LOCH NESS 360

“If you are really looking for something a bit different, to test your stamina and mental strength in the iconic surrounds of Loch Ness, the Loch Ness360ﹾ Challenge is for you”

Graeme Ambrose CEO Visit Inverness Loch Ness

Visit Inverness Loch Ness (VILN) have today announced details of a major new event they plan to hold around Loch Ness on the 29^th, 30^th and 31^st May 2020.  The event called the LochNess360ﹾ Challenge will be delivered in partnership with SSE Renewables who have pledged financial support as the headline sponsor.  

Using the new LochNess360ﹾ trail and over three days, the event offers participants the choice of five running and cycling alternatives. The first and most extreme is to run the entire trail within 24 hours. 129km in length and with over 3000 metres of ascent, to participate in this ultra- marathon you must not only be very experienced in off road trail running but also have experience of running distances in excess of 80km  

Alternatively, you can choose to complete the circuit by completing a ‘marathon a day’ over the three days. Or, if this sounds too much ‘merely’ one or two of the three marathons, the choice is yours.

Finally, if you prefer cycling, there is the opportunity to mountain bike the entire circumference of Loch Ness in a maximum of 14 hours. 

The event will start in the village of Dores and then move to overnight stops at Drumnadrochit and Fort Augustus before returning to Dores for the finish of the ultra- marathon, mountain bike challenge and 3^rd marathon on the final day.
 
For more details of the LochNess360ﹾ Challenge and to register please see at  www.lochness-360.com/2020-challenge/

Mr Ambrose, CEO of VILN said “We are very excited about this new event and delighted that SSE Renewables is supporting us in the delivery of it. We are also very pleased to have secured the services of experienced event organisers No Fuss Events, Lochaber, to manage the event over the three days of participation. We want this to become an annual event in the Loch Ness event calendar.

The LochNess360 trail is a fantastic new asset with which to sell the attraction of the area as a holiday destination and the LochNess360 Challenge provides the opportunity to not only further raise the profile of it, but also to provide genuine economic benefit to businesses and communities around the loch. As well as benefit derived from participants who opt to stay in the overnight stop villages,we hope they will be joined by family, friends and support teams.

To this end at each stop we hope to bring added value that everyone can enjoy in the form of live music and ‘pop –up’ retail."
 
Jim Smith, Managing Director of SSE Renewables, said: “We’re thrilled to be part of the first ever LochNess360ﹾ Challenge. “This area has been our home for many years, housing some of our oldest hydro stations to our newest wind farms.

It’s incredibly important to us to be able to leave a lasting legacy in this wonderful community and we hope that this will be the first of many years of the LochNess360ﹾChallenge. Good luck to everyone taking part.”
 
Chris Taylor, VisitScotland Regional Leadership Director, said: “This innovative new event is a great idea and will profile the area to a new, global audience. I would expect it to attract a huge amount of interest from people who have potentially not visited the Highlands, or indeed Loch Ness before. 

“It can also help push visitor spend into the smaller communities around Loch Ness, as well as bringing added benefits in May, before the peak season really kicks off. “We work closely with Visit Inverness Loch Ness to promote the Highlands and are committed to collaborating with the tourism industry to identify exciting new initiatives where we can work together to take their local message to a world stage.”