I have to start this piece with a confession… I’ve been misleading people when telling them that the 2025 Highland Cross was the tenth I had taken part in.
Looking back through the results when I downloaded my certificate (no postal version these days!), I realised that I’d been tallying up the years thinking there had only been one missed for Covid – but of course there were two, in 2020 and 2021.
So, to set the record straight, I’ve now done nine Highland Crosses – and am looking forward to number 10 in June 2026!
It’s been a few weeks since that blisteringly hot midsummer’s day when 736 of us completed the 50-mile coast-to-coast duathlon from Kintail to Beauly.
It was certainly one of the tougher stagings of the event I’ve taken part in, with the heat combined with a headwind all the way across.
Speed was not of the essence on a day like this. It was more about managing the hydration and avoiding heat-related issues. So, coated in suncream and sweating before we’d set off, we hit the trail.
For the first time, I was competing as part of Kintail mountain rescue team – with the coveted Highland Cross Mountain Rescue Trophy at stake. Just to add to the pressure, I decided to run with the Kintail T-shirt on!
As I expected, I was the slowest of our trio – finishing in just under 5 hours 50 minutes – but we managed to win the trophy with our combined results. It is the first time Kintail’s name has been on the trophy since 2003, so it’s a proud moment for the team. The pressure will be on to defend it next year, I’m sure!
My time was about 20 minutes slower than last year, and way off my best, but interestingly I finished in exactly the same position in the field as I did in 2024.
But the Highland Cross is about much more than the efforts those of us who are taking part put in on the day. It exists, and has existed since 1983, to benefit good causes in the region that support vulnerable people in society, particularly those disadvantaged by disability, ill health or social need.
Teams of three pledge to raise a minimum of £500, and many raise a good deal more. Overall, the Highland Cross has raised £6.3 million in its first 40 years, and this year’s main beneficiaries of the fundraising money will be Badenoch and Strathspey Community ConneXions; Gateway (Highland Homeless Trust); Rag Tag and Textile; and Skye and Lochalsh Mental Health Association.
Our team’s fundraising page will stay open until the end of July 2025 at https://www.justgiving.com/page/kintailmrthighlandcross25
The charities will receive their allocation at a special awards evening in November, after which any remaining funds will be distributed in smaller grants to other charities in the Highlands.
The ongoing need for this voluntary commitment is something that keeps so many dedicated people involved in the unique event that is the Highland Cross. With support from businesses and individuals to put the event on, all the money raised by us participants goes straight to the charities.
There is so much goodwill behind the event, and it’s the commitment from so many volunteers working behind the scenes all year long that makes the Cross the success it always is.
For many people, the Highland Cross is a bucket-list event. For others, like myself, you get immersed in the whole community and ethos, and it is a pleasure to be a part of it year after year.
One of the years I didn’t take part since my first crossing in 2013 was because I was volunteering with the mountain rescue team. The other one I missed was due to a wedding (not my own, I hasten to add) on the same weekend.
It’s the first thing that goes in my diary every year and I’m looking forward to being back there in 2026. I just hope it’s a bit cooler and that the wind is pushing us along in the right direction this time!
After last year’s event I interviewed the two people who had completed all 40 of the events – a truly remarkable achievement. So it was a great pleasure to chat briefly to John Talbot, one of those men, as I passed him through Glen Affric.
I also spoke in some depth to co-founders Calum Munro and Calum Grant in the run-up to the 40th staging of the Cross about how the event first came about, the journey it has been on and how they see its future.
That level of commitment to the cause, primarily to benefit those in need in the Highlands, is something to be recognised and celebrated – whether it’s people like John fundraising and taking part or those who organise and shape the event, those who volunteer on the day or throughout the year or even just those who sponsor participants and support the many fundraising events that go on in the build-up to the day.
When I was in the bank today paying in some of those cash contributions, the cashier on the desk next to me leaned over and said, “Did you do the Highland Cross? Well done!” There are so many connections that make the Highland Cross a real community event, the likes of which I have never seen repeated anywhere else.