“I did an Ironman-style route across Scotland”
FREDDIE SEARIGHT, 29, A TRAINEE GP FROM HAMPSHIRE, CONQUERED HIS OWN DOUBLE-IRONMAN CHALLENGE ACROSS SCOTLAND
“It was an idea that came out of Lockdown and became an amazing reality in September 2021. Eight years before, I’d created an Iron-distance triathlon route (3.8km swim/180km bike/42.2km run) on the south coast of England. My new challenge was to cycle across Scotland, climb Ben Nevis and swim a loch.”
“Because I’d done the Ironman distance before, I thought I’d do a double Iron-distance challenge this time. I mapped out a route that involved cycling a total of 360km from Aberdeen to Ardnamurchan (the most westerly point of mainland Great Britain).”
“I knew that the route was going to be beautiful. I was riding it with my best mate and fellow trainee in medicine, Ed Foster, who has previously been with me on endurance challenges. My dad and his best mate were also supporting us in a motorhome.”
“Day one was the hardest as that’s when we did the bulk of the cycling. We left Aberdeen in the early hours and finished that day in the dark at Kinloch Laggan. Knowing that we still had two days to do was pretty daunting.”
“Leaving Aberdeen, we cycled through Aberdeenshire before coming to a big climb over the northern side of the Cairngorms through Tomintoul, the highest village in the Highlands, and on to Aviemore. The scenery throughout the ride was stunning.”
“We factored in climbing Ben Nevis on day two, and swimming the loch on day three. The rest of the cycling was broken into smaller chunks over those two days. When you get further west into the Highlands, it’s incredibly barren, but the empty vastness is amazing.”
“As we cycled down towards Ben Nevis on Day Two, one of my wheel spokes snapped. Ed made a temporary fix and my dad was able to take it off to be repaired in Ben Nevis while myself and Ed climbed the mountain. When we came down, the bike was fixed.”
“Swimming over 5km across Loch Eilt (west of Fort William) crowned an amazing adventure and we completed the event within 72 hours as planned. We’ve so far raised over $2500 for the Against Malaria Foundation, a charity that provides mosquito nets to protect people from malaria. Something positive has come from lockdown!”
“We factored in climbing Ben Nevis on day two and swimming the loch on day three”