Breaking Strain Events 2013 Roundup

As we’ve reached the start of 2014 we thought it’d be worthwhile having a brief recap of what’s been going on in our world over the last year.

In February Lee took part in his third cold-weather race, this time in Finland. The Rovaniemi 150 takes competitors up into the Arctic Circle in sub-zero temperatures and saw Lee make the podium in third place. Previously in the only other running of this event in 2012 none of the foot competitors had managed to complete the race due to the severity of the conditions, specifically the amount of snow.

As the Northern Lights bloomed behind him, Lee made up 44 minutes in the final 11 kilometres to almost catch the second placed runner, Dario Valsesia. The foot event was won by David Robisco in a new record of 31 hours and 59 minutes. See here for the full Rovaniemi 150 results from 2013.

Garry again took part in the annual Highland Fling which takes place on the first half of the West Highland Way. Aiming to beat his time from last year and also break the 11 hour mark it would also be a dress-rehearsal for the West Highland Way Race a short eight weeks later.

This one was a bit of a monkey that needed to be taken off Garry’s back after  both the guys had to retire from the 2010 race injured at 70 miles. The event didn’t start massively well with one half of his support team pulling out literally days before. A quick appeal to the ultra-running forums and up stepped Yvonne Prager to volunteer her services. Garry might’ve been running 95 miles in one go but Louise has to share a car and Lee’s shit patter for over 24 hours!

In the end Garry completed the race in 26 hours 51 minutes and 37 seconds which is a cracking effort. Immediately there were oaths of ‘never again’ until the following week when a crack appeared in the resolution and a ‘maybe’ was mentioned. He’s subsequently been accepted onto the roster for the 2014 event.

Paul Giblin (@Pyllon)  set a stunning new course record of 15 hours 7 minutes and 29 seconds re-emphasising that he is an absolute force to be reckoned with in ultra running in the UK.

For the third year in a row the Breaking Strain Events team paired with Andy McAllister of Park Circuits to put on the Sally Challenge, a charity duathlon. For the second year the nominated charity was the Accord Hospice based in Paisley. Nearly 100 competitors signed up for the event and were gifted a slim weather window in which to cycle 13 miles and run nearly 10. For more details  click here for the Sally Challenge results.

September saw the culmination of month’s of hard work getting an epic event together for Tommy Burns Skin Cancer Trust. Breaking Strain Events facilitated a 380 mile round-Scotland cycle for 25 core riders over four days. On the final day the group finished pitch-side within Celtic Park with friends and family there to greet them after a monstrous effort in some typically mixed Scottish weather. The Tour for Tommy event report is available here.

October saw Lee head off to Tanzania to climb Mount Kilimanjaro for Edinburgh-based kid’s cancer charity, It’s Good 2 Give. 17 of the original trekking group made it to the roof of Africa at 5,895 metres. Click here for Lee’s Kilimanjaro trek report .

2013 has been a real mixture of taking part in some decent events personally whilst trying to build our business. 2014 looks set to be another year of growth for Breaking Strain Events with around 8 events over the year. It also sees us linking up with some charities we’ve worked with in the past and also some new partnerships. If you’d like to keep up to date with what we’re up to why not get in touch and we’ll add you to our mailing list.