Runner's World (UK)

Summit To Be Proud Of

Alex Staniforth completed the Three Peaks Challenge – and achieved so much more

- For more, visit alexstanif­orth.com and mindovermo­untains.org.uk

Alex Staniforth has conquered far more than the Three Peaks

‘THERE IS THIS MASSIVE BUILD-UP

and then, suddenly, this big void. Mentally, I do feel a kind of flatness. Maybe it hasn’t sunk in yet. Maybe it never will.’

Alex Staniforth is talking about how he felt after he completed the Three Peaks Challenge. Many readers will be familiar with the concept – ascending the highest mountain in Scotland, England and Wales in a single outing – and some will have done it, but not the way Staniforth did in August.

Not only did the Cheshire man climb Ben Nevis (1,345m/4,413ft), Scafell

Pike (978m/3,209ft) and Snowdon (1,085m/3,560ft), but he ran the entire way, from peak to peak. That’s 452 miles and 38,702ft of elevation in nine days, 12 hours and 51 minutes. In doing so, he raised over £11,000 for the charity Mind Over Mountains, of which he is co-founder and director.

Aside from the obvious physical fatigue in the aftermath, some of that mental low can be ascribed to the fact that he missed out on the record time. In September 2019, RAF serviceman Tom Mountney ran it in nine days, 11 hours and 39 minutes. A combinatio­n of Storm Francis and swollen ankles slowed Staniforth down. At one point, one of his sponsors emailed him to suggest he should stop, because he wasn’t going to break the record and was clearly in a lot of pain. However, in hindsight, he’s beginning to think that completing it in the way that he did is a better illustrati­on of the message he wanted to communicat­e by taking on the challenge.

‘In some ways, it is good that I didn’t break the record, because it’s more about how you find a way through the setbacks and that’s what I wanted to show people,’ he says. ‘We are capable of so much if we keep moving forward and don’t quit too soon.’

Tall and thin, and, at 25, relatively young for the sport, he doesn’t look much like the ultrarunne­rs who have been knocking out FKTs all over the place this year. That’s an important distinctio­n, he thinks. ‘What people relate to is that sense of vulnerabil­ity. I wasn’t trying to hide how much I was struggling. Before the challenge,

I was seeing ultrarunne­rs doing these things and thinking, “Who on earth am I to try and do something of a similar scale?” But everybody has those doubts and that’s what stops us from achieving our potential.’

If Staniforth sounds a bit like a motivation­al speaker, that’s because he is. He’s been taking on major challenges since his teens and telling the stories to schools and businesses, and in two books, Icefall and Another Peak. Coping with adversity is his main theme. Two attempts to climb Everest, in 2014 and 2015, were unsuccessf­ul; the first cancelled by an avalanche that killed 16, the second by an earthquake that killed 21 on the mountain and almost 9,000 throughout Nepal.

His school years were marred by childhood epilepsy, panic attacks, a stammer and bullying. As he became more serious about running in his later teens, he developed an eating disorder. (See Empty Promises, RW Nov, p34)

Staniforth’s struggles with his mental health then motivated him to fundraise for related charities. In

2017, he spent 72 days climbing the highest point in every county in Great Britain and Northern Ireland for Young Minds UK. Now he has his own organisati­on. Mind Over Mountains offers counsellin­g during walks in beauty spots such as the Peak District and the Yorkshire Dales.

Staniforth knows the last question before it’s asked: what’s next? There’ll be a third book, this one full of selfhelp advice, mainly for the under-30s; and for his next challenge, he fancies a go at the Bob Graham Round (42 Lake District fells in 24 hours). Epic physical punishment aside, he knows that getting into the hills has huge benefits.

‘Being able to stand on a hill and see the world around you – it’s hard to put into words just how good for the soul that is,’ he says. ‘It gives you hope that things will get better. It’s the most powerful antidepres­sant I’ve tried.’

‘WE ARE CAPABLE OF SO MUCH IF WE KEEP MOVING FORWARD’

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