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A CULLEN man has quite literally been hitting the heights in a gruelling bid to raise funds for charity.
Alex Drennan (49), who works as an international sales manager for Aberdeen firm Coretrax, recently completed the exhausting challenge of bagging 22 munros – hills 3000ft or more in height – in just three days.
His efforts are in aid of Debra UK, which supports suffers of and research into epidermolysis bullosa (EB).
Also know more colloquially as Butterfly Skin, EB is the name for a group of rare painful genetic skin disorders that cause the skin to become very fragile and tear or blister at the slightest touch. There is no known cure for the condition.
A heart-rending promotional poster for Debra, plus the example set by a former Scottish football star, were to provide Mr Drennan with the inspiration to get his hiking books on for a good cause.
He said: “I saw a poster for Debra that really touched my heart; it was a young girl who was obviously suffering badly and had lost her fingers and some of her hands due to the disease.
“In the summer Graeme Souness swam the Channel in aid of Debra UK and I thought to myself ‘Why not do something for them?’. I like munros so I came up with the idea of doing a minimum of seven munros a day over three days.”
Day 1 saw Mr Drennan head for an area south of Ben Nevis, while on day 2 he made for for Loch Tay before finishing off his marathon bagging expedition at Glenshee.
The first day was the most ambitious, with Mr Drennan having 10 munros in his sights, although the weather did not play ball.
“On the first day I have to admit I did think ‘What have I done?’,” he continued.
“It was a 16-hour day and they were physically difficult munros.
“Unfortunately, the fog came and I decided that I had to cut it short after the eighth munro on safety grounds, it wasn’t worth the risk of getting into difficulties and having to be rescued. I had a bit of navigation to do to get back as the route map I’d drawn up was based on doing all 10 munros. One of the challenges was finding a place to cross a deep river.
“I was very sore after day 1 but you get used to it. Believe it or not, the hardest part of climbing a munro is coming down; at my age, I can’t go bouncing down a hill like I used to!”
Day 2 saw better weather conditions allow him to bag his quota of seven munros, with the added bonus of being spared an eight-mile hike back to his camper van thanks to two young lads he met on the hills who offered to give him a lift.
The easiest of the challenges, day 3 also ended with Mr Drennan hitting his seven munro target.
In all, Mr Drennan bagged 22 out of the 24 munros he originally targeted.
Mr Drennan – who has now bagged an impressive 74 munros, including 50 over the past two years – said he was hoping to raise around £2000 for Debra UK through his Just Giving page. Search for Alex Drennan’s Scottish munro challenge fundraiser for Debra.
He added: “I’m hoping to do another charity munro challenge next year.
“I think next time I’ll do it in June rather than the end of August so I get maximum daylight.”
The munro challenge is not the first time Mr Drennan has undertaken an unusual fundraising effort for charity. Twenty years ago saw him summon up his courage to participate in an organised blindfold motorbike ride in aid of the Blind Sports charity.
He recalled: “You were flanked by two outriders who were in radio contact with you – the aim was basically to go as fast as possible.
“It was a very strange experience.”
For more information on the work of Debra UK and how to support their work, visit https://www.debra.org.uk/
