Taking On The RAMSAY ROUND Pt 1
My name is Sabrina Pace-Humphreys and I'm a lot of things to a lot of people. I'm a
mother, a grandmother, an Innovate ambassador, an ultra runner, but I'm also the co-founder
of Black Trail Runners and this is us taking on the Ramsay Round.
Running in the outdoors should be for everyone, but Black runners are underrepresented in
the culture of trail running. While Black people make up 4.5% of the UK population,
we make up less than 1% of trail runners. The Ramsay Round is one of the big three UK
mountain rounds covering 56 miles, 28 and a half thousand feet of elevation and taking
in 23 Munro, including Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the UK. It was conceived in 1978
by a Black Scottish mountain runner called Charlie Ramsay. So we're following in Charlie's
footsteps, quite literally, by taking on the Ramsay Round. Six runners, three days, led
by trail running guides, Girls on Hills. You can't be what you can't see and we want as
many people as possible to see that the outdoors is for everyone no matter your ethnicity,
gender, or ability.
Oh, Charlie, how are you?
Nice to see you. Nice to see you.
When I leave you today, I head up to Fort William. The weather window has changed and
we've changed slightly what we're doing because of that. Bearing all that in mind and knowing
the route, what pieces of advice would you give me and the team?
I think the first thing you've got to acknowledge would be your own strengths and weaknesses.
And you're at a disadvantage because you're running on hills you're not familiar with.
But I think, that said, you're in good hands with the Girls on Hills. So I think to rely
heavily on them and listen to what they say, watch what they do, and just pick things up.
They may do things that you, "I never knew about that." You've got to look after each
other because, as I say, you're on different hills, different terrain and running on these
hills is different to the Lake District and different to the [inaudible]. They're all
subtly different in their own quiet way.
So I think that's an important thing. Learn the skills, as such things as navigation,
that's important, map reading. Even if you're out without a guide, you say "that's just great". Map
fits in the back pocket and off I go. Still get the map out, "I'm checking this and
checking that, oh that's interesting." Okay, fine. You learn to relate the ground terrain
to the map and that is a saviour because if the chips are down and you're on your lonesome,
then you're, "What do I do?" So if you're going out with a group, use it as a learning
curve, and as I said to you the other day on the phone, if you go to the hills, learn
the skills. That's important. That's my advice to you.
We're taking on the Round clockwise and in order to make the most of the time we have
up here, we've had to make a few tweaks to the order because of the weather conditions
we're facing.
Carrie's planned it, when we've been talking all weekend about it, she's really planned
it so that we really ... Not just that we make the most of the weather, but that we've
got the weather on our side as well. So she said to me, which you never think about really
like, "The wind, we wouldn't want to go ..." You said about the wind like it is, there's nothing
more miserable than running into the wind all the time, so part of redoing the route
is that we have the wind behind us and stuff like that. So it works.
I mean, it's going to be a bit on the side of us tomorrow, but then I'm kind of focused
a little bit on day three, because it's the big day. And that day it's going to be right
on our backs all day and still quite a strong wind. That'd be really nice to have that.
We don't want to be doing that [inaudible] so yeah, it just means we don't finish in
the same place, but it makes it doable as opposed to having a relentless slog in here.
Obviously, I'm doing this specifically for Black people. And I am representing for Black
people, regardless of what's going on around the world. There's so many things going on.
So that's why I'm here. And that's why I'm doing it.
I just feel a bit nauseous because it's just been such a long time in the planning and
I so want it to go well, but I need to stop trying to be a control freak about these things
because we're here. Girls on Hills briefed us on day one, but it's freezing, it's so
cold. I'm so glad that I have a lot of layers because it's absolutely freezing and I know
that it is going to get colder and wetter and windier.
Morning. It's five past four on Tuesday the 15th of June. I've been up about half an hour.
I've just finished preparing my food. Cheese and pickle sandwiches for the win today.
How you doing man? You good?
How you doing today, you all right?
Yeah, good, good, good, good. I think, elbow. Yeah, okay. And there's Ni. Say hi, Ni,
to everybody.
Hi, guys! All right?
We're coming up. Morning, morning, morning! We all ready? Hey!
We're here. It's the start. It's half past five and there're loads of midges, but we
don't care because we're going to get going in a minute.
So, see these people, there's Nat, Deo, Girls on Hills, Kerry, everyone. [crosstalk]. There's
Johnny. Simba, look at you! The midge net! I need to do that!
It's a good idea, well done.
Deo, Zukie. Getting eaten alive here. Yeah, I'm going to put my midgy net on.
Day one starts at Kinlochleven and takes in nine Munros covering almost 20 miles and 10,000
feet of elevation, finishing at the famous youth hostel in Fort William where Charlie
Ramsay finished his challenge.
Yes, still going. Got to the top here.
So we're just stopping because this is the last water, kind of flowing water for a while.
So we're just having a drink and refilling our water before we get up higher and we lose
the water. That water... We could bottle it and sell it.
Oh, definitely, yeah. Effective spring.
Wow, it's a bit special, isn't it?
It's a moment, it's a moment.
I'm absolutely knackered. Came from all down there, all up here and got that little bit
again to go. Knackered. But it's so beautiful, absolutely beautiful. Highly recommend it.
So I just went through just a bit of a low. Simba has come off the hill because he is
suffering with his ankle injury. So he wants to go and recover. Yeah, I just kind of went
through a bit of a mental low on the climb before checkpoint five. Just feel really lacking
in energy. My water supply is also getting really low too, so just need to get to the
next water source. Hope that the fuel that I've just taken on board is going to start
to kick in. This is what we're traversing at the moment.
The Black Trail Runners team taking on the Ramsay Round is such a mix of abilities and paces,
something that was so important to us when we chose who would be taking it on. This is
Nethilee's toughest trail challenge to date. And we're so proud that she has bagged as
many Munros as she did. You don't have to be the strongest, the fastest or the most experienced
runner to take on these challenges. But you do have to have the courage to try. Something
Nethilee has in buckets.
It's a relief and its wonderful. I've done so much. Just being on that hot bath now.
And food, of course. No, it feels great. It does really feel good. I've achieved, I think,
a lot so ...
Yeah, definitely. Definitely. A big day.
Yeah, I'm up and onward. Onwards to tomorrow.
We're at Stob Ban. Is it Stob Ban? I'm finding it increasingly hard.
So we've done this ridge. Oh, we've done everything basically. And Kerry, the weather
has been kind.
The weather has been really kind.
Which is always nice.
So the final peak is where?
On that little pinpoint in the distance.
All right. Okay.
What that little pinpoint over there?
After 12 hours, 21 miles and 10,000 feet, day one of the Ramsay Round is done. For me,
the toughest part was the ridge scrambling. Due to past negative experiences on ridges,
I was really scared of falling. This part of the day pushed me to my absolute limit.
I felt honoured and blessed to be on those mountains with my team, my friends, looking
around at where we had been, where we were going and showing in real life how each barrier
to diversifying the outdoors had and was being addressed with everything that I, we, had
dreamed of. It was such an emotional moment coming into the youth hostel at Fort William
where, all those years ago, Charlie Ramsey finished his Round. Seeing our team together
at that iconic location felt incredible.
Within our community of Black Trail Runners, we have, and actually moreso these days, people
that are brand new to the trails, people that have maybe been road runners and see the beautiful
pictures or the videos that we post about being out there and were like, "Wow, that
looks amazing. How do I get that?" For me, growing up as a kid, I never experienced anything
like that because that wasn't something that our family did and the people I surrounded myself
with, all the people that I grew up with, trail running or mountains, it was something
that other people did. I guess, what I hope from what we're going to be doing over the
next three days is that those people that maybe don't have that immediate family or
friends support can see in the film and in pictures and in what we are saying and doing.
Maybe even if I only do a Mamore or get up to the Round and do a Mamore, that's...
That's an achievement.
That's an achievement!
As I said to you on the phone the other day, "Success is a series of small achievements."
Yes.
I think that's important to hang your hat on that. And even just getting out of the
car and going up so far and coming back down again, that's an achievement, right? Let's
see if we can go further next time. If you can nurture that then you'd be surprised how
far you can actually go.
Day two of our Ramsay Round adventure starts at Fersit Dam, at the Northern end of Loch
Treig. It's just over 40 kilometers in total for the day and we've got five Munros to bank.
We've made the decision as a team that Nethilee will join us partway through so that she can
stick within her own limits.
We've just come from ... In the distance you can see car park all the way up. Big first climb.
The Ramsay Round is such a remote route that getting onto it can be tricky. So Nethilee
is taking the train out from Fort William to Corrour with one of the Girls on Hills
guides and then running in from there.
We decided that we wanted to ... do the three Munros and then come off, because we want to do tomorrow
as a complete team and it's going to be a massive, massive day. To get three Munros out
of five was a big thing for us, but then we knew that we wanted to come home and get some
