the added challenge of running both solo and unsupported.
Finlay is no stranger to this style, having completed (and broken) the Ramsay Round record in the same approach. It cannot be underestimated the difference it makes carrying your own kit, stopping to fill up your own water from streams, and having to be entirely self reliant in terms of navigation, compared to having a support team carrying all your kit and telling you where to go.
For those interested in knowing more about the differences in style, there's a lengthy discussion about them within Finlay's Go Mountain Goats podcast, where Martin Stone (another legend of the fell running community) eloquently interviews him about his sub-13 hour supported Bob Graham Round.
© Strava
Comments
Amazing effort. Anyone know if he's got any big races this year? Obviously in some incredible form.
Superb, and solo as well. Just mind bogglingly quick
I think Finlay Wild ought to invent his own round somewhere, cos that could be a great name for one.