Episode 4 The Adventure Show

Hello and a very warm welcome to The Adventure Show.

This month, we're in Wester Ross for the one and only

Celtman Extreme Scottish Triathlon.

Now this is not an event for weekend warriors.

Only the most hardened endurance athletes need apply because this

is one of the most brutal triathlon courses anywhere in the world.

This is something that's real, it's hard, you know.

You don't know if you've finished.

It's terrifying and exhilarating at the same time.

Is this supposed to be fun?

And it's tough going even from the very start.

The swim begins in Inverbain over there

and finishes at Shieldaig Village over here.

3km in jellyfish infested waters with

temperatures as low as ten degrees.

It's completely out of our comfort zone.

Then it's off with the wetsuits and on to the bikes.

This is where competitors will spend a huge chunk of their day.

For some, up to seven hours pounding their way through 202km

of some of Scotland's finest scenery.

Scotland is amazing.

Look over there! Look around. Wow!

It's amazing, dramatic views and...

-I love Scotland!

-Yay!

But even then it's still not over.

After the bike section, there's 42km of running

up and over two munros on the Beinn Eighe ridge.

Now I don't mind a challenge but this is something else entirely.

Woo hoo!

I'm absolutely shattered, but at least you'll catch me on film

a bit as I roll down the hill.

Also in this month's

Adventure Show, we join a team of walkers and runners attempting

a new challenge that could soon become a Scottish classic.

Welcome to the Metric Munros.

That's our 130 summits over 1,000 metres.

Conveniently, they're all on the mainland.

And to make it more interesting,

the relay team on this first attempt are going green,

travelling between them by bike or boat.

It's a huge challenge. 130 mountains.

If it all comes together smoothly, it'll be fantastic.

But first to the Celtman.

It's 4.45am and these competitors

are rather nervous at the prospect of a chilly dip in Loch Shieldaig.

This event's only four years old but already it's become a classic.

Over 600 people entered,

only 200 made it to the final ballot.

47 countries are represented,

from Australia, New Zealand, Kazakhstan, even French Polynesia.

It's going to be tough, it's going to be difficult,

it's going to be exhausting but worst of all, it's really,

really midgey this time of the morning.

Oh, my goodness! I'd rather be in the water.

I'm loving the fact you're both smiling.

Will you still be in 13 hours' time?

Um, I think so because I think that

when I'm done with the swim, my face will be frozen like this!

THEY LAUGH

Good morning. How are we all feeling?

-How are you feeling?

-Yeah, not bad, thank you.

Yeah it's a little bit early but I've had an hour's sleep

and my friend was just telling me there that I've...actually, after

I do the swim, I'm going to have swam longer than I've slept today,

so awesome! Ready!

Are you worried, concerned?

What are your thoughts ahead of this race?

I just don't want to eat too many jellyfish.

Jelly babies - no jellyfish.

It's when they tickle your face, then they're somewhere near

your mouth, you get really scared

and they're just like ugly creatures.

I don't know how anybody can find them

beautiful in the slightest.

All I'm focusing on is the swim.

The cycle, that's another day.

And the run's like a fortnight away.

Yeah, oh that's next month, That's after my holiday!

The Celtman doesn't just attract people from right

around the world, it's also highly addictive.

Many who've taken part before willingly return, including

last year's women's champion, Marie Meldrum.

-It's just...you've got a big target there on your back.

-Right.

so yeah, it puts a lot of pressure on you

but it's not about winning for me, it's about just trying to beat

my...you know, get the personal best in the conditions that we have and

you can't really get nervous about swimming that goes on for so long.

There's no questioning the sheer brutality of this race.

The fastest will be on the go for nearly 12 hours

while mere mortals will take 18 hours or more.

First, there's that 3km plunge across Loch Shieldaig,

then it's onto the bikes to peddle through Kinlochewe,

along Loch Maree and onto Gairloch.

But the ride's not over yet.

The consistently undulating road winds back via Achnasheen

and onto Achnashellach.

And finally, there's the running.

Up and over the Coulin Pass and gruelling ascent of Ben Eighe

and a final steep drop down, down, down to Torridon.

That's all ahead. First, there's that infamous swim.

Chris Stirling's back for his third attempt

and being the runner-up last year, there's a lot to live up to.

Well, I'm not a natural swimmer but if you're getting into the water

I always splash my face with water before jumping in and it

stops that cold shock reaction that your body does otherwise.

I splash my face, splash my neck, walk in and then just float on

my back for a few seconds and relax and then get my face in the water.

-MEGAPHONE:

-Stand by.

So here we go. Seconds before the Celtman 2015.

HORN SOUNDS And there's the horn and they are off.

The Celtman is under way.

The water turns into a boiling mess.

Arms, legs - everything's kicking and they're off for what is one of the

most beautiful and glorious races in the European calendar

but also one of the most difficult

and it's a big day - a very, very big day.

For some, they like to get to the front of the field

and attack the swim.

For others, it's survive the swim.

This is something big for me.

I broke my back a couple of years ago so I have problem.

I have to do it because if I'm not training,

I will sit in a wheelchair.

I just like to take a part of this and I think it's amazing.

When I first knew about it, I was support for somebody and...

I love doing that but I thought there's

no way I could ever manage that swim.

I'm a terrified swimmer and I also suffer from Raynaud's Syndrome

so I didn't even contemplate being able to ever do it.

And, yeah, I did it last year.

I was really terrified but I did do it.

Just ten minutes into the race

and already the field has stretched fairly dramatically.

The fastest racers are probably, I would say,

500, 600, even 1,000 metres ahead of the stragglers

and they will not be able to see Shieldaig.

They'll come out and turn right and see home, as far as the swim's

concerned, probably in around ten minutes or so.

But this is a long way and this year the tide is against.

Tide and wind are against the swimmers

so not only is it a difficult start to a very long day,

it's made doubly difficult by the conditions.

I was sort of thinking

about singing the, the SpongeBob SquarePants song.

Calming myself down with a little bit of humour,

just you know, some good advice that I had was just take it as a warm up.

Just enjoy it.

How often do you get to swim in a sea loch at five in the morning?

I love to swim because I'm a windsurfer and I like water.

It's cold water and in Polish sea, Baltic, is cold too.

Cold water, this is not my problem.

This is a challenge, yes, this is challenge for everyone.

It's a pretty mammoth and miserable start to this race

and most people wouldn't even contemplate going in the water

unless it was warm and sunny, maybe the Mediterranean or the Caribbean.

But in true dedicated fashion, I'm going to take the plunge.

I'm joined now by Sean McFarlane who has done pretty well

in previous years in the Celtman but you've had some

difficulties in some years, in the swim in particular.

Every year in the swim has been tricky.

The first year, I had a good race, so I forgot about the swim

and I came to the next year and got in real trouble.

But last year I managed to get the swim much better - not perfect,

but it's a cold, cold swim and it needs a lot of preparation.

This is a wetsuit that I got a few years ago which

I got for windsurfing in general, splashing about in waves and things.

It's very different from yours.

Yeah, and I have to say you're not alone in your choice of wetsuit but

it's completely inappropriate for what we're trying to do here today.

-Uh huh.

-Just looking at it straight away, it's far too baggy,

it's old as well, it's lost a lot of shape,

-especially the back of the neck here.

-And that's just me.

It's old and baggy and lost a lot of shape.

Any cold water on your spine is horrible.

It's OK if its 20 degree water. This is not.

So there's gaps here and it's also very heavy.

And it will fill with water

and it will constantly flush through with cold water - THIS cold water.

This is a tri suit. There's lots of these available.

It's much better-fitting and even in this cold water, it's very

advantageous to have one of these.

-So I should get this stuff on, should I?

-I think so.

-Let's do it.

So I have to confess, Sean,

I've never actually done open water swimming ever before.

And I'm nervous about this.

Not only about the cold water but...

Aaaah! Right, OK. OK! THEY LAUGH

The most important thing I think is to avoid the shock

of the cold water, so what you need

to do is start your cold water response system.

You can do the back of the neck?

Whoo!

If you're really brave, put your head in.

Really brave.

Whoo!

Goggles on.

So let's just man it up for 30 seconds, OK?

And then we'll regroup

and we'll see where we are, OK? One, two three.

You will get into some sort of rhythm

but the actual start is much more difficult, because it's quite scary

and your system hasn't had a chance to actually fire up, as it were.

Woo hoo hoo hoo!

From initially coming into the water thinking it was fine,

even just doing 50 or 60 strokes, which is nothing,

it's like when you go out for a run and it's really cold

and you can't get a breath properly into your lungs.

And you get a mouthful of water

and are panicking a wee bit and all that.

It's not that comfortable at all, is it?

No, and you wouldn't want to be in here for, what,

more than 20 minutes, maybe?

Is it purgatory, or is there joy in open water swimming?

I don't like pool swimming. I don't like being indoors.

I don't like chorine.

I'm not a good swimmer but I do love open water swimming.

It's important in all aspects of Celtman to actually look up

and see where you are.

I think a lot of people put the head down, especially in the swim

but it is glorious.

'I would not want to be doing that for a long time.

'I'm cold and my hands are freezing.

'This is tough.

'The thought of doing a massive bike ride after that,

'then a marathon over a mountain - no, thank you!

'Others are much tougher than me.'

Now back to the real athletes.

Surprisingly, some people LIKE the swim.

Out in the lead at the moment for the women is

Siobhan Prise from Aberdeen.

My mum chucked me in the pool before I could swim and just,

"Go!" you know, "Go and swim", so I was probably swimming

because I learned it from such a young age

and I guess I managed to get the technique right from a young age.

It's always harder learning

something new when you're, you know, a little bit older.

So compared to the normal average triathlete,

probably my swimming's the strongest point.

But, you know, in triathlon it's all really about the bike

and the run - it's not about the swimming at all!

And we can see the first of the swimmers approaching the shore now.

Maybe about another hundred metres to go.

Making really good time today.

And it looks like there's quite a few of them coming in together.

Seeing a little bit of a break away there from three

obviously a bit of a last spurt there to try

and get out of the water as quickly as they possibly can.

Get as much of a lead as possible.

First out of the water is Gregoire Geffray from France.

He's completed the swim in just 45 minutes and 29 seconds.

But less than 30 seconds separates the top three.

Scottish triathlete Nick Weir is out in 45.37

and Englishman Scott Molina, 45.57.

-That was a fantastic swim.

-Yes!

-How did that feel for you?

-Was it OK?

-It was OK.

-Yeah? Well done.

I was so...probably trying to

compete against him the whole length.

What was the water temperature like today?

-I didn't notice!

-Was it as cold as you expected it to be?

I just focus on the pain!

Good job, mate.

How long do you think it'll take you to start warming up

when you get on the bike?

-Er...

-It'll be a while.

-Yeah, it's not too bad.

-Probably be mid-July!

-Yeah!

-SHE LAUGHS

So the first biker on the road,

202km ahead is Gregoire Geffray,

the Frenchman, and looking pretty comfortable.

What an incredible swim and transition that was from him.

Choosing short sleeves and shorts for the day ahead.

Not the warmest but it will get warmer.

Still, not yet six o'clock in the morning.

Beautiful scenery here in the northwest coast of Scotland.

Back at transition, the first woman,

Siobhan Prise, is only five minutes behind the leader.

What a great swim she's had.

She's currently in sixth place overall.

That's fantastic, you're out of the water in under an hour.

-Oh, yeah?

-How does that feel?

-That's great, it feels great.

I mean swimming, is my strong point I'd hope to...and the thing is,

it's so cold that you kind of want to get out as fast as possible,

because the longer you're in, you're more susceptible to hypothermia.

-You're still smiling.

-Yeah, I know!

-It's amazing.

Well, I do have 126 miles to go,

so maybe after that, we'll see if I'm still smiling!

Now the swimmers are flooding in.

Most are relieved this section is over.

-As cold as you expected?

-Yes!

-OK, it's very hard.

-Good. I enjoyed it, yeah, yeah.

Got tucked in behind a couple of people. Quite nice.

Did you ACTUALLY enjoy it?

It was all right. This is the bit I'm not looking forward to.

The worst was the jellyfish. That was horrible

but OK, just keep swimming!

It's a bit warmer than I thought it would be, so it was OK, actually.

It was fun. It was like jellyfish slalom!

Heading out of Shieldaig, there's

already stiff competition on the bikes.

Dirk Zangen from Germany was fourth out of the water

but now he's overtaking Scott Molina and Nick Weir.

The early stages of the race, really just getting into a rhythm,

getting the muscles warm.

That's the great thing about a triathlon like this,

you're really challenging the whole body -

upper body, mainly, in the swim

but it's all about the legs for the next 202km.

Well done.

The first part of the ride is pretty lumpy.

Some big climbs and it settles down into a flat

time trial of about 100km or so.

But we're off and running and still only 6.10 in the morning.

As the racers settle into what's going to be an extremely long

time in the saddle, we're going to take a short break

from the Celtman Extreme Scottish Triathlon.

Right now, we're going east to Dingwall for something new

and equally testing.

Archie's Mountain Challenge is a relay event

and it sounds deceptively simple -

running up Scotland's Metric Munros.

That's 130 mountains over 1,000 metres.

But that's not quite the whole picture.

To qualify, they must have a drop of 100 metres on all sides

and just to really confuse everyone, three mountains that aren't

technically Munros fall within this definition.

There's just one more thing - to make it more of a challenge,

the team are linking them by bike or kayak.

It's absolutely unique.

It's never been done before so, yeah,

that's what makes it a great, a great adventure.

It's going to be complex but I think the attraction is just

to get involved in something huge that might never be done again.

It's a one-off.

It's a huge challenge. 130 mountains.

If it all comes together smoothly, it'll be fantastic.

The challenge is the brainchild of Paul Fettes,

an anaesthetist at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee.

He wants to encourage more people into our hills

and raise awareness of the plight of local sick children.

It's very exciting, really. It's everything that I envisaged,

which is really particularly exciting. And it's under way.

It starts with a symbolic dip of the toe in the North Sea,

and that includes young Rabbie, who's multitasking.

He's both the challenge mascot and a GPS tracker.

Rabbie's a sociable creature which is just as well, as he'll be

passed from person to person.

With over 50 folk involved,

the logistics have been extremely complicated.

The intention is to completely challenge within, sort of,

two to three weeks.

The total distance is about 1,400 kilometres and the total hike climb

is nearly 88,000 metres, which is pretty much

the equivalent of ten Everests, if you started at sea level.

To make it fit in that time, they plan to run as much of the daytime

as possible - into the night, if the route suits and the timing suits.

The handovers are going to be quite remote in some cases,

so actually the planning logistics,

getting the runners there to receive our baton and move onwards is

quite tricky and that takes a lot of effort and planning.

After 40km on the road, the riders arrive at the foot

of Ben Wyvis to hand over Rabbie for the run up the first mountain.

-Is this the rabbit?

-Yeah.

But this challenge isn't just for hardened athletes.

On two of the 130 hills, they'll be joined by a group of walkers

who are equally committed but also have youngsters in tow.

This is just an absolutely phenomenal challenge,

because I think there are two elements to it.

There's the actual cycling and the running itself

but there's also the organisational thing.

I mean, having to set up a challenge to try

and get 40 folk up Ben Wyvis, 40 folk up Schiehallion,

then also to cycle between all those hills and run up all the 4,000 feet

hills in Scotland is absolutely massive.

And I think when these guys get that done - and I've got every

faith that they will - then I think they'll deserve their pint.

It has been quite a lot of work.

When Paul originally said, "Can you plan the route?"

There was me thinking I can easily plan a route in an evening or two

but the time and effort that has to go into ensuring that a pair

of runners at the right time on the right day has taken a lot of time.

The organisers probably couldn't have chosen a worse summer.

This is the start of June, yet it's wet,

very windy and the summit of Ben Wyvis still has snow cover.

-Wahey!

-Hey!

That was hard. We were last minute replacements.

I was asked to do it on Thursday.

Somebody called off sick! So, yes.

So me and Claire stepped in.

Well done, Kirsty.

Right, thank you very much, Barry, have a good ride.

That was actually quite nice. Pretty blowy on the top.

Quite a lot of snow but better than anticipated.

I've never run a Munro before.

That was my first Munro that I've done

but that's enjoyable. I'd do that again. That's lovely.

Are you all right?

As soon as the runners are down from Ben Wyvis, the bikers

are off again heading for Beinn Dearg and the next set of runners.

Well done, well done. Good effort. Good effort.

-That was a tough ride up that hill.

-Yeah, into the wind.

Cheers. Have fun.

See you in a bit, guys.

It's not just the logistics of the challenge that

has taken a lot of organising.

The support is also vital to success.

So this is the camper van that was donated by Paul's auntie.

So this follows everybody round on the various legs

and it's always at the bottom of each hill so that

when you come off you know you've got warmth and sustenance.

While Barry and his son Rory take a well-earned break, runners

Jason Hardy and Simon Crawley are having a tough time on the hill.

It's pretty boggy, pretty wet.

A lot of it we were running through, you now, peat bogs and things

so it's pretty difficult to pick your path through there.

And then it was snowing on the summit just to make it

extra special for us(!)

But, in spite of the wintery conditions,

they've completed Beinn Dearg on schedule.

The last 200 metres was knee-deep snow.

We were having to kick steps. It's 1st June(!)

It just seems bonkers,

so I'm glad to be back down with some food.

OK, well done.

Two down, 128 to go and mascot Rabbie's still on the move.

We'll be back later in the programme to see how the relay team get on.

They never said it was hilly!

Welcome back to the Celtman Extreme Scottish Triathlon.

Now the leading competitors are eating up the miles on this

cycle part of the course but way back at transition others are trying

to convince themselves they're not cold and they're not tired.

Who are they kidding?

-Smile for the camera.

-Oh!

As the second half of the field is coming in now,

you can see people just starting to look really, really cold.

Obviously the longer they've been in the water the worst they're

going to feel, so there's a big difference between those that

have come out first in under an hour and those that are coming out now

who've been in almost an hour-and-a-half.

Woo-hoo!

-How was that swim section?

-It was OK. It was good thanks, yeah.

A mass of the jellyfish apart from one in my mouth.

Oh, really? Oh, goodness!

It wasn't as cold as I thought it was going to be.

I was really looking forward to it and then I got really nervous

because I thought I was going to lose my goggles as well,

and that would have been a bit bad, you know.

I couldn't really see where I was going because, you know,

my hair was... But it was fun.

Out on the road, Dirk Zangen, who was fourth out of the water,

is making spectacular progress.

Two years ago he came in tenth.

Most people would be satisfied with that, but not Dirk.

This time I started preparing much earlier,

so October last year reached out to my coach.

Started slowly because last year I didn't do anything.

I had like foot surgery and, yeah,

training was really well structured and was going well.

And last week's actually didn't go so good.

I was a bit concerned.

I had some, you know, some flu and all this stuff, business trips.

It wasn't that easy but I came here one week earlier

so I really had time to relax which was really good.

You know you feel directly if you get good legs.

My wife always laughs at this and asks,

"Do you have good legs or not?"

Halfway round the course, as he heads out of Gairloch,

Dirk Zangen's now over ten minutes clear of his nearest rival,

Norwegian triathlete Thor Hesselberg.

But he's under pressure from Estonian Heiko Sepp

who's rapidly closing the gap.

A former professional road cyclist he's now attracted to extreme

events like this one and its Norwegian counterpart.

A few years ago I heard about the Norseman

and it was like more emotions

and I said, "OK, I will take part of this."

First time it was so hard, you know,

I was like I feel like I will die

but if you're already done with that, then you feel like,

yeah, I need to take some new challenge

and, after that, I tried a normal Ironman.

You know it's not the same.

For the women, Siobhan Prise was first out of the water

and she's still out in front at the moment.

She's a fan of the Celtman and the ethos behind it.

It's such a special event and I'm from Scotland

and you know to be able to come and compete at something as epic

as this in Scotland and you know you're out on the bike course

and you don't see anyone and you just have this incredible scenery.

It's stunning and you have the mountains

and that's really what kind of sold it to me completely.

This race, it's so weighted towards cycling.

If you're a good strong cyclist you can really do some damage.

Clearly, the marathon over the hill is tough, no doubt about that,

but if you can really do some damage on your bike you can give

yourself a great advantage over the rest of the field.

Rain is starting to batter down and it's windy as well.

Tough conditions.

Some will still be in the water

but these guys are getting nice and warm out on the bike.

It's a lot of hours so definitely you have a few seconds here

and there that you just look round and enjoy where you are,

especially if I feel pain in my legs or get a little bit tired,

that's also my little game of doing something else.

Get my mind off it and then you just feel that your body is still

just cycling and going on and on and on,

and then you don't feel the pain anymore and you can just continue.

During the bike, my thought is to not thinking about the distance,

not thinking about how much I need to spend or how much

I will spend on the bike because this is more than six hours.

This is too much for my psychological ability, yeah.

Therefore I am just thinking about something different

or of the family, everything else.

I think most of us will have done several weekends

where we ride 200km plus,

trying to emulate as much as possible the hilly conditions

of the Celtman.

So you just do it over and over and over until it becomes a non-issue.

Most of the racers are now well into the 202-kilometre bike ride

but some are still emerging from the water, cold and tired.

These last few have only just made it before the cut-off time.

Really impressive still being able to swim after having

been in the water for nearly two hours.

Yeah, I started throwing up a lot.

You started throwing up as you were swimming?

Yeah, I usually do that when I use the crawl technique.

So this is actually the last swimmer coming in now,

just ahead of the cut-off time.

APPLAUSE

I thought will I just do front crawl, like over arm, you know

and I did that the whole way, it was horrible.

And I just kept thinking I'm not going to make the cut-off.

I've got some heat pads in my gloves and heat pads in my jacket and

I thought if I just get out there and get going I'll see how I go.

Right, so that's me.

-Good luck!

-Thanks.

-Say hello to us when we next see you.

-I will do.

I think what's interesting about an event like this is that

the difference between the fastest and the slowest swimmers

is just over an hour and that time is very, very easily lost or gained

on a really long cycle route like this.

So even if you haven't placed very well at all on the swim

you can still make up a lot of time on this bike section.

There's a lot of up and down, it's up and down which can be quite hard

coming over a hill and then seeing you've got to go up even more.

It is the mindset.

You get up to a bit and you think that's it, all the climbing's done,

and then a few minutes later you're climbing again.

Here we have to ride on the left side,

so last year I almost did a big mistake.

I looked to the left and the car comes to the right.

That I will not do this year.

So I have to pay attention.

I remember watching it on The Adventure Show before actually

and you see some of the images and you just think, wow, so, yeah,

I will be reminding myself to say, you know, just stop and look.

Well, not stop, but look and enjoy that side of it.

The scenery is amazing.

That's one of the things why I went to this race specifically.

I've never been here before.

I just looked up the photos and saw it and thought this was something

we wanted to see, both me and my support team.

So here's Dirk Zangen absolutely flying in through the first

transition of the cycle section.

This is transition T2.

What a brilliant, brilliant ride that has been for him.

This is when it's all very important to get stuff off,

change things over.

And conditions OK today the cycle was all right,

-not too windy, was it all right?

-The beginning was good.

Now in the end it's getting tough.

It reminded me of 2013, the last race.

Well done, Dirk, you're looking good.

That was so slick you've obviously worked on these transitions before.

Yeah, we've done it a few times last night and the night before.

It's amazing. It's crazy, you know, it's....

I'm impressed, I'm very proud and impressed with what he does.

'And that's clear for everyone to see.

'Dirk Zangen is now a full 23 minutes

'ahead of his nearest rival.

'Following him into transition is Heiko Sepp from Estonia.'

Heiko, how are you doing? Are you OK? How was the cycle? OK?

Oh, kind of OK, yeah.

-I'd had like a little bump.

-Yeah.

So you missed one feed stop?

Then you know I didn't have food, like.

-Oh, no.

-Yeah.

Just the run now. Easy bit.

Yeah, it's a full day, you know.

One day I'm going to warm up like a perfect runner.

Another day I'm so bad, you know. Hopefully today.

I hope today will be a perfect day. Yeah, of course.

'Just four minutes behind

'the third racer into transition is Hakon William Skog from Norway.'

-Tough cycle yeah?

-That was really tough.

The last 20ks broke me.

-A lot of wind?

-Yeah, a lot of wind. Head winds.

Yeah. Looking good though. Really strong.

That's only on the outside.

'Fourth in is Chris Stirling from the Lake District.'

Bikes are coming in thick and fast now.

This is where it gets really exciting.

The transition, the time they take to get through.

Chris finished second last year.

Let's see how he's doing.

-How's was that? Was it tough on the bike?

-Yeah.

The second and third guys have just gone through

-so you're not far behind at all.

-Less than two minutes.

'This is his best bit.

'He didn't have the greatest swim

'but he's actually done about the same bike split as last year.'

And, yeah, he'll make up a lot of time on the run.

Pretty stressful for the support teams, right?

Er, yeah, but that's part and parcel of it.

That's what you get for having another half

who's an elite athlete.

Looking good, Chris. Well done.

-I'll get there in a minute, the mountain.

-OK, good luck.

'The first part of the run is over the Coulin Pass, then it's up

'and down Ben Eighe.

'This means that for the next 33km the route is off road.

'It goes through some of the wildest and most rugged scenery

'we have to offer.

'It's a landscape not without its dangers.'

Every athlete carries a tracker device which is one of these

and it's got a sim in it, and a GPS so it knows its position

and every two minutes it sends us a message with its location.

The first year we used it here, which was a couple of years ago,

we had somebody came off the Ben Eighe on an unusual route

and we were following them down the mountain and giving

the mountain rescue updates every five minutes where they were.

So that was ended quite happily but if there had been a problem

then the mountain rescue knew exactly where they were

and would have been there that much quicker should it have been needed.

In the women's race, the competition is hotting up between two

of the Scottish racers, Siobhan Prise and Marie Meldum.

Marie's now in front but these two racers are neck and neck.

People say I'm competitive but only really with myself.

I want to like do the best I can and try

and improve on last week or the week before.

But I really honestly don't go and train.

If somebody says do you fancy doing such and such running over here,

I'd be like, "Yeah, OK."

Really able to just go with the flow

and I don't feel like restricted by a training plan.

Thinking positive is the most important thing.

I mean, I was so chuffed to be first out of the water,

so I was so happy with that.

And then setting off on the bike, you know, so happy.

It was only when Marie overtook me I was like, "Oh, no! Oh, no!"

and you know I got a little bit down.

Just like mentally it was like, "Oh, I'm doing rubbish kind of thing."

But then you just have to perk yourself up again

and just you know get going again.

But it's so important to think positive and smile all the time.

And currently in third place for the women

it's Karin Sloove from the Netherlands.

I must say last week I've been mentally not really happy

with this race until the day before yesterday

I realised that this year we wanted

to do something that scares us.

Both my boyfriend and I,

we were looking for a challenge that we wouldn't stand at the start

line and think, "I wonder how fast I will finish today?"

But something that would really properly scare us,

and as soon as I realised that this course scared me,

I was actually fine with it because I was like, I love that!

So here comes Sean McFarlane absolutely flying up the hill there.

In seventh place. Well done, Sean.

'Last year I got a new bike which I thought was fantastic, here we go,

'and I'm 41 and it takes me a long time to adjust to these things.

'So I've gone back to my old bike which I've had for eight years.

'And you know what? It's great to be back on it.'

-How are you feeling?

-I'm all right, yeah.

The second half of the bike was tough. Not quite as I'd hoped.

I'd feel a better here, Dougie, than I do now,

but hopefully just getting some sort of rhythm and get going.

That's Odd Arne. Has had a bit of a spill.

You fell?

Yeah and I broke my...

Punctured.

You punctured also, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So it's a bit difficult?

Ah, but it's a little bit of wind against.

-Right, have fun, Sean.

-OK, Dougie, cheers.

-See you later on.

-Cheers.

-Have you got a tracker?

-I left it in your bag.

-Is it? OK, cheers.

So off he goes. Sean McFarlane, seventh place.

Looking pretty good, actually, looking pretty good.

Took on some food there, took a bit of time.

He's done this plenty of times before.

He knows what it's all about and he's good on the hill.

Well, the lead competitors are settling into that relatively

gentle run over the Coulin Pass.

After that, the punishing ascent and descent of Ben Eighe.

Conditions on the tops today definitely changeable.

Pretty clagged in at the moment. They won't see very much at all.

So we'll find out later in the programme just how they get on.

Now we rejoin the runners, bikers and kayakers who've been

documenting their progress in Archie's Mountain Challenge.

They're attempting to set a record for ascending Scotland's 130 peaks

over 1,000 metres in one continuous relay

and they're enjoying every minute.

I'm having lots of fun climbing hills with new people

in a completely different way.

You know, we're covering the ground very quickly.

Six Archies in a day would be very hard work to do

if you were by yourself.

When you do it in small teams you can make really fast progress.

It's great.

The teams are now a third of the way through their challenge,

with 46 summits successfully in the bag.

Months of meticulous planning is paying off.

We've got about a 22-mile run through these mountains

finishing at the top of Cairngorm where we're going to hand

on the GPS tracker to the next group who are going to do the eastern

Cairngorms and then we're going to meet the next lot in Lochnagar.

We've got another about 70 Archies to do,

but hopefully we'll bag about five or six today.

-Good effort, how was it?

-Hard.

You look shattered.

We made really good progress until we sent you a text to say

that we were making really good progress.

-Right, here's Rabbie then.

-Cheers.

-Good luck, guys.

-Thanks a lot.

-Have a nice one.

-My responsibility. I'll click him on.

Yeah, nice and safe on top of the bag so you can see the sky.

I love hill running because it's like being eight years old again.

You run downhill without a care in the world.

It increases the intensity of the mountain experience

because you're pushing hard.

You're running hard and concentrating

and suddenly you look up and you're in this spectacular environment

and doing a big long challenge.

If you were to do that as a very small group of individuals

you'd have to take months off work but this way we can drop in,

drop out and be part of it and it's fantastic.

I only moved to Scotland about ten years ago and I had small children

and I've never got out much into the Highlands so this is

a great opportunity for me to come and experience the mountains.

I get to meet new people.

It's a safe way for me to come and enjoy fantastic countryside.

I think it's kind of reinvigorated my passion for going out in the

hills again and actually travelling light with less kit and running

shoes setting off early, you can totally be up a couple of hills and

back down early in the morning or even a late evening run up the hill.

So I think that's something that's really kind of reinvigorated

my enjoyment of being out in the hills.

-Good run.

-Well done.

-Let's take the photo to prove it.

Yes, an Archie selfie.

Compulsory, every single one.

-OK, ready?

-Let's go.

The team are calling these peaks Archies.

One more down, 69 still to go.

Over the coming hours and days, the mascot, Rabbie, keeps on the move.

It's a punishing schedule but everything's going to plan.

The real hard part is the relentlessness of it.

The fact that we're basically running

or moving about 20 hours a day,

so the tracker's only still for three or four hours in the day

so, you know, it's long days and it wears you down obviously.

So we're pretty tired.

CHEERING

So most days there's maybe six or eight people available, but

it's obviously a challenge that's going on over a number of weeks.

So some days there might be more people available at weekends

than during the week maybe, and less people available to help out.

But it's a big team.

On any individual day we're probably only using maybe six to eight

people for doing different legs.

So this is me on the Tarnichan, high in the Ben Lawers range.

I think only about six to go until we actually finish.

It's really amazing how strong the team energy and vibe is

and I think the thing is once you get involved early on,

although you probably have to go back to work and things, you're

really looking for when you can next get back involved because it's

that absorbing and you really want to be part of it once you're in it.

After just over two weeks, nearly 1,500 kilometres

and 130 mountains to climb, it's almost over.

So here we are on the top of Ben More just above Crianlarich.

It's Sunday 14th June and here's Rabbie having a well-earned rest

on the summit of the true point.

It's just gone nine o'clock in the morning

and it's Rabbie's third Archie of the day.

Here comes Tayside GP, Graeme Gatherer,

just summiting his...

tenth Archie of the expedition.

It's been a monumental effort

and, as Rabbie heads towards the final summit,

there's no shortage of well-wishers.

Then it's one final push before the finish at Loch Fyne.

And just for the record, the final time was 15 days,

nine hours and six minutes.

And to stay in touch with this

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

Yoo hoo!

I've made my way from Loch Shieldaig to the bottom of Ben Eighe.

For most people climbing this hill even on its own is a massive

challenge, so the idea of doing it after such a gruelling swim

and bike ride is pretty hard to get your head around.

Despite that, the fastest will be here soon

ready to take on the last part of this epic challenge.

Still way out in the lead is German triathlete Dirk Zangen,

who is currently living in Brussels.

He's now increased his lead to a massive 32 minutes.

Yet he's finding time to enjoy the race.

I just love the atmosphere.

It's fewer people, great landscape

but you spend all day long with your family and friends.

You know, I like the support part.

They get up. It's a long way for them as well.

And there is not so many races that have this aspect.

Fantastic job, well done.

Are you feeling confident about this next section?

Well, we all know the race only starts here, right?

Yeah, it's getting tough.

On the other side of the Coulin Pass the fastest women are nearing

the end of the bike ride

and only two minutes separates Marie Meldrum and Siobhan Prise.

So here's the leading girl, last year's winner Marie Meldrum.

Look at that, she's gone with just a vest top on.

Absolutely flying there. Brilliant effort.

How are you doing, Marie?

-Tired. That girl was really tough to catch.

-Siobhan, yeah?

Yeah, Siobhan. Oh, who is she?

She was a good swimmer, wasn't she?

She was out the water quickly and then pretty good on the old bike.

Just think positive, yeah.

What a bike ride that was.

Yeah, well, it was the longest I've ever cycled in my life so...

-You're kidding me?

-..that's it.

It ticks something off the bucket list that's for sure, but,

yeah, it was really amazing the first part until...

It was just that turn before Garv

and you're up the hill into the wind, you're low on energy.

That was really tough and I struggled a bit on that bit.

It was really scenic and beautiful until then.

Now I just have to go and run a marathon for a wee while.

Well done, Siobhan, keep it going.

Good effort.

'Next into transition just six minutes behind is

'Karin Sloove from the Netherlands.'

Karin, how are you feeling?

Yeah, the last bit on the bike was a bit windy but still smiling.

Still smiling? Good.

And how are you on the hills, are you good on the high hills?

Usually I am, but it's a question how the legs will feel after

the bike so we'll see, we'll see.

We wish you well. Enjoy the hill.

You've got a tracker, yeah.

Karin Sloove looking very comfortable indeed.

'Some 18km ahead, as he pounds down the far side of the Coulin Pass,

'Chris Stirling from the Lakes has now moved up into second place.'

On Celtman, the ground's rough

and you need to prepare specifically for that, I think.

I sort of look at the course

and then look at the different aspects of that course.

How I can try and tailor my training exactly to that.

-Feeling confident about this next bit?

-Yeah, this is the best bit.

It's what I love doing so I like it.

The hardest bit is my favourite bit.

-Oh, that's great and you've saved it till last?

-Yeah exactly.

The third man over the Coulin Pass is Heiko Sepp from Estonia.

He's nearly 40 minutes behind Chris Stirling

and he knows the longer he takes, the harder it gets.

The most important is just get on the end

but if the race is getting longer and longer,

the light is getting more harder for you

because the guys who are the top three in here,

OK, they have a high speed,

they are good, but the guys who are doing 16 hours you know.

Even don't understand the real world, you know, like a zombie.

You just continue doing your thing and really respect.

On this high mountain section, each competitor is

joined by a support runner to ensure their safety.

This is a key moment for the racers.

If they arrive here 11 hours after starting, they have to

take a lower route and don't get the much prized blue t-shirt.

If they don't make the cut-offs then

they don't go over the mountain.

We don't want tired people up there or people

who are really on the edge. It's not safe.

It is a mountain and it's dangerous. That's just the way it is.

Whichever way you look at it, the Celtman is one of the toughest

events in the European calendar

and that seems to be a key part of its attraction.

I think it's just that stripping back.

We're so health and safety orientated in this world, aren't we?

Everything has to be in a box and everything has to be so safe

and it's just nice being able to be out there

and think I'm on the edge of what I'm capable of here.

What happens if I just step past that?

What's going to happen? What's going to go first?

Is it going to be my mind, is it going to be my body?

I don't know, and I like that feeling. It's fantastic.

It's an amazing adventure.

It's always a shock

when I come here how breathtaking the scenery is.

The mountains just come straight out of the sea.

I pointed to my colleague of the fact where we're going up,

a sharp intake of breath.

Cos it is, it's literally just straight up 1,000 metres.

Some people are here to win.

Some say they're just competing against themselves

and there's some sibling rivalry as well.

No, there's no love lost.

No dirty tricks or at least no noticeable dirty tricks

but certainly a sense that if we're on the last five-mile section

then I think it will be flat out to get through first.

Once we're on the mountain the gloves are off.

Yeah, I think Alistair's got the edge on me on the shorter distances

but I've got a wee bit more experience on the longer distances.

I can see a lot of psychoanalysis.

Like a fine wine, he's improving with age.

-I think that's what it is.

-Fighting our way.

There's a big part of me wants to get over the mountain.

There's probably an even bigger part of me wants to beat him though.

In the women's race, Siobhan Prise has had a great run

over the Coulin Pass.

She's overtaken Marie Meldum

and, as she heads up Ben Eighe, is now back in the lead.

I don't know how far she's behind me, but I'm sure, to be honest,

it doesn't matter, I'm just so happy I've got a blue t-shirt now.

-That's fantastic.

-I made the cut-off time.

-Oh, that's brilliant.

It's quite sharp.

-Kind of psychologically, when you get to this stage...

-Yeah.

..you know that you're going to finish it.

Which is all I wanted, which is great.

I got a blue t-shirt.

This is the worst bit and everyone's in the same boat.

Everyone's got to go up this bit.

Just seven minutes later, Karin Sloove has also overtaken Marie.

You're doing a great time.

You're the second female through at the moment.

I know but number three is right on my ass.

OK, I better not hold you up then.

Meanwhile, Dirk Zangen is approaching the summit of Rustack Moor.

Dirk's still way out in the lead

but he's not taking anything for granted.

-How are you doing?

-All right.

Last time he competed here he encountered significant problems

on this last part of the race.

Two years ago, I said never again.

I got stuck after like two hours. Everybody down here was worried.

My tracker didn't move. My wife was really scared.

She didn't want me to sign up. She was angry when I signed up again.

She was nervous the whole time.

Chris Stirling, the second man up the hill,

is also trying to learn from past experience.

He thinks walking poles will make a vital difference.

It's so steep.

I want to run it but, you know, I come from the Lake District.

I'm used to mountain running and fell running,

but after 200km and 18km of running,

you're not going to run up here, so poles.

-How's he doing?

-Good.

'It just allows you to use your upper body and just take

'a bit of strain off your legs and I think off your back as well.'

And when you've been sat on a bike for six hours

and then you start running, I think your back can really tighten up,

particularly going uphill.

You start to sort of like arch your back and stuff.

I think poles just help you keep a nice upright position.

Third to the summit, Heiko Sepp and Odd Arne Engersaeter are now running

together because Heiko's support couldn't make it up the hill.

They're now just 22 minutes behind and are closing the gap

on Chris Stirling, but that's not what matters most to Odd Arne.

'The place for me is not that important.

'It's more important for me to have a nice trip up

'and such a lovely place like this is fantastic.'

Getting to the summit is only half the battle.

The descent is just as tricky.

I asked my friends who are most experienced

and they said to me that I shouldn't try to stop myself too much.

I just should let go, not to force myself to slow,

just go with the flow.

That's it.

At least you'll catch me on film if I roll down the hill.

You get to the top of the hill, "Oh, good, I'm there, I'm finished."

And it's like, "Well, no, actually, the hard bit is the descent

"and staying awake and kind of paying attention to your feet

"and just watching your toes."

We had a reccy run, last year's trip.

We came up in Easter and did the whole course over a long weekend

and one of our party just about smashed their face.

It's four o'clock in the afternoon.

The racers have been going for 11 long hours

and we now know that Dirk Zangen, number 175, who was leading

into the run, is still in the lead.

He's absolutely been fantastic on the hill.

In the women's race, Marie Meldrum, who was winner last year,

she has dropped into second place.

Karin Sloove, the Netherlands racer, is in front of her.

Siobhan, though, Siobhan Prise has disappeared off the tracker system.

That doesn't mean she's stopped.

It just means her tracker's not working, so we'll find out more

as the race progresses.

'In fact, Siobhan is having a great race.

'She's still in front as she nears the summit of Ruadh Stac Mor.'

I feel great.

'It's just absolutely stunning. The mountains are incredible.'

I'm a geophysicist, so all the rocks and the, you know,

are something of interest.

Siobhan's extended her lead to 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, only five minutes separates Marie Meldrum

and Karin Sloove, who are battling for second place.

Woohoo!

And it's Karin next to the summit.

I'm loving it!

I like races where you kind of come in like,

"Oh, maybe I can do podium."

And then after one and a half hours of racing, you think,

"God, I hope I'll finish."

And the whole aspiration of having a high ranking is just gone

and you're just in survival mode.

Just over 11 hours 51 minutes after starting at five in the morning,

the first runner is mere steps away from the finish line.

CROWD CHEERS

So here he comes.

After almost 250km of extreme conditions,

swimming, running and cycling, Dirk Zangen from Germany

picks up his daughter and jogs fresh as a daisy over the line.

What an extraordinary performance from this athlete.

It was just fantastic.

Back in 2013, he had real trouble on Beinn Eighe.

This time he got the job done

and he is Celtman Extreme Scottish Triathlon Champion 2015.

Honestly, I can't believe it. The swim went well.

I took the lead just around there,

around the corner after, like, 10km so I kept pushing

but I never believed I would keep the lead until then.

So we went up the mountain and I thought other guys who

are much stronger hill runners would come, but we didn't see anybody.

So I...

Yeah, to be honest, I didn't expect this.

So here is Chris Stirling, second in the Celtman 2014

and, once again, second place after just 12 hours

and around ten minutes.

That is another great performance from Chris Stirling.

-Congratulations, second again.

-Dirk was awesome today.

I gave that everything I had and, you know, he was miles ahead.

So congratulations to him.

-Yeah.

-And, like I said before, my support crew were amazing today.

-They kept me going.

-Yeah.

-I wanted to quit all day.

-Oh, really?

All day, yeah, tough day.

They're going to come over together.

Oh, excellent effort. Third equal.

That is absolutely sensational stuff.

Heiko Sepp coming across the line there with

Odd Arne Engersaeter from Norway.

That's very nice indeed.

Estonia and Norway share third place and share a beer as well.

-Yeaaaaaaah!

-COMMENTATOR LAUGHS

-Congratulations, third equal with Heiko there.

-Thank you very much.

-A great race.

-Fantastic race.

It was a beautiful day from the start at the beginning with

fire show in the starting place there.

The swim was a bit cold, of course, but it was OK.

-I swim like this.

-No!

-Yes, I do.

So it was OK for me.

'Well, a brilliance effort, really fantastic.

-'Congratulations.

-Thank you.'

Woohoo!

He helped me because, you know, my supporter, he had problems.

He couldn't breath so I asked and I joined with this team

and they said, "Yeah, OK, it's not a problem.

"You can do that if you want, yeah."

And thanks for these guys, you know, from Norway.

That's why I'm here already.

So confirmation of those winning results for the men.

In joint third place was Norwegian Odd Arne Engersaeter

and Heiko Sepp from Estonia.

Their time was 12:46:04.

Chris Stirling from the Lake District once again

came in second in 12:08:51.

But out in the lead by over 70 minutes

was German triathlete Dirk Zangen with a time of 11:51:14.

A great race for the women as well, as Aberdeen-based geophysicist

Siobhan Prise powers up to the finish line.

She led after the swim, second place after the cycle section

and through to win the Celtman 2015.

What a result that is!

I've never done anything long like this before

and you don't know how your body is going to react to such endurance.

I guess I just kept on eating so much and trying to force food

and my dad shouting at me, "Eat!"

And I'm like, "I don't want to eat!" But I did!

And only a minute separates the next two women,

Marie Meldrum and Karin Sloove.

Karin's just managed to stay ahead.

Amazing race between both of you.

Incredible race between the both of you.

It was great to have a battle.

Like....there's no point winning if there's nobody to race, you know.

For the full mountain section, we've been harassing each other.

We were about two minutes apart when we started the mountain.

It was definitely fun.

So the final result for the women,

in third place was last year's winner Marie Meldrum from Fort William

with a time of 14:21:19.

Second went to Karin Sloove from the Netherlands in 14:20:07,

but with a time of 14:01:44,

the top spot went to Siobhan Prise from Aberdeen.

In an event like the Celtman, every single person is a winner.

It was beautiful, it was great. It's beyond imagination.

So that's it from the Celtman Extreme Scottish Triathlon.

We'll be back again next month

when we join over 900 intrepid cyclists for the aptly named

Three Piece Sportif that takes in three of our ski resorts.

Until then, thanks for your company, bye for now.

And, like the competitors, I'm off for a lie down.