Ohly Smashes Winter Ramsay Round Record

Climber, fell runner and adventure racer Shane Ohly has shattered Gary Tompsett's record for the classic Scottish circuit, the Ramsay Round in winter by almost four hours completing it in a gob-smacking 29 hours 59 minutes and 34 seconds.

The round has been described as the Scottish equvalent of the legendary Bob Graham Round in the Lakes and was first completed by Charlie Ramsay in July 1978, who ran in an anticlockwise direction from Glen Nevis Youth Hostel, taking in the Mamores, some remote Munro's around Loch Treig, The Grey Corries, The Aonachs and finally Ben Nevis. The Ramsay Round is 62 miles long with around 30,000 feet of ascent and decent.

To put Shane's achievement in perspective, there are only 44 sub-24 hour finishers of the circuit in summer conditions and Tompsett's existing winter record from 2003 was 33:48:00.

Unsupported and going light...

Shane was unsupported for his round and largely operating 'on sight' as well since earlier recce trips had been foiled by bad weather. He started at Ben Nevis to get the biggies out of the way when he was fresh.

The first ten hours he describes as a 'joy', even though early sections included down-climbing a grade one gully on Aonach Beag wearing orienteering shoes resulting in some 'very black toes' from the sustained step kicking.

'Wearing the orienteering shoes, ' he says, 'was both brilliant and terrible. They gave me great friction on the snow and ice and meant I didn't have to carry crampons but my legs were total shot for the last third of the round from the impact of running on the dobs over hard ground.'

He'd already dumped his spare clothing to lighten the load, a decision he describes as 'very committing setting off into the Scottish winter in lycra tights and a windproof top!'

Power walking...

'My approach, ' he says, 'was to power walk up hill, jog the flat sections and go as fast as I could down hill. I ran with an ice axe in my hand whilst going down hill and inevitably took some exciting slides when tripped or skidded on the snow. Particularly memorable was the slide I took in the dark whilst coming off Chno Dearg...'

It was after the first third that things started to go downhill. Shane basically 'bonked' and retrospectively believes he wasn't eating enough food for the level of effort he was having to make, at one point in the final stages of the attempt, he was so gone that he almost burst into tears after catching himself on some brambles.

All of which makes his record time even more incredible Not only that but Shane firmly believes that a sub-24 hour winter round is a real possibility and is already planning a second attempt next year. Impressive stuff.