Donald Alexander Ferguson Ritchie (6 July 1944 – 16 June 2018) was a Scottish ultramarathon runner. He was born in 1944 at

Haddo House Haddo House is a Scottish stately home located near Tarves in Aberdeenshire, approximately north of Aberdeen (). It has been owned by the National Trust for Scotland since 1979. The Gordons, who later became the Earls of Aberdeen and Marques ...

, Aberdeenshire, which was then being used as a wartime maternity hospital. His parents were Alec Ritchie and Rachel (née Ferguson). Initially as a runner he was encouraged to race the quarter-mile but soon drifted towards longer distances and was supported by Peter Duffy and Alastair Wood, both established endurance athletes. Ritchie's first ultra event was the 36 mile Two Bridges race across the

Forth Forth or FORTH may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''forth'' magazine, an Internet magazine * ''Forth'' (album), by The Verve, 2008 * ''Forth'', a 2011 album by Proto-Kaw * Radio Forth, a group of independent local radio stations in Scotla ...

and Kincardine bridges in 1970. In 1977 and 1978, he won the London to Brighton Race. Ritchie ran 100 miles at the

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building * ...

track on 25 October 1977 in a time of 11:30:51. This was the fastest time ever recorded for 100 miles and stood as the record until 2002 when it was broken by Oleg Kharitonov, who ran 11:28:03 in a race held to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of Ritchie’s performance. In October 1978, Ritchie covered 100 km on the Crystal Palace track in 6:10:20, an average pace of under six minutes per mile. It was a world record for the distance which Ritchie held for the rest of his life. It was eventually broken a few days after his death when

Nao Kazami is a Japanese ultramarathon and marathon runner. He is the current male 100 km run world record holder with a time of 6:09:14. He set the record on June 24, 2018, at the Lake Saroma Ultramarathon, an official World Athletics race held annually i ...

ran 6:09:14 in the 2018 edition of the Lake Saroma 100 km road race. Ritchie also set a world road record for 100 miles in 1979 with a time of 11:51:11 in a race at

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, and ten years later, he set the fastest time for running from John O' Groats to Land's End, completing the route in 10 days, 15 hours and 27 minutes. In 1990 he ran at the global 24-hours championships which were held at a shopping centre in Milton Keynes. Ritchie won with 166 miles, which was an indoor world record. During his running career, Ritchie also set world best times on the track at distances of 50 km (2:50:30 in 1979), 40 miles (3:48:35 in 1982) and 50 miles (4:51:49 in 1983). Although his running style was better suited to the track and road than the trails, he did record a victory on the latter surface in the 95 mile West Highland Way Race in 1991. Ritchie was appointed as an

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

in the Queen’s

Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours, in some Commonwealth realms, mark the reigning British monarch's official birthday by granting various individuals appointment into national or dynastic orders or the award of decorations and medals. The honours are presen ...

in 1995 for services to athletics. He died in 2018 at his home in

Lossiemouth Lossiemouth ( gd, Inbhir Losaidh) is a town in Moray, Scotland. Originally the port belonging to Elgin, it became an important fishing town. Although there has been over 1,000 years of settlement in the area, the present day town was formed over ...

.The Washington Post: Donald Ritchie, Record-Setting Ultrarunner, Dies at 73.
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ritchie, Don 1944 births 2018 deaths Scottish male long-distance runners British ultramarathon runners