The story behind the image
Once I knew we were going up the minors track from Pen-Y-Pass to the summit of Mount Snowden, this was the shot I had in my minds eye….
Taken with the peak of the mountain in the background and Glaslyn lake glistening in the sun, this is the money shot, the one Alex Staniforth will use on the publicity material for his next book, if not the cover of the book.
Having worked with Alex before on his Climb the UK challenge in 2017 to raise money for his charity “Mind over Mountains” where he climbed the highest peak in every county in the UK’s 100 counties in all, cycling between them all except for The Isle of White, where he Kayaked across the Solent all in just 76 days.
Alex’s latest fundraiser for his charity “Mind over Mountains” was the famous 3 peak challenge, Ben Nevis in Scotland, Scafell Pike in England finishing with Mount Snowden in Wales, BUT he was running the 440 miles between them, trying to break the record of 9 days 11 hours.
Things hadn’t gone well for Alex before the start, coronavirus delaying the April start through to August and then twisting his ankle training, spraining the tendons, which delayed the start for another 2 weeks. But the day finally came when he got the all clear to go. He set off at a good pace climbing Ben Nevis early in the morning and then running an average of 50 miles a day.
He suffered more pain in Cumbria with his feet in agony, he could no longer walk never mind run, this delayed him getting down to Betws Y Coed by a day, but he still had a shot for the record.
On the final day I was going up Snowden with Alex expecting quite an entourage, but it was now the Sunday of the August Bank Holiday, plans were a day behind, he got up at 3 AM to start his run, but he had nothing left, I was supposed to meet him at Pen Y Pass, but his tracker was showing him quite a distance away at 9 AM when we were supposed to start. I went with his mother and step father, who had been with him quite a distance along the route as his support team, we found him with more than 5 miles to go before he reached Pen Y Pass. He said that he had already had a sleep in a bus shelter along the route and for us to pull over in the next lay by so he could catch another 10 minutes, I have never seen anyone look so exhausted.
We agreed that I would join him at the hotel a mile before Pen Y Pass he give him some encouragement, a good idea thought of by his mother Debbie, but it would now appear that I was the only one going up Snowden with him. He took a quick water stop at the YHA hostel and then we were off but the time was around 12:30 now. I wanted to get ahead of him to get shots and video of him walking towards me, which was not difficult. Using my best coaching skills I tried to get a faster pace from him, but it was clear he was in so much pain and such exhaustion, this slow pace was it.
As we went along the Minors Track which was the most he could manage in his condition it started to get congested, which we could really do without. I asked the first group of people if we could get past explaining Alex’s feat, they eagerly stood aside and congratulated him, but luckily then caught me as I walked backwards filming him, I very nearly got wet feet and cameras in Llyn Llydaw. This brought a smile to Alex’s face as we went on. Despite his exhaustion he would not stop, by now I would normally have had at least one 15 minute tea break, keep moving, but we did manage a three minute stop along the way. I then became the motivator and the path clearer as we went on. Alex was impressed by my vocal talents urging walkers to “let him past as he was trying to break a record and just run from Ben Nevis”. People parted willingly and cheered him on.
As we joined the Pyg Track the noise of a rescue helicopter was deafening as it flew over the ridge, but this was good for us, all of the walkers keen to get a good view of the rescue just below, gave us a clearer path as we met the Llanberis Path. A walker recognised him from his blog and applauded him as we walked up the last section to the top. The queue was massive to get to touch the cairn on the summit. I got my voice ready and shouted as loud as I could, Please make way and give a huge round of applause for Alex, he’s just run from Ben Nevis, this is a record breaking attempt, please make a path. He went up the wrong way and touched the top, got a selfie and posed for one shot for me, the onlookers were very impressed and applauding as we came away.
He came down from the cairn a different guy, “let’s get off this mountain now” he said, we still had to get to the end of the Llanberis Path which is the official finish line. Those long legs of his were now striding out to the finish line, he knew at that point that had had missed the record, but undeterred, he still wanted to finish. Trotting behind like a little sherpa carrying 2 cameras, mine and Alex’s water I tried to keep up, my knees were killing me now. On we went, still only the one 3 minute break along the entire route, I was feeling the pain, but Alex had his second wind, on and on we went when we suddenly heard a round of applause, we looked up and it was his main sponsor Steve Ives of The Westgrove Group and his family, come to cheer him along the way.
At the earliest point we had arranged for someone to meet me in a car, to run me to the finish line, so I was ready for Alex, I have never been so happy to see a car in all of my life.
Minutes later, I was at the finish line, cameras in hand ready for him. Steve had taken over duties of clearing the path and Alex came around the final bend to cross the finish line just over an hour off the record. He was delighted to have finished the challenge and I was so happy to have helped him along the final path.