Published: Wednesday, 18th June, 2008 12:00
Scaling the heights again, and again...
By Nicola Findlay
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Mountain challenger Garry Somerville and his dog Che.
Pic by: Jan van der Merwe
SCALING Ben Nevis once may prove a challenge for many people but a Tullibody man is hoping to set a new record by climbing the mountain as many times as possible.
Garry Somerville (42) will scale the heights as many times as he can in a 24-hour period on 27 June to raise money for Alzheimer Scotland’s Stirling and Clackmannanshire Branch.
The idea for the 24-hour challenge came about after one of his friends managed to make it up and down the mountain three times for a different charity.
Garry, originally from Inverness, told the Advertiser, “A friend of mine did the same challenge a short while ago and I think he was the first person to do it.
“I decided to raise money for Alzheimer Scotland because my grandmother suffered from the disease and I thought this would be a good way to do it as it’s a very worthwhile charity.”
The dad-of-two also hopes the challenge will act as an incentive to get back into shape.
“I used to do a lot of running and did a bit of boxing so I was a reasonably fit guy. I am hoping this challenge will give me the motivation to get back into it and get my fitness levels back up,” said Garry.
He has been busy preparing for the gruelling challenge by walking up and down Dumyat, running and cycling on his exercise machine.
Garry also did a trial run at Ben Nevis recently, making it up and down the 1344 metre mountain in 1 hour and 50 minutes.
He went on, “I am really just hoping to raise as much money as possible for the charity but I would like to beat my friend’s record of making it up and down three times.
“I am just hoping the weather holds-up as I will be walking through the night and if the weather turns it could prove quite difficult.
“I think the toughest part will be when I reach about 12 hours or so, because the tiredness will really start to kick in. I am hoping to have made it up and down three or four times by then.
“Coming back down will also be hard as after a while I am sure it will be heavy on the knees.”
Garry is delighted with the support he has received so far, especially from his parents and friends in Inverness, and his wife Lynda who will be cheering him on with their children Connor and Kirsty.
His work colleagues at First Engineering have also drummed up plenty of support and some of them will be travelling to Ben Nevis to cheer him on.
Garry added, “I have probably raised over £1600 so far and the support from everyone has been just fantastic.
“I was actually quite surprised how generous everyone has been because I have been away from Inverness for over 10 years now.”
Anyone interested in sponsoring Garry can go on to his page on the Just Giving website – www.justgiving.com/garrysomerville
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