London athlete smashes record by almost four minutes to win Loch Ness Marathon in Inverness for first time in his career
Alex Milne rewrote the history books as he set the fastest ever time at the Loch Ness Marathon to claim the title in his debut at the event.
The 35-year-old from London stormed to victory as he set a new course record of two hours 15 minutes and 46 seconds in Inverness on Sunday.
The London athlete, who runs with Hercules Wimbledon Athletics Club, beat the previous course record by almost four minutes which was set by last year’s champion Moray Pryde who claimed victory in two hours 19 minutes and 26 seconds to win it for a second time in 2024.
Milne was almost seven minutes ahead of his nearest challenger, 2025 Scottish Half Marathon champion James Donald of Dundee Hawkhill Harriers who crossed the line in 2:22.02.
Inverness athlete Shaun Cumming, who represents East Sutherland Athletics Club, finished in third place in a time in 2.22.58. He was nine minutes faster than his time last year which earned him second place.
Read: Women’s champion wins Loch Ness Marathon for the third time.
Milne says he was delighted to claim the title at his first attempt at the Loch Ness Marathon, saying his time was faster than what he expected.
“I was sort of trying to get under 2:19, but I wasn’t sure if that would have been possible today,” he said.
“I felt fairly strong with the first 10 miles being mostly downhill. I was a little bit quicker than I wanted when one guy went off hard so I was on his tail for a couple of miles at the beginning and then eventually I managed to move past him.
“It was quite hard work the whole way so I was happy to keep up the pace and manage a decent time.”
Milne managed to establish a healthy lead early on which he never surrendered. But he said finding himself out in front early on presented its own challenges.
He said: “At eight miles in, I managed to get away from the other guy, but I could still hear him for a few miles.
“With a point to point course such as this, you never know where the other guys are, so I felt I had to keep going hard just to maintain the lead.
“It was eeriely quiet, as I am used to doing the London Marathon a few times where there is a wall of noise the whole way.
“But running parts of the course with so few spectators was calming and it was meditative listening to my breathing.
“Conditions were perfect for running, it was nice cool conditions with a tailwind as well.
“It would have been nice to have had some company for a bit longer, but it was a good run.”
Milne says he is pleased with how 2025 has gone for him and earlier this year achieved a personal best time of 2:14:03 at the London Marathon.
He is targeting a new personal best time over the distance when he competes at the Valencia Marathon in December.
He said: “It has probably been my best year of running after almost 20 years of running.
“It is nice to still be improving at age 35, so I will keep training and keep going hard and my times will keep going down gradually.
“It gives me the motivation to keep going.”