Race Report: Hadrian’s Wall Path – Fastest Known Time

Author: Jarlath McKenna

This was my first go at a fastest known time (FKT) and it’s my first race report write-up. Okay, technically not a race but I was racing the clock nonetheless. And full disclosure, I started the report for the FKT website so had ulterior motives.

The Hadrian’s Wall Path has been on my bucket list for a wee while – ever since I ran ‘The Wall’ ultra by Rat Race in 2022, which somehow felt a little unsatisfactory (although it follows the wall, it only covers some of the wall path, spending much of your time on parallel, often distant, roads). Anyway, having forgotten to enter the NEMAA XC in time, I had a free Saturday and, with the weather looking good, it was a late decision to run it. Thursday to be precise.

And so I headed off from Wallsend (Segedunum) at 03:29 on Saturday 1st February 2025 (I had planned to start at 3am but unwittingly snoozed through the first alarms). I had always imagined running west to east and initially planned to do it as self-supported*, stashing coke along the route on my way over to the start. But the day before it occurred that it made more sense to do it unsupported, starting in Wallsend and just carry energy powder to fill up my drink bottles along the route. That way I could just bus/train back. The last bus from Bowness-on-Solway was scheduled for 17:45, so this was extra incentive to get a move on.

The first stretch along the quayside was eerily quiet apart, from a few night revellers and two scampering rats by the swing bridge. With lots of street light, I didn’t need the headtorch either. I’m very familiar with this part so only really reached new territory from Heddon-on-the-Wall. The opening miles flowed good and I enjoyed the night part with the sun coming up around half seven (about 30 mile in). It was around this time that I spotted a small stream just after High Brunton and so took my first opportunity to fill up my drink bottles having downed my remaining coke (note-to-self: powder first, then water!).

From here, there was a gradual climb before hitting the more challenging, but beautiful, central part of the wall along the crags. The sun came out and there was a glorious cool with a sun-warmth feeling. It was here that I met the first real signs of life with some hikers, although not as many as I perhaps expected. My one ambition was to take a photo where the Sycamore Gap tree once stood—sadly I ran past it without even noticing, so you get a photo of a trig point instead.

My second water refill was by Cawfields Quarry (at about 46 mile), a small river off to the side. Little did I know this would be the last opportunity I could find before I hit Carlisle (at about 70 mile), with the fear of not taking on enough fluid a bit of a worry. That said, it wasn’t warm so I wasn’t very concerned. By Cawfields, I had already done most of the hillier part of the path so hoped it would be plain sailing from here. But fatigue was setting it. I hadn’t run much long distance since early December and, without taking an easy week leading into it (due to late decision), I wasn’t in optimum condition. Besides, it wasn’t a race, more of a personal challenge. Mentally, from here to the finish was quite a slog. Despite my best efforts I found myself counting down every mile.

There were still lots of beautiful spots along this stretch, but also a lot of sodden fields or at least very uneven ones with cattle footprints and tractor tracks. I also ran through more molehills on this run than I care to remember. At the end I had some trench foot on the forefoot of both feet (despite having used trench foot cream before setting off… evidently not enough). But that said, the ground underfoot was on the whole very kind given it was the start of February.

Having reached Carlisle, it was more or less flat to the finish. I filled up my soft flasks for the last time in the River Eden, taking a bit of a risk as the flow was slow but albeit appeared clean (I was desperate by this point). The stretch of road from Burgh by Sands to Drumburgh (78-81.5 mile) along Burgh Marsh felt the longest of the whole route, straight and monotonous. At least I knew I was nearing the finish. By this point, barring something serious going wrong, I knew I had the overall FKT time in the bag (I first tried calculating around Carlisle but got my maths wrong by an hour).

Arriving to Bowness-on-Solway at precisely 16:00 (12h 31m 23s later**), I was in equal measures relieved (to have made it), shattered (quickly seizing up) and elated (to have been early for the bus ;P). The finish is near the Kings Arms pub, which had the Ireland-England six nations match on (sorry England fans).

The trip back wasn’t the most pleasant, aching all over. But a shower, pizza and sleep later and all is good. To sum up, a really beautiful National Trail that I highly recommend to run or walk, in whole or in part.

Here’s the links to:
FKT verified record: https://fastestknowntime.com/fkt/jarlath-mckenna-hadrians-wall-path-uk-2025-02-01
Garmin data: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/18161570373 (ignore the elevation, my Garmin Fenix 6 Pro altimeter doesn’t work)

P.S. for those that like the technical detail:
I had two porridge bars and 700ml of coke before I started. Then had 1000ml of coke (~110g carb), about 2500ml of SiS Beta Fuel energy drink (powder, ~400g carb) and little bit (maybe 200ml) of Mountain Fuel drink (~15g carb). Plus two 90g-carb Precision Fuel gel packs, and two SiS Beta Fuel 40g-carb gels (one of which Nootropics).
So around 785g carb in total, just over 60g an hour. I carried more energy bakes and gels but never used. I weighed my vest at ~1.7kg before adding my phone, torch and the filled soft flasks, so about 3kg total.
I used two pairs of Shokz OpenSwim headphones which incredibly lasted the whole way, plus the journey back (with a mix of E-Street Band, Dave Matthews Band, Garth Brooks, Enya).
The weather was perfect, starting around 1 degree C and peaking about 7 degree C, dry throughout and nice sunshine. There was a light, mostly northly, breeze (between about 3 and 8mph).

*In FKT terms, ‘unsupported’ means you truly have no external support of any kind. You must carry everything you need from start to finish except water from natural sources.’. While ‘self-supported’ means you may have as much support as you can manage or find along the way, but not from any thing or person, just for you… This can include caching supplies in advance, purchasing supplies along the way, staying at motels, and finding or requesting food or water.’.
**The previous FKT unsupported was Jacob Snochowski (16h 25m 55s) and supported was Ellis Bland (13h 18m 43s).