10 July 2011

Quadrathlon raises £200,000 for charity in Perthshire Mountains

The 2011 Artemis Great Kindrochit Quadrathlon raised more than £200,000 for good causes in Highland Perthshire this Saturday (9th July). Now in its eleventh year the event’s swim, hike, kayak and cycle is becoming recognised as one the UK’s toughest charity challenges.

A total of 291 challenge participants swam across Loch Tay to climb seven Munros, before kayaking back up the loch and finally cycling 34 miles around it. 282 made it over the finish line to split a watermelon in two with a cavalry sword. They saw out the evening dancing reels to a ceilidh band and watching a dazzling firework display on the loch shore.

Simon Read and Paul Christensen of the Black Swans came in first with a time of 9h 3min. Jake Stephens set a new record for swimming across Loch Tay (a distance of 0.8 miles) in seventeen minutes.

WildFox Events staff Sarah Willis and Caroline MacKecknie took part in this year’s “Quad” themselves. Running in separate teams, they both made it round to the finish, raising several thousand pounds for charity between them. “At one point I really didn’t think I was going to make it,” admitted an exhausted Caroline at the finish line. “I feel absolutely elated – it’s not called Scotland’s toughest one day event for nothing.”

Event brainchild and WildFox Director David Fox Pitt held the first event for a few friends in the field in front of his house on Loch Tay back in 1999. Now in its eleventh year, the Artemis Great Kindrochit Quadrathlon has raised a staggering £3.9 million for Mercy Corps’ work to bring hope to 14.5 million people in the world’s poorest countries.

This year’s Quadrathlon is expected to raise £200,000 to help fund long-term support and training for farmers in Timor Leste. Mercy Corps hopes that this work will help 22,500 of people break out of the cycle of poverty in a country where 70% of the population survive on just £1.50 a day.

Twenty percent of the money raised by the Quadrathlon this year will also support Mary’s Meals, a Scottish charity that supports the education of over 500,000 hungry children in Africa, South America and Eastern Europe by providing daily meals to schools.

“Of all the events that we run this is without doubt my personal favourite,” commented David Fox-Pitt. “The Quad has made a real difference to thousands of people’s lives in the world’s poorest countries. It’s tough, make no mistake, but you just can’t beat the mood of celebration at the end.”

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