The Celtman The Adventure Show

Hello, and a very warm welcome to The Adventure Show.

This month we're in Torridon for the inaugural

Celtman Extreme Scottish Triathlon

and when they say extreme, they mean it.

With over 200 kilometres of biking

past some of Scotland's most breathtaking scenery.

Morning!

After well over five hours in the saddle, the competitors then

have to run a marathon over one of Scotland's Munros.

It's been described as one of the hardest days of your life.

This guy here, he's so enthusiastic.

"Come on, you can make it, two kilometres to go.

"Only 15 minutes, you'll make it!"

But it all begins here with a three kilometre swim in the chilly

depths of Loch Shieldaig.

The weather, the terrain and the distance will have a big factor

in a race that even the fastest guys will take over 12 hours to complete.

Oh, that's cold!

I think it's going to hurt a bit, but...

Is that the attraction, hurting a bit?

I suppose so, yeah. Yeah, it's just to see what you can do.

You're one of the more upright ones.

Is pain an attraction for you?

I do quite like a little bit of pain.

It's just a big adventure so,

I think it's a really lovely part of Scotland and I'm just really

looking forward to going out there and seeing it all.

-Hi!

-So I just wanted to do something a little bit different,

a bit of a change, and this has really ticked the box. Love it.

Nice one.

Also in this month's Adventure Show, we join Cameron McNeish as he

explores one of Scotland's smaller hills that packs a big punch.

We meet a young cyclist who is determined to emulate the best.

I like Bradley Wiggins.

And we catch up with one of the new hotshots on the climbing

scene to discover that it's possible to use ice axe

and crampons in the comfort of your own home.

I built these two walls just so after work I can just

come down and train, whatever hours I want, as much as I want.

But first to the Celtman Extreme Triathlon.

This may be its very first year, but it has all the makings of a classic.

It starts with that chilly swim across the open sea waters

of Loch Shieldaig, then it's off with the wetsuits and into

the saddle for over 200 kilometres of cycling, first to Kinlochewe,

then down the shores of Loch Maree to Gairloch before heading

round the coast and back inland past Dundonald, then along the A835.

There's a final push through Achnasheen to

the forest of Achnashellach.

The run's no pushover either - 42 kilometres along forest tracks

and over the wild, remote

Coulin Pass to Glen Torridon and

then there's a sting in the tail.

A race up one of Beinn Eighe's summits, Ruadh Stac Mor.

And there's a final dash to the finish in Torridon.

By any standards this is an extreme test of fitness and endurance

and this inaugural year is full to capacity.

There are a couple of people here that are fully professional

athletes. The majority are just the very top end of the...

The kind of amateur field, if you like. These are people who,

you know, have done sprint triathlons and standard distance

and Half Ironman and Ironman, and they've just kind of taken the whole

thing just another step, which is what this race is -

it's another step up.

Welcome, everybody, to Celtman Extreme Scottish Triathlon.

There's something very special, clearly,

about being at the first edition of a race - you guys are the pioneers.

And some of those pioneers have made a very long journey indeed.

Approximately 50% are international entrants.

I think it raises the stakes in one sense.

The local Scottish and British competitors don't

often come across international competitors in these quantities.

There's a lot of very strong Scandinavians in particular,

a lot of Germans.

We'll see what happens. I'd love there to be Scottish winners.

I'm not sure there will be.

It's 4.50 in the morning on the banks of Loch Shieldaig,

ten minutes before the start of this race at five

and there are some pretty sleepy looking people around.

But others, amazingly, are raring to go.

It's just about keeping going and keeping your pacing right, I think,

so I'm just going to set off and all the nerves will

disappear as soon as I start and I'm just going to kind of do my own race

and get my head down and just enjoy it and just get into a good rhythm.

-How long have you been up?

-Since two.

Yeah, I'm pretty excited.

It's just a big adventure so,

I think it's a really lovely part of Scotland and I'm just

really looking forward to going out there and seeing it all.

-Now, where are you from?

-Germany.

-Why are you here?

What's the attraction of this?

I don't really know.

Last year I said I want to do the hardest

triathlons in the world, and that's the first one of them, I guess.

You're looking a wee bit worried this morning, I have to say.

-Other people are looking excited.

-Yeah.

-You're a wee bit pensive.

If you have a look round, there's a field full of athletes.

I'm not an athlete.

I'm doing it for charity so what seemed like a good idea...

"Oh, yeah, I like mountains, I like bikes, yeah, I'll do that."

Then I've got on the coach this morning and seen all these

athletes with muscles and that kind of stuff, and looked down

and thought, "I should've had some of them, but I haven't."

So, yeah, I'm a little apprehensive.

-Have a great day.

-Thank you very much.

-Two minutes to race start, how are you doing?

-Yeah, good.

Cometh the man, cometh the moment.

-You're the last person in the water.

-The last in the water.

I think that's from a little experience.

I don't know why they're in such a hurry to get in there.

There's plenty of time to be in there.

Ten seconds to go. This is a couple of days after the longest day

and the water temperature here is still less than 15 degrees.

It's a long, long swim.

-KLAXON BLARES

-And they're off!

150 competitors taking on this gargantuan challenge through

some of the most breathtaking and spectacular scenery in Scotland.

There it is - suddenly the water, from being very calm,

has turned into a boiling cauldron, with the arms and legs kicking,

just trying to get the heart beating, get their breathing

regulated, and settle in for a very long and very, very hard day.

I'm here in the village of Shieldaig waiting for the racers to

finish their swim section.

Once out the water they'll be changing from wetsuits

into biking gear, and they'll want to be as fast as possible,

but if they get something wrong here they're going to have a long

time to regret it later.

We don't expect everyone to finish this race because it's

so tough and so demanding, so even to enter the race

and get to the start line shows a certain mental toughness.

It's probably the limit of what you can do.

Certainly, you know, professional athletes would be training

all year round for this,

so if you've got a normal life and you try and do a job

and everything like that, you know, it is quite difficult to fit it in.

This water was way colder than what I'm used to.

This must've been 12 degrees or something.

Today's swim was always going to be cold so I, this year, tried to swim

in what they call open water,

i.e. lochs or the sea, quite early in the year,

just to get used to swimming in the open water and the cold.

Just 15 minutes into the race

and already the field is very, very drawn out.

The fastest swimmers are way ahead,

but it doesn't matter where you are in the water at this stage,

because if you're strong on the bike or indeed strong running,

you can make time up against people who are stronger in the water.

But the difference between the leaders at the moment

and the people who are still passing the island is quite far already.

Well done, mate.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

First out of the water

and way ahead of the rest of the field is Bobby Oag.

Take your time going up there.

He's from Orkney so maybe he's used to these kinds of temperatures

because he's completed this three kilometre swim

in an amazing 39 minutes and 54 seconds.

Hiya, how are you doing? How was the water temperature?

Well, the same story in Orkney all winter so it's not that bad.

-At least I did one part right, I guess.

-That was great.

Are you looking forward to the bike?

Well, ask me again at the end and I'll tell you.

Just over a minute later is Lefteris Paraskevas from Greece.

He completed the swim in 41 minutes ten seconds.

Another fantastic time

and from someone who's surely more used to the heat than the cold.

-How was your swim?

-Cold. You don't feel your legs.

Aargh!

HE SPEAKS GREEK

No-one was quite sure how long the swim would take.

Bobby and Lefteris have made much better time than anyone

expected, and they've established a strong lead.

It's well over three minutes before the next swimmers struggle up

to the first changeover point at the village of Shieldaig.

Have you done as well as you wanted to in that section?

-Yeah, it's good.

-Which bit are you looking forward to most?

I think the mountain, I think.

How was that swim for you?

Started off cold but on the face,

but after about half an hour you got used to it.

Looking forward to this bike section?

Yeah, really. It's a really nice road to bike on.

The first woman out of the water is Susanne Buckenlei from Germany.

She's been competing since 1998

and has won the Norseman Extreme Triathlon -

an event described as the toughest in the world - three times in a row.

Morning. Well done, that was a great swim. How are you feeling?

I'm very good. I'm looking forward for the bike and run now.

Did you feel like the swim went quite well for you?

Yeah, I was OK. I'm not a good swimmer.

Oh, you looked pretty good to me.

The bike and the run is normally better.

-OK.

-And now I'm happy that I'm out of the cold water.

But it was fine, it was OK to swim.

Pretty cold in the beginning but then it was good.

So at the end of the first stage of the Celtman,

the placings look like this.

For the men, Johan Nykvist from Sweden

was 3rd out of the water with a time of 44 minutes 35 seconds.

Greece's Lefteris Paraskevas was 2nd with 41:10.

And waving the flag for Scotland, in the lead, was Bobby Oag from Orkney.

For the women, Laura Sarkis is in 3rd place with 52:37.

Rosemary Byde's time of 51:53 puts her just behind

Susanne Buckenlei who completed the swim in 50:54.

But there's still a long way to go

and Susanne's not taking anything for granted.

In these races you never know what will happen,

so it's a long day. I will do my best.

-Well done.

-Thank you.

-Good luck.

We'll be back with all the action here at the Celtman shortly,

as they tackle the next leg of this extreme race -

the 200-plus kilometre bike ride.

We're heading east to the edge of the Grampians.

Here in Moray, one mountain dominates the skyline,

but this is also whisky country, which perhaps explains why

Cameron McNeish has made it this month's destination.

It's been said that the city of Rome was built on seven hills,

but here in the Northeast of Scotland, the village of Dufftown

was built on seven stills.

Now Dufftown has its own hills too

and I'm going to climb one of them today - it's called Ben Rinnes

and it's universally known as the "Whisky Mountain".

Ben Rinnes rises above the River Spey,

and it's actually the Northeast terminal of the Grampian

mountain range, and everything you look down on from this

mountain is associated with whisky, and some of the names

that are on the map round about here are the very names that would stir

the heart of any whisky enthusiast, Glenlivet, Glenfiddich, Knockando,

I could go on and on. This is God's own country.

Climbing up the hill,

you realise that it's not too fanciful a notion to regard

the mountain as the provider of the ingredients of uisge beatha -

the water of life.

If you think of the snow melt in spring,

providing all that clear, cold water,

all these great peat banks -

the peat once used to fire the distilleries -

and the fields of the best quality barley down in Glen Rinnes

and in Strathspey, and you realise

that there's such a close connection between mountains and whisky.

One of the nice things about walking on this side of the country

as opposed to the west coast is the names are all very different.

There's not a lot of Gaelic here although Ben Rinnes itself is Gaelic.

It's thought to mean headland hill although some

people might argue that Rinnes means rhinns, which means pointy.

I know this isn't exactly a pointed hill but there is a little series

of granite tors on the summit that give it a kind of spiked appearance.

'The last time I climbed Ben Rinnes, oh, ten years ago,

'the path up this final ridge was a wide, eroded scar

'but a local volunteer group, The Friends of Ben Rinnes, raised

'quite a lot of money and reinstated the path and put in

'some nice curves and zigzags instead of straight, right up the ridge.

'They've done a fantastic job and it struck me that it

'might be a good idea

'if we could get local groups to look after various individual mountains.'

We could maybe start an Adopt A Scottish Mountain scheme.

I think that would be a great idea.

In 1803, a minister from Edinburgh, the Reverend James Hall,

climbed Ben Rinnes on a pretty wild day.

He got himself completely soaked through, he was very frightened

and lost, but when the mist cleared and he saw some views,

he proclaimed the experience as,

"A calm satisfaction, a secret enjoyment

"and a religious fervour which no language can fully explain,"

and I think most hill walkers could very much empathise with that.

The craggy tors just ahead of us, these granite tors,

mark the summit of the hill.

These granite tors are quite a feature of the summit of

Ben Rinnes and they've been created over many, many thousands of years

as the wind has eroded down the surface area and the hard granite

protrudes and they are quite a feature of the Cairngorms landscape.

We tend to think of tors, granite tors, as something we get in

Dartmoor, but we get quite a lot in Scotland too, and in fact they also

feature in one of our best known traditional songs, Kate Dalrymple.

In describing this old witch, the song says,

"The Cornelian and Cairngorm pimples

"That were hanging fae the craggy face of Kate Dalrymple."

You just don't expect these sort of rocky features

on the summit of what looks like quite a nice easy hill.

And the summit of the hill is on top of this tor.

HE HUMS TO HIMSELF

The summit of Ben Rinnes - the "Whisky Mountain".

840 metres and what a fantastic viewpoint it is. I'm looking

right across to the Cairngorms and the arc of the Cairngorms

swings right round to Ben Rinnes' cousin across here -

the other Corbett, Corryhabbie Hill on the other side of Glen Rinnes.

And I think at this point it's a good time to toast the Whisky Mountain

and in the words of our national bard, Robert Burns,

"Freedom and whisky gang thegither. Take aff your dram."

Slainte mhath.

Welcome back to the Celtman Extreme Triathlon.

I've taken the shortest and easiest route by car from the race start

at Loch Shieldaig to Achnashellach.

This is where the competitors will drop their bikes,

put on their running shoes and take on the mountain marathon.

But first there's the small matter of over 200K in the saddle.

We're taking the fabulous bike route that goes round via Gairloch

and Gruinard and all those kind of amazing places.

We wanted to show the area off.

We also had to achieve a course that was logistically manageable,

and actually physically manageable.

We want it to be tough and extreme, but it's got to be achievable.

So the first one out the water, Bobby Oag, senior racer,

Scottish racer, and doing pretty well indeed. Looking comfortable

and confident there. Just climbing up over the valley here.

So in second place, Johan Nykvist.

A long distance behind Bobby Oag. Five minutes by now.

But that really is not going to matter too much on a 12-hour race.

That can be grabbed.

But the strongest swimmers obviously get on the bike and get out.

They get the clear roads.

In third place is Stuart Macleod from Edinburgh. He is a veteran

of extreme triathlons, so how does he train for an event like this?

People would probably laugh asking me that question

cos I've got the most unorthodox approach to all these things.

What I do is I just try and just keep it fun. I'll go out

and ride on my bike sometimes

and I'll go and swim from time to time. Do a bit of running.

So I try and keep it fun

and that's it, and at least you get to change the

disciplines that you're doing, which keeps it a bit more interesting.

And there's loads of kit to buy as well, which is fun.

It's all about the bling?

Well, there's lots of that. There's lots of fancy bikes

and stuff like that.

-Get your wetsuit off and get dry.

-That's it. Well done.

Are you OK to stand? I've got you.

While the fastest swimmers eat up the miles on their bikes,

back at the transition from water to land,

there are some very, very tired bodies.

Really good!

That's it. Watch your feet up here.

It's amazing, the gap in the field already is huge.

It's at least about maybe 20 minutes

for such a short section

and there's so much of the race still to go.

You can still see some swimmers really far out.

There's probably another ten,

15 minutes worth of swimming before they arrive here so...

And then they've got the transition as well, so it's going to be

a wee while before folks get on the bike and get going.

I'm still alive. I'm so happy!

You looked really cold when you came out the water there,

was that quite a tough swim for you?

I've got Raynaud's syndrome

so I lose the circulation on my hands and my feet.

-Oh, wow! OK.

-They're just like blocks of ice.

-So I can't feel anything.

-They're freezing.

-Warm up on the bike though.

-Yeah.

-It's good weather so...

Exactly. Are you used to being in this kind of water temperature

or are you used to something much warmer?

Used to swimming in like the Adriatic and all that.

-She's Italian so...

-Ah, OK.

-It was a beautiful swim.

-Was it?

-It was really clear

-and you could see lots of jellyfish and wildlife.

-Was there? OK.

Well, OK, just jellyfish. Not any other wildlife but it was great.

-This is your first time competing in an event like this, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-Well done.

-Are you putting them on or taking them off?

CHEERING

And one of the huge difficulties of a race that starts at

five o'clock in the morning and goes on for a long, long time

is making sure you've got enough fuel on board.

Very difficult to get up and eat at that time of the morning

and these guys are going to be burning a huge amount

of calories so it's so important that you take on food, you take

on drink and the best and easiest place to do it is on the bike.

HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE

Get the fuel on, get the hydration on board on the cycle section

and the more you put on now,

the better it'll be for you later in the race.

Halfway through the ride, just before Dundonald,

the lead has changed.

I'm supporting Bobby Oag, so he was leading just now,

just got overtaken. But he is a really strong swimmer

so he did really well there, got a good lead. Was pretty strong

on the bike but just got overtaken. But the run will be the toughest.

He's still a strong runner but it's, with the two mountains as well,

with the pass and the mountain coming up,

it'll be very, very tough, and especially with such a hard descent.

That means Johan Nykvist of Sweden is now in the lead.

He completed an Ironman in Hawaii last year,

but is not so used to mountain running,

according to his chief cheerleader - Mum.

He has won the Swedish competition O till O,

which is quite a tough one where you swim between islands and you

run on the islands. 55 kilometres running and 12 kilometres swimming.

But the smaller, lighter racers

are starting to catch the heavier competitors.

Stuart Macleod is hanging on to third place,

and making his way up the field is Alex Glasgow from Plockton.

Alex is well known in cycling circles,

but he's never done a triathlon before. So why now?

I saw it in the Free Press, the West Highland Free Press,

and it was on my birthday, today,

so I just thought,

"Well, that's just, you know, I've got to do it then."

And it said in the Free Press, all the spaces, you know,

it's full up, but there may be concessions for local people

and it was more sort of, "Well, I'm local. Maybe I can do it."

I e-mailed them before I even sort of thought, "Do I want to do it?"

I just... It was just, "That means I can probably do it."

They went, "Yeah, you can do it if you want."

And that was, "Oh, right, OK."

So I put myself up for it accidentally.

Six hours 40 minutes into the race

and the support teams are arriving at the transition.

We're expecting bikes fairly soon.

The midges have arrived as well. That'll be great fun

when they're changing over. Not.

There's a strong Scandinavian presence in this inaugural

Celtman Triathlon.

Johan Nykvist from Sweden is one of the best

and he's first to the changeover from bike to run.

THEY SPEAK SWEDISH

The last 30K were tough. Headwind and...

OK, the first 170 weren't easy.

But you're in the lead just now

-so are you feeling confident at this point?

-No.

-No?

My goal is to finish top ten and not get beaten by any girls.

That was my agenda from the start and I'm sticking to that.

-OK, good man.

-Yeah.

Remember to dib out.

Second in, but a full eight minutes behind Johan,

is Stuart Macleod from Edinburgh.

-How are you doing, Stuart?

-Not too bad.

A bit glad to get off that bike, to be honest.

-There was a bit of headwind there, was there?

-Yeah, probably.

I'm not very sure to be honest.

-It's a bit like you're just kind of riding along there.

-Yeah.

Not sure what's going on, but one thing's for sure,

-it was a long bike ride.

-Yeah.

Discarding their bikes, the next stage is a 42 kilometre run.

This is divided into two parts -

the first is on tracks that leads up and over the wild

and remote Coulin Pass, then they tackle the Beinn Eighe

summit of Ruadh Stac Mor, where for safety they are joined by a support

runner but some have chosen to run as a pair from this point onwards.

I'm buddy runner for Alex Glasgow who,

when he finishes the bike section, will come up here to transition,

then he and I will run the final run leg together.

My role is a bit of emotional support in the last few miles.

Yeah, so this is my rucksack. This probably weighs,

I don't know, that might weigh four, five kilos.

This is Alex's rucksack which seems to be somewhat lighter.

I'm not actually allowed to carry stuff for Alex so he's got to

carry this the whole way.

He's been muttering about loading this onto me

but, you know, you've got to play by the rules.

Cyclists are now starting to pile in,

and the next to transition is Oyvind Evensen from Norway.

He was one of the last out of the water

so he's had an amazing ride to work his way up the field.

Running up the Munro, it'll be exciting.

You're looking OK, though. You're looking strong.

-Yeah, hopefully I'll stay strong.

-He was 120th.

-A couple of more hours.

-Oh, really?

-After swimming, 120th.

-I was so cold.

-You were 120th after the swim?

-Yeah. I started to shiver in my body.

-My goodness!

When I passed the last island, it was so cold.

I couldn't feel my fingers for the first 20Ks.

Difficult to change gears and to drink and everything but...

So you smashed that cycle there. You absolutely flew it, yeah.

Yeah, I'm no swimmer.

Oyvind Evensen just behind me,

3rd place so far in the men's competition, was 120th

when he got out the water this morning. Quite extraordinary.

That cycle he's just put in there is incredible, but how much pain has

he inflicted on himself and how much energy has he taken out his body?

He's got the run in the mountains now.

He's looking pretty good, though.

HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE

21st after the swim,

Alex Glasgow is another competitor who's had an excellent bike ride.

It's his strongest discipline

but he's not too sure of his exact position.

So far, so good.

-Amazing! I think I'm 9th or something.

-Yeah, it's fantastic!

And the weather was OK for that cycle, was it?

Perfect! No wind.

No wind and nice and cool,

and now we've got some rain to just cool us down even more.

But you're feeling good though, you're feeling fine?

I really haven't got a clue. I'm about to find out.

-7th at the moment.

-7th?

-OK. Sitting at 7th, yeah.

-8th was just behind you.

OK. Let's see if I can run.

-Alex, what were you after?

-The bottle.

Good luck, boys.

-Make sure you dib out.

-Am I not supposed to dib again?

-Dib out, yes.

Hard on Alex's heels is seasoned triathlon racer

Sean McFarlane from Dollar.

-How are you doing?

-All right, Dougie. I'm all right, yeah.

-You all right, yeah?

-Yeah.

-Looking good, looking strong.

-Yeah.

-How was the cycle?

The cycle was all right.

-It took me about six hours to warm up from the swim.

-Is that right?

-I think I'm just about warm now.

-You like the running bits.

You're always fine with that, aren't you?

-We'll see. Ask me that in six hours.

-OK. Have fun.

See you later.

The first woman here is Susanne Buckenlei

and she's also currently 20th overall.

An amazing achievement, even for someone with her experience.

And to make things more interesting, it's now pouring with rain.

It was tough on the bike.

And the weather's wet now.

-Changed dramatically.

-It does.

I hope it will not change anything for the mountain.

But if it's like that, then we cannot change, of course.

Good, good. You're feeling strong, feeling OK?

-Yeah, I feel OK.

-Well, enjoy the rest of the day.

Thank you. Oh, I will.

So, at the end of the bike leg of the Celtman Extreme Triathlon,

it looks like this -

for the women, Isobel Joiner is in 3rd place

with a total of eight hours 29 minutes and 32 seconds.

Rosemary Byde is just a couple of minutes faster with 08:26:39

and with a time of 07:46:07,

Susanne Buckenlei is well in the lead.

For the men, Oyvind Evensen from Norway is currently in 3rd place

with a total time of 07:15:06.

Stuart Macleod is in 2nd place with 07:07:17 but out in front

is Johan Nykvist from Sweden. His time is 06:57:11.

But as they reach the top of the Coulin Pass,

the lead has already changed.

Johan Nykvist has been overtaken by Stuart Macleod. Oyvind Evensen

is still 3rd but just seconds behind him

is Alex Glasgow with his support runner, Ben Thomson.

It couldn't be tighter as the runners start the first

descent before the long, long climb to

the 3,011-foot-high summit of Ruadh Stac Mor on Beinn Eighe.

We'll be back with all the action here at the Celtman shortly but

first we rejoin Cameron McNeish for a very different type of bike race.

Ten seconds.

It's been a fantastic summer for cycling

and we Scots have been playing our part too.

-Two, one, up!

-Up, up, up, up!

Who can forget Chris Hoy's wonderful Olympic golds

and David Millar's tremendous stage win in the Tour de France?

But the season's not over just yet.

The road season traditionally ends with a series of hill climbs up

and down the length of the country and I'm at one of them today -

the Kingscavil Hill Climb in West Lothian.

This isn't a long race, it's only a mile in length

but it's brutally steep.

Now, traditionally in the Adventure Show the presenter will have a go

and I was looking forward to this event very much, training fairly hard

for it, I have to say, until about a week ago. I was climbing up a little

slope near my house and something went "ping" in my thigh,

and unfortunately it ruled me out so I'm not going to get a go at it

today, but I'm going to enjoy watching everybody else do it.

Someone who's tipped to do well today is Jen Taylor from Edinburgh.

She's been having a terrific year and recently won the gruelling

Tour of the Trossachs race. But for her, cycling is more than just speed.

I guess when I'm on the bike it's probably a bit of a cliche,

but it's a complete stress buster, it clears your mind.

All you really... Whenever I'm on the bike

all I think about is the road,

what's going on with the bike, what's around me, fresh air.

It doesn't matter if it's weather like this.

Is that what goes through your mind when you're racing as well?

No. When you're racing, you're just completely focused.

Depending on what race.

If it's a time trial like the Tour of Trossachs then

you're sort of concentrating on keeping your power up.

You just don't stop pedalling

and don't ease off and just focus and watch the road.

Now that event you just mentioned, the Tour of Trossachs,

it's a fairly long event. This is a much, much shorter one.

The Tour of Trossachs was just under 29 miles

whereas this is just one hill.

The fast guys all do it in just over two minutes.

-Jen Taylor!

-CHEERING

You have to get out the saddle and probably in this

weather your back wheel will be slipping and, depending on how

much you're pulling up on your front, your front wheel might.

It's quite tricky, especially in these conditions.

-Is it going to hurt?

-If you try. It will hurt, yeah.

In hill climbing weight is everything.

You'll see bikes here specially lightened with no rear brakes

and just one gear.

One competitor has even made his own bike.

This is made out of a garden clothes dryer, the main tubes are the...

-A clothes dryer?

-Yeah.

-A garden clothes dryer. Good heavens!

What's actually holding it all together?

-It's nylon tights and epoxy.

-Nylon tights?

-Yes. Yeah, it's very strong.

-Like ladies' nylon tights?

-Yeah, DIY wonder material, yeah.

All sorts of uses.

Go, go, go, go!

Four, three, two, one. Go, go, go, go!

Hill climbs are time trial events, with riders setting off every minute.

This one's very popular with juniors.

I caught up with one 12-year-old with big ideas.

What are your ambitions?

Would you like to be a pro road cyclist at some time?

Yeah, like Bradley Wiggins.

We have with us today Mark Young from British Cycling.

Have you got any questions you want to ask Mark at this point?

Well, it's just how I pace myself, like how hard I should go off,

like percentage-wise? And then where I should really be getting

to the point where I don't want to carry on.

You're going flat out but flat out

and then just a little bit 1% back from that and I think,

really, what we'll do is we need to try the hill and figure out

where we should be doing these

little subtle changes in our effort level.

It's certainly not going to be 50% and then 100%,

it's going to be 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 98, like that.

You get to the point where you really start to think why you wanted

to do it, but you just need to forget about those feelings and just

push through it and you know that there's not far to go and you're not

going to be having that pain for too long

so you just need to keep going.

-It's just really hard.

-This is quite impressive talk from a young fella.

That's exactly what we need from the young riders.

They need to find their limits.

It's not good for us to set the limits for them.

They need to find the limits of their own ability.

Maybe he will fulfil his dreams one day

and become somebody like Bradley Wiggins.

This is the steep part of the climb and I'll tell you,

it's hard even walking up here, never mind cycling.

Go, go, go! Looking good, well done!

Pick a gear! Go, go, go, pick a gear!

That's the winner there, Steven Lawley,

setting a new course record of two minutes ten seconds.

Young Sean Flynn's time was two minutes 54, and Billy Minto

reached the top on his home-made bike in two minutes 50 seconds.

Now it's time to reveal Jen Taylor's time

and it's another record breaking one.

She's the fastest woman ever in this race.

Jen, 2:53, are you pleased with that?

-Yes. Is that the official time then?

-Yeah.

Yeah, really pleased with that.

I think, really I was thinking it was 3:15, really. A good target.

I'm a bit disappointed I didn't get my full effort out,

but, yeah, pretty pleased.

So what do you mean by that?

I wasn't dying at the top, draped over my handlebars.

This event at Kingscavil has been a real eye-opener for me and I

previously didn't know that cyclists put themselves through this sort

of torture and to watch them on the steep section there, with the face in

pain and the thighs obviously burning up was something else. Although

I have to say that I do feel a bit disappointed I didn't really get a

chance to tackle it myself, but that might be something for the future.

My only great fear is that I suspect I could well have been lapped

and it's a straight course.

Winter is now upon us and many keen mountaineers will be heading

out with their ice axes and crampons.

Scotland has always had a reputation for producing world class

climbers and the latest in a long line of these is Greg Boswell.

His family moved up north of the border when he was three

and he's made the Scottish hills his own.

Now he's pushing the limits on the hardest routes,

especially in winter.

I think the thing I like most about the winter climbing is you get

so many different aspects.

You don't just turn up to a crag and go rock climbing,

you've got the weather to contend with, you've got

brutal, mean conditions, you've got the cold,

you've got to suffer a lot more, you've got to fight on the routes,

and there's just a whole more aspect that just makes it a lot more

enjoyable and take up a lot more of the experiences.

There's much more coming at you and it's really good.

You get that feeling where you've got up a route in winter

and you've battled through the cold and the elements and you

get to the top and it feels really, really good and it's just amazing.

Then having the bad days, the good days make it worth it.

Greg works on a farm in Fife and that's not the easiest place

to train for these kinds of routes. So he's also become

an expert in a very specialised form of climbing - one where he can

fit in practice sessions

when it's too dark to work outside on the land.

After that kind of hard work, most people would want to spend

the night sitting in front of the TV.

But for Greg, the really hard work begins.

Wait till you see what he's built in here.

'I built this, these two walls just so that after work

'I can just come down and train,

'whatever hours I want, as much as I want.'

So I don't have to worry about paying to go climbing,

I can train and go straight to the mountains

as soon as they're in condition.

This is dry tooling. You climb with ice axes but there's no ice.

Greg is one of the best in the UK.

Dry tooling is a funny one.

It originated from... One aspect was people training.

People used to train for winter climbs, they wanted to get used to

using their axes and their crampons so they would train

on climbing walls and on rock and under bridges and stuff

to get used to using these axes and crampons in action.

And then the other aspect was a very continental style over in Europe,

Italy and France, where you had these big, dry rock caves

with big hanging icicles at the end of them

and people wanted to get to those amazing-looking icicles

so they would climb the dry rock with their axes and crampons,

ready to get straight onto the ice because the rock would

be all frozen and icy and too cold to climb with your hands.

Then people developed whole crags just for this type of climbing

and training for all these different aspects of the sport. So it's

just developed into its own type of climbing genre in its own right.

They have competitions in dry tooling.

They have whole crags and grading scales in climbing -

a grade system just for dry tooling, so, yeah,

it's definitely developed its own little aspect of genre of the sport.

So that all looked mightily impressive

and in the great tradition of the Adventure Show, I'm going

to have a go, just to show you how difficult it truly is.

Greg, take me through it now, the basic principles of dry tooling.

OK, what we'll do is I'll start off teaching you how to

use the axes then you'll have a bit of a climb

and I'll give you some pointers from there, and we'll see how you do.

There's quite a few different hand positions to use with these axes.

What you'll want to do is to

keep your hands on the rubber black handle,

then if you get to a point where you want to swap

hands or swap over, you just stick your hand on the other handle here.

-And then grab the other axe.

-Okey-dokey. Here we go.

So straight away, I'm seeing this big fella here.

-That's a really good one.

-And I like big fellas. And feet where?

Stick your feet wherever feels comfortable.

OK, this bit looks definitely for the left hand, and then...

And stick your feet on wherever you feel comfortable.

OK, here we go.

Yeah, that's brilliant.

And can you do left axe up to the number two? Nice!

And then if you straighten your legs so that you're on your...

There you go, and can you put two axes on this hole, and this is

what I was talking about earlier, about keeping the pole down.

Now you've got to keep the pole even.

-That's it, walk up and move your arm over.

-Which one?

That one, yes, that's it.

If you pull it back, there is a hole drilled into the end of the...

Oh, blimey!

There is a hole drilled into the... Right here.

-There you go. That's the jug hold we were talking about.

-Oh, dear me!

If you swap feet and put your left foot on here

then what you'll be able to do is match the hold with your...

over the thumb, like I was saying.

Now you'll be able to grab the top of the tool.

So I want to be putting my...

So, can you slowly release your right foot?

Yeah, then if you just try

and roll that foot off and roll that one up.

Perfect. Left foot over here, and then if you take that

and stick it over your thumb. Grab the top handle. There you go.

-And stick it over your other thumb.

-What, to hold it on?

Yeah, on the top hand, perfect, that's brilliant.

Then you're ready to move again, out to this hold here.

There's another jug hold in this green...

There you go, now you're on an even steeper one.

Oh, my goodness gracious! And now I'm stopping.

Wow! I mean, that's just

so hard and my arms are feeling so pumped already.

-Yeah, it's crazy how your arms start to take it in.

-Yeah.

Yeah, you get tired pretty quick.

I don't think I'll be worrying the dry tool competitions over

the next few years. But with the skill and dedication of Greg,

he can push the sport to a whole new level.

I basically set my sights as high as they go

and just train until I can fulfil those goals, basically.

Pushing the sport, progressing the sport, taking it to new limits.

Not just my limits but the boundaries of the sport.

Things are getting a bit demanding.

Welcome to the Celtman Extreme Triathlon.

We're here in Glen Torridon waiting for the racers to come through

the checkpoint for the final leg of their journey -

the mountain run.

And that's just the small matter of going up and over Beinn Eighe.

And the battle is on for the lead.

Johan Nykvist from Sweden has once again squeezed

ahead into 1st place, but the crux of the whole race lies ahead and

Johan's support runner,

Bodil Norrborn, is worried about this section.

I think the scree is somewhat terrifying.

Not terrifying but it's somewhat scary.

You have to really pay attention to what you do and what you don't do.

HE SPEAKS SWEDISH

You've got two minutes, don't worry.

And what a race it's turning out to be.

Stuart Macleod's just 41 seconds behind.

Yeah, OK.

The bike was good and the swim was good as well.

The running is my weakness.

These guys caught me pretty early, after four kilometres or something.

I think he has some stomach problems or something.

I'm happy about that but we'll see.

Like I said before, I wanted to finish top ten,

and not get beaten by any girls.

When you start running, it's different from the bike.

You can't eat as much and everything's, kind of,

it's a bit distressing. So it's difficult, but it passes.

Are we good? Are we good?

Yeah, good luck!

Dib out, go, go!

They've been racing now for over nine hours

yet there's only seconds between the next three runners -

Sean McFarlane, Oyvind Evensen, and Alex Glasgow.

Your support, your kit, all of it. I need to see all of it, please.

-How are you doing?

-Am I allowed to talk with my mouth full on camera?

Of course. It's much more interesting.

Aah! Yeah, not too bad.

Not too bad. So far, yeah, we'll see.

-How are you feeling about this next section?

-I'm scared.

Still in the lead for the women and now in 19th place overall is

Susanne Buckenlei from Germany but she's still not confident of a win.

The thing is, I don't know that mountain yet

so I have no idea what is going up there...going on up there,

so this is of course different.

But I know I will do one step after the other and then

I will come to the top and then we have to run down in a careful way.

So I think we're ready to go.

Further up the hill, birthday boy Alex Glasgow

and his support runner, Ben Thomson, have taken the lead. Emerging from

the mist they've passed three other runners to be first to the summit.

It's an amazing achievement.

Alex is no stranger to winning but normally on a bike.

This is his first ever triathlon -

one he's been meticulously preparing for.

I recced Beinn Eighe twice. Both times I fell over.

The second time, I splatted my knee into a rock, hard, and I...

You know, when you crash you sort of quite often

just get up and on you go.

This time I was down and went, "Oh, dear, dear."

And I spent five minutes sitting on the ground but it's

sort of taught me to concentrate. You've got to absolutely focus.

As soon as you start drifting off in your head,

you'll get something wrong.

There's a change in 2nd place too. Now it's Sean McFarlane.

He reaches the shrouded summit of Ruadh Stac Mor, 980 metres,

3,011 feet above sea level.

-Yeah, what race number are you?

-49.

-Cheers.

-Let's go. Well done.

Go for it.

That means Stuart Macleod

has slipped from 2nd to 3rd place on the climb.

Perhaps his stomach pains have returned.

That's it. Nice one. Cheers. Take it easy on the way down.

-Cheers, thanks.

-Well done!

Still 4th at the summit is Norwegian Oyvind Evensen.

-Well done!

-Thank you.

You're doing really well.

-You're 12 minutes behind the first guy. You're 4th.

-Yeah, I know.

-Thank you.

-Plenty of time to catch up.

Yeah, I have to wait for my support runner.

You can go straight down, yeah. Don't worry about him.

-He's struggling. I have to train him harder for next year!

-Well done.

Take it easy on the way down.

Oyvind had a really strong bike leg but he was worried about the run.

Actually, I only done seven run trips in four months

because I have the injury in my leg.

I have a broken bone in my left foot. I had, it's good now.

Hopefully it's still good. I'll feel it tomorrow.

But, you have to run, you have to run a lot. And uphill

and rocky places, that's the key thing here.

It's heavy. Hard going upwards.

However, the big Swede, Johan Nykvist, has dropped from 1st

to 6th, struggling on the mountain as he suspected he might.

-We were in the lead when we entered the mountain.

-OK.

-That was then.

-This was tough. Tough.

-Then you had to carry me around.

-Let's go.

-Yeah.

-Good luck.

-Thank you.

-Take it easy on the loose bits.

-Yeah.

You're doing brilliant!

The first woman racer to the top is Susanne Buckenlei.

Leading the women's competition as she has from the start.

You have to train regularly for this so it does not make sense to

sign up and then start the training three months before.

I think a year is...

If you really start at zero then you should use a year

and then start with the short distance, middle distance

and maybe in three years then a long distance.

I don't like if people say, "Oh, I have to do that too,"

and then three months later they have to do that.

Then they walk, and it doesn't make sense.

-I have been grumpy today.

-That's putting it mildly.

I've shouted at them a few times.

-Stroppy would be a better word.

-More like a teenager.

-Enjoy.

-Thank you.

Are you having a good day?

Yes. It depends.

It depends on your definition of good, mind.

What's your definition of good?

Swaying in between pants and OK.

You've still got to get down.

It's quite a tricky path on the way down so

hoping to do a bit of running on the way down.

But I'm enjoying this, just walking up to the top.

Yeah, it's great.

Currently in 2nd place for the women is Rosemary Byde from Edinburgh.

-How are you feeling?

-Tired.

-Yeah.

-I just keep plugging away and

don't think about how much it hurts.

How has the race been for you so far?

Better than I expected.

I thought I'd be a bit slower on the bike

so I was really pleased with the bike leg. I really enjoyed it

when it got to the second half with the long, sustained hills.

I'm just trying to keep it up doing the run. Run, walk.

I'm also going to say it's been great, all the supporters,

not just mine but everybody's been cheering like along the road

and on the tracks and

it's been really great cos it's such an encouragement when you're

feeling tired, to see people shouting

or doing highland flings and things like that.

-Does it really help keep you going, do you think?

-Absolutely it does.

It really does.

-Awesome route, that. Awesome.

-You get good views?

Yeah, it cleared just a little bit, then back into fog. OK.

-This is where we go down?

-Yes.

It's loose, it's loose, very loose.

-Slightly easier on the right.

-Slightly easier on the right.

It's very loose. Be careful, if you knock any stones off you have to

shout down below because there's boys below you, OK?

On a hill like this, going down is often harder work than going up

and more dangerous too.

We can just see the first runners reaching the bottom

of the great scree slope that runs down from the Beinn Eighe ridge.

As they draw closer, it's clear Alex Glasgow is not only hanging

on to the lead, he's extending it.

The rocky stuff at the top of Beinn Eighe and down the back

of the triple buttress is really like mountain biking. You're

just down, da-da-da-da, you know, and picking your line and

keeping looking forward and you're just dancing down it.

Sean McFarlane is descending fast,

trying to catch Alex on the downhill.

He was obviously good on the hill cos I was going OK on the hill.

I'm not a bad hill runner, especially for a triathlete.

But he came past me on the hill, heading up.

Although he was walking but he was walking fast.

I thought, "Right, if we get to the top and do some running,

"I'll probably catch him," but he pulled away.

It was quite misty and every now and again the mist cleared

and you'd see him, and he was a good bit away.

3rd and 4th place racers are running side by side.

It looks like Stuart Macleod

and Oyvind Evensen have dropped their support runners.

By now the competitors are spread all over this mountain.

-Wait till I do my hair.

-What hair?

-Well done. Good one.

-Cheers. Nice one, thanks.

-Hiya.

-I couldn't wait to do this.

-You're doing great.

This is Pete, Stirling Triathlon Club, he's doing a great job here.

-I'm just the mere support man.

-Last top, then it's home.

How are you doing?

-Looking forward to a pint.

-I'll bet.

Down at the finish line in Torridon, and the end, for some at least,

is in sight.

Alex Glasgow, incredible performance from this man. Quite sensational.

CHEERING

Brilliant, brilliant swim this morning. A wonderful cycle

and that run -

mountain marathon with a Munro thrown in for good measure.

He absolutely smashes it and that is sensational.

The Celtman champion, the first time they've run this race

and it's won by a Scotsman. Did absolutely brilliantly.

I hadn't swum or run for 20-something years at school.

-Really?

-Seriously, I hadn't.

Like I'd messed about on the beach, you know, swimming a wee bit.

I hadn't even run for a bus for 20 years

and it's my first triathlon.

It's just shocking!

Here, coming up in second place, Sean McFarlane,

again, a brilliant run from this Scotsman.

CHEERING

He did so wonderfully well on the swim.

He kept it together on the cycle ride

and that run, again, is just sensational as well.

Sean McFarlane, over the line, a bit of blood on the elbow there.

But that is a great, great race.

-Congratulations, a 2nd place finish, and tight at the end.

-Yeah, it was.

I could see the guy in 1st coming down the roads and at one point he

seemed quite close and then I think at the end he put in a big effort

to get away from me. And he did. So, yeah, but it was pretty tight, yeah.

It was good though, it was good. I'm over the moon with 2nd. Fantastic.

-Did you know Alex Glasgow beforehand?

-No.

Cos this was his first triathlon.

Oh, don't tell me that. I feel terrible now!

Alex is very well known as a biker. Clearly he's a pretty fit guy.

Yeah, I was surprised how good he was because I've not seen many

triathletes who are technically good on the hill

because they're used to concrete

and that's where I make up a lot of time.

I'm not good on the hill but compared to triathletes I am.

I thought, "Right, I'll get him on this," and then he just went.

So, no, he's good, he's good.

Yeah, honestly I can't really explain why today went so well.

I have no... I can't believe nobody's quicker.

Like they've come from all over the world,

a bloke from just down the road's won it.

It's mad.

And coming over the line in 3rd place,

Oyvind Evensen from Norway, again, that was a fantastic run from him.

He had a terrible, terrible swim earlier on,

a brilliant bike ride and a...

that was a brilliant run! Very, very impressive indeed.

So Scotland, one, two, Norway, three.

-Congratulations to you, a 3rd place finish, brilliant!

-Thank you.

Thank you very much. I'm really surprised.

I didn't expect this at all. It's my second long distance triathlon.

And I was far behind after the swimming. 120th or something.

And then really good biking, OK running.

It was good enough for 3rd place, at least.

So here comes Susanne Buckenlei from Germany.

She's won the Norseman over in Norway.

She doesn't know her way to the finish line however.

Excellent effort there. Absolutely brilliant.

She led after the cycle, looking really strong,

really comfortable and it's her birthday today,

just like Alex Glasgow, the winner of the men's race.

-It's your birthday.

-Thank you. Thank you very much.

-It's my birthday.

-It's yours? Congratulations!

-I won as well.

-No, really!

-Obviously destined to be birthday people.

-That is great!

-That is really cool. How old are you?

-43.

-OK then.

I knew half way that I have a big lead

but I didn't want to slow down because of that.

I really want to push myself to do a good race here

and now it's first time so it's a record.

So it has to be broken once. So of course you want to be fast and that

is hard for the next one.

So, yeah, I really enjoyed it but it hurt a lot.

It's a tough race. It is, yeah.

And confirmation of those final results. In the women's race,

Isobel Joiner from Edinburgh came in 3rd with a time of 16 hours

five minutes and 34 seconds.

In 2nd place is another Edinburgh lass, Rosemary Byde,

who completed the course in 16 hours and 23 seconds

and taking the top spot for the women, and 15th place overall,

is Susanne Buckenlei from Germany

with a great time of 13 hours, 55:33.

For the men, 3rd place goes to Oyvind Evensen

with a time of 12 hours, 27:44.

Sean McFarlane is in 2nd with 12:12:13

but the winner here today, in his first ever triathlon,

is Alex Glasgow with a time of 12:09:48.

And that's almost it for this month's Adventure Show

but just before we go, here's Cameron with news of two special

programmes for the Christmas period.

Despite being able to boast some of the finest walking routes in the

world, Scotland's never had a long distance walking trail that starts at

one end of the country and finishes at the other.

But it has now.

The Scottish National Trail begins in Kirk Yetholm

amongst the lovely rolling hills of the Borders

and works its way through the country to finish at Cape Wrath,

the most northwesterly point on the British mainland.

In between, the route visits both our national parks, our capital

city of Edinburgh and passes through some of the finest landscapes you'll

find anywhere.

So why don't you join me as I walk Scotland, end to end?

For full details of those special programmes

and all the Adventure Show news, follow us on Facebook.

In the meantime, our congratulations to the organisers, competitors

and supporters who have made the Celtman an instant classic

and one that Scotland can be truly proud of.

From all of us, bye for now.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd