A RUGBY player is tackling a gruelling 50k ultramarathon to help his team-mates get to Orkney.
Charlie McLean is going solo at the 50k Hills & Horizon event in Selkirk this weekend while raising money for Haddington RFC ahead of their National League Cup match later this year.
The second-row admitted that Sunday’s fundraiser was not going to be easy but stressed: “I’m going to finish it, even if I have got to crawl over the line.”
The 35-year-old decided to sign up for the event, which features more than 5,200-feet of elevation gain, to keep ticking over during the close season.
He told the Courier: “I wanted to challenge myself.
“It is a challenge for myself and something to train towards while rugby was not on.
“I just thought I knew that the primary sevens each year do a tour and thought I could do the race to raise funds for them.
“Then, I realised after speaking to a couple of people about Haddington going to Orkney.
“I don’t know if the SRU give help or not, but it is going to cost thousands to fly up on the Saturday with 20 to 25 people, put them up and then come back.”
Charlie, who works with East Lothian Council in helping youngsters finding employment, started his rugby journey with Haddington’s under-18s.
Since then, he has gone on to play for Currie and Watsonians before returning to East Lothian with Musselburgh.
He rejoined his boyhood club and was pleased to say that there had been support for him taking on the challenge.
Donations can be made at gofundme.com/f/haddington-rfc-trip-to-orkney
He said: “I didn’t know what the target would be but just anything helps.
“I am going to do it anyway.
“I am at just under £1,000 now and what I have had is a bunch of people saying that they will give me £1 per kilometre on the day.
“I am going to finish it, even if I have got to crawl.”
The dad-of-two, who lives in Macmerry, has played team sports for much of his life but is no stranger to going it alone.
Alongside rugby, he has boxed and competed in both judo and mixed martial arts.
Now, his focus is on completing the ultramarathon, which is part of an event featuring 5k, 10k and 25k runs – alongside the longer 50k.
The countdown is on when it comes to training and Charlie said: “Training has been challenging.
“I’ve not got a lot of cartilage in my right knee.
“I had surgery on that and the last four weeks I have only run two or three times because of my knee.
“I did a half marathon a couple of weeks ago in good time but my knee swelled up.”
Share