TGO Challenge
When TGO Challenge organisers Sue Oxley and Ali Ogden made the decision to cancel the TGO Challenge 2020, they never dreamed that a virtual version of the cross-Scotland backpacking adventure would bring armchair inspiration to hundreds during lockdown. Here’s the story of the Virtual TGO Challenge.
BY MARCH IT WAS CLEAR – for the first time in its 40 year history, the TGO Challenge would not take place. It seemed inevitable that we would miss out on the great inspiration this collective crossing of Scotland provides. Or would we?
Challengers feet couldn’t take them across Scotland, but maybe memories and imagination could. And so the idea for the Virtual TGO Challenge was hatched – a nostalgic, imaginative and inventive crossing played out on social media.
On May 7 we started travelling virtually to the West Coast with some trepidation - would anyone come with us? Then a photo arrived with a message from David Wishart “all packed and ready to go” on his imagined 2020 route taking in the Moray Coast, with buckets and spades dangling from his backpack. We breathed a sigh of relief – at least someone got it!
We set the ball rolling on social media and watched it gain a momentum of its own. Some took a past Challenge and relived it daily; others combined memories from several crossings to produce their perfect day; many picked out special moments along the way and quite a few, including our first time Challengers, imagined their 2020 crossing often taking surreal turns.
The space/time continuum was regularly breached. A day might start in one place and year and finish hundreds of miles away in a different century./ One Challenger fancied climbing Ben Nevis but also lunch in Braemar – and why not? Another, who missed the virtual sleeper, asked scientists at CERN to help him travel at speed of light to connect with the “Challenge Express” in Glasgow so he could get to Oban – in 2003!
Wild camping is the essence of the TGO Challenge, and nothing was going to stop our intrepid Challengers! They struck out the backdoor for the arduous journey to the wildest corner of their garden in search of a good pitch, quite a few staying out for the entire two weeks. Others went even further and the award for surrealness has to go to Rachel Cornish for her virtual crossing of Loch Ness in a wheelbarrow!
As minds and memories moved slowly across Scotland, taking in the daily changes in scenery, from the craggy west to the rolling vistas of the east, there was a sense of progression that was strangely comforting when so much of our life in lockdown felt static.
Many told us the virtual Challenge offered a focus, prevented boredom, or gave relief from stressful but essential jobs.
There was also a feeling that the pandemic should not rob us of the Challenge. The friendships forged as part of it were celebrated. Tim Swift’s post summed it up perfectly: “I met Dougie on day one of my second challenge, we finished together that year, walked together again 2019, and would have been walking this year together as well. Dougie… has helped keep my spirits up over the last few weeks.”
We particularly enjoyed the memories of yesteryear and the comparisons with today. One of the joys for virtual Challengers was reconnecting with those who can no longer take part. When Jenny Roberts, who participated in the inaugural crossing, popped up asking if anyone would be interested in her memories, within minutes there were dozens of ‘yes please’ replies and each instalment was eagerly awaited. Waldin Robey, veteran of 11 crossings
contacted us to say VE day was his 91st birthday. Meanwhile another Challenger had used her Challenge T-shirts as bunting so the photo was quickly repurposed as a birthday card.
In the real world there were high winds, rain and snow in the Highlands but, by the time we packed up Virtual Challenge Control, there had been two weeks of mainly blues skies, no withdrawals and not a single blister! Over 600 people from 18 countries put up over 6000 photos and 61,000 posts and reactions in the Facebook group. People who don’t normally use social media joined in, and others emailed contributions on their behalf.
It was an unexpectedly wonderful two weeks – but we never want to do it again! We sincerely hope Challengers will be pulling on their boots for real in May 2021 – and for at least another 40 uninterrupted years after that!