{"id":3964,"date":"2018-09-09T10:14:02","date_gmt":"2018-09-09T09:14:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bl6.co.uk\/wordpress\/?p=3964"},"modified":"2018-09-07T10:34:59","modified_gmt":"2018-09-07T09:34:59","slug":"answering-the-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bl6.co.uk\/wordpress\/2018\/09\/09\/answering-the-call\/","title":{"rendered":"Answering the call"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s reached that time of year when our evening runs in the woods around Inverness require the use of a headtorch. Outside of our circle, most people think we are doing something extreme, pushing the boundaries and living well outside what they would consider any sort of comfort zone.<\/p>\n

But when I meet Jonny Muir, a former Highland journalist now teaching English to teenagers in Edinburgh, my weekly jaunts pale into insignificance.<\/p>\n

This is a man who last year completed one of the toughest running challenges in Scotland. Forget marathons, ultra-marathons and adventure races; Ramsay\u2019s Round is hill running in perhaps its purest sense.<\/p>\n

The challenge is to complete a circuit comprising 24 mountains (23 of them Munros) within a 24-hour limit, starting and finishing at Glen Nevis Youth Hostel at the base of the country\u2019s highest mountain and involving almost the height of Everest in combined ascent.<\/p>\n

With no time for sleep on this punishing round, running through the night with a headtorch is all part of the feat of endurance and mental strength \u2013 as well as physical prowess \u2013 needed to become a \u201cRamsayist\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"David <\/a>
David Gallie (left) and Jonny Muir on the Grey Corries. Picture: Mark Hartree <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Runners <\/a>
Runners approach Sgurr Choinnich Mor on a Ramsay’s Round recce. Picture: Anthony Hemmings <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Jonny <\/a>
Jonny Muir climbing Stob Choire Claurigh on Ramsay’s Round. Picture: Mark Hartree <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

As of this week, only 132 people have ever completed the round, which was envisaged in 1978 \u2013 the latest being on Sunday. Jonny, who did his round last May, was the 101st<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

When I meet him above Clava on the outskirts of Inverness, it is a fine morning for a run. We head out, straight up the track that ramps its way up to Beinn Bhiudhe Mhor.<\/p>\n

Jonny\u2019s passion for the hills is evident as he glances round at one point during the climb and utters an instinctive word: \u201cWow.\u201d<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve climbed high enough now that the world has got bigger below our feet; from the high mountains in the west, over the Beauly Firth with Ben Wyvis dominating the backdrop, across the Moray Firth and east as far as the eye can see.<\/p>\n

The view never disappoints from up here \u2013 but you really have to earn it. The route climbs 400m in just three-and-a-bit miles and I\u2019m gasping early on as Jonny chats away, apparently unaffected by the gradient.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Jonny at the trig point on Beinn Bhuidhe Mhor overlooking Inverness and the Moray Firth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s more of a track than a real hill run,\u201d he observes, recalling previous runs here going back a few years when he used to train with the Highland Hill Runners during his time in Inverness.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s certainly hilly but in a sense he\u2019s right \u2013 this is not what \u201creal\u201d hill running is all about in Scotland. Hill running is off the beaten track, navigating through the mountains at speed, being one with the landscape. It\u2019s that which attracts Jonny to the hills and to a sport that is still seen \u2013 and in a sense still sees itself \u2013 as outside of the mainstream.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a topic Jonny explores in his book, The Mountains are Calling, which is ostensibly about his Ramsay\u2019s Round but is, in reality, more an exploration of hill running and hill runners.<\/p>\n

Chatting on our run, he compares Ramsay\u2019s Round to its more famous counterpart in the Lake District, the Bob Graham Round.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Bob Graham has been done in 13 hours,\u201d he tells me. \u201cWhen you know another human being has done something in 13 hours, it\u2019s not that unreasonable to think you could do it in 24.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the Ramsay is different \u2013 it\u2019s much harder and more remote.<\/p>\n

\u201cA higher percentage of people are probably successful at Ramsay\u2019s Round and that\u2019s probably because you have to be prepared to even take the challenge on.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no escape from it once you\u2019re under way. If you twist an ankle in the Mamores or on the Aonachs, you\u2019re in a serious situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Jonny with John at the summit of Beinn Bhuidhe Mhor.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

His book recounts the tales of others\u2019 successes and failures, their preparation, their struggles, their motivation. You feel like you are up the in the mountains with them, until suddenly they are back in the bustling world of Glen Nevis \u2013 in Jonny\u2019s case, finishing by descending the Ben by the \u201ctourist track\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou finish coming down off Ben Nevis and there\u2019s all these people coming up,\u201d he says. \u201cYou\u2019ve been on your feet for over 20 hours and you\u2019ve got to avoid the crowds and get to the bottom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unlike the craze of adventure racing and ultra-marathons, there is no fanfare at the end of Ramsay\u2019s Round. It\u2019s a personal challenge, done for very personal reasons, some of which are very hard to define.<\/p>\n

For Jonny, a father of two young daughters, it\u2019s about \u201cshowing people what\u2019s out here, the beauty of the hills\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI took a class up into Pentlands and they can look down and see their house or other landmarks, so it\u2019s a real inspiration to them. Hill running is another way into that and gives people a wider perspective on life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love the way the landscape and the colours change through the seasons \u2013 the bracken starting to shoot up in the spring, then it\u2019s fully grown in the summer and then dwindling and starting to turn brown in the autumn. In winter it\u2019s completely transformed and it\u2019s like another world.\u201d<\/p>\n

The seasons may be changing but for Jonny, as well as for many others, the call of the mountains is something that never goes away, and never stops inspiring.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The cover of Jonny Muir’s book, The Mountains are Calling<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

* The Mountains are Calling by Jonny Muir is published by Sandstone Press, Dingwall. www.sandstonepress.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s reached that time of year when our evening runs in the woods around Inverness require the use of a headtorch. Outside of our circle, most people think we are doing something extreme, pushing the boundaries and living well outside what they would consider any sort of comfort zone. But when I meet Jonny Muir, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3955,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"New blog post: Answering the call \r\n\r\nTalking to @MuirJonny about hill running and Ramsay's Round","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[146],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bl6.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Climbing-Stob-Choire-Claurigh-on-Ramsays-Round-Mark-Hartree.jpg?fit=1280%2C960&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5M0xs-11W","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bl6.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3964"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bl6.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bl6.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bl6.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bl6.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3964"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/bl6.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3964\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3967,"href":"https:\/\/bl6.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3964\/revisions\/3967"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bl6.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bl6.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bl6.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bl6.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}