Over the hills and far away

As hundreds of walkers and runners gear up for the Caledonian Challenge, Richard Moore talks to a veteran of the gruelling mountain marathon You could be forgiven for imagining that the West Highland Way will resemble the M25 next weekend. It's mid-summer - honest - and, for a 24-hour period over Saturday and Sunday, the ever-popular trail plays host to the State Street Caledonian Challenge and West Highland Way Race, both major events.

But there shouldn't be too many conflicts of interest. Each event is markedly different; each fills a niche. A big niche in the case of the Caledonian Challenge, with 1300 people, most of them walkers, tackling the not inconsiderable, and far from straightforward, 54 miles between Fort William and Loch Lomond.

It shouldn't come as too much of a surprise, meanwhile, to learn that the West Highland Way Race is a competition that involves a race. Here, around 50 competitors run the entire length of the trail - all 95 miles - but in the other direction, from Milngavie to Fort William.

So, is there likely to be congestion? Head-on collisions? Speed restrictions? Contraflows? Perhaps not, since they have managed to harmoniously co-exist for the last few years. Earlier this year it looked like both events would succumb to foot-and-mouth restrictions, but they've survived and the Caledonian Challenge, which raises money for the Scottish Community Foundation, has pledged a substantial sum towards areas and families that have suffered as a result of foot- and-mouth disease.

While the West Highland Way Race occupies a space in the calendar of ultra-endurance races, the Caledonian Challenge has a broader appeal. With its four-man/woman team format, it has proved adept at tapping into a latent demand for such an event, particularly, it transpires, among Scotland's business community.

At the start line from 8am on Saturday will be a record 300 teams, including walkers, runners and, no doubt, strugglers, of all abilities. First run in 1997, event founder Angus MacDonald modelled the Caledonian Challenge on the Trailwalker in Hong Kong, a 100km trek along the MacLehose Trail.

Seventeen people set out to tackle the original, completely different, version. Then it featured 34 Munros but only two finishers. So the format changed radically. And, while one participant took 29 hours last year, at the other end of an enormous pack a small band of individual runners blazed a trail, completing the course in less than half that time.

Included in their number was Henry Chaplin. This year will be his third outing, after placing 5th last year and 2nd in his first attempt. This time, however, he's not too sure how he'll get on. Asked how the training is going, and he is downbeat: "Pretty badly actually."

Chaplin is perhaps a typical Caledonian Challenge participant, if only by virtue of the fact that he's a businessman. The group operations director for Noble & Co, the Edinburgh merchant bankers, Chaplin, despite a disrupted training programme, is nevertheless looking forward to another extended "lope" along the West Highland Way. He really is unsure about his prospects, though.

"Last year a couple of us were trying to finish in time to see the England-Germany football match. That was a big incentive, though we still missed it. This year, unless there's a Lions match to get back for, I might not do it so quickly," he said.

Removing his tongue from his cheek, the lack of training is sure to tell, he reckons. Not that he's looking for excuses. "People use work as an excuse for not keeping fit - I think that's absolute rubbish. I don't know anybody whose job is important enough, or who themselves are important enough and sufficiently indispensable . . ." He trails off, shaking his head.

For someone averse to road running, as Chaplin is, foot-and-mouth is to blame for curtailing his training, as, to a lesser extent, are the demands of a young family.

Even fit, however, he acknowledges that: "This is a major challenge, because it's longer than two marathons. But it has a nice atmosphere - it's built up an aura not as a race, but as something for which you deserve a big pat on the back if you finish it.

"To do all this in very nice surroundings, and on relatively soft ground, is not a dreadfully unappealing proposition, despite the enormity of it. It's a very beautiful route, and it is fantastic to be able to do that distance without touching roads. And it attracts so many people, a lot of whom lead relatively sedentary lives - sitting on their backsides in an office all day."

Chaplin tries not to sit on his backside for longer than is absolutely necessary. A keen rock climber since the age of 14, he has walked and climbed in the Himalayas, Africa, Russia and the Alps. He's also enjoyed heli-skiing in Russia, calling that "not a holiday, but an expedition".

He may not be the fastest runner next weekend, but he'll give it his best shot, rugby match or no rugby match. "But anything can happen," he comments. "You can twinge a muscle or something."

Or get a blister? "Blisters? Nah, you can dress them - they're fine. I had several last year, and lost three toe nails." Ouch! "Oh, it didn't hurt," he insists.

"I didn't originally run this event to win it," he continues in self-effacing mode, "or because I have an unerring desire to be a fell runner. I expected a few younger lads to come whipping past, because I'm nearer 40 than 30." He's 38 - isn't that around the peak age for an endurance athlete?

"I suppose it is, though I wouldn't describe myself as an athlete. Or as being at my peak. But I do love moving quickly in hills. You develop a kind of relaxed lope. The thing with long distance running is that you don't have to push yourself incredibly hard, particularly aerobically. So you can enjoy the surroundings, and it's not ultra- competitive."

While finishing in one piece will be the goal for approximately 1280 of the 1300 Caledonian Challenge participants, Chaplin will be one of those striding along at a quicker pace. He insists that he'll not be in a particular hurry - though he neglects to mention whether he'll pick it up a gear if, approaching Loch Lomond, he realises that the Lions are about to kick off.

o For more information on the Caledonian Challenge check out www.caledonianchallenge.com; for the West Highland Way Race, you should have a look at www.westhighlandwayrace.org

Copyright 2001
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