Ach Mum, it’s only 23 miles, let’s do it again!!

With three Kiltwalks in September and six Forestry Commission Walks in October it seemed rather odd to be ‘launching’ the Glasgow 2014 event last Friday, but launch the event we most certainly did.

The evening, at the Grand Central Hotel, Glasgow, was actually more about awarding the 30+ teams that took part in this years Hampden to Loch Lomond Kiltwalk with their 50% Kiltwalk Grant Cheques. It was an emotional, yet inspiring evening for everyone involved, particularly Ben as it turned out, however it also provided us with the perfect platform to Launch next year’s event, which takes place on Sunday 27th April, 2014.

Next year’s registration opened yesterday and we were staggered by the amount of people waiting at the Kiltwalk Registration gates, you’d have thought it was the Harrods January sales they were waiting on :-)

If you missed the announcement on our Charity Partners for next year, then we’re delighted to say we’re continuing our partnership with CHAS, CLIC Sargent, Aberlour Children’s Trust and Yorkhill Children's Charity, while adding three new charities who are Children 1st, Cash for Kids and A&M Training.

I’m sure you’re all familiar with the work carried out by Children 1st and Cash for Kids, however A&M Training (A&M), who are a Tier 2 partner for Glasgow, are possibly one you may not be familiar with and one we’re really excited to be working with.

A&M specialise in the delivery of diversionary group work and physical activities for young people within Glasgow and West-Central Scotland.

Diversionary activities generally take the form of physical activity sessions, predominantly football and dance coaching, but also include issue based youth work and workshops. All activity sessions are open-access and completely free for every participant.

The young people they work with are often at risk of becoming involved in anti-social and / or criminal behaviour, substance abuse and gang membership or violence. Their activities divert young people from negative situations, which may impact their lives and opportunities in the future.

They aim is to improve participants’ physical health and well-being by increasing participation in physical activity and sport, and by educating them about the benefits of healthy diet and lifestyle. They also place a huge emphasis on encouraging participants to develop personal and social skills, self-efficacy, self-esteem, and personal responsibility.

One of the founders of A&M is ex Scotland Football Internationalist, Andy McLaren, who by his own admission hasn’t had his troubles to seek. This, in turn makes him ideally placed to work as a qualified counsellor with these young people.

Andy took to the podium straight from the training ground on Friday night and with no prepared notes, spoke from the heart about the situations they encounter and how they try and help.

The service they offer is truly remarkable and can be best summed up in Andy’s own words when he says “at its simplest, we keep 300 kids off the street and give them an interest in life”. We look forward to helping A&M on their journey.

We also announced a change of venue as our starting point and I have to say I’m delighted.

We’re starting at the SECC, which means people will only be walking 23 miles, not 26. However the shorter distance is not why I’m delighted. I’m delighted as “Glasgow to Loch Lomond” takes up less characters than “Hampden Park to Loch Lomond” on Twitter where every one of those 140 characters are precious.

It was then onto the Kiltwalk Team Cheque presentations where we awarded some magnificent sums of money to our Team Partners.

There were cheques ranging from the £2,000+ received by Team Windmills, to the fantastic figure of £100,000 received by Yorkhill Children’s Charity.

It truly was an emotional evening where the people who walked all those miles, forgot about the blisters when they were presented with that hard earned, but well deserved cheque.

The Team concept, which only requires you to have a group of 5 people walking in your team, has been really successful as it provides people who perhaps don’t have a ready means to raise money, to do just that for their worthy cause.

One such cause was White Crook Primary in Clydebank who received a cheque for £545 from The Kiltwalk after James and Joanne Farren and their team took part in this year’s walk.

So go on everyone, set up a Team and raise money for one of your local children’s cause or school.

Sadly I only managed to stay for the 2014 launch, so missed all the Team Awards and also the chance to catch up with all our wonderful Kiltwalkers, however I still had my eyes and ears all over the place, so nothing escaped my notice and I just want to finish with two stories I picked up over the airways.

The first was a post from Isabel fae the mad McManus Clan who said:

“What an emotional and inspirational night at the Grand Central hotel, where we received our 50% cheque for all our hard Kiltwalk Fundraising on behalf of Homestart, well done everyone, you should be proud of your efforts”

And they should indeed be proud of their efforts, however that wasn’t the bit that got me, as I knew how hard they'd fund raised. No it was the next bit when she said:

“Even better than the cheque was finally meeting Joanne and Emma Jane my Kiltwalk sisters. They are complete nutters and Kiltwalk mad and talked about little else”

When it was all over and Isabel and Mike were walking to the car, Mike asked “Is that how I sound when I speak about the Kiltwalk?” to which Isabel said “what passionate?, inspired?, competitive?, persistent?, and completely mad, but doing it out of the desire and determination to make a difference? Then yes, it is”

Gulp . . . say's it all really Mike.

The other comment came from Lucy Fraser as she retold the story of a 'determined' Ben as they traveled in by car to the Grand Central.

Ben, as I’m sure many of you know round these parts is one determined young man, so determined that the small matter of battling Leukaemia wasn’t going to get in his way when he heard that The Kiltwalk partner with Yorkhill, where Ben is receiving his treatment.

He completed Aprils Kiltwalk, which turned out to be 28.1 miles and at the end promptly announced “That’s it I’ve done it, never again” and he was 'determined' not to do it again.

As they got nearer and nearer to Glasgow, Ben continued to remind his Mum, Lucy, that they in no certain terms were they ever, ever, ever doing The Kiltwalk again . . . ever!!

With the message clearly understood they sat down at their table and listened intently as Children 1st took the stage and explained what they do and how delighted they were to be part of The Kiltwalk. It was at this point Lucy noticed that Ben was picking up the leaflet for next years walk, giving it a look and putting it back down again.

Then Cash for Kids talked about the marvelous work they do and how The Kiltwalk would let them achieve even more. Again Ben picked up the leaflet, looked from back to front, and then put it down.

Then A&M Training took the stage and at the point where Andy started telling the audience about some of their experiences, Ben turned to his Mum and said “Ach Mum, it’s only 23 miles, let’s do it again!!”

Suffice to say Ben and the rest of the Fraser gang have now signed up for next year and we look forward to seeing them once again as it's people like the Frasers and McManus's that inspire us to keep going.

I’m privileged to be involved with The Kiltwalk as a Trustee, however I’m also a Kiltwalker and as Isabel put it “I’m proud to be part of such a wonderful, nutty, and inspirational Kiltwalking family” x

Here's tae us. Wha's like us. Damn few.

You can register for next year at http://www.thekiltwalk.co.uk/main/events-and-fundraising/2014-events/the-loch-lomond-kiltwalk-2014.html