Abbie's smile inspired brother's mountainous challenge

INSPIRED by his sister’s bravery, an Elgin teenager showed incredible endurance to run up Ben Nevis five times in a day to complete a charity quest.

Cameron Main (18) is on course to raise £10,000 for Abbie’s Sparkle Foundation, the fund set up by his little sister whose smiles throughout her cancer treatment helped him overcome the toughest moments of his gruelling challenge.

Donate to Cameron Main's challenge here.

The Elgin triathlete completed five running ascents of Britain’s highest mountain in just over 14 hours, before terrible weather conditions halted his bid to break a world record effort.

Cameron signed up for his stamina-sapping effort in memory of Abbie, who died last Christmas day at the age of 15 after receiving treatment for a rare sarcoma since she was ten.

A cheerleading fanatic who lived life to the full, Abbie wanted to raise money for “hospitals and stuff” during her illness and inspired the idea of a charity which provided support for families of children with cancer across the UK.

Numerous fund-raising efforts have helped the foundation gather pace, but Cameron, who became the charity’s chairman, pledged to go up and down ben Nevis between five and seven times in the biggest challenge of his life.

Read more:

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“All the time I was thinking of Abbie and that definitely helped get me through it,” he said. “It was tough but I knew I had to do it and I knew I would get through it because it was for Abbie and that made it easier for me.

“I had friends going up once saying how sore they were but I knew I had to keep going up so I said ‘so am I’ but I knew I had to go up again and I would go up again for Abbie. That was massively helping me for the challenge.”

Stirling University student Cameron, who competes internationally for Scotland in triathlon events across Europe, praised his support network for last weekend’s climb.

Visit Abbie's Sparkle Foundation.

Donation page:https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/BenNevisChallenge4

He began on Saturday afternoon, nearly three hours earlier than scheduled due to a forecast of bad weather on the way the following morning.

With his mum Tammy and friends at the foot of the mountain offering food, clothing and moral support, and his dad Russell camped at the summit, the former Elgin Academy pupil worked his way up and down the 4413 foot peak.

Darkness soon fell and he ploughed on through his third, fourth and fifth ascents in the pitch black. “Coming down on the fourth one, I was just in agony and every vibration through the leg was so painful. At that time I was still thinking I could do seven so that was me just passing halfway coming down from a fourth one so I was thinking I still had 10 hours to go so I realised it was going to be pretty awful. That was one of the lowest points.”

“When I went up for the fifth time my dad met me at about 1km from the summit and basically said he was getting me in the shelter at the top because the weather is getting that bad. It was 70 mph winds, minus 12 degrees, horizontal blowing in your face.

“The more fatigued I was, the chances of me getting hypothermia or something bad happening was really high so we had to call it a day there.

“When I got into the shelter I went for a couple of hours sleep before the weather got better, but I stiffened up so bad I was struggling to walk. I knew I had no option other than to walk down Ben Nevis to get back down to safety but I was in so much pain and it was freezing, so that was pretty awful.

“There was eight of us in this tiny shelter and everyone was congratulating me. But the main celebration was when I got back down to the bottom and all my family were there. My mum gave me a big hug, she had been really worried and was happy to see me again.”

Cameron’s ultimate mission was to break the world record of six times up and down Ben Nevis in 24 hours set in 2006 by Charlie Anderson, a Fort William man who climbed the mountain again on Saturday to cheer Cameron on.

“It was disappointing I didn’t do it but I couldn’t possible go on. I’m really happy that I did five summits in 14 hours and 26 minutes.

“I enjoyed it in the weirdest way possible and I’d love to try and give it a go again. Charlie did it on the longest day in the summer so I might try to do it then and see if I can break it.”

Cameron had raised almost £8000 and would love to reach his ten grand target.