PEAK CONDITION
Hamilton wants to reach top in capital
SCOTLAND international Luke Hamilton believes Edinburgh can scale the heights of the Pro14 this season after conquering his own personal peaks.
The back-row forward climbed the three highest mountains in Scotland, England and Wales in under 24 hours in memory of his best friend’s stepfather, who died of cancer.
What he didn’t know when he signed up for the challenge was the Saturday he was due to take on the arduous task would fall slap bang in the middle of a fortnight of Edinburgh pre-season training.
There was never a thought about pulling out ever. When Edinburgh head coach Richard Cockerill, who signed him on a one-year deal in the summer, heard why he was doing the task he gave Hamilton his blessing.
So while his team-mates were relaxing over that weekend, Hamilton was pushing his body to the limit by climbing Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon through thunderstorms, heavy rain and the dark in super-quick time.
‘We were doing it to raise cancer awareness and money for a cancer ward. In the end we raised £4,000 by doing the Three Peaks Challenge,’ said Hamilton.
‘After the first part of our preseason camp, it wasn’t the brightest thing I’ve ever done but it was for a good cause. ‘We did Ben Nevis, then we went down to Scafell Pike and finished in Snowdonia. We did it all in 23 hours, 50 minutes. ‘We started on Ben Nevis and worked our way south. Up and down Ben Nevis took four-and-ahalf hours in a thunderstorm and torrential rain. I was in shorts and T-shirt because I thought it looked quite nice when I set off. ‘Then we had six hours in the car to Scafell Pike. We went up as the sun set and then walked back down in the dark, which was a very strange experience. Walking downhill in the dark for two hours was quite weird. ‘Then we were back in the minibus to Snowdon. We got there for the sunrise and we only had an hour and 50 minutes to get up if we wanted to complete the challenge of doing all three peaks in 24 hours, so we managed it with ten minutes to spare.
‘We started at seven in the morning at the foot of Ben Nevis and finished at 6.50am the following day.
‘The only bad part was the lack of sleep. I quite enjoyed the walking. There were great views, apart from Ben Nevis, which was completely covered in cloud, and Scafell Pike in the dark. I wouldn’t mind doing another one though.
‘That was on a Saturday and, thankfully, Edinburgh were off on the Sunday. I came back in on the Monday, pretending to smile and show that I wasn’t in pain.’
Two weeks later, Hamilton played in Edinburgh’s first pre-season match against Bath in early September and he made his competitive debut for the club in the away loss to Ospreys last weekend.
Although he wasn’t at his best, he did enough to retain his place for the game against Ulster in Belfast on Friday evening.
The flanker agreed with Cockerill’s assessments that his side made too many mistakes in their opening encounter but he believes they can bounce back.
‘Edinburgh are definitely a team on the rise and playing here is a brilliant opportunity to continue my development as a player,’ he said.
‘It was great to be out with the boys in my first competitive game against the Ospreys but, obviously, we were bitterly disappointed with the result.
‘By no means was that our best performance and we made a lot of errors, but to come so close at the end, the last play of the game when we could have won it, meant we were disappointed in ourselves.
‘We let ourselves down a bit. We know that we are a lot better than that and we should be a lot better than that on Friday.’
Ulster coach Dan McFarland (left) was the Scotland forwards coach when Hamilton made his international debut against New Zealand at Murrayfield last November and he knows he will have drilled his pack to perfection.
‘I won my first cap under Dan, who is a great technical coach and leaves no stone unturned in his preparation,’ said Hamilton. ‘From the forwards’ point of view, we know they will be very technical and very detailed under him, so we’ve got to front up.
‘We let ourselves down in certain areas at the weekend against Ospreys and we need a reaction this Friday away at Ulster. It probably doesn’t get much bigger going away to Belfast to a great ground with a great atmosphere on a Friday night needing a result.
‘It is a tough start to the season for us but, at the end of the day, you have to play everyone.
‘It’s unfortunate to have two away games in a row but we’ll roll our sleeves up and get on with it and take each week as it comes then prepare for two home games in a row after that.’