East London Runners Rodriguez wins 125 Ultra X Scotland 2021 race

Rodriguez completed the 75k on day one in a whopping time of 7:54.27 (6.19 per km) ahead of the record-breaking ultra-runner Carla Molinaro who came in second.

The first 75k started at 7am on Saturday morning in Inverness and finished in Fort Augustus.

Rodriguez had not run in the mountains before and wasn’t sure what to expect but found himself feeling comfortable in the lead position.

The terrain was a bit of a surprise for him, jumping fences with barbed wire, mud, snow, rocks, crossing rivers and freezing cold but onwards he went.

East London Runners Rodriguez wins 125 Ultra X Scotland 2021 race (Image: East London Runners)

Living in London does not prepare one for running of this magnitude but training in Epping Forest has been a favourite for Rodriguez.

Day two started at 8am and Rodriguez had some competition with the second male competitor starting out strong but whatever those East London Runners are drinking is certainly working.

Rodriguez took the lead until about 12-13k from the end when the Hoka One One athlete and LEJOG world record holder Carla passed him looking very fresh, but despite painful quads, Rodriguez finished day two in second place in a superb time of 5:10.11 (6.12 kms).

His overall time was enough to see him win first prize and he gave a thumbs up to the pizza and beer at the end -he had certainly earned it.

This was his third ultra event, with his first the Country to Capital in January 2020 where he made the podium in third place, just in front of the lovely Carla again.

His second was in September where he came in seventh having injured himself during the race, but thankfully he is back and on top form again.

Rodriguez has been heard saying that ultra-running is fun, which is good news given East London Runners have just started up new ultra-running training sessions.