Finlay (62) leading right at the start of the Glamaig race: in addition to all the fine races below, he won the SHR Championships in 2013 and 2017, and the British Championship in 2017.
After stewarding in the Arrochar Alps race twice or three times, a friend and I decided that it would make a good two or three day walk. It did. For runners to do it in three hours plus or minus is quite astounding. It is a tremendous feat of endurance but it is not the toughest of races for hill men and women, it is far, far from the biggest challenge that they set themselves. As a runner in the fifties, sixties, seventies and eighties I heard it repeated often that the Ben Race was the hardest in Britain – that’s the same race that Finlay Wild has won ten times in succession. It is a quite amazing statistic. But maybe a bigger test of an endurance athlete’s fibre is doing one of the many ‘rounds‘ against the clock and here again Finlay has done many of them, often as solo runs. He is probably Scotland’s, possibly Britain’s, best distance runner. What we have on this page is a run-down of his 14 year career so far interms of his best and favourite races and it includes a record of his trails and rounds over a 14. year period
Finlay’s first race in the Ben Nevis was in 2006 when he finished 13th while running in an Aberdeen AAC vest. There were two more before he started on his winning streak. These first races are in the first table.
| Year | Race | Winner | Time | Comments |
| 2006 | Ben Nevis | R Jebb | 1:29:31 | F Wild (AAAC) 13th 1:45:23 |
| 2007 | Ben Nevis | I Holmes | 1:32:57 | F Wild (LAC) 4th 1:34:11 |
|
2008 |
Ben Nevis |
A Roc |
1:29:12 | F Wild DNR |
| 2009 | Ben Nevis | R Jebb | 1:32:33 |
F Wild 5th 1:37:38 |
Finlay had run three races in four years and finished thirteenth, fourth and fifth. Other runners over the years had done as well but it was what came next that marked the man as special.
| Year | Race | Winner | Time | Comments |
| 2010 | Ben Nevis | F Wild | 1:35:39 | 2nd Robbie Simpson 1:36:09 |
| Round of Glencoe | 6:35:35 | 19 miles, 12, 750 ft ascent; query route; previous R Shields 5 Munros in 7h05m. | ||
| 2011 | Ben Nevis International | F Wild | 1:29:21 | 2nd Lloyd Taggart 1:31:54 |
| 2012 | Ben Nevis International | F Wild | 1:29:56 | 2nd Ron Jebb 1:30:53 |
| Arrochar Alps | B Bardsley | 3:07:19 | F Wild 6th 3:19:37 | |
| Glamaig (David Shepherd Mem) | F Wild | 44:27 | 2nd Brian Marshall 50:26 | |
| Glen Rosa Horseshoe | F Wild | 2:18:20 | 2nd Mark Harris (M40) 2:34:36 | |
| Two Breweries | S Whittle | 2:51:54 | F Wild 3rd 2:53:24 |
There was one other notable thing about that year. Elsewhere on the website we remarked on the thirst of hill runners to continually seek new challenges. Whether it is one of the many ’rounds’ in the country or a national or regional championship, new challenges are always being sought. One of these was the Long Classics Challenge. All runners know what a classic race is and the Long Classics was the runners top five races out of ten.
| Race | Slioch | Glen Rosa | Arrochar Alps | Ben Rinnes | Two Breweries | Average |
| 1st | F Wild 1000 | F Wild 1000 | F Wild 938 | F Wild 1000 | F Wild 991 | 986 |
Finlay went into 2013 with three consecutive victories in the Ben Nevis race under his belt – two of them against international opposition.
| Year | Race | Winner | Time | Comments |
| 2013 | Ben Nevis | F Wild | 1:30:06 | 2nd S Tosh 1:37:27 |
| Carnethy 5 | F Wild | 49:46 | 2nd R Jebb 50:47 | |
| Glamaig | F Wild | 45:57 | 2nd B Marshall 55:30 | |
| Goatfell | F Wild | 1:15:56 | 2nd A Fallas 1:19:12 | |
| Stuc a Chroin | H Haines | 2:11:11 | 2nd F Wild 2:18:30 | |
| Cuillin Ridge Traverse on 16/6/13* | F Wild | 3:14:58 | 8 Miles, 7000 ft of ascent | |
| Cuillin Ridge Traverse on 12/10/13* | F Wild | 2:59:22 | Previously M Moran, 2/06/90, 3:33:00 | |
| Clach Glass- Bla-Bhein Round on 7/7/13 | F Wild | 1:31:53 | 4.5 miles, 3800 ft of ascent | |
| 2014 | Ben Nevis | F Wild | 1:34:43 | 2nd R Jebb 1:34:56 |
| Carnethy 5 | O Edwards | 51:27 | 2nd F Wild 51:41 | |
| Bens of Jura | H Haines | 3:06:30 | 2nd F Wild 3:18:05 | |
| 2015 | Ben Nevis | F Wild | 1:30:56 | 2nd R Jebb M40 1:36:10 |
| Glamaig | F Wild | 48:16 | 2nd B Marshall (M40) 54:05 | |
| Goatfell | F Wild | 1:14:22 | 2nd G Stewart 1:20:24 | |
| Half Nevis | F Wild | 54:21 | 2nd C Fraser 57:43 | |
| Bens of Jura | F Wild | 3:13:27 | 2nd A Anthony 3:28:40 | |
| Lochaber Canal Bank | F Wild | 27:00 | 2nd S Burns 28:58 | |
| Stuc a Chroin | H Haines | 2:08:33 | 2nd F Wild 2:12:51 | |
| 2016 | Ben Nevis | F Wild | 1:28:45 | 2nd T Owens 1{34:15 |
| Carnethy 5 | P Prasad (M40) | 54:08 | F Wild 4th 54:17 | |
| Glamaig | F Wild | 47:17 | 2nd B Marshall (M40) 56:40 | |
| Half Ben Nevis | F Wild | 53:47 | 2nd James Espie 67:14 | |
| Bens of Jura | F Wild | 3:09:53 | 2nd S Tosh 3:13:58 | |
| Meall a Bhuchaille | F Wild | 1:04:39 | 2nd T Gomersall 1:07:06 |
| Year | Race | Winner | Time | Comments |
| 2016 | Cuillin Ridge Traverse Winter 14/02/16 | F Wild and Tim Gomersall | 6:14:17 | U Hawthorn 4:57:03* |
| 2017 | Ben Nevis | F Wild | 1:31:37 | 2nd B Desoulier 1:1:37:22 |
| Carnethy 5 | F Wild | 52:20 | 2nd T Addison 53:57 | |
| Glamaig | F Wild | 46:18 | 2nd R Macleod 57:15 | |
| Half Ban Nevis | F Wild | 52:05 | 2nd J Espie 54:48 | |
| Bens of Jura | F Wild | 3:05:14 | 2nd H Haines 3:10:32 | |
| Meall a Bhuchaille | F Wild | 1:06:36 | 2nd J Manson 1:10:41 | |
| Goatfell | M Strain | 1:12:11 | 2nd F Wild 1:13:35 | |
| Stuc a Chroin | F Wild | 2:08:44 | 2nd A Fallas 2:12 16 | |
| 2018 | Ben Nevis | F Wild | 1:27:45 | 2nd S Tosh `:32:30 |
| Glamaig | F Wild | 44:22 | 2nd Y Mason 47:54 | |
| Stuc a Chroin | F Wild | 2:11:22 | 2nd J Clickmore 2:22:00 | |
| Tranters Winter Round | F Wild SOLO 26.2.18 | 14:24:48 | 36 miles,20,600 ft of ascent | |
| Cairngorm 4,000 footers | F Wild 4/8/18 | 3:52:59 | 25 miles, 7,600 ft Preveiously E Beard 4:41:00 1963 | |
| 2019 | Ben Nevis | F Wild | 1:32:05 | 2nd J Yells 1:39:52 |
| Glamaig | F Wild | 46:46 | 2nd A Gilmore 55:07 | |
| Stuc a Chroin | F Wild | 2:06:20 | 2nd A Fallas 2:11:36 | |
| Arrochar Alps | F Wild | 3:07:39 | 2nd A Fallas 3:16:54 | |
| 2020 | Lochaber Traverse FKT | F Wild, inaugural 30/06/2020 | 3:32:25 | 8 Munros+ 1 top FKT=fastest known time |
| Tour of Mamores | F Wild 8/07/20 | 4:49:58 TBC | ||
| Tranters Round | F Wild 17/07/20 | 9:00:05 TBC | Current ratified record by F Wild 10:15:30 | |
| Mullardoch Round | F Wild 6/8/20 | 7:40:26 TBC | 12 Munros, 35 miles Current record 9:52:19 Donnie Campbell 2012 | |
| Charlie Ramsay’s Round | F Wild 31:08:30 | 14:42:40 TBC | 56+ miles, 28,000 ft ascent. Current record 16:12:00 by E Tressider 6:07/20 |
2020 was a dreadful year for the entire population when thanks to the covid-19 virus the whole country’s life was massively disrupted. You will note from the above that Finlay’s solution was to challenge himself and there was a series of established routes that he tackled successfully – the Lochaber Traverse, the Tour of the Mamores, Tranters Round, Mullardock Round and Charlie Ramsay’s Round
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