Caledonian Challenge adds off-road Marathon
Howard Lake | 5 February 2012 | News
The Caledonian Challenge, the 54-mile trek that raises nearly £1 million a year for charities, has added an off-road marathon course as an alternative for its 2012 event. Participants will be able to choose either to run the marathon course in six hours or to hike the hills in twelve hours.
Both courses are set in Scotland’s Highland scenery, with the original Caledonian Challenge’s 54-mile route taking runners over the West Highland Way.
This year’s event will also enable runners for the first time to choose which charities will benefit from the money they raise.
John Mercer, Events Director for the Scottish Community Foundation, which organises the Caledonian Challenge, acknowledged that the 24-hour event took months of training and dedication from runners to prepare for. “Because of the length of the course,” he said, “we have not seen many endurance athletes or charity runners opting to run it in previous years. Therefore, we’ve decided to create a brand new 26-mile course for these people to choose to complete rather than the classic 54-mile trek.”
He added: “We hope that this will encourage more athletes to enter the 2012 event and tackle what promises to be the most stunning and challenging marathon in the whole of the UK this year.”
The Caledonian Challenge is open to teams of four to six people and participants must pledge a minimum of £400 each for charity by the deadline of 31 March 31, although early bird discounts are also available to entries submitted by 14 February.
www.caledonianchallenge.com/takepart
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.