Aviemore's mountain conquered – backwards!
A remarkable charity assault on Craigellachie, which looms over Aviemore, was accomplished this morning by a man who immediately afterwards admitted to the Strathy: "It almost never happened."
From the moment he was approached by them, Mark Allan, of Project Scotland, wanted to raise desperately-needed money for Strathspey and Badenoch's locked-down community transport company "Where2Today?"
With the company unable to raise their own funds at the moment a special gesture was needed and one which would quickly capture the public imagination.
As the Strathy previewed on Thursday, a run up the mighty hill "backwards and sideways" seemed to fit the bill.
It was duly pulled off – and safely within the government's regulatory time for recreational activities during the Covid-19 lockdown.
But a "fairy knackered" Mark admitted: "The biggest thing was that it almost never happened. About eight years ago I had surgery to remove part of a disc at the base of my spine. The operation was only partly successful at curing the associated leg pain and making the back pain more liveable.
"Strangely enough, running/walking or anything upright doesn't affect it to much and I feel most pain these days when getting up in the mornings! Or if I am sitting too long, or bending or twisting.
"Anyway, for a couple of days leading up to it I had been really feeling sore. Under normal circumstances I would have cancelled.
"But I really didn't want to let Maggie Lawson and her brilliant team down at that late stage, and with so many people having sponsored me.
"So I kept it to myself and, thankfully, the running actually seemed to loosen it up a little and help a bit.
"The important thing about this challenge was to make sure we did it within the hour to keep with government guidelines.
"Using a mix of backward/forwards and sideways running I actually managed to get up from under the tunnel at the A9 and back again in a time of 44 minutes and 04 seconds – considering the heat, the crazy type of running, the dodgy back and the dodgy old man, I'm pretty happy with that!" The total has already passed the thousand mark, in fact at the time of this Strathy report it's standing at £1325 but, as Mark added, there is match-funding to come from one generous benefactor who wishes to remain anonymous.
"It's really not bad in five days and I'm so pleased for the transport team who do such a fantastic job in looking after those who are particularly vulnerable at the moment, with the pandemic going on and tying them to their houses.
"I was only too happy to do my bit."
An ecstatic Maggie Lawson noted that "our hero" had done it in record time.
"Thanks to everyone who has already donated to this cause and to those who have promised to," she said.
"We are overwhelmed with the generosity which has been shown. This will allow us to continue delivering the services we have been providing for people who are shielding from this terrible pandemic.
"A special thanks to Mark who took on this challenge without any hesitation, he was amazing, just check out his result
"If you haven't already done so, there's still time to donate to this cause, please either go onto Mark Allan's FB page, the GoFundMe page or give us a call at the office, there is still a couple of days before we announce the final amount raised.
"Thanks so much everyone – stay safe!"
Check out Thursday's Strathy for reaction and the final result.
