Wrath an Achievement!

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After months of planning, two of our Ambleside staff team members James Gibson and Steve Hopwood took on the massive Cape Wrath Trail in October. With 240 miles and 11,000 metres of elevation to cover they planned to run it in under a week. Here’s the story in their words….

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Steve:

What a week that was!

The aim was to run the infamously hard Cape Wrath trail in less than a week. I unfortunately, had to bail half way through the fifth day due to the tendons in my foot screaming at me, the painkillers stopped working. I managed the first 150 miles and then had to head back to Fort William to collect the car to offer what support I could to James in his final push. After meeting him a couple of times in his 38 hour stint to finish it I then joined him for the last 6+ hour stint from Kinlochbervie to Cape Wrath. Dosed up on painkillers I tried to keep his head up and feet moving, which he managed without much of an issue!

Getting to the lighthouse with James to see him finish was incredible and something I couldn't and wouldn't have missed. I think over the week I managed a total of 182 miles. He did 260 as there is quite a long walk/run out the day after too!

It's hard to put into words here how tough it was. We laughed, I cried, we ran, we ate an incredible amount of food and slept barely. There will be a full write up in due time on the Rab Basecamp blog. We can't thank them enough for the kit, it was perfect and such a massive help to help us push for this ludicrous goal!

A few people have asked me in the last few days if I'd ever give it another shot to try and complete it, the answer is no. I wouldn't, I now know how tough it is. We both pushed ourselves harder both mentally and physically than we ever had before.

Time for some well-earned rest I think now!

James:

Having had a bit of time to rest and reflect on running the Cape Wrath Trail, I can honestly say it’s up there as one of the hardest both physically and mentally weeks of my life... yet!

If anyone has ever done the route knows the word ‘trail’ is very loosely used, yeah sure there are some good tracks, but mostly you’re moving over rough boggy ground, which takes a lot of effort and zaps all your energy. ⠀

The weather through the week was fantastic and more so than we hoped for. We had one evening of rain on the first day and that was it! This is Scotland we’re talking about here too... that’s rare! The week was cold and dry due to a high pressure sitting over the north of Scotland. The weather did however give some issues, one being cold getting out of our sleeping bag, but the main one being the Ice... everywhere! 

Myself and Steve had a rough plan, knowing full well that anything could happen throughout the week, that plan was to try and get to Cape Wrath in 6 and a half days, roughly averaging about 35 miles a day.⠀

All started well and did so for the following 4 or so days, but unfortunately Steve’s tendon in his foot was too painful for him to continue, to the point where painkillers became in-affective, I could see this get worse as the trip went on and I truly admire his determination and I’m 100% sure he would have made it without his injury! ⠀

So 158 miles in or 4 and a half days, Steve made the decision not to carry on, with being just outside Ullapool, this was a wise but very tough decision. After a few hours his mindset switched to helping me achieve my aim of getting to the Cape, which I’m very thankful for.⠀

I continued on for the last 80 miles or so, getting to the bothy around 6 hours after leaving Steve. After waking up the following day upset and low for being alone, I switched my mind back on and basically kept running for the next 37 hours without any sleep. I don’t know why, but I felt fine and wasn’t sleepy at all, adrenaline I guess! Steve met me in Kinlochbervie and we finished together 6 days 9 hours and 32 minutes later. What a week! ⠀

Also huge thanks to everyone that supported us throughout the week, it was great speaking to people and getting lots of messages off folk too.. thank you!

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James completed the trail to become the third fastest person to ever complete the route after Damian Hall and Beth Pascal’s records set last year.

An amazing effort by both – wonder what they are planning next…….

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