New Winter Record for Ramsay Round

At 14:30 on Friday 15th February Shane Ohly completed the Ramsay Round in 29:59:34 to set a new winter record. The previous winter record was 33:48:00 set by Gary Tompsett in 2003.

The Ramsay round is often referred to as the Scottish equivalent of the Bob Graham Round. It was first completed by Charlie Ramsay in July 1978, who ran in an anticlockwise direction from Glen Nevis Youth Hostel, taking in the Mamores, some remote MonroeÂ’s around Loch Treig, The Grey Corries, The Aonachs and finally Ben Nevis. The Ramsay Round is 62 miles long with around 30,000 feet of ascent and decent.

In terms of difficulty the numbers speak for the selves with only 44 sub 24-hour finishers of the Ramsay Round compared with circa 1,400 sub 24-hour finishers for the Bob Graham.

Shane’s round was solo, unsupported and largely ´on-sight´ as his recce efforts earlier in the winter were consistently thwarted by poor weather. He chose to travel clockwise taking on Ben Nevis and the Aonachs first. This is what he had to say:

“The first 10 hours or so were a joy. I chatted with walkers on the summits, felt fresh and was comfortably keeping under my sub 24 hour schedule. Then my body died. I´ve analysed my food wrappings and calculated I ate less than 5,000 calories the entire time I was out! I was basically ´bonked´ for the last 2/3 of the round. I don´t know why I stopped eating but it´s something I need to think hard about before my next attempt. The last 1/3 of the round was truly painful. I was seeing sleepmonsters (think mythological creatures) and hearing music (despite being alone on the hills). In the final stages, cutting down through the forest near Achriabhach, I caught myself on some brambles and nearly burst into tears. As for winter conditions, I was hoping for the hills to be ´whiter´ than they where. However, I am happy that the Round was sufficiently wintry”.

For anyone interested there is more information on the Ramsay Round here: www.ramsaysround.com/index.html