Scots climber completes the equivalent of 14 Everests in 31 days, breaking Munro bagging record by a week

Donnie Campbell completed the current Munro climbing record by eight days.

A Scots climber has broken the current record of Munro bagging by almost eight days, in a superhuman feat of endurance.

Donnie Campbell completed 282 Munros in 31 days, 23 hours and two minutes, beating climber Stephen Pyke’s previous 2010 record of 39 days, nine hours and six minutes.

Finishing at 5.02am on Wednesday, the ultra-runner completed his final and most northerly Munro – Ben Hope – after climbing 10 Munros on his final day.

The Inverness athlete’s challenge involved running 883 miles, with 413,854ft of ascent, the equivalent of more than 14 ascents of Everest.

He also cycled 896 miles, climbing 46,755ft during his journeys between the 282 munros, the listed Scottish peaks of 3,000ft or higher.

Donnie, who grew up on Skye, went through seven pairs of trainers, went 48 hours at times with no sleep, suffered injuries and didn’t take a single day off in almost 32 days of gruelling self discipline.

Spending nights in a campervan throughout, driven along the route by his wife, Rachael, Donnie, 35, says he’s enjoyed the last couple of days in his own bed, but that he actually misses his challenge.

Donnie with wife, Rachael, celebrating at the end of his gruelling challenge.

“It definitely feels good to have finished and to have beaten the record, but it also feels a bit weird,” he tells the Sunday Post.

“In some ways I’m like, why did I stop running?

“When you’ve been looking forward to something like this for so long and then it’s just finished, it’s a bit sad.”

No stranger to running or climbing, Donnie, a running coach, has completed many challenges across the world, including the Mont Blanc 80k Skyrunner World Series Race.

But his latest feat, as well as to raise money for the British Red Cross, was born out of a pretty basic reasoning.

“It was nothing more than the fact I wanted to challenge myself to just do all of the munros, and I didn’t want to take ages doing it,” laughs Donnie.

“I grew up on Skye, so for me technical and rugged mountains like the Cuillins are the ones that I find most enjoyable.

“So I needed motivation to do the more boggy, rounded remote munros. And that motivation became simply breaking the current record.”

Donnie also cycled between each munro ascent.

Donnie started his challenge on August 1 on Ben More, on Mull.

After this, he kayaked to Glenfinnan, before traversing the Cairngorms to reach the most easterly munro, Mount Keen.

Next on his list was the southern Highlands, including the most southerly munro Ben Lomond.

He then returned to the north west, with the most westerly munro of Sgùrr na Banachdaich on Skye, finishing on Ben Hope in Sutherland.

Donnie created his own schedule which he thought could be possible to do in 33 days, six less than the current record. But, after 17 days of climbing, he started to wonder whether he had bitten off more than he could chew.

“By day 17 my mood was getting really low,” he says.

“I’d sustained injuries to my interior tibia tendons on both ankles by this point and I came off Beinn Ann in tears with the pain.

“Every time I stepped on my foot it was just excruciating and I was thinking how can I get through this.”

But get through it he did. On Monday, the runner completed a staggering 18 munros in the north-west Highlands, from Slioch near Kinlochewe to Ben Wyvis near Dingwall.

After only 30 minutes of sleep, he then cycled to Am Faochagach in Wester Ross, and then completed another 10 munros to finish on Ben Hope.

On day 29, he was also forced to climb the same munro twice, due to a lack of concentration and weather issues.

Altering his schedule slightly to include easier ascents and more cycle time was one of the ways Donnie coped with setbacks he says, but mental endurance and strength from time in the Marines as a teen also came into play.

“There were a load of contributing factors that pushed me to carry on throughout the challenge,” explains Donnie.

“But I joined the marines aged 17, so from a very early age I’ve been used to being cold, wet and exhausted and in a tough environment.

“I’d also done 48 hours without sleep before so I knew that because I’d done that in the past, it gives you that confidence that you can could do it again.

“But it’s just like everything – if you have a bad day at work, you don’t just not go in the next day. You deal with it, you get up the next morning and you take it on, it’s just what you do.”

Support Donnie’s Just Giving page, raising money for the Red Cross, here.