Runner smashes Southern Upland Way record just months after giving birth

  • Video report by Jennifer Cordingley.


A runner from the Borders has completed the 212-mile Southern Upland Way, running the route and smashing the previous record.  

Anna Rutherford, from Eddleston, ran from Portpatrick in the west to Cockburnspath in the east in 62 hours and 34 minutes - all just nine months after giving birth.

The 38-year-old lawyer told ITV Border: "It's a beautiful route, it's so remote you can run for a day and not see anyone. It's absolutely stunning.

"But I had just given birth so I didn't know what was possible, so I thought I'll try it and see if I can run the whole way and that would be an amazing achievement."

Southern Upland Way route. Credit: ITV News

Anna not only completed the route, but smashed the current record by more than 17 hours. But the run was no easy feat. Sleep and food were two of her biggest obstacles and she had an unusual running snack that kept her going - stock cubes!

She said: "My total sleep was maybe an hour and a half over 62 hours, and I burnt over 25,000 calories and consumed maybe 2,000.

"my good friend, Lucy, who produced a bag of ground up stock cubes and said just dip your finger in there and it really settled my stomach. I think it was the concentrated salt and electrolytes seemed to re-balance."

Credit: ITV News

Anna said it was a mixture between the stock cubes and thinking about her family that kept her going through the challenge to reach the finish line.  

"It was so emotional, knowing that my kids were going to be at the finish, that my husband Neil would be at the finish, and that all my family and friends were there," she said.

"Seeing the coast was remarkable because I'd seen the coast on the other side and it was only when I'd got to that point that I thought I'm actually going to do this, I'm really going to do this.  

This isn't the end of the running road for Anna, she has some big distances in mind but for now she's hanging up her trainers and putting on her mum shoes for a while at least.