FKT: Rehan Greeff - National Three Peaks Challenge (United Kingdom) - 2023-06-30

At 04:30 on 23 June 2023, I set off from the Ben Nevis (Scotland) visitors' center on the adventure of a lifetime - the goal was to break the existing record (08 days, 12 hours, 28 minutes) for scaling the highest peak in Scotland, England and Wales (UK National 3 Peaks), whilst also running the entire distance between them (around 700km). The goal was also to raise as much funds as possible towards two charities that are very close to my heart, ForAfrika (Africa's largest non-governmental organisation) and "Its okay not to be okay" (UK mental health and awareness charity).

With the amazing support from my Run Forest Run crew (with Alan Garton on logistics, Livingstone Ntambi on the bicycle, Anmari Greeff on media duties, and Nicolene Lavos as "food mama") we were able to average just under 100km every day over the period. The initial plan was to camp as much as possible on route, but with all the rain we encountered throughout the week, we were forced to adjust our plans and book nearby hotels and hostels as close as possible to where we finished each day. 

Scafell Pike (England) proved to be an absolute beast on the start of the 5th day, with crazy weather once I hit the peak. I was the only person on the mountain at this time. The extreme weather made navigation difficult and also experienced bad knee pain, which made the descent to the east painfully slow, cold and wet. But we soldiered on. The rest of day 5 I just walked (no running). On day 6, I ran again, but around 530km in, I started experiencing some discomfort on my lower left leg (shins), but strapped it and continued to just tick the kilometres over. Due to the slow rate of day 5, we decided that the next few days until the finish line will be 24-hour stints with sleep in the car. This strategy helped me, as I couldn't go fast anymore, and just needed to tick the kilometres over.

The final 40km ahead of Mount Snowdon (Wales) seemed to last for an eternity, with all the elevation. Finally, I met my wife at the bottom of Mount Snowdon (Penn-Y-Pass) on 30 June 2023 and set off for the final peak at 11:16. If it was not for her, I don't think I would have made it down there. I was absolutely broken and the weather was something for the books, ice rain, high winds and very cold. We finally made it to Llanberis Mountain Railway station at 16:05, where I stopped my watch.

Total elapsed time of 7 full days, 11 hours and 35 minutes.

Grateful to have been able to complete this journey and experience the beauty of the UK up close and very personal.

For further evidence and the day-by-day storyline, please feel free to follow our Social Media accounts on @runforestrun_run (Instagram) and @runforestrun1987 (Facebook)

Strava slinks:

Day 1
1. https://strava.app.link/WGqeR3CUmBb
2. https://strava.app.link/GQMIqhFUmBb
3. https://strava.app.link/yRQoM8GUmBb
4. https://strava.app.link/RGlW8dJUmBb

Day 2
1. https://strava.app.link/rykcMoLUmBb
2. https://strava.app.link/drmf76MUmBb

Day 3
1. https://strava.app.link/BbzPWQOUmBb
2. https://strava.app.link/KlJqUQQUmBb
3. https://strava.app.link/FbjIxPSUmBb

Day 4
1. https://strava.app.link/tzqAab3IiBb
2. https://strava.app.link/4UZTfU4IiBb
3.  https://strava.app.link/51eMdK7IiBb

Day 5
1.  https://strava.app.link/lyxz6Q9IiBb
2.  https://strava.app.link/JL997bcJiBb
3.  https://strava.app.link/d9n3CzeJiBb
4. https://strava.app.link/pnkMtqgJiBb

Day 6
1. https://strava.app.link/FtqaPhiJiBb
2. https://strava.app.link/MqGWujkJiBb
3. https://strava.app.link/c0Fl1fmJiBb
4. https://strava.app.link/PjdnUapJiBb

Day 7
1. https://strava.app.link/otN2ckrJiBb
2. https://strava.app.link/FMqfFntJiBb
3. https://strava.app.link/o8oIRfvJiBb
4. https://strava.app.link/o8oIRfvJiBb
5. https://strava.app.link/cRfh9XBJiBb

Day 8
1. https://strava.app.link/wPVxXUEJiBb
2. https://strava.app.link/8CZdRRGJiBb
3. https://strava.app.link/I8Ft7NIJiBb
4. https://strava.app.link/HraP9DMJiBb