Celebrating Adventure
SOME of the UK’s boldest adventurers gathered in Glasgow on Wednesday to celebrate some truly remarkable achievements.
I thought I’d lived a fairly adventurous life but when I looked through the list of nominees for the National Adventure Awards and wondered at some of the amazing things that young people do nowadays I felt as though I’d been merely tickling the surface of adventure.
Amongst the nominees were Neal Skene and Leona Glennie from Aberdeen. The pair climbed Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain on the African Continent, to raise funds for North East Sensory Services. Every year hundreds of people climb Kili for charity but Neil is completely blind and Leonie has been completely deaf from birth as well as being visually impaired.
Dr Andrew Murray is another Scots super-athlete who was shortlisted in no less than five categories in the National Adventure Awards. Andrew, a GP who passionately believes that physical fitness can help us avoid all sorts of life-threatening illnesses and diseases, is a wonderful example of his own medical advice.
Last summer Andrew and his running companion, ex-Marine Donnie Campbell, ran up Scotland’s ten highest mountains in one day. Andrew’s Big Ten are spread across three separate mountain ranges - Ben Lawers north of Loch Tay, the Nevis Range adjacent to Fort William, and the Cairngorms east of Aviemore.
Paralympic athlete Karen Darke was injured in a rock climbing accident when she was 21 and was paralysed from the chest down. Since then she’s led the kind of life that any able-bodied person could only envy.
She has crossed the Tien Shen and Karakoram mountains on a hand bike; handcycled the length of the Japanese archipelago; sea kayaked the 1200 mile length of Canada/Alaska coastline; crossed the Indian Himalaya by handbike and skied the Valley Blanche in a sit ski.
She has also crossed the Greenland ice cap; climbed the kilometre high cliffs of El Capitan in Yosemite Valley in California and then took part in the 16km hand cycling event in the London Paralympics in which she won a silver medal.
Lowri Morgan is a television presenter and sports journalist from Wales who has taken part in numerous adventure races and events. In a sense Lowri encapsulated what the National Adventure Awards are all about - the taking part, the taking risks and the promotion of such events to a wider audience.
Mountaineer Kenton Cool, from the Cotswolds, has climbed Everest, the world’s highest mountain, no less than 11 times. His track record of guiding people, including Sir Ranulph Fiennes, to the summit of Everest is incomparable.
On the Isle of Skye a group of friends got together to rejuvenate an old boat (built in 1890) and row it for a hundred miles between the very remote Atlantic outpost of St Kilda back home to Skye. This St Kilda to Skye rowing expedition was very much a community project and team leader Donnie Nicholson did a fantastic job in finding a team and training them for what must have been a pretty arduous task.
Climbing all the Munros in one expedition is also pretty arduous, but to climb them all in winter, at the age of 23, after just completing a circumnavigation of Scotland by sea kayak takes the journey into the realms of ultra-adventure.
Will Copestake hails from Ullapool and took four months by boat to cover over 1600km of coastline. Once on land he took 8 months to cycle 2500km, climb a total ascent of over 147000m over 282 mountains and cover 1750km under foot. The journey aimed to show that it is possible to have a big adventure in your own backyard and perhaps inspire others to get out there themselves.
The National Adventure Awards were set up to celebrate the very best of adventure across the UK. The awards are open to anyone, and any member of the public can submit nominations for people, teams and businesses across a broad range of categories.
Just before the eventy on Wednesday the National Adventure Awards organiser David Scott said to me: “This will be a gathering of some of the most amazing people you can imagine. If anyone is under the impression that the age of exploration is dead then this band of adventurers proves them wrong.”
And it turned out to be a terrific night, an evening celebrating advanture and those who push the limits of adventure. Here are the winners and some comments from the judges.
Will Copestake
1) ADVENTURER OF THE YEAR
Regional winners:
Scotland: Will Copestake
England: Nick Hancock
Wales: Ash Dykes
Overall Winner: Will Copestake
The Judges felt that Will had embraced two very different disciplines, mastered them both and carried out two very difficult and challenging expeditions one after the other - kayaking the whole coast of Scotland, then climbing all 282 Munros in a single expedition, in winter.
2) TEAM OF THE YEAR AWARD
Winner: Row2Recovery
This was a very difficult category to judge but we felt the team dynamics associated with two amputee rowers and two able-bodies rowers crossing the Atlantic together must have been intriguing, to say the least. Row2Recovery has become a campaign to champion the extraordinary achievements of people with disabilities to achieve their potential. The team members were Cayle Royce, Scott Blaney,Mark Jenkins and James Kayll.
Donnie Campbell and Andrew Murray
We also wanted to specially commend Andrew Murray and Donnie Campbell for their fell running expedition in which they ran up the ten highest mountains in Scotland in 24 hours, another remarkable achievement.
3) MEDIA AWARD
Winner: Lowri Morgan
This was another category that caused us some difficulty. The eventual winner is a talented ultra runner and multi disciplined adventurer in her own right, but she also specialises in these topics in her role as a television presenter, sports journalist and motivational speaker. As such she encapsulates all that the National Adventure Awards are about – the taking part, the taking risks and also the promotion of such events to a wider audience. We felt there is probably no-one else in the UK who does it better than Lowri Morgan.
Paul Diffley of Hot Aches Productions
The reason we had such difficulty in choosing is that Paul Diffley from Hot Aches Productions also does an outstanding job in making his climbing films, often dangling from a rope for long hours in the most difficult conditions to film others. He has a long history of producing exceptional climbing films and we would specially commend his work in the Media category.
4) INSPIRING OTHERS AWARD
Winner: Karen Darke
This was an extremely strong category but eventually we asked ourselves one very simple question – who could fail to be inspired by the achievements of this young woman. Karen Darke was injured in a rock climbing accident when she was 21 and paralysed from the chest down. Since then she has crossed the Tien Shen and Karakoram mountains on a hand bike; handcycled the length of the Japanese archipelago; sea kayaked a 1200 mile length of Canada/Alaska coastline; crossed the Indian Himalaya by handbike and skied the Valley Blanche in a sit ski. She has also crossed the Greenland ice cap; climbed the kilometre high cliffs of El Capitan in Yosemite Valley in California and then took part in the 16km hand cycling event in the London Paralympics in which she won a silver medal. Karen Darke, one incredibly inspirational lady.
5) LEADERSHIP AWARD
Winner: Donnie Nicholson of the St Kilda to Skye Rowing Team
This team came very close to winning the Team award because we were very encouraged by the ‘community’ aspect of this challenge. A team from a small community on the Isle of Skye got together to rejuvenate an old boat and row it for a hundred miles between the very remote Atlantic outpost of St Kilda to the Isle of Skye. To come up with the initial idea of rejuvenating an old boat built in 1890, and row it between St Kilda and Skye is one thing, but to gather a team, train them, motivate them and then finally succeed with them is something else and says much for Donnie’s leadership skills. And all to raise funds for the RNLI and Skye Young Carers.
6) SERVICE PROVIDER AWARDS
Winner: Kenton Cool
As well as having a wonderful name Ken is one of the UK’s most successful mountaineers having climbed Everest, the highest mountain in the world, some 11 times. In 2013 he completed the ultimate Three Peaks challenge, Nuptse, Everest and Lhlotse in a single push. But Ken is also a highly experienced and popular mountain guide and is internationally respected as an Everest guide. Indeed, his track record of guiding people, including Sir Ranulph Fiennes, to the summit of Everest is incomparable.
7) CHARITY AWARD
Winner: Jamie McDonald
We were impressed by the motivation this young man had to do something to help ‘payback’ the encouragement he received when, as a youngster, he was ill with a rare spinal condition, a very weak immune system and epilepsy. At the age of nine the symptoms eased and he embarked on a life of adventure and raising money for charity. His most recent adventure was running 5000 miles across Canada in which he raised over £200,000 for sick children in the UK and Canada.
8) BUSINESS/ACADEMIC AWARD
Winner: Colin Prior
Colin Prior has been described by many as Scotland’s finest landscape photographer but there is a big difference between taking good photographs and marketing those photographs in such a way that you can make a living out of it. For many years Colin has achieved just that, taking exceptional imagery and then turning those photographs into posters, calendars and books, and selling them by their tens of thousands. Colin has proved that he is as astute an entrepreneur as he is an excellent and innovative photographer. Last year he began a long term project to photograph the Karakoram mountains of Pakistan, a tough and technically difficult project that will hopefully produce the first photographic record of these remote mountains since the 1930’s.
9) PHYSICAL ENDEAVOUR AWARD
Winner: Emma Timmis
This award goes to the person who, in the judge’s opinion, has shown a willingness to (especially in the winner’s case) run themselves literally into the ground. Emma Timmis’s project to run 2500 miles across Africa from Namibia to Mozambique saw here face dangers like land mines, high temperatures and even lions. This ultra-distance run breaks down to a marathon a day for four months, often in debilitating conditions, camping out every night. We felt Emma’s effort portrayed a tremendous willingness to face considerable hardship and danger, as well as extreme physical endeavour. It was a tremendous achievement.
10) THE PUBLIC VOTE
Winner: Ash Dykes
In summer 2014, Ash Dykes walked across Mongolia, solo, and set a new world record in the process. From the Altai Mountains, across the Gobi Desert to the Mongolian Steppe, Ash covered more than 1500 miles alone on foot, pulling a 120kg cart of provisions behind him. During this epic test of endurance and stamina, Ash battled sandstorms, heat exhaustion and dehydration and became known to the natives as ‘the lonely snow leopard’, an acknowledgement of the respectful distance kept by the dangerous wild wolves, with the snow leopard being the only other lone figure they would do so.
11) ADVENTURER OF THE YEAR
Winner: Will Copestake
We simply loved Will's attitude to his kayak/Munros expedition, and felt he showed a huge commitment to what was potentially a very difficult trip that could have been scuppered at any time by inclement weather. To climb all the Munros in a single trip is adventurous enough, to climb them all in winter, after kayaking around the coast of Scotland, was audacious in the extreme. We felt Will's expedition simply encapsulated all that adventure can be. We were delight to make him Adventurer of the Year.
12) LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Winner: Moi
To be honest I have little memory of what organiser David Scott said about me. I was too dumfounded, shocked and, strange for me, at a loss for words. I guess when you get to my age you fall naturally into the lifetime achievement category, especially if like me you've been involved in the 'industry' for over 40 years!
Nevertheless, it was a delightful honour to recieve the award, especially as it was presented to me by a boyhood hero of mine, the ex- Rangers and Scotland winger Willie Henderson. Willie, now in his early seventies, has taken up trekking fairly late in life but already has an impressive list of treks to his credit. I'm hoping we might be able to go off on a wee walk together sometime soon...
The others judges were ultra-distance runners Mimi Anderson and Shona Thomson, UK End to End swimmer and adventurer Sean Conway, and Neil Juster of Glasgow University.
