Thousands raised after big run and sail around Britain
A MAN has completed a mission to sail and run on his own around Britain
using only renewable energy and has raised thousands in aid of five charities.
Alan Rankin sailed into Ullapool to be greeted by supporters after
navigating 2500 miles around the British coast and clocking up 100
kilometres (62 miles) by running 10k in each of the ports he arrived in.
The 55-year-old set off from Ullapool on June 6 to begin the Trade Winds
Solo Round Britain Challenge and has spent the past 45 days battling what
are some of the most challenging waters in the world.
His voyage stopped at 10 ports taking him around the Shetland Isles, down
the entire length to the North Sea, along the English Channel to the Scilly
Isles, around Ireland and St Kilda before returning to Ullapool.
Mr Rankin said: “It was unfinished business. In 2006 I became the first
person to sail and cycle around Scotland and that was when I thought about
going the whole way around the UK.
“The challenge has been three years in the planning and to make it unique I
threw in the 10k runs. The sailing and the cycling combine my two passions.”
However, while he loves to be at sea it wasn’t all plain sailing. He said:
“The legs from Lerwick down to the North Sea were particularly bad. I was
battling against southerly winds and there were really strong winds off
Grimsby. It was fraught as it was also in the middle of busy shipping lanes.”
0 Comments