Camanachd Association running group clocks up over 2700 miles in January

 At the beginning of January in lieu of a traditional shinty preseason, CA Staff discussed how we could engage people in our communities to be active throughout the month. We decided to set up a running challenge whereby we would ask people to join us in an attempt to make it to Barcelona by the end of the month – some 1350 miles!

Thankfully for the staff, there was good take up from around Scotland and we ended up having 103 shinty players, committee members, parents & fans to help us reach our goal. The group soon made light work of getting to Barcelona completing the task in just over 2 weeks. It was then decided we had to increase the pressure and the group were challenged to get us back home to our base in Inverness. Once again, the group excelled, taking the tally for the month up to beyond 2700 miles.

To ensure we made it home, the Camanachd Association ran a competition on the final day of the month – whoever ran the furthest would be rewarded with a Scotland Replica Top from our partners Macronstore Highland.

Aberdeen University player Joe Folan set the early pace, clocking 19.45 miles at 10:00 am. However, Paul Ross put in an impressive 22.22 miles an hour later and must’ve thought he had wrapped it up when checking our Strava leaderboard in the evening. Joe had one eye on the group too though and snuck out for a 4.42 mile run at 10:05 pm to pip Paul to the prize!

Derek Keir, Camanachd Association CEO said:

“We were delighted that so many people joined us in staying active this January. The positive impact that being active has not just on your physical health but your mental health cannot be overstated. A key component of our strategy is to engage the whole community and it was especially pleasing to see non-shinty players join our Strava group and help get us to Barcelona and back.”

The Camanachd Association also raised over £500 for SAMH whilst completing this challenge.