Welcome to the West Highland Way 2009 Challenge

The above picture was taken at the end of The Race Against Time 2009.
Believe it or not there are approx 20 runners who were running the day before and had to depart the relay prior to the end, who are not in the picture.
This gives an idea of how many people took part in this truly great event!


Gill, Holly, Craig and Ross Ireland.


THE RACE AGAINST TIME 2009 BACKGROUND.

Why are we calling it this?

Meningitis can kill in hours. It is literally a “race against time”.
If someone gets meningitis it is a medical emergency and without intervention they will die.

It is our intention to help raise awareness of the condition, and to raise money for the wonderful people who fight to preserve the lives of people unlucky enough contract meningitis. We also want to raise money to aid people and families affected by meningitis recover and rebuild their shattered lives.

Our challenge is to “Race against time” and cover the 96 miles of the West Highland Way in 24 hours or less.
No mean feat!

Why are we doing this?
In March 2008, Holly Ireland was a typical 2 ½ year old girl. Full of life, and mischief, until meningitis struck, with a vengeance.

Holly was so close to death that her parents were told to “prepare for the worst”. Fortunately after 11 days in intensive care she survived. However, she has sustained severe brain damage that, at the moment, has left her unable to sit, stand, walk, talk, see effectively or retain any of the usual skills you would associate with a 3 year old child.

There have been many complications associated with the meningitis and Holly has received 3 neurosurgical interventions, countless MRI scans, ultrasounds, blood tests, lumbar punctures, and many other procedures as well as intensive physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy.

After 6 months in hospital, she has been able to return home to continue her recovery from her injuries. Her parents hope that she will make enough recovery to allow her to lead a meaningful life. They will not find out what she will be fully capable of for at least 2 years.


THE ROUTE
The West Highland Way is a well known walk in Scotland from Milngavie (just North of Glasgow) to Fort William. It’s 95 miles long and includes a total assent of 4,500 metres. It takes in some of Scotland’s best scenery and is walked by as many as 70K walkers each year. The walk of the WHW is normally tackled over 7 days, sometimes 5 days and this is a challenge in itself. What we are proposing to do is relay the route and attempt to complete this in 24hrs.

The WHW is also challenged by runners each year and the course record is a staggering 15hrs 44mins to complete the full 95 miles. So completing this in a relay in under 24 hours is very doable. What we will need is a mixture of fit runners and people who are determined to complete the challenge.

Check out http://www.westhighlandwayrace.org/

The route will be split up into logical sections where there are checkpoint facilities to drop off and pick people up. The sections will also be split up into longer and shorter sections based on fitness. Essentially you can run as far as you like as long as you can keep a pace and the length fits in with one of the checkpoints.
The challenge will be to complete the challenge within the time and for everyone to cross the line together, note we will be running south Fort William to Milngavie.



The Charities.
50% to go to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh where Holly spent 5 1/2 months.
25% to go to a specific meningitis charity The Meningitis Trust.
25% to go to the High Valleyfield Child Development Centre in Fife

If you would like to make a donation or if you are
passing on to others then please go to:

http://www.justgiving.com/raceagainsttime2009
to donate to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh.

or

http://www.justgiving.com/whwchallenge2009
to donate to the Meningitis Trust.

There is currently no Just Giving Facility for the High Valleyfield CDC at present.

The Date.
26 and 27 June 2009 to allow for as much daylight as possible.

The Race Night.

As we will be running in relay a lot of the runners taking part might not get a chance to meet each other, and as we are going to accomplish what is a very hard challenge, we thought that a social occasion and celebratory event at the end would be in order. Therefore, what we propose to do is hold a Race Night after the run has finished as a way of raising yet more cash, and give all the runners a chance to have a right good knees up to celebrate a job well done!

The Race Night will take place in The Kingdom Suite, Dunfermline Athletic Football Club, Halbeath Road, Dunfermline on Saturday 27 June 2009. Having this event also means that spouses and friends of the runners are able to come along and be involved.

We really really appreciate everyone taking the time to participate in this challenge and for becoming involved in this website. This site will only work with everyones participation so PLEASE send in your pics, make comments, talk rubbish, whatever, GET INVOLVED!





Best Regards,

Gill, Craig, HOLLY and Ross Ireland

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