Challengers are off - in pretty foul weather
I drove north from Glasgow to Badenoch last night through some horrendous gales and sleet showers and couldn’t help but think of the 350 TGO Challengers who had set from from various locations on the West coast of Scotland earlier in the day.
It was the first day of the 30th TGO Challenge, and I could imagine what was going through the minds of the first-timers. The good news however, is that the weather will gradually improve over the weekend and high pressure will start to build from Sunday/Monday into what looks like a glorious week for hiking across Scotland towards Montrose.
I find it hard to believe this event, often described as the biggest and best backpacking event in the world, is 30 years old. I clearly remember Roger Smith, at that time editor of The Great Outdoors magazine, telling me he had just had a meeting with Bill Wilkins of Ultimate Equipment and Hamish Brown about organising a large scale backpacking event. Like others, I initially had my doubts - it wasn’t a race, so what was the point? Would it introduce too many people onto the Scottish hills at one time? Could there be safety issues?
The event was known as the Ultimate Challenge in those days. Unfortunately, Ultimate Equipment, the sponsor, went bust a few years later so the event became the TGO Challenge, and it has gone from strength to strength. This year there were about 100 people on the waiting list.
We filmed some of the event last year for BBC Scotland’s Adventure Show, and I nipped around the highlands for a week filming some of the challengers and getting some interviews with them, trying to get a feel for what the event was all about. I think what came across was an event with a great deal of camaraderie, a very social event with folk meeting up in bothies and pubs and guest houses, and walking together during the day. We picked up some good stories and put the whole thing into DVD form which is available from this web site or from www.mountain-media.co.uk. We have some good stuff from Chris Townsend about lightweight gear and I followed a high level route that many of the Challengers will take over Beinn Macdui, Britain’s second highest mountain.
Over the years I’ve discovered that each Challenge brings its on little problems and events, its own tales and stories, even engagements and weddings! I wonder what this year, the 30th, will produce?