THREE local men kayaked from coast to coast across Scotland this month, completing the Great Glen Paddle in four days.
Lucas Meagor, who grew up in Frome, took friends Simon Clarke and Chris Britton on a 60-mile paddle from Fort William to Inverness.
The event makes part of a string of fundraising events in the lead up to Lucas’s 40th birthday to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Care and St. Luke’s Hospice, Plymouth.
Lucas said, “The prospect of kayaking was very much an unknown – all previous challenges have been primarily about cardio, but this time the legs were doing very little!
“After four days and 60 miles we completed the Great Glen Paddle Challenge – finishing in the Scottish summer rain! It was an amazing achievement.”
As part of the challenges, in memory of Lucas’s late uncle, he completed the Luxembourg Marathon on Saturday 30th May then shot off on a London to Paris cycle on Monday 6th July.
Simon and Chris will rejoin Lucas in October to run his 40th marathon.
Lucas chose his two charities after his uncle (his mother’s youngest brother) Alan Walker, died last September of cancer.
Lucas is now an events management student at Leeds Metropolitan University, and has completed three long distance cycle rides with Chris Britton, who works for the MoD in Bristol.
Simon Clarke works with Natural England on the Somerset Levels and has run the Kielder Marathon with Lucas and spent two days with Chris and Lucas on the support team last June when they cycled 3,000 miles around the UK to each Gold Post Box – when the Great Glen Paddle plan was formed.
The kayak route took them up the Caledonian Canal and through Loch Lochy, Loch Oich and the infamous Loch Ness.
Usually paddlers take five days, but the three men wanted to up the challenge, which saw them camp on the river banks.
Chris said he was far more worried about being attacked by midges than by Nessy. Simon said, “I’ve wanted to do this since I was a child, and I knew planting the idea in Lucas’ mind would make it finally happen!”
Lucas plans to bring the challenges to a head when he runs his 40th marathon in Chester on 4th October. He will be recruiting 40 additional runners and naming the event the 40-40-40. “Once I hit the 40, I already have plans up to number 50 in 2017,” Lucas added.
Lucas has raised over £37,000 for a range of charities since his first marathon in 2001 and has set a target of £4,040 this year “to keep the 40 theme going!”
Follow Lucas’s exploits at www.lucaskeepsrunning.co.uk, on Twitter (@lucaskeepsrun) and on Facebook (Lucaskeepsrunning). Donations can be made at www.uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/40-40-40.
