Martin Currie Rob Roy Challenge

Now in its seventh year, the Martin Currie Rob Roy Challenge has become one of Scotland’s most successful fundraising events.

Starting at Drymen, participants follow in the footsteps of the outlaw and folk hero Rob Roy MacGregor with a 16 mile hike through the beautiful Trossachs to Callander. Then it’s ‘on yer bike’ for the tough 39 mile ride to Killin and along the south side of Loch Tay to the finish at Kenmore.

Friends and family can join you on Saturday evening for our legendary Hog Roast Feast, lively ceilidh and world class fireworks, followed by camping or accommodation in local hotels and a Sunday morning breakfast.

The Martin Currie Rob Roy Challenge is an unforgettable weekend that has raised £1.8 million for good causes in its first five years. 2011’s event raised an estimated £400,000 of three superb charities: Alzheimer Scotland, NSPCC and Sightsavers.

• Alzheimer Scotland provides care, advice and support to people with dementia and their carers and families in over 60 locations throughout Scotland.

• NSPCC works to protect children across the UK through providing services such as ChildLine. Last year over 27,000 children and young people in Scotland spoke to a ChildLine volunteer counsellor.

• Sightsavers works with partners in over 30 developing countries to prevent, treat and cure avoidable blindness. The minimum £400 sponsorship that each Rob Roy participant raises could fund 80 sight-saving   trichiasis operations in Tanzania.

The success of all our events depends on the hard work, commitment and enthusiasm of our volunteers. Contact WildFox staff if you want to join the team at the Martin Currie Rob Roy Challenge.

Event Manager: Andrew Hastings

Check out Wildfox’s Flickr site to see our top selection of images from 2011.

Race Tips

• For fundraising, personalise your integrated fundraising page at registration but do more than simply sending out an email asking for money there are alot of better ways to raise money - for example, send your friends and work colleagues tubes of SMARTIES (as a gift) ask them after they have eaten the contents to fill the empty tubes with pound coins and hand back to you. You'll be amazed how many coins you can get into one tube, they can then do the same thing on your behalf.
• Buy GOOD quality cycle shorts - that extra tenner will make the difference!
• Bring a midgie net, especially for the start
• A cold beer has never tasted so good ...
• You CAN dance after cycling for 6 hours!

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• With the legs having eased off, midge bites disappeared and energy levels slowly returning, its easy to now look back and see what a fantastic event you put on this year. As a competitor, the organisation from start to finish was faultless, stewards could not have been more helpful and encouraging and the catering was spot on (both during and after the big event). The massage teams looked as if they were being worked hard and certainly brought a lot of relieve to our two squads - this brings a real unique touch to the event. Our support team also had a great day, especially in Kenmore where the kids had a riot playing on all the inflatables - this element alone is a major plus for the Rob Roy Challenge making it a real family fun day out. The only one issue they faced was getting into the Callander checkpoint to park with the bikes - a tough one to solve considering the limted parking space available. Thanks again, and best wishes for the continued success of this great event. - Alasdair Sloan
• Both Melissa Denholm and myself really enjoyed the challenge, and were most impressed with the organisation and support provided on the day. Certainly I am already keen to take part next year, and hopefully will be able to organise a larger team from the Bank of New York Mellon. - Mike Allen
• Just a brief note to say how much we enjoyed the Rob Roy challenge. The whole event was so well organised there were many highlights, specifically having a bit of chocolate cake before 9.30 at the first stop and the massages at Balquidder and Kenmore. - Craig MacLaren
• Just a wee note to say how much I enjoyed partaking in the Rob Roy Challenge. The organisation was superb, the helpers and check point staff fantastic offering huge encouragement, a smiley face and lots of refreshments, the safety notices, brilliant, warning us of sharp corners as we hurtled down various hills, the evening party such fun with a great band to entice us to dance to limber up the limbs and magical fireworks to celebrate our achievements. It really was a fantastic day walking and cycling in and around the most breathtaking scenery and was a joy to do. I hope lots of money was raised for your charities and will keep an eye on the website to see the final total. I will definitely be back again, probably as support crew as I normally only do an event once. Many many thanks to all the team. - Suzie Cummings
• Well done to a fantastically well organised 2009 event. You even got the weather just perfect for the day with some cooling rain in the morning, and the sun bursting through later. Only thing I would mention is the start to the cycle route this year was not very good. It was a new track for the first mile or so, and was deep, small pebbles, very hard to cycle on, and easy to fall off. I really don’t think this was made for bikes. Only other comment is that the speed bumps at the end going down to the finish could be better marked. Excellent event, liked the chip for timing, so can have intermediate times, really good. The Carrot cake was brilliant, and must be mentioned. And the Athletes Angels were superb. Looking forward to 2010!! - Chris Dwyer