The Highland Cross is an annual charity race, established in 1983, across the

Scottish Highlands The Highlands ( sco, the Hielands; gd, a’ Ghàidhealtachd , 'the place of the Gaels') is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Sco ...

by foot and bicycle from

Morvich Morvich (April 23, 1919 – January 26, 1946) was an American Thoroughbred who was the first California-bred racehorse to win the Kentucky Derby. Bred by sugar magnate Adolph B. Spreckels at his Napa Stock Farm, Morvich was sired by James R. ...

Kintail Kintail ( gd, Cinn Tàile) is an area of mountains in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland, located in the Highland Council area. It consists of the mountains to the north of Glen Shiel and the A87 road between the heads of Loch Duich and Loch Clu ...

in the west through

Glen Affric Glen Affric ( gd, Gleann Afraig) is a glen south-west of the village of Cannich in the Highland region of Scotland, some west of Loch Ness. The River Affric runs along its length, passing through Loch Affric and Loch Beinn a' Mheadhoin. A minor ...

and

Strathglass Strathglass is a strath or wide and shallow valley in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland down which runs the meandering River Glass from the point at which it starts at the confluence of the River Affric and Abhainn Deabhag to the point where, ...

Beauly Beauly ( ; ; gd, A' Mhanachainn) is a village in the Highland area, on the River Beauly, west of Inverness by the Far North railway line. The town is historically within Kilmorack Parish of the Scottish County of Inverness. The land around Be ...

in the east. Although it is known as a ''

duathlon Duathlon is an athletic event that consists of a running leg, followed by a cycling leg and then another running leg in a format similar to triathlons. The International Triathlon Union governs the sport internationally. Distance and format ...

'', it does not use the three part, run-bike-run, format of the athletic event of this name governed by the

International Triathlon Union World Triathlon, previously known as the International Triathlon Union (ITU), is the international governing body for the multi-sport disciplines of triathlon, duathlon, aquathlon and other nonstandard variations. World Triathlon hosts the top ...

. The 50-mile duathlon (20 miles on foot, 30 miles on bicycle) is a sponsored

race Race, RACE or "The Race" may refer to: * Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species * Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...

between teams of three to raise funds for causes that benefit local Highland people disadvantaged by disability, ill health or social need. In 2019, 735 competitors started the race, all but five completed it, and among the volunteers assisting were grandchildren of some of the original volunteers.

History

The Highland Cross began in 1983 as "the Midsummer Madathon" initiative by the Inverness branch office of the Fire Services National Benevolent Fund in the Northern Fire Brigade to raise funds for the Highland Scanner Appeal. It became an annual event in 1989 and now comprises 265 teams of three allocated by ballot. The event raises money each year for Highland causes; by 2019 the total raised was £5.3 million.

Winners

* List of winners:

References

Duathlon competitions Sports competitions in Scotland Multisports in the United Kingdom {{Scotland-stub