Loch Ness Marathon - it's a monster!

The Scottish Highlands was the venue for Hannah Moon and Jon Mansfield’s marathon challenges. For Moon, it was her second charity driven marathon after her London marathon back in 2012 for the ‘Children with Cancer’ charity, crossing the finish line in 4:33:16. Coincidently, Mansfield also ran in the same 2012 London Marathon. 

With Moon’s tragic ruptured achilles behind her, she had been recording PB’s throughout 2025. This, coupled with Mansfield’s passion to crack the club’s 20yr old V50 marathon record, lead the pair to consider a late summer marathon event; fitting in with the school holidays, work and family commitments, the Loch Ness marathon ticked the boxes. At the time, the pair didn’t realise the exact nature of the course profile – it was a reasonable 950 feet of climbing but the descending covered more distance. It’s not the first time Tewkesbury Running Club colours have been along the Loch Ness course; Ian Smith fondly remembers it and noted a 2-mile climb at the 18 mile point during his 4:14 hr run. It later came to light, the constant ups & downs were the dominant reasons for its “brutal” reputation. 

Nevertheless, the long trip to Scotland was planned to last over 4 days with lots of driving and sightseeing. But first, the two runners completed a 9-week custom training plan to fit around their other commitments – it was a simple plan with an average weekly milage of 34 miles. Although when the actual course became apparent after watching YouTube videos and joining the “Baxters Loch Ness Marathon Support Group”, the training plan was tweaked to include some lumpy terrain! 

The training was especially tough for Moon, who has chronic plantar fasciitis in her right foot. The niggle caused 75% of her training to be painful and most of the time between uncomfortable. She was running for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust Her daughter is impacted by the condition that also affects 1 in every 2,500 babies born. Having a worthy cause is a comforting push along the training miles and ultimately, during the marathon. 

One of the tips Ian Smith gave was to break the journey North up. With that in mind, the pair stopped in Stirling to run in the University of Stirling Parkrun. Using it as a ‘shakeout’ run before the main event, Mansfield ran a sensible 21:30 minutes to stimulate his intended marathon pace. Moon, on the other hand, hit top gear and finished 24:29 mins – 3 minutes quicker than the plan! Moon said, “it felt good.” 

Loch Ness marathon starts an hour coach trip away from the finish in Inverness. Runners were dropped-off along an isolated road above Fort Augustus. As you can see in the picture, it really is remote. The ambient temperature was low, but competitors were warmed-up with sounds of bagpipes and the voices of returning runners saying things like “don’t go off too fast,” “save something for the big climb.” The vibe was amazing. 

The Tewkesbury two took a more scientific approach to their race kit and their nutrition for the 26.2 miles ahead – every little detail was covered. When the race started, Moon had a failure with her headphones, and these didn’t play their part as intended. With long meandering closed roads, lined with pine trees replacing spectators, running with music was a popular choice but Moon had to prevail without.

The first mile descended 250ft; the impact of such heavy descending through runners' legs at such an early stage was quite shattering and certainly unretrievable. The first 10 miles were relentless undulations. Mansfield, who was running a faster first half to mimic how the elite women ran it in previous years, timed 1:27 hr (a tad slower than desired), while Moon followed in 1:57 hr (her target time). Both were proud that they resisted walking up a notorious climb just after the 5 mile marker. 

The course is like no other; through miles of woods, open views of the mountains, and far-reaching views across the loch. The long climb at Dores did feel as expected – it was long and steady – and after 18 miles of ups & downs, a bizarre relief. But then after another short shattering decent, another steeper climb hit the runners just when energy levels were depleted.

Mansfield’s target of timing sub3 was slipping away during the long drags. For him, he needed to raise his HR and stay at his 5km effort level for the last 6km. With pangs of cramp coming from the damaged quads, he was able to take encouragement from passing other suffering runners into Inverness. His desperate finish time of 2:59:49 meant that he broke the 3hr mark for the eighth time, although the first time in 8 years... and the 20 year club record was smashed by a mere 3 seconds! 

The day was really about Moon’s first marathon in 13 years. Her incredible – better than before – comeback from serious injury, her battle with PF and, of course, she was running with all the backing from her sponsors that helped her achieve her target of £1,500 (at the time of writing, the total is £2,226). Like the thousands of other runners, Moon had her doubts about making the finish line. But as mentioned in the “Baxters Loch Ness Marathon Support Group,” the options are to make the finish line or wait 8 hours on the grass verge for the sweep bus to collect you! Moon was driven by her sponsors and her natural determination. Once the big climb was behind her, she felt renewed energy and aimed for the River Ness. It was the first time she had ventured over 20 miles since 2012. During her training, she did retire early from a couple of long runs after unbearable foot pain.

For Moon, it was finish line, not finish time; she knew what she was capable of without a niggle. However, finishing strongly and walking to the wine bar afterwards was high on her expectations. As hoped, she finished running strongly in a time of 4:06:10 to cut 27 minutes of her time from London 2012 – over a course somewhat more challenging than the smooth roads of London. Moon loved the beauty of the course – all the runners loved the beautiful scenery. But seeing some of her fellow runners struggling over the later stages was quite alarming.

Loch Ness is worthy of being on anyone’s ‘bucket list.’ It is highly recommended, and as they said in Scotland “nae bother” if you prepare for it.