A runner has won a 100-mile ultra-marathon listening to Dolly Parton - and got home before her competitors even finished.

Anna Rutherford, 43, ran the first Rat Race in 17 hours and 23 minutes - over two hours ahead of the closest male competitor.

The mum-of-three from Peebles, Scotland finished hours ahead of the other 600 runners in the Bamburgh Castle to Edinburgh Castle race.

She even sang Dolly Parton's hit '9 To 5' as she ran up the Royal Mile with other runners before reaching the finish line.

Anna started the race in the grounds of Bamburgh Castle at about 7am on Saturday and completed it just after 12.30am on Sunday.

Anna, who works as a lawyer, said: "I felt really emotional coming into the finish. "

"I was about two hours ahead of the first male finisher but I had no idea that I had widened the gap that much - I passed him at mile 50."

"They had noise restrictions in place and my parents came with me so we just went straight home."

She added: "I made a playlist specially for this run and it has got a real mix of tempos in there - mostly up beat cheesy pop classics."

"I was singing 9 to 5 along with everybody else up as we were going up the Royal Mile - it was hilarious."

The route followed the east coast through Berwickshire, the Borders and East Lothian before reaching the finish at the Ross Bandstand in Edinburgh's Princes Street Gardens.

Anna crossed the finish line in Princes Street Gardens after more than 17 hours running.

She said she got a "good number of people" cheering her up to the finish."

She added: "I got given my fantastic Rat Race medal which got put around my beck."

"My parents were at the finish waiting for me which was so kind of them and then they drove me home."

"I had a bath I just can't believe how dirty I was - I had to wash my clothes three times."

"Then I went straight to bed and the next day woke up starving."

Anna said she went through an intense training period leading up to the race - and was running about 120 miles a week at the height of her training schedule.

She said: "I really enjoy running I enjoy the solitude and being out there and not having anything to worry about."

"I love being a mum, a sister and a daughter but I am also someone who likes to run and finding that time to be that part of you as always been my motivation."

She has also entered other events in the past including Iron Man.

Anna also praised the organisers, Rat Race Adventures, for creating female-specific provisions at each of the stopping point.

She said she hoped her race could help prove that women can "widen the gap" when it comes to endurance sport."

She added: "I am in a stage now where my hormones are massively shifting and that has a really big impact in terms of everything and in terms of how you metabolise foods. "

"I was feeling a little bit sick on the run and some of that I suspect it is because of my age. "

"I got my period on Friday afternoon and I had already travelled so I hadn't packed anything. It was pouring with rain and it felt like my bones where wet."

"I can't rate Rat Race highly enough. They had sanitary products in every pit stop which was every 10 miles, they had female-specific toilets."

"Women are not just little men, we have our own specific needs. They cater for women fantastically. It made huge difference for me."